PM Excellence presents the results of the new PM Benchmark study

Second wave PM Benchmark research is based on the results of a survey of project management practitioners and covers 27 benchmarks. All estimates were given for projects with a development of 10-100, 100-300, 300+ billion rubles, the base of which is capital construction. PM Benchmark reflects the key indicators of large-scale project management practices - "how it should be" for effective management.

Compared to 1st wave of research, conducted in the first half of 2024, in the new version of PM Benchmark the number of experts surveyed increased by 20%, and 11 studied indicators were added, including the required time for staff development and motivation, the amount of digitalization costs and others.

Thus, the study showed that the total costs of project management should range from 1.8 to 3.9% of the project budget. Costs as a percentage of its budget decrease as the project budget increases. For projects with the development of 10-100 billion rubles, management costs should average from 390 million rubles (3.9%), for projects of 100-300 billion rubles - from 2.6 billion rubles (2.6%), and for projects of 300+ billion rubles - from 18 billion rubles (1.8%).

As for the size of the necessary budget reserves for the entire project, the percentage of the budget is almost the same for all groups of projects - 15%, 16% and 17% (arranged in ascending order of the budget).

The costs of digitalization (including PMIS) of a large and megaproject should range from 4.9 to 6.4% of the project budget. For projects with the development of 10-100 billion rubles, digitalization should account for 6.4% of the budget, for projects 100-300 billion rubles - 5.9%, and for projects 300+ billion rubles - 5.8%. Approximately the same amount should be spent on engineering support: on average - 6.1% of the budget for projects with the development of 10-100 billion rubles, 5.4% - for projects of 100-300 billion rubles and 4.9% - for projects of 300+ billion rubles.

The experts also estimated what percentage of the project team's time per week should be spent on planning and meetings. For the planning process, this is 10.8 hours for projects with a development of 10-100 billion rubles, 11.6 hours for projects with a development of 10-100 billion rubles, 13.2 hours for projects with a development of 10-100 billion rubles. For meetings - 8.4 hours, 9.2 hours and 10.8 hours, respectively.

A project manager must spend time developing and motivating his team, so PM Benchmark provides an estimate of the manager's time on these activities. The study showed that the minimum percentage of working time that should be devoted to team motivation and development tasks ranges from 15% to 18%, that is, from 6 to 7.2 hours in a 40-hour work week.

The authors of the study studied the salaries and bonuses of project management specialists, including managers. Project managers with development of 300 billion or more should receive the highest salary, an average of 1.174 million rubles per month. This amount increased by 74 thousand rubles compared to the data of the 1st wave of the study. The salary of project managers with a development of 100-300 billion is estimated at an average of 764 thousand rubles per month, and this amount has also increased - by 69 thousand rubles. Project managers with a development of 10-100 billion should earn on average 470 thousand rubles per month, an increase of 26 thousand rubles. As for the size of the bonus, on average for projects with development of 10-100 billion rubles it should be 39%, for projects 100-300 billion rubles - 43%, and for projects 300+ billion rubles - 51%.

The full text of the PM Benchmark study is available download on the PM Excellence website.