ba-solution-evaluation

Compare post-implementation KPIs against the pre-implementation baseline and targets, then assess value realization across business need resolution, stakeholder satisfaction, ROI, and adoption. BABOK Solution Evaluation classifies each KPI as achieved (90%+ of target), partial (60-89%), or not achieved.

Solution Evaluation is the BABOK v3 knowledge area that measures solution performance and assesses whether the original business need was resolved. Use it after the solution is in real production use, typically at 30, 60, or 90 day reviews, never before at least 2-4 weeks of real usage data exists.

Wait a minimum of 2-4 weeks of real production usage. Process efficiency projects need about 4 weeks minimum, user experience projects about 6 weeks for the learning curve, and business transformation projects about 12 weeks for meaningful results.

ROI equals (realized benefit minus investment cost) divided by investment cost, times 100. Quantify benefits such as cost-per-transaction reduction, FTE time savings, error reduction, or revenue increase, then compute payback period as investment cost divided by annual benefit.

Key signals include users running parallel manual processes like Excel workarounds, primary features with under 20% usage, rising support tickets, and users reverting to legacy systems for special cases. Workarounds indicate gaps between the solution and real user needs.

Do not evaluate before the solution is in real production use, since projections without real data are unreliable. Also do not use it to verify the solution was built correctly, which is a QA and testing concern rather than a business value assessment.