We may not often ask ourselves whether our project will succeed for fear of the answer. But 63 percent of projects either fail or struggle to meet their budget or completion objectives. The more complex the project, the more likely it is to fail. A recent, high-profile example of this was the roll-out of the U.S. government’s healthcare.gov program. While the government acted quickly to fix major problems with the website, the glitch led many Americans to delay their decision to join the program and turned many others off altogether. Several factors contributed to the website’s failure, including incorrectly forecasting the performance requirements, not giving sufficient time for appropriate testing and underestimating the complexity of the project. The same shortcomings doom other projects, too. To avoid making similar mistakes, leading organizations need to identify in advance which projects are more likely to end badly and how to give them the best shot at success. Predictive project analytics, or PPA, is a new approach that leverages advanced analytics to evaluate a given project’s likelihood of success. Read how it works and how it can help your organization.

1. Predictive
Project
Analytics
Will your project
be successful?

2. Corporate executives work
hard to effectively manage
major capital or IT projects…
Yet despite their inherent strategic
importance, these very projects frequently
experience cost overruns, run late or
fail entirely…

3. Research shows that
More than
of companies have
experienced project failure.
And that’s not all…
60%

4. of projects were
cancelled
prior to being
delivered or were
never used
of projects were
either challenged
or failed
21% 63%

5. of projects were
over budget
were delivered
late
46% 71%

6. And the more complex
the project, the greater the
likelihood of failure
Projects between
$1 million and
$3 million have a
chance of success,
34%
while those that
are $10+ million
have just a
likelihood of success.
7%

7. The reasons for project
failure are diverse
• Poorly defined requirements
• Lack of access to specialist resources
• Competing priorities
• Constant pressure to deliver more quickly
at lower cost

8. And the consequences of
failure can be severe
• Significant unforeseen costs
• Operational failures
• Regulatory non-compliance with penalties
• Customer dissatisfaction
• Loss of competitive advantage or market share
When a complex project loses, the business loses.

9. Given the potential severity of these
repercussions, leading organizations have
searched for ways to keep their projects
on track.
And virtually no capabilities existed to help
organizations identify in advance which
projects will fail and how to get them
back on track…

10. Until now.

11. Predictive Project Analytics (PPA) is a project
risk assessment methodology that provides
foresight on potential project risks and
where immediate fixes for in-flight projects
and programs (at any stage of the lifecycle)
should be implemented to mitigate risk.

12. Benefits
Compares current performance levels
against predicted required levels.
Helps pinpoint specific gaps and missing
controls in 17 different areas, such as
budgeting, scheduling, risk management
and team capabilities.

13. Inherent
risk and
complexity
assessment
Interviews
and structured
document
review
Predictive
analytic project
review
Analysis
and synthesis Reporting
1 2 3 4 5
Here’s how it works
Our five-stage predictive analytic methodology
lets us assess your project team capabilities,
predict your project’s required maturity levels
and clearly identify ways to manage project risk
and control costs.

14. Inherent risk and
complexity assessment
We begin by performing a detailed assessment of your
project’s risk and complexity to determine the level of
controls and governance you need to have in place to
deliver a successful project.
Inherent
risk and
complexity
assessment
Interviews
and structured
document
review
Predictive
analytic project
review
Analysis
and synthesis Reporting
1 2 3 4 5

15. Interviews and structured
document review
This assessment is augmented by a series of interviews
with key project team members and stakeholders, and
further bolstered by a review of core project artefacts,
such as plans, reports and logs.
Inherent
risk and
complexity
assessment
Interviews
and structured
document
review
Predictive
analytic project
review
Analysis
and synthesis Reporting
1 2 3 4 5

16. Next, we enter all this background information into our
predictive project analytic capability, which produces a
correlation between project complexity, controls and success
using a database of thousands of projects, and then we
incorporate an effective assessment of softer factors such as
leadership and decision-making.
Predictive analytic project review
Inherent
risk and
complexity
assessment
Interviews
and structured
document
review
Predictive
analytic project
review
Analysis
and synthesis Reporting
1 2 3 4 5

17. Analysis and synthesis
By aggregating the outputs from our structured, experiential
review and our predictive analytic capability, we gain a broad,
deep view of your key unmitigated project risks and identify
specific control/governance improvements that can help you
achieve a successful outcome.
Inherent
risk and
complexity
assessment
Interviews
and structured
document
review
Predictive
analytic project
review
Analysis
and synthesis Reporting
1 2 3 4 5

18. Reporting
Finally, you receive the findings in the format of your choice.
Our objective is to avoid clichéd project commentary.
Instead, our reports provide practical recommendations and
prioritized actions that allow you to immediately address or
avert specific identified project risks.
Use ongoing reporting and dashboards to
help manage your project throughout its lifecycle
Inherent
risk and
complexity
assessment
Interviews
and structured
document
review
Predictive
analytic project
review
Analysis
and synthesis Reporting
1 2 3 4 5

19. Rein in project risk at any
stage of the project lifecycle
No matter when you leverage predictive project
analytics, you position your organization to:
• Gain an objective overview of risks and identify
how to close the gaps
• Enhance project outcomes by prioritizing actions
most likely to help you succeed
• Minimize financial, productivity and reputation-
based losses by improving project oversight
• Drive greater organizational efficiency

20. The next level of project risk
management
The PPA database provides objective data, not opinion.
It’s a benchmarked process that can clearly indicate
where your project is missing controls and where it
might go off the rails.
If you have a critical project in process or in the
planning stage, Deloitte’s Predictive Project Analytics
capability can help your organization achieve success
by objectively determining and mitigating the agents
of failure.

21. Read the full report here.
Gabriel Rodriguez
Global Leader, Partner
Angela Moch
Senior Manager
To learn more about Predictive Project Analytics,
contact us at deloitteanalytics@deloitte.ca

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