Database Reference
In-Depth Information
CHAP T ER 10
Scorecards and Indicators
A scorecard can be thought of as the business version of a school report card:
it's a summary of how the business has performed over the last period, shown
as numbers for key performance areas (KPAs), which are aggregated from
key performance indicators (KPIs). A KPI is loosely similar to the subjects on a
school report card, but generally a scorecard's KPIs have graphical indicators
and interactive capabilities (unlike a school report card).
Scorecards have been popularized in recent years through the widespread
adoption of Performance Management. Starting in the management con-
sultancy McKinsey & Company in the 1930s, Performance Management as a
discipline advocates building a measurable strategy to grow a business and
identifying key performance indicators to measure various aspects of the
business. Key performance indicators, roll up into key performance areas, and
these are put together in a visual way in a scorecard, typically using “robot”
indicators of red, yellow, and green to indicate whether targets are being
met. On the Microsoft platform, Business Scorecard Manager evolved into
PerformancePoint as the tool of choice for displaying these scorecards and
other visualizations together in dashboards.
This chapter discusses how these tools can be used both for Performance
Management and for business intelligence (BI) in general.
ACronym souP
Business Performance Management, Corporate Performance Management
and Enterprise Performance Management really are all the same thing,
leading to a confusion of acronyms—BPM, CPM, and EPM.
Differentiating from Business Process Management (BPM) and Enterprise
Project Management (EPM) is important, leaving CPM as the easiest acronym.
