As quantum computing advances toward practical capabilities, organizations face the urgent challenge of migrating their cryptographic systems to post-quantum cryptography (PQC). This transition isn’t merely a technical upgrade—it’s a complex transformation requiring careful monitoring and management to ensure success. A well-designed metrics dashboard becomes your organization’s navigation system through this critical journey.
The stakes couldn’t be higher. Without proper tracking mechanisms, PQC migrations risk implementation gaps, compatibility issues, performance degradation, and potential security vulnerabilities. Organizations need visibility into their migration progress, security posture, and operational impacts to make data-driven decisions throughout the transition.
In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explore how to build effective metrics dashboards specifically designed for PQC migration initiatives. You’ll discover the essential key performance indicators (KPIs), visualization techniques, and strategic frameworks that provide actionable insights throughout your quantum-safe transformation. Whether you’re in the planning stages or already implementing PQC solutions, these metrics will help you navigate the complexities with confidence.
Post-quantum cryptography migration represents one of the most significant cryptographic transitions in computing history. Unlike routine security updates, PQC migration fundamentally changes the mathematical foundations of your security infrastructure. This transition demands specialized metrics that address both the technical and organizational dimensions of the change.
Effective PQC migration metrics should provide insights across multiple domains: implementation progress, security posture, performance impacts, and organizational readiness. These metrics must balance technical depth with accessibility for stakeholders across your organization. The goal isn’t simply to track activity but to create actionable intelligence that guides decision-making throughout the migration journey.
When designing your metrics framework, consider the three key dimensions of PQC migration:
By developing metrics across these dimensions, you create a comprehensive view of your migration that supports both tactical execution and strategic decision-making. This multifaceted approach ensures you’re not only tracking progress but also maintaining security integrity throughout the transition.
Your PQC migration dashboard should incorporate KPIs that provide meaningful insights into implementation progress, security posture, and operational impacts. The following metrics represent the core measurements every organization should consider:
Implementation metrics track the execution of your PQC migration plan against established timelines and milestones:
Systems Inventory Coverage: Percentage of systems and applications identified and assessed for cryptographic dependencies. This metric ensures your migration plan accounts for all cryptographic assets in your environment.
Algorithm Replacement Rate: Percentage of vulnerable cryptographic implementations replaced with quantum-resistant alternatives. This metric tracks the core technical progress of your migration.
Certificate Transition Status: Percentage of digital certificates migrated to post-quantum algorithms, categorized by criticality and expiration timelines.
Hybrid Implementation Coverage: Percentage of systems implementing hybrid classical/post-quantum cryptographic solutions as an interim security measure.
Security metrics evaluate how effectively your PQC implementation protects against current and future threats:
Quantum Vulnerability Exposure: Percentage of systems still vulnerable to quantum attacks, weighted by data sensitivity and business criticality.
Cryptographic Agility Score: Measure of how quickly systems can adapt to new cryptographic algorithms or respond to newly discovered vulnerabilities.
Security Testing Coverage: Percentage of PQC implementations that have undergone security validation testing, including cryptanalysis reviews where applicable.
Compliance Alignment: Tracking of PQC implementation against emerging regulations, standards (like NIST), and industry frameworks.
Operational metrics assess how PQC implementation affects system performance and user experience:
Performance Deviation: Measured changes in system response times, throughput, and resource utilization after PQC implementation.
Integration Failure Rate: Frequency of integration issues or compatibility problems resulting from PQC algorithm implementation.
User Experience Impact: Changes in user interaction patterns, measured through additional authentication time or process modifications.
Incident Rate: Frequency of security or operational incidents directly attributable to PQC migration activities.
An effective PQC metrics dashboard transforms complex data into actionable insights. The design should prioritize clarity, context, and decision support rather than simply displaying technical data.
When designing your dashboard, organize metrics into logical groupings that tell a coherent story about your migration. Consider a tiered approach:
Executive View: High-level summary showing overall migration progress, key risk indicators, budget utilization, and major milestone status. This view should answer the question: “Are we on track for quantum security?”
Program Management View: Detailed project metrics including resource allocation, timeline adherence, workstream status, and interdependency management. This view supports operational decision-making for migration leaders.
Technical Implementation View: Granular metrics on algorithm deployment, testing results, performance impacts, and technical debt. This view enables security and IT teams to manage detailed implementation work.
Effective dashboards also incorporate trend analysis to show progress over time. Static snapshots provide limited value compared to visualizations that demonstrate velocity, acceleration, or regression in key metrics. Consider including:
Trend lines: Showing migration progress rates over time with projected completion based on current velocity
Risk heat maps: Visualizing vulnerable systems by business impact and implementation complexity
Dependency networks: Mapping relationships between systems to identify cascade effects from migration activities
The most effective dashboards also incorporate comparative benchmarks, showing how your organization’s progress compares to industry standards, regulatory timelines, or peer organizations when such data is available.
Tracking PQC implementation requires strategies that address the distributed nature of cryptographic assets across your organization. Unlike centralized systems, cryptographic implementations often exist in diverse environments from legacy mainframes to cloud services to IoT devices.
Consider implementing these strategies for comprehensive tracking:
Cryptographic Discovery Automation: Deploy tools that automatically scan and inventory cryptographic implementations across your environment. These tools should identify algorithm types, key lengths, and implementation methods to create a complete cryptographic census.
Migration Workflow Integration: Embed tracking mechanisms directly into your migration workflows, capturing implementation status, testing results, and rollback events in real-time rather than through periodic reporting.
Staged Implementation Tracking: Monitor progress across defined implementation stages (assessment, planning, development, testing, deployment, validation) with clear completion criteria for each phase.
Cryptographic Asset Management: Implement a centralized registry of cryptographic assets that maintains current state information and tracks transitions from vulnerable to quantum-resistant implementations.
For organizations with complex environments, consider a federated tracking approach where individual business units or technology domains maintain detailed migration metrics that roll up to enterprise-level dashboards. This approach balances local ownership with centralized visibility.
The primary purpose of PQC migration is enhancing security posture against quantum threats. Your metrics dashboard should provide clear visibility into the security improvements resulting from your migration efforts.
Develop security impact metrics that address both current and future threat landscapes:
Data-at-Risk Assessment: Quantify sensitive data protected by quantum-vulnerable cryptography and track the reduction of this exposure through migration. Consider categorizing by data type (PII, financial, intellectual property) and retention requirements.
Cryptographic Strength Evaluation: Measure the theoretical security strength of implemented PQC algorithms against both classical and quantum attack vectors, noting that this may evolve as cryptanalysis advances.
Time-to-Exploitation Estimates: Track estimated timelines for when quantum computing capabilities might threaten currently deployed cryptography, compared against your migration completion projections.
Security Control Effectiveness: Assess how PQC implementations interact with existing security controls, identifying potential gaps or compensating controls needed during transition periods.
Security metrics should include regular cryptanalysis updates from the research community, as the security landscape for post-quantum algorithms continues to evolve. Your dashboard should reflect the latest understanding of algorithm security margins and potential vulnerabilities.
A robust security impact section will help communicate the value of PQC migration to stakeholders who may otherwise view it as a purely technical exercise rather than a critical security enhancement.
Post-quantum algorithms typically have different performance characteristics than their classical counterparts. Your metrics dashboard should carefully track these differences to identify operational impacts and optimization opportunities.
Key performance metrics to monitor include:
Computational Overhead: Measure additional CPU utilization required by PQC algorithms compared to classical implementations across different use cases and workloads.
Memory Footprint Changes: Track increases in memory requirements, particularly for embedded systems or resource-constrained environments where PQC implementations may have significant impact.
Key Size and Bandwidth Impact: Monitor the effects of larger key sizes and signatures on network traffic, storage requirements, and transmission times.
Latency Changes: Measure end-to-end transaction time changes, particularly for cryptographic operations in time-sensitive applications like payment processing or real-time communications.
Performance monitoring should include threshold alerts that identify when PQC implementation creates unacceptable performance degradation requiring optimization or architectural changes. Consider implementing A/B comparisons that directly contrast classical and post-quantum implementations under identical workload conditions.
For critical systems, performance simulations prior to full implementation can help predict potential issues and develop mitigation strategies before production deployment.
PQC migration involves diverse stakeholders from technical implementers to business executives to external regulators. Your metrics dashboard should support customized reporting for these different audiences while maintaining a single source of truth.
Develop reporting strategies tailored to key stakeholder groups:
Executive Leadership: Focus on business risk reduction, compliance status, budget utilization, and major milestone achievement. Connect PQC metrics to business objectives and risk management frameworks.
Security Teams: Provide detailed cryptographic coverage metrics, vulnerability assessments, and security testing results. Highlight potential security gaps during transition periods.
IT Operations: Emphasize performance impacts, integration issues, and system stability metrics. Include operational readiness assessments for managing PQC implementations.
Application Owners: Supply application-specific migration status, testing results, and user experience impacts. Focus on business continuity considerations during transitions.
Compliance/Legal: Deliver regulatory alignment metrics, documentation completeness, and audit-ready evidence of due diligence in addressing quantum threats.
Consider developing automated reporting mechanisms that generate stakeholder-specific views from your central metrics repository. This approach ensures consistency while providing relevant context for each audience.
Regular reporting cadences should align with your overall migration timeline, with frequency increasing during critical implementation phases. Include trend analysis and forecasting in all stakeholder reports to provide forward-looking insights rather than just current status.
PQC migration is an evolving journey rather than a one-time project. Your metrics dashboard should support continuous improvement through adaptive measurement and feedback loops.
Implement these practices to ensure your metrics evolve with your migration:
Metrics Effectiveness Reviews: Regularly assess whether your current metrics provide actionable insights and modify them if they fail to drive appropriate decisions. Remove metrics that don’t influence actions.
Learning Capture: Document implementation challenges, successful approaches, and unexpected issues encountered during migration. Use these insights to refine both implementation strategies and measurement approaches.
Algorithm Standardization Updates: Maintain alignment between your metrics and evolving PQC standards from NIST and other authorities. Adjust your measurement framework as algorithms move through standardization processes.
Benchmark Refinement: Continuously improve your performance baselines as you gather more data about PQC implementations in your environment. Use this data to develop more accurate projections for remaining migration work.
Consider establishing a dedicated metrics governance process that regularly reviews and refines your measurement approach. This process should include both technical and business stakeholders to ensure metrics remain relevant across the organization.
As implementation progresses, your metrics emphasis should evolve from focusing primarily on deployment status to increasingly highlighting security effectiveness and operational stability of PQC solutions.
A well-designed metrics dashboard is essential for navigating the complexities of PQC migration. By implementing comprehensive tracking across implementation progress, security impacts, and operational considerations, organizations can ensure their transition to quantum-resistant cryptography proceeds effectively and securely.
The most successful PQC migrations will be those guided by data-driven insights that balance security imperatives with operational realities. Your metrics dashboard serves as both a navigation system and an early warning mechanism throughout this critical transition.
As quantum computing continues its rapid evolution, organizations must maintain visibility into both their cryptographic vulnerabilities and their migration progress. A robust metrics framework provides this visibility, enabling proactive management of quantum risk rather than reactive responses to emerging threats.
By applying the principles and practices outlined in this guide, you can develop metrics that not only track your PQC migration but actively contribute to its success, ensuring your organization achieves quantum-safe security posture before quantum computing threatens classical cryptographic protections.
Implementing a comprehensive metrics dashboard for your PQC migration is not merely a technical exercise—it’s a strategic necessity. As quantum computing advances toward practical cryptographic threats, organizations must have clear visibility into their migration progress, security posture, and operational readiness.
The metrics outlined in this guide provide a framework for monitoring your journey to quantum-safe security. By tracking implementation progress, security improvements, and performance impacts, you create the feedback mechanisms needed to guide this complex transition successfully.
Remember that effective metrics do more than measure—they motivate action, inform decisions, and build confidence among stakeholders. As you develop your PQC metrics dashboard, focus on creating actionable insights that drive your migration forward while maintaining security and operational stability.
The path to post-quantum security requires careful navigation, and your metrics dashboard serves as the map and compass for this journey. With proper measurement and monitoring, organizations can achieve quantum resilience before quantum computing realizes its full potential.
Join us at the World Quantum Summit 2025 in Singapore this September 23-25 to explore practical quantum computing applications, including comprehensive workshops on PQC migration and implementation.
Learn from global experts and connect with peers facing similar quantum security challenges.
Register for the Summit or explore sponsorship opportunities to showcase your quantum security solutions.
World Quantum Summit 2025
Sheraton Towers Singapore
39 Scotts Road, Singapore 228230
23rd - 25th September 2025
