March 10, 2010

Gap Analysis

Gap Analysis Aims At Improving Performance

The process of analyzing performance always begins with business analysis, which allows us to identify the gaps in performance. HPI takes into account the Influences that affect your business, the Tasks that form the daily workload in you business or departments, the Processes that are needed to deliver the Outcomes desired, and the final Goal that your business seeks to satisfy. The difference between the beginning point (current performance level) and the endpoint (desired performance level) is the performance gap.

Business Analysis

The first step in Gap Analysis is to determine your business goals and clarify the relationship of the goals to the performance your employees’ performance. The HPI analysis must start by identifying the key business goals, and then consider the performance gaps that can be addressed to help your business work towards those goals.

Performance Analysis

Once you have determined what organizational goals are not being met because of a performance gap, you can take steps to close that gap. This will result in the desired performance state.

Working To Identify Performance Gaps

The gap analysis process is accomplished through discovery and inquiry:

  • Who is the customer, or who is affected
  • Identify business goals
  • Whose performance is the problem
  • What is the actually performance level
  • What is the desired performance level
  • Determine what performance is critical to achieve those goals,
  • Determine which performance outcomes have significant gaps,
  • Figuring out what has caused those gaps.

Prioritize Your Performance Gaps

Note that although you may have identified a performance gap, it doesn’t mean it’s worth closing that gap. The best value to your business is to focus on performance gaps that will make an impact in reaching your business goals.

The next step is to determine the priority of the gaps:

  • How important is the identified gap?
  • How often does the gap occur?
  • How costly will it be to resolve the gap?