Introduction

This is Part I of what will be a series of posts which will give you a good understanding of how 360° PMCA™ Version 2.0 (PMCA) works.

PMCA is a competency assessment system designed to collect feedback regarding an individual’s project management competencies from multiple sources.  The multi-source assessment method is known as the 360° assessment method. 

By collecting a range of viewpoints regarding an individual’s competencies, the system offers interesting avenues for the analysis and planning of project management training programs, standardization initiatives, and personnel improvement programs (PMCA supports the traditional manager-subordinate assessment approach as well). Go here for more information on benefits and highlights.

Competencies are the core of PMCA and are defined as the skills, experiences, behaviors, or abilities required to perform a job or activity.  Related competencies are arranged in domains.  Domains provide two benefits: first, the thinking undertaken to define competencies and group them by domains increases focus on the competency framework’s underlying logic.  Second, reports that "roll-up" assessment results by domain assist in analysis.

Next, a PMCA competency framework defines a system of measurement.  PMCA’s measurement system is based on a configurable Likert scale coupled with optional competency-specific descriptions of abilities, behaviors, or skills associated with performing at a particular level.   See Figure 1 below for an example.

Figure 1: Sample Competency Statement and Rating Scale

Organizations with a mature project management ecology often have project management competencies defined and may even have considered domains as an organizing principle.  A key design goal (design goals will be discussed in detail in another post) was to provide a framework modeling environment that would accommodate a customer’s framework, IIL’s framework, and any blend of the two.   Towards this goal, PMCA allows for a variable number and structure of domains, competencies, a configurable Likert scale, and a wide array of other configurable elements.  Visit http://www.iil.com/360pmca/customization.asp for information about other configuration options.

The Assessment Experience

The individual at the center of the 360° experience is known as the assessee.   Participants assessing the assessee are known as assessors.  PMCA supports configurations with as few as two participants (assessee plus one assessor, typically used in traditional manager-subordinate assessments) or as many as ten participants.  Assessor types are configurable.  An assessment might have a manager assessor, three team member assessors and a customer assessor.  Assessors are invited by the assessee to participate and are sent an customizable email invitation to kick off the process.

In addition to configurable framework elements such as domains and competencies, PMCA provides for the definition and collection of custom attributes.  Custom attributes are data elements associated with the assessee such as business unit, location, job grade, or any other data element appropriate for a customer’s scenario.  Custom attributes are used in reporting and analysis to group assessment results.  Questions such "what is the average rating in the Personal Skills domain for project managers with 5 years or more of experience?" can be asked of the system because of these custom attributes.

The screen shots below take you through the assessee’s experience of signing up, filling out their profile (specifying values for the custom attributes), inviting others to assess, and starting the assessment.  Note that this example used a simplified Likert scale rather than the detailed competency-specific descriptions mentioned previously–yet another configuration option.

Figure 2: Sign-Up

Figure 3: Complete Profile

Figure 4: Invite Others

Figure 5: Self-Assessment

Invitations are sent via email to the individuals for whom email addresses where provided for in Figure 5.  Figure 6 shows a sample of the invitation email (also customizable).

Figure 6: Sample Invitation Email

Clicking the embedded link takes the assessor to a Start Page where basic information is collected before starting the assessment.  Figure 7 shows the assessor Start Page.

Figure 6: Sample Invitation Email

We will end off today’s post with a sample report.  What you see below is generated for the assessee (again, the person at the center of the 360° assessment).  The report is highly configurable.  What you see below shows the assessee’s self-rating, two of his team members’ rating, his manager’s rating, and a target (we will discuss targets in a subsequent post).

Part II will cover specifics regarding the default project management competency framework, configuration options, administration, and reporting.