This is essentially a repeat of Hand over control of outcome metrics reports. It is relevant if project authority persisted beyond the life of the project for change management and performance measuring.

Projects end and the outcome they leave behind becomes the domain of the operational authority(ies). What a project creates and leaves behind should never: be ignored, fall through the cracks, or be reversed. This applies to performance reporting as well. Ensuring it doesn’t happen with performance reporting can be more certain, especially if the organization has a team responsible for collection and reporting of business data. (Typically found in the Strategy, Finance/Admin, or Data Analytics departments.) This activity is the structured transition of responsibility and accountability for outcome metrics to the previously determined operational authority.

As stated throughout, there are two sets of intertwined performance measures being dealt with: operational performance where the underlying project change is being applied (i.e., what’s being improved) and adoption performance, measuring change management efficacy.

Consistent with the project wind-down, operational control and responsibility for performance reporting on both the underlying change and further adoption should be turned over to the appropriate Performance Management owner. A prepared transition plan should be implemented.

A transition plan needs at least the following elements:

• An identified recipient group and person (name) for each report set (if required).
• A period to familiarize and educate the recipient(s) about data sources, calculation methods and tools, report creation approach and templates, and report recipient registers.
• A schedule for transition with both trigger and completion events.

Operational performance measures

Broadly speaking, these are more important to the project and the organization. They indicate project value. As such, and assuming that the project engaged all interested parties in designing them, there should be a natural recipient to take them on at the appropriate time. Ideally, this permanent owner has been interested and engaged throughout the project, especially post-launch.

Elements of successful turnover will include at least:

• Ensuring both those presently and those to become responsible for reporting (data collection, analysis, output, distribution, archiving…) are connected and aware of the coming change.
• A date for migration is set. It’s usually best to peg this to a specific report edition.
• All access to new and old data, to templates, to (Excel) workbooks or other apps that perform the analytics and generate the reports must be ready to be turned over to the new owners.
• Following the last report edition under project responsibility, the new owners are given control and the project owner becomes a day-to-day guide and resource for some time.
• Assuming the responsibility and data/reporting migration under the permanent owners was successful, a notice should be sent to recipients advising of the change.

Adoption performance measures

This can be easier to deal with for some simple and obvious reasons. First, these data are project-specific and (usually) end when the project ends. Second, if they are even relevant for executive/manager performance scoring, it’s only for the project. Third, their real value is to the Organizational Change Management team for its own scoring and ongoing improvement.

For these reasons and more, they are likely to not be turned over to another authority. They will be rolled up into the Organizational Change Management group. Moreover, the data are relatively smaller and probably only part of an Excel workbook. So even if there is a turn-over, it will be simple.

When might there be a turnover? If the migration is very slow, such as when people aren’t expected to exhibit changed behaviour for months or quarters. Maybe if adoption is too low and the operational authority wants (or has) to continue reporting on adoption, there could be a turn-over.

There are really only three steps to take:

1. Establish who will do the ongoing data collection and reporting.
2. Teach that person to gather and analyze/report the data, to manage the recipient email lists, etc. Provide the workbooks and templates, and ensure (s)he has access to all (s)he needs.
3. Help that person with the first post-project report.

If change management activity is not being wound down at this point, hand over should be delayed to coincide with that decision.