Are Your Key Performance Indicators Right for You?
Posted by Ray Malendewicz on Wed, Jun 23, 2010 @ 04:48 AM
The objective of a Key Performance Indicator is to provide a tool to measure capability and, as a result of actions, improve the company.
Some while ago I worked for a software company that sold an application that included “Managerial Bench strength” as a Key Performance Indicator. It became quite a talking point because it created a lot of interest amongst our prospects and it sounded as if it could be valuable.
On the surface, this Key Performance Indicator appears to be related to the skills of a manager and if you carried out a Google search on it you would find that it is often used as a recruitment tool. In this case it is to identify skills and capabilities that are required in people you want to employ.
In fact the objective of this particular Key Performance indicator is to ensure that there are enough appropriately skilled people to move into managerial positions in the future. Its objective is to identify gaps in the future management of an organisation. It includes such measures as skill set, education and training undertaken amongst others. From this information it would be possible, using a Business Intelligence reporting tool to identify staff, who with appropriate training, could fill the gap.
As a talking point it was great as it would make people sit up and think that we really understood some key aspects of their business. As a Key Performance indicator it was rarely, if ever, used because it was too complicated to measure and rarely provided an indicator that was meaningful and could easily be measured.
This made me think of all the Key Performance indicators that are being used today. I am sure that some of you are suffering from over complicated measures that are very difficult to understand and make any improvements.
I would be really interested to hear from anyone suffering from too many or too complicated Key Performance Indicators. If I receive enough I will share them, without mentioning the organisation name, with you. I look forward to hearing from you.
If you would like to see some Key Performance Indicators and QlikView in action, try our World Cup App.