When it comes to improving business performance, how do you determine the distance between your current state and your goals? That’s where gap analysis comes in.
You might ask, ‘What exactly is a gap analysis?’ or ‘How can it help me in my project endeavors?’ Simply put, a gap analysis identifies the difference between current and desired performance, helping to highlight areas for improvement in your project.
In this blog, we’ll guide you through everything you need to know about gap analysis—from understanding what it is and how to conduct one, to exploring different types and offering free templates you can use. Ready to bridge the gap?
At its core, gap analysis is a strategic management process that seeks to identify the difference between the existing position and the ideal position of a project or a business. Whether it involves process improvement, skills set of a team, or business alignment, gap analysis helps organizations identify where they are falling short.
But how does gap analysis fit into project management? Simply put, it helps you understand where inefficiencies or misalignments are, so you can drive improvement. The gap between the current state and where you want could be missed deadlines, underutilized resources, or even team skill shortages.
By identifying these gaps early on, you can correct them before minor issues become major problems.
What Role Does A Gap Analysis Template Play?
A gap analysis template gives you a framework to systematically assess and document gaps. It saves time by breaking down data into clear sections, so you can see where you’re underperforming and where you need to improve. Instead of starting from scratch, templates help you along the way, so you can maintain consistency and thoroughness across all your projects.
Smartsheet software can simplify this process by offering customizable templates, helping you efficiently track gaps.
Ultimately, gap analysis is a powerful tool for assessing project performance, ensuring your team stays right on track, and aligning resources with your business objectives.
Download a free gap analysis template and start minimizing the gap.
The process of carrying out a gap analysis consists of several vital steps to discover and close the gaps between the current and the future state.
The following is a step-by-step guide to help you navigate the process effectively:
- Identify The Current State: Start by making a proper evaluation of your current state. This involves identifying data about your current processes and resources and assessing your performance. For instance, if you are assessing a project management process, record the existing time frames, resources, and team performance. This helps identify areas that require enhancement.
- Define The Desired Future State: Ensure that your stated goals and objectives are specific and measurable. What does success look like? Define your target outcomes and performance standards. For example, if your goal is to reduce project delivery time, specify the new target timeline. This future state provides a benchmark against which you’ll measure your current performance.
- Identify Gaps: Compare your status with your desired future state to identify gaps. These gaps could be in processes, skills, or resources. Look for areas where there is a short fall. For example, you might find that your team’s current skill set does not align with the new technologies you plan to implement.
- Prioritize Gaps: Not all gaps are created equal. Determine which gaps are the most critical to your project goals. It is recommended that critical tasks be prioritized based on their importance and potential impact on the organization. This prioritization is useful because it directs the efforts to the areas where the impact will be the most significant.
- Develop An Action Plan: Develop a clear strategy on how to work on the above-mentioned gaps. It is recommended that this plan should have clear actions, who is supposed to do what, when it is supposed to be done, and the resources to be used. For instance, if the problem is a lack of skills, some of the solutions you implement in your action plan may include training or recruiting people with the skills you need.
- Monitor And Review: Lastly, proactively monitor the progress of your action plan and review the results. Adjustments are always welcomed to ensure that the gaps are effectively closed, and your project or business objectives are met.
By following these steps, you will systematically address the gaps in your processes and improve the overall performance.
There are various types of gap analysis and understanding them can help you tailor your approach to address specific needs within your organization. These include:
Skills Gap Analysis
This type focuses on identifying discrepancies between the current skill set of your team and the skills required to achieve your goals. It helps in planning targeted training and development programs or recruiting new talent to fill those gaps.
Process Gap Analysis
This analysis looks at the current processes and procedures to find inefficiencies or blockages. By looking at these gaps you can streamline and improve overall process, efficiency, performance, and cost.
Market Gap Analysis
This looks at opportunities and threats in the market by comparing your current market position to potential market opportunities. It is key for strategic planning and helps you find new business opportunities or determine where your product or service stands.
Strategic Gap Analysis
This helps to align your current strategies with your long-term business objectives. It helps you find misalignments and adjust, so your strategic plans drive your business to its goals.
Data Gap Analysis
This helps in finding missing or incomplete data that has an impact on decision-making. This type of analysis makes sure you have the information needed to make an informed decision.
Each type of gap analysis provides valuable insights into different aspects of your organization, helping you address specific areas of concern and enhance overall performance.
The following are a number of various gap analysis templates at your disposal:
General Gap Analysis Template
Use this gap analysis template for any situation—regulatory compliance or cost-benefit analysis. If there isn’t a template for your exact situation or you’re not sure from where to start, use this template to identify the gaps and get the process moving towards closing or resolving them.
Skills Gap Analysis Template
This template helps employees improve their skills, making them more qualified for promotions or enabling them to perform better in their jobs. It includes sections for documenting skills, proficiency levels, desired goals, and a space for devising an action plan with specified start and end dates to facilitate the employee's skill development journey.
Process Gap Analysis Template
Use this process gap analysis template to review processes, identify gaps, and plan improvements or updates. This template has sections to document the process, specifying the process owner, and current vs desired outcomes. Use the action items and target date fields to start developing a plan to fix the process.
Market Gap Analysis Template
Use a market gap analysis to find new sales opportunities, to identify mismatches between supply and demand or to identify diversification opportunities. This approach uses the Ansoff Matrix methodology. Once you understand the current situation, this template will help businesses to navigate towards the identification of potential top-tier enhancement options.
Data Gap Analysis Template
Carry out a data gap analysis to determine what data is required in order to respond to user’s questions and start the process of obtaining the missing data. Make use of the templates for outlining data resources, queries, necessary data to resolve and rationales for data absence to get an understanding of the data environment.
Use action plans, deadlines, and the responsibilities assigned to begin the process of tackling the outcomes of the analysis.
Vendor Gap Analysis Template
Use this template to choose a new vendor or evaluate an existing vendor. It has spaces to define your requirements, costs, and priorities for vendor selection or evaluation.
By now, you should have a clear understanding of gap analysis and how to leverage various templates to enhance your business performance. Whether addressing skills shortages, process inefficiencies, or strategic misalignments, gap analysis provides a structured approach to pinpointing and bridging the gaps.
Utilizing these free templates to streamline your assessment, develop actionable plans, and drive meaningful improvements. Ready to transform your performance? Download your gap analysis templates today and start closing those gaps.
Please visit our project management resources center section for further assistance.
