What if your projects could talk back to your strategy—would they say they’re aligned?
Projects, regardless of scale or scope, often fail to deliver because strategies are not aligned with actual sustained implementation.
This interface represents the moment for the BSC to come into play, not just as a set of measures but as a strategic management system to close the gap between the formulation of strategies and their implementation.
The purpose of balanced scorecard tools is exactly this—bridging vision and execution through measurable alignment.
First conceptualized by Kaplan and Norton in 1992 and developed further in their landmark book The Balanced Scorecard: Translating Strategy into Action of 1996, the BSC has since become a widely accepted tool for organizational project success through strategic clarity and accountability.
Today, the benefits of balanced scorecard adoption are seen across sectors for ensuring consistent project alignment and successful outcomes.
The balanced scorecard project management framework is much more than a mere set of metrics.
It is really a framework that can help translate an organization's strategic goals into a balanced set of performance measures across four perspectives: financial, customer, internal processes, and learning and growth, thereby aligning projects to higher organizational goals and making sure that every action taken contributes to long-term value creation.
The understanding of what is a balanced scorecard in project management, hence, means recognizing its role in helping bridge the gap between strategy and project execution.
Kaplan & Norton (1996) collaborated to state that the BSC framework integrates these perspectives in a way that embraces performance measurement and strategic choice.
The purpose of balanced scorecard systems is to create transparency and strategic alignment across all organizational layers, especially within project portfolios.
By establishing clear KPIs tied to strategic goals, organizations can monitor progress, allocate resources efficiently, and adjust tactics in real-time.
These real-time metrics are foundational in understanding why a balanced scorecard is important for an organization.
This purpose is critical when dealing with complex projects that involve multiple teams, stakeholders, and shifting priorities.
Projects are often vehicles for strategy execution. However, without proper alignment, they may veer off course.
According to research published in the International Journal of Project Management, organizations that align project selection and prioritization with Balanced Scorecard metrics report higher project success rates, better stakeholder satisfaction, and more effective resource utilization.
Using the balanced scorecard project management approach means:
This strategic approach creates transparency and enables project managers to communicate clearly with executive stakeholders, creating a shared understanding of goals and expectations
An often-overlooked aspect of successful strategy execution is the contribution of the Project Management Office: a balanced scorecard perspective reveals how PMOs can act as the glue between enterprise strategy and day-to-day project operations.
By leveraging BSC frameworks, PMOs can:
Research highlights that PMOs using a BSC-based model are better positioned to justify project prioritization and resource allocation to leadership.
This reflects another layer of why a balanced scorecard is important for an organization, especially one operating at scale.
The Project Management Institute's whitepaper "Project Portfolio Management with the Balanced Scorecard" outlines how the BSC helps in selecting and prioritizing projects based on strategic fit.
By evaluating proposed initiatives through each of the four BSC perspectives, organizations can:
This method also provides a structure for ongoing portfolio governance, where project health is continuously assessed using pre-defined BSC-aligned metrics.
The benefits of balanced scorecard frameworks in project environments are well documented.
These include:
Additionally, the BSC facilitates cross-functional collaboration by creating a shared language around performance and strategic priorities.
It's these benefits that reinforce why a balanced scorecard is important for an organization aiming for long-term project maturity.
While originally developed for the private sector, the Balanced Scorecard has seen growing adoption in public administration and healthcare environments.
A series of balanced scorecard case study examples in Public Administration Review and Health Policy and Planning show how government agencies and hospitals use the BSC to:
For instance, federal ministries in Europe have adopted the BSC to integrate risk management and strategic planning across departments. Similarly, healthcare institutions have used it to track quality-of-care indicators alongside budgetary performance.
As projects grow in complexity, organizations require dynamic tools to track and report on multiple performance dimensions.
Research from The Journal of Management in Engineering supports the use of the BSC as a real-time project dashboard. This allows:
The above goes to say: Project managers will then have the occasion to intervene faster, manage their resources with much efficacy, and make decisions based on data and facts.
If implemented correctly, the BSC dashboard becomes the ultimate repository of truth that links strategy with actions during all phases in the project lifecycle.
Despite its benefits, BSC implementation is not without challenges.
The article "Balanced Scorecard Implementation in Large Organizations: Analysis of Barriers," published in the Journal of Business Research, identifies common hurdles, including:
To address these challenges, the overwhelming majority of companies adopt change management strategies that encompass alignment of leadership, engagement of employees, and iterative implementation.
The key to delivering long-term impact is getting the BSC embedded in organizational culture, as opposed to it being a one-time project.
To leverage BSC frameworks effectively, many project professionals pursue balanced scorecard certification programs.
These certifications provide the knowledge and tools needed to:
Professionals certified in BSC principles are often seen as valuable assets to organizations aiming to link strategic planning with execution.
Recent systematic reviews from the European Management Journal and the Project Management Journal confirm that BSC adoption correlates with improved organizational performance, particularly in project-based work.
These meta-analyses highlight several best practices:
This research underscores the importance of longitudinal integration of BSC within the project management function rather than one-off adoption.
One notable real-world example is Infosys, a global technology consulting firm that used the Balanced Scorecard to align internal projects with client-facing outcomes.
Through a BSC-driven strategy execution model, Infosys:
According to a balanced scorecard case study from Harvard Business School, the BSC played a pivotal role in translating abstract strategy into actionable, measurable initiatives across functions.
Why the balanced scorecard is important for an organization comes down to its ability to transform vision into measurable action. It creates a shared framework that enhances alignment, accountability, and agility.
Whether in the private sector or public service, the Balanced Scorecard helps teams move beyond isolated project execution to strategy-driven performance.
The benefits of balanced scorecard tools are most visible when embedded deeply into project governance and decision-making practices.
Ultimately, the success of the Balanced Scorecard in driving project outcomes depends on how deeply it is embedded in the organizational mindset.
When teams view performance through a BSC lens, they:
This cultural alignment transforms the BSC from a management tool into a strategic operating system, enabling organizations to navigate complexity with agility and foresight.
Think you are cut out to be the one organization that seeks out? Then check out our GSDC Certified Balanced Scorecard Professional.
If the Balanced Scorecard has stayed around for a long time, it is because it is considered adaptive rather than static.
As the project environment turns volatile and outcome-driven, organizations are in need of constructs from which to actually measure progress and gain strategic clarity and direction.
With the work of Kaplan and Norton, as well as industry- and sector-specific studies, it has been demonstrated that the BSC provides project managers with a framework to reconcile day-to-day decisions with long-term goals.
It aligns, creates transparency, builds accountability, and, therefore, is one of the preconditions for successful project execution.
In a more frequent scenario where strategy lags behind execution, the balanced scorecard project management approach remains the proven route for transforming intent into impact.
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