Posts Tagged ‘Performance Management’

« Older Entries

Enhancing business performance with intelligent data visualization – Ideas from sport

Monday, June 28th, 2010

Data presentation and visualization solutions have increased in popularity in the recent years. Tremendous advancements in information technology and the wide adoption of the internet had a positive effect on communication, data interchange and visualization across networks, business and social communities.

Driven by the business need of analyzing large volumes of data and presenting them in a concentrated, transparent and easy to read form, data visualization instruments such as dashboard solutions register nowadays an increased level of adoption in several activity fields.

Sport is one of them, and particularly those competitions with a large following all over the world, such as football, basketball, tennis, cricket, baseball or golf. These sports are benefiting from a wide variety of data presentations and visualization applications which enable a closer and easier connections with fans.

Only in the last month, once with the start off the World Cup South Africa 2010 a variety of presentation and visualization solutions were launched, slicing and dicing all competition details and data. An excellent visualization solution is presented by Marca.com:

Source: Marca.com, 2010

What is interesting though, is that what we are witnessing today in the data visualization field  is sort of an “echolocation effect”: ideas bounce back from business to sports and business again.  Such complex data visualization applications, as the one presented in the image above, which were first inspired from business visualization and representation solutions can be used now back as sources of inspirations for a more creative business data visualization solutions.

References:

Marca.com (2010), World Cup South Africa 2010 interactive calendar, available at http://www.marca.com/deporte/futbol/mundial/sudafrica-2010/calendario-english.html, (accessed 25 June 2010)

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Business Intelligence, Data visualization, Events | No Comments »

Performance Management matters – PricewaterhouseCoopers reports on Performance Management in the global economy

Friday, April 23rd, 2010

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) conducted during 2008-2009 an exhaustive research regarding the importance of performance management in the context of a globalized economy. The research was lead by PwC Canada, in partnership with several academic and research institutions from Canada, Switzerland and Australia.

The methodology consisted of two stages: an online survey to more than 400 senior managers in both private and public sectors, followed by 12 in-depth interviews aiming to investigate several issues in a more complex perspective.

The purpose of the research was to provide answers to several core questions (PwC, 2009):

  • Do effective Performance Management practices contribute to driving superior performance?
  • Are these contributions the same in downturns as in good times?
  • Is performance management standardized or does it have to be customized for particular needs of organizations of different sizes and in different industries?

Source: PwC, 2009

Some of the most representative findings, were (PwC, 2009):

  • The identification of seven best practices that drive high performance and superior results, among which:
  1. having a holistic, broad approach (high performers focus on broad issues, such as brand loyalty, employee satisfaction, service quality, aspects that can create competitive advantage);
  2. creating linkages, alignment and integration of the measures to the key business drivers and cascading accountability at all organizational levels;
  3. adopting high value planning practices, such as vision, mission and value statements and environmental and social responsibility plans;
  4. developing advanced technology such as dashboards and business intelligence tools to complete the spreadsheets that are still predominant across respondents.
  • Performance management practices are equally essential in both recession and growth periods. As one argument, the interviews revealed that organizations with strong performance management programs can better manage costs strategically and, if the case, make difficult decisions in ways that minimize impact on the long-term.
  • Performance management in the public sector is not as different from the private sector as it might be believed. It was concluded that high performing public organizations are the ones that employ practices also identified in high performance private entities, such as linkage and alignment to strategy, use of advanced technology and use of value planning practices in the shape of vision, mission or values.

Canada was given a particular attention, being under the loop for comparison to the rest of the world. The finding was that Canadian organizations employ less robust performance management practices, but are better at overcoming potential barriers.

For complete overview of the research, please follow: http://www.pwc.com/ca/en/finance/performance-management/global-performance-management-research-study.jhtml

You can register for a full version of the report or directly download an executive summary.

Reference:

PricewaterhouseCoopers (2009), Performance management matters. Sustaining superior results in a global economy, CA.

The research was lead by PwC Canada, in partnership with several academic and research institutions from Canada, Switzerland and Australia. The methodology consisted of two stages: an online survey to more than 400 senior managers in both private and public sectors, followed by 12 in-depth interviews aiming to investigate several issues in a more complex perspective.

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Business Intelligence, Government, Performance Management | No Comments »

Little’s Law: a fundamental principle used in performance measurement and Lean Six Sigma

Thursday, April 15th, 2010

Developed in 1961 by a former Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) professor, John D. C. Little, the law that carries his name (Little’s Law) has emerged from being a queue theory at its origins to being applied currently in a variety of other aspects of every-day life, such as: Project Management, Manufacturing, Supply Chain etc.

Originally, Little’s Law was explained in the queuing theory as it follows (McDonough, 2009):

L = λ x W

Where:

L = # Long-term customers in the system

λ = # Long-term average arrival rate

W = # Long-term average time a customer spends in the system

Nowadays, the principle has become one of the fundamentals of Lean Six Sigma, a method that aims at increasing overall business performance (increased speed and reduced waste) and customer satisfaction.

Source: McDonough, 2009

Lean Six Sigma is based on five fundamental laws (Aveta Solutions, 2009), one of them being the Law of Velocity that relies on the equation embedded in Little’s Law:

# Work in process = # Throughput x # Average flow time

This can be applied in performance measurement in practically any kind of industry. Several examples could be the following:

In airlines, you know that you have an average queue size of 20 passengers and a throughput of 300 passengers embarking per hour, meaning 5 passengers per minute. To calculate the average time a passenger waits in the checkpoint queue, you will have to divide the work in process or the average inventory (of 20 passengers) to the throughput (5 passengers/minute) and you obtain an average wait time of 4 minutes.

In a restaurant, you serve an average of 50 customers per day (considering you are open for 10 hours from 12.00 to 22.00, that would mean a throughput of 5 customers/hour). At any time, there is an average of 10 customers, meaning an average inventory, inside the restaurant. If you wish to know the time a customer spends on average inside the restaurant, you divide the average inventory (of 10 customers) to the throughput (of 5 customers/hour) and obtain a 2 hours average flow time.

This has several implications for managers in their performance measurement and management initiatives, the most important being that, for a given throughput, the only way to reduce flow time is to reduce the inventory or the work in process.

Further reading:

http://www.businessknowledgesource.com/manufacturing/six_sigma_laws_the_law_of_velocity_021687.html

http://www.netmba.com/operations/process/analysis/

References:

Aveta Solutions LLC (2009), „The Five Laws of Lean Six Sigma”, available at: http://www.sixsigmaonline.org/six-sigma-training-certification-information/articles/the-five-laws-of-lean-six-sigma.html (accessed 14 May 2010).

McDonough, M. (2009), „Little’s Law and Six Sigma”, available at: http://www.brighthub.com/office/project-management/articles/56369.aspx (accessed 14 May 2010).

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Performance Management, Performance Measurement | 1 Comment »

From Performance Measurement to Management in the Local Government – ICMA Case Studies

Saturday, April 10th, 2010

The Center for Performance Measurement from the International City-County Management Association (ICMA) published in 2008 the book intitled „What Works: How Local Governments Have Made the Leap from Measurement to Management”.

This resource from ICMA is directed towards helping local public administrations to deal with and improve their performance measurement initiatives, by putting under the reader’s attention no less than 70 case studies featuring successful practices in the field of performance management and measurement, all coming from ICMA members.

Source: Center for Performance Management, ICMA, 2008

The book is divided into 16 individual chapters, presenting case studies in 15 areas of local public administration service, from Code Enforcement, Facilities Management and Purchasing to Human Resources, Information Technology and Youth Services.

One featured example in this book is the City of Albany, Oregon, represented by its Albany Fire Department and Albany Public Library. The Fire Department showcase illustrates that, for the year 2006, 97% of citizens rated the quality of contact with the Department as excellent, whereas the figure was of 96% in respect to the contact with the Department’s emergency medical center, both numbers being above the national average. The results represent an evidence of the Department’s staff efforts and customer-service trainings, as the Albany’s emergency call volume on a per capita basis makes the city one of the busiest in the state of Oregon (City of Albany, Oregon , 2008).

The Albany Library case study reported circulating an average number of 22.1 items per borrower, against a national average of 12.4 items, due to the strong community support and the increase in the Library’s budget for acquisitions.

Note:

The International City-County Management Association (ICMA) was founded in 1914 to provide technical and management assistance, training and information resources to its members and the local government community. Its mission is to create excellence in local governance by developing and fostering professional local government management worldwide (Center for Performance Management, ICMA, 2008)

References:

Center for Performance Management, ICMA (2008), What Works: How Local Governments Have Made the Leap from Measurement to Management, ICMA, Washington, DC.

City of Albany, Oregon (2008), „Albany Featured in Performance Measurement Book” press release, available at: http://www.ci.albany.or.us/services/news_releases/show_item.php?id=819 (accessed 10 April 2010).

The Center for Performance Measurement from the International City-County Management Associations (ICMA) published in 2008 the book intitled „What Works: How Local Governments Have Made the Leap from Measurement to Management”.

This resource from ICMA is directed towards helping local public administrations to deal with and improve their performance measurement initiatives, by putting under the reader’s attention no less than 70 case studies featuring successful practices in the field of performance management and measurement, all coming from ICMA members.

The books is divided into 16 individual chapters, presenting case studies in 15 areas of local public administration service, from Code Enforcement, Facilities Management and Purchasing to Human Resources, Information Technology and Youth Services.

One featured example in this book is the City of Albany, Oregon, by its Albany Fire Department and Albany Public Library.

For example, the Fire Department showcase illustrated that, for the year 2006, 97% of citizens rated the quality of contact with the Department as excellent, whereas the figure was of 96% in respect to the contact with the Department’s emergency medical center, both numbers being above the national average. The results represent an evidence of the Department’s staff efforts and customer-service trainings, as the Albany’s emergency call volume on a per capita basis makes the city one of the busiest in the state of Oregon.

The Albany Library case study reported circulating an average number of 22.1 items per borrower, against a national average of 12.4 items, due to the strong community support and the increase in the Library’s budget for acquisitions.

Note:

The International City-County Management Associations (ICMA) was founded in 1914 to provide technical and management assistance, training and information resources to its members and the local government community. Its mission is to create excellence in local governance by developing and fostering professional local government management worldwide.

References:

Center for Performance Management (2008), What Works: How Local Governments Have Made the Leap from Measurement to Management, ICMA.

City of Albany, Oregon (2008), „Albany Featured in Performance Measurement Book” press release, available at: http://www.ci.albany.or.us/services/news_releases/show_item.php?id=819 (accessed 10 April 2010).

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Government, Performance Management, Performance Measurement | 1 Comment »

KPIs and Dashboards in practice: TrackDC an innovative District of Columbia Performance Management initiative

Monday, March 15th, 2010

Performance measurement and reporting for control is not the sole purpose of tracking results against targets. One of its very important dimensions is that of enhancing accountability towards stakeholders; in private-owned organizations, reporting is directed mostly to shareholders and managers, whereas in governmental institutions, communication is directed towards the entire community served.

Usually, government accountability and reporting comes in the shape of annual performance reports, made public on the various agencies’ or local cities’ websites. smartKPIs.com – KPIs in practice section – includes various such annual reports, the ones below being only a part of the tens of governmental reports contained:

However, more complex initiatives are on their way, governments seeking not only to release a descriptive report covering one year’s activity, but also put in place more user-friendly reporting tools, with increased usability, based on Performance Management Dashboards.

A pioneer in this area seems to be the District of Columbia, which developed an online application called TrackDC, where citizens can visualize Key Performance Indicator results in graphs, check Budget distribution and spending, have access to permanent news and learn more about agencies and their Performance Plans and Accountability Reports.

Source: District of Columbia, 2010

The website contains individual pages for all the 53 agencies, with agency profile section, the annual Performance Plans and Reports, Performance Indicators, Customer Service data and Budget & Operational information.

For a complete picture, you can access for example the District Department of Transportation page:

Source: District of Columbia, District Department of Transportation, 2010

The Department’s 2010 Performance Plan includes performance measures in areas ranging from Finance, Contracts and Customer Service, to People, Properties and Risk. Several examples are the following:

You can see that the Agency Responsiveness Quality Assurance Result for Q4 was of 97,09 %, against a 87,47 % Citywide Average.

You can also check the daily Website Traffic Dashboard, covering website traffic numbers for the last month’s period.

The Key Performance Indicators vary from one agency to another, being broken down from the objectives and initiatives each individual agency identifies. However, reporting is the same for each agency, covering the sections mentioned above.

References

District of Columbia (2010), “Track.DC”, available at: http://track.dc.gov/ (accessed 15 March 2010).

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Business Intelligence, Government, KPIs in practice, Performance Management, smartKPIs.com | 1 Comment »

All time high for New York City high school graduation rate

Saturday, March 13th, 2010

In a recent press release, the  Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein announced that New York City’s four year high school graduation rate rose to all time high of 63 % in 2009.

“After a decade of stagnation, New York City’s graduation rate has increased for eight consecutive years” said Mayor Bloomberg. “And not only are more students graduating than ever before, but the number of students dropping out has been cut nearly in half in just the past four years alone. We won’t be satisfied until every student graduates from high school, but our City’s principals and teachers deserve enormous credit for the significant progress we’ve made.”

Photo credit: Edward Reed, New York City Office of the Mayor


Photo credit: Edward Reed, New York City Office of the Mayor

When evaluating the performance of the high school academic education, the New York city used he following key performance indicators:

According to the press release, “since 2005, when New York City began calculating graduation rates using its current methodology, the June graduation rate has risen by 12.5 points. The dropout rate has been cut nearly in half during the same period, falling to a new low of 11.8 percent-a decline of 10.2 points since 2005. In all, 3,300 additional students in New York City graduated in June 2009 compared to June 2008, with that number rising to almost 6,200 additional students when August graduates are counted.”

There are many academic institutions around the world that measure their performance on an annual basis, using different performance indicators. For more examples of performance analysis, reports or statistics in  educational systems local, national or international based, visit the Academic Education section of smartKPIs.com KPIs in practice. Also,  visit the KPI examples for the Education& Training industry, for more specific performance indicators.

Related links:

References:

New York City, Office of the Mayor, Press release (2010), available at http://www.nyc.gov/cgi-bin/misc/pfprinter.cgi?action=print&sitename=OM&p=1268301741000, (accessed 10 March 2010)

smartKPIs.com (2010) “KPIs in practice examples for the Academic Education industry”, available at http://www.smartkpis.com/kpi_examples_in_practice/industries/education-training/academic-education/ (accessed 10 March 2010)

smartKPIs.com (2010) “KPI examples for the Education& Training industry”, available at http://www.smartkpis.com/kpi/industries/education-training/pag2.html (accessed 10 March 2010)

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Government, KPIs in practice, Library of KPI examples, Measure, Performance Measurement, smartKPIs.com | No Comments »

KPI examples in practice: Camelot Group – the operator of The UK National Lottery

Tuesday, March 9th, 2010

Camelot is the operator of The UK National Lottery. It operates solely in the UK and Isle of Man and its head office is situated in Watford. The primary purpose of the Camelot Group is to drive sales in order to maximize returns, having as principal activity the operation and promotion of The UK National Lottery in a socially-responsible manner. Its strategy is centered on four key elements:

  • Strengthening the National Lottery brand and giving it universal appeal.
  • Growing the core product range and diversifying into new products to better satisfy consumer needs.
  • Giving consumers easy access to the brand.
  • Building direct dialog with consumers alongside traditional mass communications, wherever possible.

The Camelot Group monitors and uses a set of Performance Standards (Key Performance Indicators) in order to achieve its purpose, follow the strategy and also remaining compliant with regulations so it will maintain its Operating License.

The financial KPIs cover sales levels, prizes and returns, as well as net profit levels. The performance standards cover areas like the availability of the computer systems, player service, prize payment, complaints investigation and resolution, and customer contact.

The table below presents some of the KPIs used by the Camelot Group, together with the targets set and achieved at the end of 2008.

The table clearly depicts how performance indicators (both financial and non-financial) are aligned to the strategy the Camelot Group follows.

For example, to maximize the  returns the Camelot Group monitors indicators such as:

  • $ Profit before taxation
  • $ Gross ticket sales
  • $ Prizes

To give consumers easy access to the brand the Group monitors indicators such as:

  • % Terminal sales availability
  • % Access to NLL Voice Response System (VRS)
  • % Complaint resolution (all channels)

The Camelot Group managed to achieve its targets for 2008 and even surpass some of them, safeguarding its position as one of the most cost-efficient lottery operators in the world.

More details

smartKPIs.com library of KPIs in Practice: Camelot

Camelot company website: 2009 Annual Report and Financial Statements, available at the following link: http://www.camelotgroup.co.uk/annualreport2009/performancestds.html (accessed 7 March 2010)

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in KPI, Library of KPI examples, Performance Management, Targets | No Comments »

The Internet in numbers – using metrics to measure online performance

Monday, March 8th, 2010

Online businesses have an important role in today’s economy, many of them being best practices lasting for decades. eCommerce and online service delivery are considered some of the fastest growing trends on the Internet. As we are facing an exponential growth of Internet usage, performance indicators provide essential information about the online market and the performance of online businesses. Used wisely, the indicators can reveal market trends, spot potential problems or opportunities and guide target setting.

Some of the performance indicators used widely in the Online / eCommerce space are:

There are many online videos presenting data about the Internet and social media, by using measures and performance indicators. One of the latest is the one below, published in February 2010.


JESS3 / The State of The Internet from JESS3.

What is interesting about this kind of videos is that they quickly become outdated due to the speed these numbers and targets evolve. For example, if at the end of 2009 Facebook was reporting over 350 million active users (as shown in the video), in February 2010 Facebook reached over 400 million active users.

There is a wide range of performance indicators available and many more that can be developed to fit the need of specific projects or organizations. However, performance indicators are not KPIs until selected and applied as key to a specific project or business.

Additional resources

smartKPIs.com library of KPIs: Online presence – eCommerce

smartKPIs.com library of KPIs: Information Technology

Facebook company timeline, available at http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?timeline (accessed 5 March 2010)

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in KPI, Library of KPI examples, Measure, Performance Measurement | No Comments »

The 100 Top Hospitals Performance Matrix

Monday, March 1st, 2010

Hospital Management is an important part of healthcare administration, that represents the sum of all administration and management activities of hospitals, hospital networks or medical centers. As a discipline, it has developed empirically, due to hospitals being established as private charitable community resources, for religious missions, by physicians to have a place to practice, or as governmental driven entities. Hospitals have traditionally been operated and managed through a variety of means, each of them developing a different management philosophy and style.

Throughout the years, different tools have been developed not only for supporting the management of hospitals, but also for assessing their performance. An example used in the United States for assessing and ranking the hospitals is the 100 Top Hospitals Performance Matrix, by Thomson Reuters.

This tool provides an executive-level scorecard that aims to measure the leadership effectiveness, the success of organizational improvement strategies, and impact of executive decisions. The analysis of the hospitals is based on short-term achievement and long-term rate of improvement compared to peers across the nation.

The ranking is based on long term of improvement,  current performance and specific metrics, such as:

  • Patient safety
  • Average length of stay
  • Mortality
  • Complications

This is an example of how performance indicators are used in practice. For more examples of healthcare and hospital management performance reprots, visit the Healthcare Industry section of the smartkpis.com KPIs in practice catalogue.

For specific performance indicators from Healthcare industry, visit the smartkpis.com Healthcare library of KPIs.

References:

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in KPI, Library of KPI examples, Measure, Performance Management, Performance Measurement, smartKPIs.com | No Comments »

Sport Management and the Winter Olympic Games: Vancouver 2010

Friday, February 26th, 2010

What can we associate Olympic Games with, and what is the importance and place of the Olympic Games among other sport competitions?

If asked these questions to the large public some would say that Olympic Games is the oldest and most important sport competition taking place every four year. Others would say that is a celebration of sport, joy and peace between nations. While some would acknowledge the huge economical benefits and recognition, such a competition can bring for the organizing nation of the Games.

Without no doubt all of these remarks are right. But what can we add more is that Olympic Games above all  is a celebration of olympism and performance.

Starting from this last remark let’s have a look at the most important drivers of a successful Olympic Games edition and how can be performance in regards with such an event be best pictured?

Just a few days ago a new edition of the Winter Olympic Games, has witnessed its 21st opening with a grandiose ceremony in Vancouver, Canada. It was for the first time in the history of Olympic Games when an opening ceremony was held in an enclosed stadium. And it was for the first time in the history of Winter Olympic Games when more than 60.000 thousand spectators were present in the stadium premises for the opening ceremony and other 3 billion watched it from behind the TV screens.

If looking only at these figures and we couple them with athletes performance during olympic competitions we could say that the Winter Olympic Games, Vancouver 2010 should be considered a big success. But is that right?

Beyond the unprecedentedly media coverage of the event, beyond the athletes’ performance there are a lot of other factors that play an important role in the success of an Olympic Game edition. All of them are enabled by Sport Management as a business discipline. When applied well, it secures the success of a competition from both a sportive and administrative point of view. Listed below are some performance measures and their related figures which portrait Vancouver Winter Olympic Games 2010 edition from a performance management perspective:

• # Viewers per televised sport event: 34,5 million Americans viewed the opening ceremony in prime time, 2 out of 3 Canadians watched the event and overall it was projected that more than 3 billion people witnessed the opening event from behind the TV screens around the world.

• # Event tickets available: 1, 6 million tickets

• # Volunteers supporting the sport: 25,000 volunteers are supporting the Vancouver 2010 Olympic event (approximated figure)

• # Athletes and officials attending competition: More than 5,500 Olympic athletes and officials (approximated figure)

• # Countries participating in the sport event:  82 countries have qualified athletes and are attending the event.

• # Accredited media representatives:  10,000 media representatives have been accredited for different events during the Olympic Games (approximated figure)

• # Medal events during the competition: 86 medal awarding events held during the 16th days of competition.

• $ Sport event operating cost: $ 1, 76 billion estimated costs

• $ Sport event security costs:  $ 900 million estimated costs

• $ Athletes accomodation facilities development cost:  $ 167 million estimated cost of the Vancouver Olympic Village

• $ Venues renovation costs:  $ 365 million estimated renovation cost of the Olympic venue

• # Distance travelled by the Olympic torch:  45,000 kilometers across Canada

• # Olympic torch bearers: 12,000 Canadians were given the occasion to bear the Olympic torch

• # Olympic torch  relay duration:  106 days.

As we can acknowledge from the figures listed above the organization of an Olympic Games edition implies a great effort and resource allocation. However its success can be determined with precision only at its end, and what we have presented above is just a fraction of the performance indicators that can portrait a sport event. For more performance measures from sport management industry visit the smartkpis.com database.

Additional resources:

References:

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Events, Library of KPI examples, Performance Measurement, Uncategorized, smartKPIs.com | No Comments »

« Older Entries