Archive for the ‘Performance Measurement’ Category
Saturday, August 13th, 2011
smartKPIs.com Performance Architect update 44/2011
Configuring KPIs following their selection is represented by the documentation of the complete set of relevant details for each KPI and the activation of KPIs so that data can be reported and analyzed.
- Link KPIs upstream with business objectives and downstream with organizational initiatives. KPIs should be connected to organizational objective as they make objectives SMART. Initiatives should be establish to support the achievement of objectives by improving KPI results.
- Assign a data custodian responsible for gathering measurement data for the KPI. Data gathering for each KPI requires clarity and ownership. Having a responsible for collecting KPI data is a management approach to ensure accountability with data being available for analysis on time.
- Assign a KPI owner responsible for the achievement of the desired results. Each KPI should have a manager allocated as its owner, to ensure responsibility regarding its analysis, results and improvement options.
- Avoid tunnel KPI definitions – repeating the KPI name in the definition doesn’t add value. Good practice in working with KPIs requires thorough documentation of what they reprezent. Proper KPI definitions should go beyond repeating the KPI name, by providing a plain English explanation of what the KPI is about.
- Categorize KPIs by their reporting status – active = data is tracked, inactive = data not available. Activating KPIs is the process of moving a KPI status from inactive, when the data is not available to active, when data is reported and a clear process is in place for doing so on a regular basis.
- Clearly identify the unit type, most of the time % (percentage), # (number) and $ (dollar value). KPIs being measurable entities, they have an associated unit type. To simplify communication, the symbol should be used instead of the word expressing it.
- Data accuracy for each KPI should be evaluated as low, medium and high and treated as such. Not all KPIs have the same data reliability. Survey based KPIs are always going to be less reliable compared to revenue KPIs, due to objectivity issues. Other aspects to be considered are data automation and auditing.
- Determine the frequency of data generation and the frequency of reporting for each KPI. Data for some KPIs, such as ‘# Website visits‘ can be easily gathered on a daily basis. For other KPIs, such as ‘% Employee engagement‘, data gathering requires considerable costs and efforts, impacting a large number of staff. The frequency of reporting is influence by factors such as cost, efforts and technical complexity.
- Develop a customized KPI documentation form that contains the relevant details describing the KPI. Documenting KPIs can be easily done in a template that structures the main description fields considered relevant for the organization. smartKPIs.com contains such a model that can be customized at organizational level.
- Document if the trend is good when increasing, decreasing or when data is within a range. For some KPIs the results are good when they are decreasing from a period to another – for example ‘# Customer complaints’. For others, such as ‘$ Revenues‘, the results are good when increasing, while in the case of ‘% Budget variance‘, the results are good when within a specific range.
- Document where the reporting data for each KPI is sourced from and who produces it. Understanding a KPI relies on having a clear understanding of the data behind it and its source.
- Don’t worry too much about a KPI being leading or lagging. Differentiating between the two is debatable and confusing. What is considered a leading KPI for some is a lagging KPI for others. As agreement around this differentiation is oftentimes difficult to achieve, it is secondary in importance and impact.
- Ensure each KPI is clearly explained in a definition and has a purpose for usage. The separation between definition and purpose is essential. The purpose expresses the reason for using the KPI and is one of the key components of the documentation form.
- KISS – keep it short and simple: Use the # and % symbol to replace “number” and “percentage” in KPI names. Standardizing KPI names and shortening them supports communication and enables clear data visualization of KPIs in dashboard and scorecards.
- Simplify KPI names by eliminating the word “of”. As a “common denominator” it can be cut from the name. KPIs are analytical in nature and where possible, their names should be as concise as possible. Definitions, calculation and purpose fields provide context and can be more wordy.
Aurel Brudan
Performance Architect,
www.smartKPIs.com
Tags: KPI configuration
Posted in Library of KPI examples, Performance Architect update, Performance Management, Performance Measurement, smartKPIs.com | No Comments »
Friday, August 12th, 2011
August 12, 2011, Melbourne, Australia – smartKPIs.com, the world’s largest source of thoroughly documented Key Performance Indicator (KPI) examples announces that “Diagnosis and Treatment” and “Workload and Productivity” KPIs dominate the “Top 25 Healthcare KPIs of 2010”. The report presents in detail KPIs such as: “% Hospital bed occupancy rate”, “# Average daily census” and “# Hospital-acquired infections”, among other KPI examples reviewed by the smartKPIs.com research team. “Top KPIs of 2010″ is a collection of research reports discussing the most popular KPIs of 2010 across functional areas and industries. smartKPIs.com is an expert in the field of performance management and measurement, researching the use of KPI based performance management systems in practice around the world.
The “Top 25 Healthcare KPIs of 2010” report provides insights in the state of Healthcare performance measurement today by listing and analyzing the most visited KPIs on smartKPIs.com in 2010. It is part of the “Top KPIs of 2010” series of reports and a result of the research program conducted by the analysts of smartKPIs.com in the area of integrated performance management and measurement. smartKPIs.com hosts the largest catalogue of thoroughly documented KPI examples available today and representing an excellent platform for research and dissemination of insights on KPIs and related topics. The hundreds of thousands of visits to smartKPIs.com and the thousands of KPIs visited, bookmarked and rated by members of this online community in 2010 provided a rich data set, which combined with further analysis from the editorial team, formed the basis of these research reports.
(more…)
Tags: Customized KPI library, Database of KPIs, Indicators, Key Performance Indicator, Key Performance Indicators, KPI example, Library of KPIs, Metrics, Performance Measures, Top 25 Healthcare KPIs of 2010, Top Healthcare KPIs, Top KPIs
Posted in Business Intelligence, KPI, KPIs in practice, Measure, Performance Management, Performance Measurement, Report, smartKPIs.com | No Comments »
Tuesday, August 9th, 2011
Photo source: http://somnulescu.com
Fact: businesses are concerned to measure their success in social media. The question is how they can do it. So, how important is to have hundreds or thousands of “likes” if these “likes” fail to engage beyond their initial subscription? So, social media ROI should be based on “interaction and engagement” as primary goal, could be increase sales, share of voice, brand sentiment and many other things but, it’s also important to measure, monitor and compare with other investments in order to be sure that your money is spent wisely.
(more…)
Tags: 10 KPIs for social media ROI, KPIs in social media, social media ROI, success in social media
Posted in KPI, KPIs in practice, Library of KPI examples, Measure, Performance Management, Performance Measurement, smartKPIs.com | No Comments »
Saturday, August 6th, 2011
smartKPIs.com Performance Architect update 43/2011
Selecting KPIs is a process which seems simple, yet is inherently complex, due to the interdependencies involved. Here are 15 things to consider before embarking on this journey.
- Review existing internal reports and support documents at the beginning of the KPI selection exercise. These may include previous business / strategy plans, annual reports, performance reports and other documentation that relates to performance management, measurement and benchmarking.
- Use external lists of examples and other secondary documentation to inform and support KPI selection. It is always a good idea to begin a journey having the end in mind. Reviewing KPI examples used in the industry or functional area, by competitors or other organizations provides context around what is in used in practice by others and improves understanding around the desired output.
- Engage internal stakeholders in the process of KPI selection through interactive workshops. KPI selection is not a desk exercise. It is an opportunity to communicate and learn, hence an open discussion in a workshop format is a better approach for enabling not only KPI selection, but also understanding and ownership.
- Calibrate KPI selection around business objectives and value drivers. KPIs are not used in isolation. They are just one component of the value creation chain and of the performance management system. A simple way to position them is al links between business objectives and related organizational initiatives.
- Select KPIs based on the realities of organizational activity and environment. Each organization is different, operating in different environments, with different guiding principles. Hence the KPIs used need to reflect the specifics of each organization first and industry/functional area characteristics second.
- Maintain a centralized catalogue of KPIs for the entire organization. Structuring KPI documentation in a central repository facilitates their understanding and usage in a similar way across the organization, growing the know-how and facilitating KPI selection and usage on an ongoing basis.
- Understand the difference between input, process, output and outcome KPIs. This value creation sequence is essential in facilitating the understanding of KPIs in the context of the value added by the process/activity they are related to. It is an essential mapping technique that facilitates KPI selection.
- Don’t hesitate in changing KPIs in scorecards and dashboards. KPIs should reflect activity and activity should adapt to a changing environment. The use of KPIs should be fluid and flexible, reflecting the change in business priorities as a result of the change in the operating environment.
- Review KPI relevance regularly. If new KPIs are required, they can be established at any time. An essential aspect of double loop learning. Using KPIs is not only about achieving set targets and objectives, but also about ensuring the objectives and targets were the right ones to be set in the first place and the KPIs used to track their achievement were the appropriate ones.
- KPI selection and target setting should be done in accordance with organizational maturity and direction. There is no one size fits all approach when it comes to using KPIs. As strategies vary from one organization to another, the use of KPIs also varies.
- Project milestones are not KPIs. Understanding the difference between what is and what is not a KPI is a prerequisite of successful KPI selection.
- Targets are not KPIs. Understanding the anatomy of a KPI is essential in KPI selection and usage.
- Some things are not worth measuring. For example measuring love might not be such a good idea. Not everything that can be measured should be measured with KPIs.
- Some things are too difficult to measure. For example cuteness. The “measuring everything that moves’ mentality should be avoided.
- Eliminate or replace inactive KPIs with simpler, yet measurable ones. Using some KPIs may have seemed a good idea at the time of their selection, however if measuring them proves to be too costly or time consuming, they should be replaced. An active KPI is better than an inactive KPI.
Aurel Brudan
Performance Architect,
www.smartKPIs.com
Tags: KPI selection, selecting KPIs
Posted in KPI, Library of KPI examples, Performance Architect update, Performance Management, Performance Measurement, smartKPIs.com | No Comments »
Wednesday, August 3rd, 2011
August 4, 2011, Melbourne, Australia – smartKPIs.com, the world’s largest source of thoroughly documented Key Performance Indicator (KPI) examples announces that Sales Performance and Sales Management dominate the “Top 25 Retail KPIs of 2010”. The report presents in detail KPIs such as: “# Inventory to sales ratio (ISR)”, “% Same store sales growth” and “$ Sales per unit area”, among other KPI examples reviewed by the smartKPIs.com research team. “Top KPIs of 2010″ is a collection of research reports discussing the most popular KPIs of 2010 across functional areas and industries. smartKPIs.com is an expert in the field of performance management and measurement, researching the use of KPI based performance management systems in practice around the world.
The “Top 25 Retail KPIs of 2010” report provides insights in the state of Retail performance measurement today by listing and analyzing the most visited KPIs on smartKPIs.com in 2010. It is part of the “Top KPIs of 2010” series of reports and a result of the research program conducted by the analysts of smartKPIs.com in the area of integrated performance management and measurement. smartKPIs.com hosts the largest catalogue of thoroughly documented KPI examples available today and representing an excellent platform for research and dissemination of insights on KPIs and related topics. The hundreds of thousands of visits to smartKPIs.com and the thousands of KPIs visited, bookmarked and rated by members of this online community in 2010 provided a rich data set, which combined with further analysis from the editorial team, formed the basis of these research reports. (more…)
Tags: Best KPI, Database of KPIs, Indicators, Key Performance Indicator, Key Performance Indicators, KPI example, Metrics, Performance Measures, retail KPIs, Top 25 Retail KPIs of 2010, Top KPIs, Top Retail KPIs
Posted in Customized KPI library, KPI, Measure, Performance Management, Performance Measurement, Report, smartKPIs.com | No Comments »
Tuesday, July 26th, 2011
 "Executive Scorecard")
Executive Scorecard: Vice President of IT Operations, Source: www.hp.com, 2011
According to a recent press release, HP announced that it has launched a new software suite to operationalize measure and improve IT performance. Tech Directors require standardized instruments that measure efficiently and improve performance. Having a comprehensive overview of IT performance enables Chief Information Officers (CIOs) to deliver an Instant-On Enterprise which incorporates everything he does in order to serve customers, employees, partners and citizens with all they need, instantly.
Today, most key performance indicators (KPIs) for IT systems are widely dispersed and collected by using different methods. This is creating management deficiencies which may slow responses to changing priorities and market circumstances.
CIO Assessment and Cloud Assessment tools help clients quickly evaluate their current level of IT Performance Management maturity.
HP’s IT Performance Suite is swiftly proving critical to the success of CIOs and the VP of IM in particular because it provides control and visibility into information across the enterprise.
Reference:
HP Press Release (2011), HP Unveils Performance Suite for the Instant-On Enterprise, available at: http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/press/2011/110601xa.html
Tags: HP's IT Performance Suite, IT performance, IT Performance Suite, Key Performance Indicators, KPIs for IT
Posted in Business Intelligence, KPI, Measure, Performance Management, Performance Measurement | No Comments »
Thursday, July 21st, 2011
Businesses, from the production sector have more data than ever before, stored in more than one system and places, are used in different ways. Progress in information technology has fueled this explosive increase opportunity both in creating fresh ways for producers in order to reach new markets and clients and complexity in an effort to collect, manage and interpret data and information which can help guide them through success.
After analyzing Ventana’s Research study in examining business analytics in manufacturing, Nicole Stempak has 10 recommendations for manufacturers wishing to improve their performance through business analytics:
- Assess the maturity of your business analytics, selecting KPIs is a learning experience, a journey in itself.
- Look for business analytics tools that are easy to use and flexible
- Look for tools that support a range of roles in a manufacturing environment.
- Ensure business analytics are widely accessible, while some KPIs are widely used across organisations, others are unique to each organisations as they reflect their strategy and specific conditions of operating.
- Don’t let inferior data undermine use of business analytics and metrics.
- Replace spreadsheets as tools for business analytics.
- It helps when IT and the lines of business work together on analytics.
- Understand the value of predictive and forward-looking analytics.
- Address barriers standing in the way of improving business analytics and performance.
- Resources must be adequate to enable investment in technology to make analytics easy to access and use.
In conclusion clarify what you want to achieve. If you want to improve things and learn from KPIs, you should not avoid selecting challenging KPIs, difficult to measure or difficult to improve. The easy choice is selecting KPIs that make you look good. While this may serve some purpose on the short term, on the medium to long term it will impact the relevance and credibility of KPIs in the organisation.
References:
BusinessFinance (2011), 10 Ways to Get the Most Out of Business Analytics available at: http://businessfinancemag.com/article/10-ways-get-most-out-business-analytics-0720 (accessed 21 July 2011)
BusinessFinance (2011), Business Analytics Still in Infancy Stage in Manufacturing available at: http://businessfinancemag.com/article/business-analytics-still-infancy-stage-manufacturing-0718 (accessed 21 July 2011)
Tags: business analytics in manufacturing, Key Performance Indicators, KPI, Ventana Research
Posted in Business Intelligence, KPI, Measure, Performance Management, Performance Measurement | No Comments »
Wednesday, July 20th, 2011
Source: Global Growth - jscreationzs
A performance report becomes functional by using KPIs that illustrate the business context and by which action can be identified or labeled worth trying.
When choosing a KPI it should fulfill one of the following categories (Shevlin, 2007):
- To have the ability to explain. Do your KPIs help explaining why something has happened?
- To be predictable. Can a KPI predict what will happen in the future within the company?
- Behaviour change. The measurement of a KPI makes people to act or to behave in a particular way?
Some of the widely used KPIs for measuring marketing department’s performance are (smartKPIs.com, 2011):
- % Brand awareness - Measures the rate at which target customers recognize and recall the brand.
- % Customer retention - Measures the organization’s ability to create repeat business among its customer base. High retention indicates customer satisfaction is strong.
- $ Customer acquisition cost - Measures how much it costs, in average, to acquire a new customer.
- % Customer attrition - Measures the rate at which the customers stop purchasing the company’s products.
- % Repeat customers - Measures the percentage of customers with repeat purchase behavior, from all customers. (more…)
Tags: Key Performance Indicator, Key Performance Indicators, KPI, KPIs in Marketing, Marketing Performance Management
Posted in KPI, Library of KPI examples, Performance Management, Performance Measurement, smartKPIs.com | No Comments »
Tuesday, July 12th, 2011
Source: HP CIO Assessment - Report Preview - Overall Performance
Good news for IT industry budgets and spending are increasing this year. According to Wedbush’s survey of 100 IT project managers some of their conclusions are:
- 77 percent of respondents expected IT budgets to rise 8 percent in 2011.
- 59 percent of respondents said they would purchase tablets in the next year, but only 29 percent of those surveyed thought they would replace notebooks. PC demand appears to be solid in business technology.
With these results for 2011 it`s very important for CIOs to measure their department’s performance. Complementing this trend, HP has recently launched the “CIO Assessment tool“, a questionnaire that works like an investment portfolio that is measured against financial indices (peers).
You can choose the industry peers you’d like to be benchmarked against from: Health Care, Financial Services, Government, Manufacturing & Distribution, Technology or Telecommunications divided in four areas: IT Value, Customer Satisfaction, Operational Excellence and Future Orientation.
Sample questions from each area:
- IT value: What percentage of your IT expenditure is tracked to business objectives?
- Customer satisfaction: What is your percentage of deviation from planned hours of work?
- Operational excellence: How quickly can IT deliver new business services in response to changes in business demand?
- Future orientation: What percentage of your IT employees are satisfied with their jobs according to your internal employee satisfaction metrics?
After completing the entire questionnaire you can register and receive your personalized report with detailed recommendations.
Additional resources
iStockAnalist, http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewarticle/articleid/4764470, accessed on 13 July 2011
Enterprise CIO Forum, http://www.enterprisecioforum.com/en/blogs/jdodge/10-minute-questionnaire-assesses-it-performance, accessed on 13 July 2011
Tags: IT performance, Performance Measurement
Posted in Performance Management, Performance Measurement | No Comments »
Friday, July 8th, 2011
Recently, the Institute for Economics and Peace published the latest report on the Global Peace Index (GPI). The GPI is a measure of global peacefulness which reflects the influence from domestic and international conflict, safety and security issues in society.
The 2011 GPI reports the peacefulness in 153 countries and is made up of 23 peace indicators. Each country is rated on a scale of 1 to 5 for each indicator, where 1 indicates most peaceful. Examples of peace indicators are:
- Level of organized conflict;
- Armed services personnel;
- Weapons imports;
- Jailed population.
According to the results of GPI 2011, the top five peaceful countries are Iceland, New Zealand, Japan, Denmark and Czech Republic. By contrast, Somalia is the most unpeaceful country followed by Iraq, Sudan, Afghanistan and Korea, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Full list of country rankings and score details are available to public through the interactive map.
Source: Global Peace Index, 2011
The key finds of the GPI 2011 Report address that the world is less peaceful for the third straight year due to an increase threat of terrorist attacks and likelihood of violent demonstrations.
Reference
Institute For Economics & Peace, 2011, Global Peace Index 2011, available at: http://www.visionofhumanity.org/gpi-data/#/2011/scor (accessed 8 July 2011)
Tags: Global Peace Index 2011, GPI 2011, the Institute of Economics and Peace
Posted in Index, Performance Management, Performance Measurement | No Comments »
![[no image]](http://www.smartkpis.com/libs/phpThumb/phpThumb.php?src=/photos/products/img-premium-ad-right-photo-47.jpg&wl=90)
![[no image]](http://www.smartkpis.com/libs/phpThumb/phpThumb.php?src=/photos/products/cover-HR-toolkit-photo-34.jpg&wl=90)
![[no image]](http://www.smartkpis.com/libs/phpThumb/phpThumb.php?src=/photos/products/coperti-Call-Center-3-photo-51.jpg&wl=90)
![[no image]](http://www.smartkpis.com/libs/phpThumb/phpThumb.php?src=/photos/products/coperti-Call-Center-2-photo-50.jpg&wl=90)
![[no image]](http://www.smartkpis.com/libs/phpThumb/phpThumb.php?src=/photos/products/smartKPIs-photo-41.com-performance-measurement-audit.jpg&wl=90)
![[no image]](http://www.smartkpis.com/libs/phpThumb/phpThumb.php?src=/photos/products/cover-HR-scorecard-photo-32.jpg&wl=90)
![[no image]](http://www.smartkpis.com/libs/phpThumb/phpThumb.php?src=/photos/products/coperti-5-photo-13.jpg&wl=90)