Scorecard: Basic Concepts

 

Balanced Scorecard

The Balanced Scorecard in LITEBI is a dynamic model. It consists of a set of perspectives, objectives, metrics, initiatives and tasks. It can be modified at any time and changes are reflected in both reports to run in the web interface as in document format.

Perspectives

We can manage an indefinite number of perspectives, so we can implement both the traditional Norton and Kaplan's four perspectives Balanced Scorecard (financial, customer, internal processes and training and growth) and much more specific scorecards  for certain areas of the business or that use other methodologies. Every perspective always belongs only to a balanced scorecard and can not be shared between different scorecards.

The perspectives are composed by objectives and their status is calculated from the same state. Since the objectives may be more or less important when indicating whether the strategy meets a certain perspective as planned, we can define a weight for each target, which will be taken into account when calculating the status of the perspective for a selected period. The trend of perspective is always calculated by comparing the status of the perspective for a given period with the status of the same perspective in the previous period.

Objectives

The objectives always belong to only one perspective and can not exist in a variety of perspectives. They have a set of metrics, that calculate the status of the objective, and a set of initiatives associated with that objective. The objectives have a weight on the perspective they belong to, indicating how important is the objective within the perspective. This weight is used to calculate the status of the associated perspective.

The status of an objective is calculated based on the state of their associated metrics. Each metric may have a weight so that the objective's status is calculated giving more importance to one or another metric. The trend of an objective will always be based on the comparison between the status of the selected period with the status of the previous one.

Metrics

Metrics always belong to a balanced scorecard, they can not appear in several scorecards but can be reused in different objectives with their desired weights. They possess the format, tolerance, aggregator and responsible fields:

- The format: It is used when displaying the values ​​of the metric, ie, the number of decimal places, the units of the metric, etc. that we want to see.

- Tolerance: Used to define the margin of error given to the metric. This field is important because it is used to calculate the status of the metric; we compare the value to the target value using the tolerance; if it is true that the value is between the limits set by the tolerance, the status will be normal; if it is above will be positive and if below, will be negative.

- Adds: In LiteSCORECARD we have a number of aggregators defined from which we can choose for our metric. These are: "sum", "max" "min", "last", "avg." This value affects when displaying the value of the metric in a period.

- The responsible: The responsible of a metric can be selected from a list of users who have been "discharged" earlier.

Each metric has a history that the user can manage at any time. Each line of the history contains a value, a target value and a date.

The status of the metrics are calculated using their historical and tolerance, depending on the period selected and the aggregator. The trend is always calculated by comparing the status of the selected period with the status of the previous one.

Initiatives

Initiatives always belong to an objective. They can not exist in several of them. You can choose a responsible of the initiative from a list of users. They consist of a series of tasks. The initiatives do not have a start or end date defined, they are calculated based on the tasks defined in the initiative. The progress of the initiative is calculated based on the progress of its tasks and their respective weights. The status is calculated based on the progress and start and end date. The trend is always obtained by comparing the status of the selected period with the status of the previous one.

Tasks

Tasks always belong to an initiative and can not appear on several initiatives. They have a defined weight which establishes the importance of the task in that initiative. We can choose a responsible of the task from a user list. They also have the start date and end date fields. Each task has a history that we can edit. Each line of the history contains a progress value and a date. The task's status is calculated using its historical depending on the selected period. The trend is determined by comparing the status of the selected period with the status of the previous one.

Historicals in LiteSCORECARD

The items that have a history associated in LiteSCORECARD are metrics and tasks. These historicals can be consulted and easily managed from the editing interface. The history of the metrics consists of records containing the following fields:

- Value

- Target values

- Date

The history of the tasks consists of records containing the following fields:

- Progress

- Date

 

Periods in LiteSCORECARD

To visualize the data of our balanced scorecard from the implementation interface we should always have selected a period. In LiteSCORECARD we can find predefined periods so that we can select the desired period. The periods available are:

- Four-month period

- Month

- Year

- Quarter

- Semester

 

Strategic Map in LiteSCORECARD

LiteSCORECARD's strategic map allows us to visualize all the objectives (with their name, trend and status), grouped by their perspectives, as well as by the cause-effect relationships between them. Through a glance, we will be able to see all the defined strategy and see the status of the objectives.

How to open a scorecard?

To open an existing scorecard we must use the folder explorer interface. If the space has enabled the scorecards, these will be shown under the folders "Scorecards", inside Data. To run a scorecard press the right mouse button over the scorecard selected and click on "Explore."

How to change the period and date?

We can easily change the period from the top right side. As we previously said, we have some predefined periods that are: for-month period, month, year, quarter and semester. Depending on the selected period we will be able to choose between one or other of the options available:

- If we choose month we will have the option to choose between every month of the year and the whole year (from all the years in which there is data in the database).

- If we choose year we will have the option of choosing between all the years in which there is data in the database.

- If we choose four-month period we will have the option to choose from all three periods (Q1, Q2, Q3) for the selected year (from all years in which there is data in the database).

- If we choose quarter we will have the option to choose from all quarters (T1, T2, T3, T4) for the selected year (from all years in which there is data in the database).

- If we choose semester we will have the option of choosing between the two semesters (H1, H2) for the selected year (from all years in which there is data in the database).

When changing the period, the system will search in the database for all available data at that time. If a task, the system will look for the last historical introduced in the database in the selected period. If it is a metric, it depends on the metric aggregator:

- If "Sum" it will add all the values ​​in that period of the history of the metric.

- If "Avg" it will calculate the average of all the values of that period of the history of the metric.

- If "Max" it will take the maximum value of all values ​​for that period of the history of the metric.

- If "min" it will take the minimum value of all values ​​for that period of the history of the metric.

- If "Last" it will take the last value stored in the database for that period of the history of the metric.

 

URL'S

The url allows us to see where we are and return to a previous object.

While we navigate through the objects of the balanced scorecard, the url (path) is being stored in the upper part. This information is very useful to know where you are and how you got to that object. It also makes it easier to turn back at any time with just one click.

The URLs that point to any object of the balanced scorecard can be stored for direct access to the object we are interested in seeing.

 

Status and Trends

We can obtain four types of states (positive, normal, negative, and "no data") and four types of trends (positive, similar, negative and "no data"). To understand how these two fields are calculated see the Appendix.

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