Performance Indicators :
The Balanced
Scorecard Approach
www.mpc.gov.my
Toll Free: 1-800-88-1140
Content :
Introduction
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Conclusion
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References
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Introduction
In an ideal world, organisations would all have vision, mission, goals and
objectives. Flowing from those would be the organisations Key Performance
Indicators (KPIs), the measures by which the organisation knows whether it is
successful or not. KPIs is one important tool both for translating strategy (vision
and mission) into action and for monitoring progress at a strategic level. When an
outcome is monitored and trended with a KPI, the resulting figure tells you the
process performance effectiveness.
Many things in the organisation are measurable. That does not make them key to
the organisation's success. In selecting Key Performance Indicators, it is critical
to limit them to those factors that are essential to the organisation reaching its
goals. It is also important to keep the number of Key Performance Indicators
small just to keep everyone's attention focused on achieving the same KPIs.
Whatever Key Performance Indicators are selected, they must reflect the
organisation's goals, they must be key to its success, and they must be
quantifiable (measurable). Key Performance Indicators usually are long-term
considerations. The definition of what they are and how they are measured do
not change often. The goals for a particular KPI may change as the
organisation's goals change, or as it gets closer to achieving a goal.
They should be seen within their local context and have more meaning as
a comparison over time than as a comparison between organisations.
After being proposed and applied, KPIs should ne reviewed and updated.
There are two main reasons each company has to measure its performance. It
includes learning and performance improvement and is to control and monitor
people. Measuring for learning and improvement is the most essential form of
using KPIs, with the aim to equip employees with the information they need in
order to make better informed decisions that lead to improvements. KPIs can
also be used to guide and control employees behaviors and actions. Here,
measures are used to set goals or rules, to objectively access the achievement
of these goals, and to provide feedback on any unexpected variance between
achievements and goals. Of these two, the first is the most important and the
second can cause major problems. Without KPIs, employees and business
managers would have to extract performance data and evaluate that data against
goals, and then spend the time to present that data in a separate report for
business decision makers. It is difficult to get timely status without a way to
quickly and automatically evaluate live data.
Figure 3 : Reasons to have Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
For a set of KPIs to help drive business performance, they must have a variety of
characteristics.
One problem with most KPIs is that there are too many of them. As a result, they
lose their power to grab the attention of employees and modify behavior. More
KPIs than this makes it difficult for employees to peruse them all and take
requisite action. In addition, KPIs must be understandable. Employees must
know whats being measured, how its being calculated, and, more importantly,
what they should do (and shouldnt do) to positively affect the KPI.
To ensure that KPIs continually boost performance, you need to periodically audit
the KPIs to determine usage and relevance. If a KPI isnt being looked at, it
should probably be discarded or rewritten. In most cases, KPIs have a natural
lifecycle. When first introduced, the KPI energises the workforce and
performance improves. Over time, KPIs lose their impact and should probably be
revised. Most organisations review and revise KPIs quarterly.
Metrics always show a number that reflects performance. But a KPI puts that
performance in context. It evaluates the performance according to expectations.
The context is provided using 1) thresholds (i.e. upper and lower ranges of
acceptable performance), or 2) targets (i.e. predefined gains, such as 10% new
customers per quarter), or 3) benchmarks, which can be based on industry wide
The key to selecting KPIs lies in selecting indicators that are quantifiable, and
critical to the companys goals. KPIs have to be specific and capable of
measurement. It is no recommended having KPIs that say :
Figure 5 : KPIs development should consider the correct balance of the three
stakeholders.
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The balanced scorecard (BSC) was developed by Kaplan and Norton since in the
early 1990s to help organisations succeed by embedding a strategy of balanced
focus and performance monitoring into the heart of organisational culture. The
BSC framework starts with an organisations building its vision and strategy. The
framework uses scorecards to show progress on the strategy. It is a
management system that maps an organisation's strategic objectives into
performance metrics in four perspectives namely, financial, internal processes,
customers and learning and growth. These perspectives provide relevant as to
how well the strategic is executing so that the adjustment can made as
necessary.
(adapted from
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Employee training
Learning is more than training (for example, it includes mentors and tutors,
ease of communication, etc.)
Learning and growth constitute the essential foundation of success for any
knowledge-worker organisation
13
Nos.
Definition
Formula
1.
Management Ratio
This indicates the ratio between total number Total Number of Headcount / Total number
of headcount as compared to the total
of Executive & Above
number of Executive and above level.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Healthcare Costs
14
Nos.
Definition
from fees, which refers to the amount
charged, regardless of cost.
Formula
7.
8.
9.
10.
MC Rate
11.
Absenteeism Rate
15
Nos.
Definition
related absence form work.
Formula
100%
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
Training hours refer to the total hours of inhouse and external training provided to
employees during the year.
16
Nos.
Definition
Formula
17.
Training
Factor
18.
19.
Cost Labour
This measure reveals labour costs relative to Total labour costs / total sales revenue
overall sales revenue. It determines how
efficiently a business is operating and also
helps to make more informed decisions
regarding potential human resources
changes.
20.
21.
A measure that indicates the frequency with Number of training programmes introduced
which new training programmes are made
per period
available. This can indicate the effort that the
organisation applies to the development of
its human resources.
((Staff cost last year) (Staff cost previousto-last-year) / Staff cost previous-to-lastyear)) X 100%
17
18
Definition
Formula
1.
2.
Re-work - Time
3.
4.
Waste reduction
5.
6.
7.
19
Nos.
Definition
represents all hours worked and all units
buits. It is calculated using total actual hours,
including paid lunches & breaks, divided by
the actual production in the time studied.
Formula
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
These measures provide an indication of the Wage or salary cost of production staff per
cost of personnel as a proportion of output or unit of output or unit of sales unit value.
sales value of production.
20
Nos.
Definition
Formula
14.
Orders - Backlog
(manufacturing)
15.
Repair time
16.
Batch size
17.
Takt time
18.
19.
This indicates the product's ability to match a (Assembly Set-up Time (minutes) / Product
specification and is expressed in 'number of to Market (months)) X 1,000,000
defect parts per million'. A 'defective unit' is a
unit that does not conform to specification
21
Nos.
Definition
and may be scrapped or reworked part. The
calculation can be applied to internal defect
rates and external defect rates.
Formula
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
This indicates the business's efficiency in the Total Product Lead Time for all Orders /
ability to deliver its orders. It is the average
Delivery Schedule Deviation
time between the placing of an order and the
receipt of the good ordered.
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Key Performance
Indicators
Definition
Formula
1.
Supplier Effectiveness
2.
Percentage of Supplies
Delivered on Time (%)
3.
4.
Supplier involvement
23
Nos.
Key Performance
Indicators
Definition
Formula
5.
6.
Supplier Certification
7.
8.
9.
10.
24
Nos.
Key Performance
Indicators
Definition
required finished product or service to the
organisation.
Formula
order to product or service delivery
Definition
Formula
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
25
Nos.
Definition
Formula
8.
9.
Area : Innovation
Nos.
Definition
Formula
1.
2.
Innovation - Intensity
3.
4.
26
Nos.
Definition
of the product and/or targeted market.
Formula
5.
Innovation - Dedicated
research time
A measure that indicates how far the leadership is Percentage number of employees
prepared to go to create a culture of innovation.
formally devoting time regularly to
This can be a useful benchmarking measure when researching new ideas
assessing the innovation intensity of an
organisation.
6.
7.
Innovation - New
product/process introduction
8.
Innovation - Patents
9.
10.
27
Area : Safety
Nos.
Definition
Formula
1.
2.
3.
Fatality Rate
4.
5.
6.
28
Nos.
Definition
Contractors, Visitor
Formula
7.
Number of days lost caused by accident only to direct employee (Power Plant Premises
only).
8.
9.
10.
11.
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Customer Perspective:
Customer will find other suppliers if they are not satisfied or their
requirements are not being met
30
Nos.
Definition
Formula
1.
2.
Customer Growth
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Delivery - On-time
31
Nos.
Definition
satisfying customers.
Formula
delivered on time as a % of total number of
orders delivered
8.
Customer - Retention
9.
Compliments-to-Complaints
Ratio
10.
11.
Customer - Complaint
response time
This measure provides data on the length of Average time to respond to customer
time it takes to respond to a customer
complaints
complaint. It does not indicate whether or not
the complaint was dealt with satisfactorily
but a quick initial response time can be a key
contributor to the satisfactory conclusion of a
customer complaint process by helping to
contain or prevent further unnecessary build
up of the situation on the part of the
customer (who then knows the situation is
in-hand).
12.
Customers New
32
Nos.
Definition
product success or new marketing strategy
or other appropriate areas.
Formula
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
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Financial Perspective :
34
Nos.
Definition
Formula
1.
2.
(Profit Before Tax Current Year / (LongTerm Loans + Other Long-Term Liabilities +
Shareholders' Fund Current Year)) X 100
3.
4.
5.
35
Nos.
Definition
operational gearing will have profits which
rise disproportionately from a given increase
in turnover, and conversely, which fall
disproportionately when turnover declines.
Formula
6.
7.
8.
Current Ratio
9.
Acid Test
10.
Creditor Days
11.
Debtor Days
36
Nos.
Definition
takes a business to get paid for what it sells.
It measures how the business manages its
debtors, i.e. credit and bad debt control, and
could impact upon customer relationships.
Formula
Year) X 365
12.
13.
14.
Interest Cover
15.
Gross Gearing
This indicates the extent to which a business ((Short-Term Loans + Long-Term Loans) /
uses debt versus equity to finance its
Shareholders' Fund Current Year) X 100
working capital and is a measure of business
risk.
16.
37
Nos.
Definition
Formula
17.
18.
Asset turnover
19.
20.
21.
Receivables turnover
38
Nos.
Definition
retaining slow paying customers and
avoiding cash-flow congestion.
Formula
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Conclusion
40
References
Developing and Using Balanced Scorecard Performance Systems Howard
Rolm, Perform, 2002
Building and Implementing a Balanced Scorecard Howard Rolm, US
Foundation for Performance Management
How to Measure Performance: A Handbook of Techniques and Tools
Performance Based Management, US Dept of Energy
Keeping Score Mark Graham Brown, Quality Resources
Performance Drivers Niles-Goram Olve, Jan Roy, and Mangus Wetter, Wiley
The Balanced Scorecard Robert Kaplan and David Norton, Harvard Business
School Press
The Strategy Focused Organisation - Robert Kaplan and David Norton, Harvard
Business School Press
ITIL Service Delivery and Service Support Guides (ITIL is a registered trade
mark of OGC)
IT Service Management A Practical Operational Approach Guide A
Compilation of Best Practices for the IT Service Provider, Rick Leopoldi
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