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Hello,
This question is with regards to June 2019 Q1a focused on identifying/justifying KPIs against CSFs. Here for ref: https://www.acowtancy.com/exams/acca-apm/paper-question/jun-2019-genuine-q1i
I wanted to ask about this CSF ‘Build a world-class software development team’
This is what the markscheme says: This is a difficult factor to measure with precision. Building a team could be measured by an increasing number of employees or number of projects undertaken. However, the important element in this CSF is the ‘world-class’ quality of the team.
This could be measured by the input cost of the team, provided that they are recruited at competitive market rates, since higher wages would imply higher skills. Alternatively, it could be measured by the team’s output in terms of commercial success (sales) or technical achievement (industry design awards).
Overall, therefore, being led by the output of the team, it is recommended that we use growth in number of projects undertaken and the number of industry design awards won as the KPIs for this CSF.I had a few questions if you dont mind:
1. Could I structure my answer with KPI, explain and apply? I feel like the markscheme is less focused on the actual KPIs suggested and does a bit more analysis of reaching the KPI if that makes sense?
Here is an example of how I would have put this together (following a point, explanation and apply structure) – can you confirm if im risking not scoring enough marks?
Number of industry design awards won: The number of industry design awards won can be used to assess the world-class quality of the software development team. Industry awards provide independent external recognition and could be a strong proxy for “world-class” performance.
Winning recognised industry awards for its image processing software would demonstrate that its development team is operating at a competitive standard.2. Would ‘amount invested in employee development per annum’ not work as a KPI? The rationale would be that higher investment demonstrates they are ensuring the team are constantly up to speed with the market etc., I wont expand out just to keep this question brief (chatgpt says this wouldnt work too)
3. Growth in number of projects undertaken was a KPI in the markscheme, I cant imagine I would have thought of this myself. Do you have any general KPIs that you think would cover off a CSF around ‘building a world-class team’. I had ideas such as % of employees hired from prestigious uni’s (I understand this isnt exactly the best but if desperate), no of employees who have undertaken professional exams related to software development.
Thank you!
The points you make and the structure used in 1 and 2 above are excellent. No problem at all.
With 3, the growth in the number of projects undertaken is a bit lacking, I think. As it stands it ignores the quality aspect. Something like …number of projects successfully undertaken would be better.
To really attack the world class requirement I might have suggested in issuing clients with a post-project review sheet so that they could score aspects of performance like: innovation, flexibility, understanding needs, communication skills, satisfaction with the outcomes. That approach gives more external validation of the company’s success.
Great, thanks a lot thats really reassuring!
Thats a really helpful point about the world class aspect thank you, so I could probably put down as the KPI ‘client satisfaction score’ and then explain as youve mentioned above how the client responds/rates to each or some of those areas, providing external validation of the companys success.
Perhaps even a trustpilot score could work too? although im not sure if trustpilot necessarily equates to world class, but its still a form of external validation. What do you think?
I think TrustPilot is more a business to consumer thing that business to business.
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