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8/7/2023 Ultimate Guide to

Enterprise KPIs
through OKRs.
By, Hamed Ali

111 ‫هناك مفاجأة بداية من الصفحة‬


There is a surprise starting
from page 111 (Detailed List
of Corporate KPIs, through
QCDSM

Hamed Ali
August 7, 2023 [BY, HAMED ALI]

Contents
• What’s OKRs.
• Taking KPIs to the next level with OKRs.
• OKR Origins.
• Preparing for OKRs.
• Why to use OKRs in managing your company?
• Why are OKRs different?
• What are the benefits of using OKR?
• Common OKR mistakes.
• OKR Levels.
• OKRs Methodology.
• Strategy checklist.
• Using OKRs to improve your business.
• KPIs definition checklist.
• The Difference between a strategic objective and a mission statement.
• Taking KPIs to the next level with OKRs.
• Engaging KPI stakeholders.
• RACI Matrix.
• KPI Trees.
• KPI Trees checklist.
• Tree diagram tools.
• Develop your Missing Measures and KPIs.
• Ultimate Performance Index Guide.
• Express Performance Index OKRs design system.
• Building OKRs Engagement.
• OKRs Canvas.
• KPIs Definition log sheets.
• Prototyping OKRs Dashboards.
• Assessing Reports Design Objectively.
• Brilliant Dashboards score cards.
• Brilliant Dashboard checklists.
• Getting OKRs system Buy-in.
• Moonshots vs Roof shots.
• KPIs Logbook.
• KPIs Trees.
• RACI matrix.
• Meetings tree.
• Measurement frequency.
• Job floor dashboards.
• KPIs Dashboards.
• QCDSM & KPIs list. (Most Important Part)

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What are OKRs?


“OKRs” stands for Objectives and Key Results.

OKRs are a tool for guiding and executing the strategy of the organization. They happen through the deployment of
business Objectives throughout individuals and teams.

An OKR is a set of one Objective and n Key Results.

The Objective is the business result that needs to be achieved, and should be written in qualitative terms.

The Key Results are S.M.A.R.T. (an acronym for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound) goals
based on specific key performance indicators.

Key Results must help “prove” if the Objective was achieved.

Let’s use an example to illustrate our definition:

• Objective: Increase the profitability of the company

• Key Results: i) Grow the company’s net income to $100 million, and ii) Reach a net profit margin of more than 7%.
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What is an Objective?
An Objective is a description of a goal to be achieved in the future. An Objective sets a clear direction and provides
motivation. An Objective can be thought of like a destination on a map.

What is a Key Result?


A Key Result is a metric with a starting value and a target value that measures progress towards an Objective. A Key
Result is like a signpost with a distance that shows how close you are to your Objective.

What is an Initiative?
An Initiative is a description of the work you’ll do to influence a Key Result. If an Objective is your destination and a
Key Result shows the distance to go, an Initiative describes what you’ll do to get there, (take a car, row a boat, etc.).

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FOCUS PDCA Methodology:-


A quality method for improving work processes is a model called FOCUS PDCA. This methodology takes a process
through identification of the improvement opportunity, planning for an improvement, implementation and evaluation
of the change.

The first step in any improvement is understanding the current process by establishing a baseline. A baseline is
measurable data that is collected at the beginning of an improvement project. For example, if you want to improve the
wait time for customers, it is important to measure what the current wait time is. Once you know what the current
wait time is, you can develop a process to improve those times. Measurement of any improvement effort is done at the
beginning, during and after any improvement effort.

So how does FOCUS PDCA Work?

• Find: An opportunity for improvement.


• Organize: A team that is familiar with the process.
• Clarify: Understanding of the process.
• Understand: Variation in the process.
• Select: What needs to be improved.

• Plan: Develop an improvement plan.


• Do: Execute the plan.
• Check: Review the results and determine if the plan worked.
• Act: If the plan worked, standardize the change and write policy. If the plan did not work, go back and try
something else.

Let's look at an example of how this might work. Say you are a small business that does product order fulfillment.
There are increasing numbers of customer complaints about the order-to-ship time. The business has been growing
but you have a fear that the complaints will have an impact on future orders. Let's go through the FOCUS PDCA
Cycle:

• Find: The opportunity to improve is the product order-to-ship time.


• Organize: Recruit a team of employees who work in the order fulfillment role.
• Clarify: Map out the order fulfillment process in a flowchart. Start with when the order is placed and map the
process through shipment.
• Understand: Collect data so you understand any variations in the process.
• Select: Identify what in the process can be improved.
• Plan: Develop an improvement plan.
• Do: Implement the plan.
• Check: Collect data to see how the plan worked.
• Act: If the plan worked, write a policy and train employees on the new process. If the plan did not work, go
back to the beginning and try another improvement idea.

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This is a very simplified example of using FOCUS PDCA, but what you will find is that if you try this method on a
few small improvement opportunities, you will become more comfortable and will be able to use the same
methodology on larger system problems.

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Taking KPIs to the next level with OKRs


As more and more organizations look to improve corporate performance management with best practices such as
driver-based planning, introducing leading indicators in addition to lagging indicators, and moving from annual
budgeting to rolling forecasts, one model for performance management seems to be making the most impact. The
model, Objectives and Key Results (OKRs), continues to grow in popularity as a platform for performance
management.

How often do you hear people saying I like the goal-setting approach of our company?

While best practice methods such as the Balanced Scorecard, Rolling Forecasts, and Driver-Based Planning can be of
tremendous value, I constantly find organizations both begin and do not quite implement these approaches or they are
valuable only to a select group of executives or staff within the finance team.

But, with OKRs, I consistently find larger groups of employees claiming to do their jobs better because they use
OKRs as a platform for performance management.

OKR Origins
As for the origin of OKRs, it should be noted that OKRs are very similar to SMART goals. The first documentation
of SMART goals comes in 1981 and is associated with Peter Drucker’s Management by Objectives (MBO) program
which emerged in the 1950s. The MBO model is probably the earliest predecessor to OKRs.

The Balanced Scorecard and strategy maps are quite similar to OKRs though these models originated in 1987 and did
not gain traction until the 1990s with the publication of the famous book by Kaplan and Norton in 1996, so the OKRs
model appears to pre-date the balanced scorecard.

Twitter’s CEO says OKRs are a “…super effective way of communicating context to other teams about what you’re
trying to do and what you’re trying to accomplish.”

As you begin to think about how OKRs might fit into your existing approach to performance management, I find it’s
useful to think about OKRs as a method for staying aligned and focused by structuring conversations most efficiently
drive your business forward.

- A goal /Objective, is the direction we want to go in.


- Metrics/KPIs, Monitoring how we are performing.
- Targets, the level of performance that we want to achieve.
- Output, Is an action that you take towards your goals.
- Outcomes, are the measurable results that you hope to see after you have completed your outputs.
- Cascading, refers to top-down approach.
- Linking, Is the practical process of connecting objectives at different levels.
- Aligning, the best way to align your goals is by combining the bottom-up and top-down approaches.

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let’s introduce a table that differentiates between a KPI and a KR:

KPI and KR Comparison Table

Key Performance Indicator


Differentiating Factor (KPI) Key Result (KR)

Must be a metric Yes No

Can be a metric Yes Yes

Has a completion date Sometimes Yes

Fixed updating frequency Yes No

Controllable Sometimes Yes

Progress is measurable Sometimes Always

Summary

• OKRs are a viable best-practice approach to performance management that requires the use of
KPIs
• KPIs can exist without OKRs, but OKRs generally cannot exist without KPIs
• KPIs and OKRs can be combined to take an integrated driver-based planning approach to
performance management resulting in:
o Better execution.
o Metrics-driven culture
o More engagement (e.g. ‘I like our organization’s goal-setting approach’).

Preparing for OKR


Before you start using OKR it’s important to have a clear understanding of the challenge you want to solve, or to put
it another way, the Business Objective you’re hoping OKR will help you achieve. For most organizations, OKR
solves the challenge of executing business strategy in a way that’s clear to all employees, transparent and measurable.
For it be successful, the implementation and management of OKR should have an owner within the organization. This
person is usually called the “Ambassador” and the role is to ensure that everyone who will be using OKR, is trained,
engaged and has ongoing help and guidance. OKR is a framework but it’s also a learning process that often involves a
fundamental shift in how people think about and measure the work they do, moving away from a focus on output and
towards a focus on outcomes. The structure of an OKR program can be broken down into 4 levels; 2 which cover
strategy and 2 which cover execution.

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Why to use OKRs in managing your company?


OKRs are a management tool that brings many great benefits to any company that uses them the right way. Let’s see
what some of these benefits are:

Focus and prioritization


OKRs force organizations (and teams and individuals) to prioritize the most important business results in a given
period (for example, next quarter), and ripple that focus and prioritization throughout the organization.

Alignment
OKRs come from the company’s mission and vision in a process of alignment that has the ultimate goal of getting
everyone to know in which direction they should row, here and now.

Motivation
It’s scientifically proven (again by Locke, long before the term “OKR” existed), that difficult but achievable goals
increase task-related motivation.

Culture

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OKRs are a very powerful tool for solidifying a culture of execution and results orientation.

Why are OKRs different?


OKRs, in their current application in the Silicon Valley, are different than regular goals in the following ways:

• They aren’t defined solely top-down: OKRs should be set from both the bottom-up and from the top-down. In
practice, employees take a more active role in the process.

• They’re less directly linked to variable compensation plans, like pay-for-performance bonuses.

• They’re run in shorter cycles of 3, 4 or 6 months.

• They’re public by default. That means that confidential OKRs are the exception, and not the rule (goals related to
mergers and acquisitions or downsizing plans are some examples of private OKRs).

What are the benefits of using OKR?


The main advantages of using OKR are:

Agility
Shorter goal cycles enable faster adjustments and better adaptation to change, increasing innovation and reducing
risks and waste.

Alignment and cross-functional cooperation

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The use of shared OKRs improves collaboration among different teams, solving Interdependencies and unifying
competing initiatives.

Reduced time for setting goals


OKR simplicity makes the goal setting process faster and easier, drastically reducing the time and resources spent on
setting goals.

Clear communication
Transparency and simplicity enable the team to understand the goals and priorities of the organization as well as how
each individual can contribute.

Employee engagement
OKR bottom-up approach for goal setting connects the employees with the company’s Objectives, increasing
engagement.

Autonomy and accountability


Teams receive a clear direction and are free to choose how to achieve their OKRs. They become responsible for their
objectives, with clear success criteria known to the whole company, creating mutual obligations.

Focus and discipline


The reduced number of goals creates focus in the organization and more disciplined efforts and initiatives.

Bolder goals
Decoupling OKRs from compensation and using stretch goals, even partially, enable the team to set ambitious,
challenging goals.

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Goal-setting science
Goal-setting has historically been used in the corporate world for two main purposes:

• To motivate employees (efficiency)

• To assess their performance.

When focusing on Value, we need to separate the OKRs from the activities and tasks that we plan on doing to achieve
the OKRs. This leaves us with three components:

➔ Objectives: What we want to achieve.

➔ Key Results: How are we going to measure our progress?

➔ Initiatives: What we are going to do to reach our OKR: projects, tasks or activities.

OKRs & Compensation:-


OKRs are not synonymous with employee evaluations. OKRs are about the company’s goals and how each employee
contributes to those goals. Performance evaluations – which are entirely about evaluating how an employee
performed in a given period – should be independent of their OKRs.

Common OKR mistakes


Those are the most common mistakes we encounter in OKR implementations, starting with the most basic ones:

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➔ Setting non-measurable Key Results: Every Key Result has to be measurable.

➔ Too many OKRs or Key Results: OKR is not a laundry list of everything you do. It is a

representation of your top priorities.

➔ Including tasks as Key Results: A Key Result is not something that you do. It is the successful outcome of what
you did.

➔ Setting OKRs top-down: OKRs do not cascade. Trust your team and help them understand how they can
contribute.

➔ Creating OKRs in silos: Teams have to talk to each other when setting OKRs, otherwise achieving alignment will
be impossible.

➔ “Set it and forget it”: Don’t treat your OKRs as New Year’s resolutions. OKR has to be part of the culture of your
organization and has to be tracked at a regular cadence.

➔ including OKRs in a compensation formula: OKR is not an employee evaluation tool. OKR is a management tool.

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OKR Levels
What are OKR Levels?
We can set OKRs at four levels. Typically in every company, you have multiple departments and sometimes you have
cross functional teams, working towards solving a particular problem and obviously employees working in these
different departments. So, these are the 4 levels at which you set OKRs, and referred to as OKR Levels.

Company Level OKRs


So let’s say, at the company level, you have an OKR to grow your business. Let’s call the objective “Grow revenue.”
Fast forward a quarter or a year, how do you know that you have grown the revenue. We will create key results which
will answer that question precisely. One of the key results can be , “Increase revenue by 100%” or, “Double the
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revenue,” or, “Increase the revenue from $100 million to $200 million this year.” A second key result may be to
launch some new products. You can launch a couple of new products in the areas where your competition is stronger
than you. A third key result that may be focused on entering some new geographies. You could have the key result
phrased differently. For example, “Expand the number of countries in which we operate from 10 to 15 countries.” So
this essentially forms one of the corporate OKRs.

Department Level OKRs


Obviously marketing and sales get involved here. Marketing has to generate new revenue opportunities, maybe
identify new markets to enter. And then the sales team obviously has to nurture the leads from marketing and then go
and execute on the sales process to get you this growth. The research and development team, obviously, will have to
work on those new products, as well as improve existing products, so their products fare well in the market. And the
manufacturing and other services teams may have to either create additional capacity or introduce new manufacturing
lines or manufacturing plants to support these growth goals. These “things to do” that originated from the corporate
OKR will essentially become the department OKRs.

Cross Functional Team Level OKRs


Now, there are other situations where you could say, “Okay, we actually need a team of people from different
departments to execute this key result.” And interestingly, this penetrate Italian market OKR itself can be a candidate
for that, because opening a sales office in Milan, could be the responsibility of the real estate group of the company,
while the marketing department is key driver. And certainly, the business strategy department may have a part to play
as well. Hiring the VP of sales could be literally spearheaded by the HR department. So, essentially, as we are seeing
here, it could cross multiple departments, and in which case you can leave it like this, where it actually rests with the
group that is the leading group, or the leading department, and then others can contribute to it, or maybe create a cross
functional team comprising of people from these three or four departments and then make the OKRs theirs. So that
way it’s pretty clear, and everybody knows what’s going on.

Individual OKRs
And at the final level, you can actually have individual OKRs. Employees can have their own OKRs, which
essentially are actions that derive from the department level or team level OKRs, down to the individual level. Let’s
take this example, the department key result “acquire 30 new leads for this quarter from the Italian region,” could
essentially become an objective for the digital marketing head. He could say, “Okay, I need to get 30 new leads from
the Italian market in this quarter, so what do I do?” Okay, I need to run ads in certain places, let’s say, Google ads or
LinkedIn ads or newspaper ads or magazine ads. And then maybe you could say, “I need to get some PR involved,
like maybe announcing that this company is entering this market, do some press conference and other things to get the
message out,” which all results in awareness.

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Moonshots vs. Roof shots


• Moonshots
o Moonshots are ‘Stretch goals’
o Just beyond the threshold of what seems possible
o Success means achieving 60-70%
o Cons
▪ Can demotivate people if they can only 60% every time.
▪ Lack of accountability and commitment (hey, it’s just a stretch goal)
o Best practices
▪ Have one Moonshot KR per objective and others as roofshots
• Roofshots
o Goals that are hard but achievable
o Success means achieving 100%
• OKR cadences
o 1st OKR period: Apr 1 to Jun 1

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o 1st OKR review: May 15


o Weekly check-ins must happen - even during scrum (OKRs shouldn’t turn into New Year resolutions)

o
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The difference between moonshot OKRs and roofshot OKRs is the


difference between aspirational and committed goals. Both types
of OKRs have many benefits.
Moonshot OKRs or stretch goals are goals that seem impossible to achieve. They should force teams and individuals
to rethink how they work and take you out of your comfort zone. They should make everyone involved wonder, how
far you can go.

Committed OKRs (roofshot OKRs) are ones that your organization or team has agreed to execute and might have a
clear action plan for achieving. Aspirationational OKRs (moonshot OKRs) are more visionary and likely won’t get
completed 100%, but they are important for moving towards the future.

Moonshot OKRs are the lofty and ambitious Objectives where 100% completion is likely impossible. Objectives
should be set with very high bars. Achieving these OKRs brings huge success, but the risk of failing is high as well.

For both the roofshot and the moonshot OKRs what you measure with the Key Results can be the same. But how big
the stretch is will define which type of goal it is.

With moonshots, 66-70% progress achievement can be called a success. But you have to be careful. While these goals
should be just out of reach, it’s important that people would still take them seriously. Employees need to do
everything to achieve them. If 66% becomes the new 100% for everyone, nobody will push hard enough.

The Difference Between Committed and Aspirational OKRs


When it comes to OKR methodology there are two types of goals one can set – committed or aspirational OKRs.
Committed OKRs are ones that your organization or team has agreed to execute and might have a clear action plan for
achieving. Aspirational OKRs are more visionary and likely won’t get completed 100%, but they are important for
moving towards the future.

While just defining these types of goals is easy enough it doesn’t give you a real picture of the difference between
them. You need to think about when you should choose one type of OKR over another. In many cases, you will even
combine them together. This article will go over the differences between Committed and Aspirational OKRs and
provide examples of each. We will also give you some insight into which will work best for you and your team.

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Committed OKRs

A Committed OKR should be achieved by 100%. The success of a Committed Objective is critical to the success of
the company or team. The outcomes of these Objectives should push you to be better, but they should still be
achievable. Committed Objectives describe business-as-usual and the Key-Results should be reflective of expected
measurable outcomes. Committed Key Results are often considered roof shot goals where 100% progress is expected.

It’s important to remember that even though Committed OKRs are more like business-as-usual, they still are still
goals! This means a Committed Objective isn’t a target like the number of client meetings or calls month-to-month. A
target is usually the expected level of performance that is needed to keep the company going.

Committed Key Results

Even though KPI / Metric targets and OKRs aren't the same things then your KPI's / Metrics can become your OKRs
in some situations. First, if your KPI / Metric target hasn't been met and it's starting to cause a problem. You probably
need to have some improvements to restore its historical level. The second situation might be that you have decided
that you just need to improve some KPIs / Metrics to achieve some of your Objectives.

For example, one of the KPIs in your company is Net Promote Score (NPS) and it has a target of 50. Now, this is
something that you should keep an eye on, but you can expect to hit the target by just doing your day-to-day job well.
It shows you the health of the company and if it's good, it doesn't require any extra action.

Committed OKR Example

Having an Objective means that your team needs to put your heads together and think of various ways to achieve it. If
later the Objective is achieved by doing what you usually do, then the Objective lacks drive. You should rethink it by
testing new ideas or doing changes to the work culture.

Committed OKRs may also focus on making necessary changes in the company as well. For example, you have
internal communication processes in place but the information still goes missing or moves too slowly, which has led
people to feel frustrated.

Aspirational OKRs

If a Committed OKR was realistic and needs to be achieved around 100% then Aspirational OKRs are the lofty and
ambitious Objectives where 100% completion is likely impossible. Aspirational Objectives should be set with very
high bars. Achieving these OKRs brings huge success, but the risk of failing is high as well. Usually, 66-
70% progress achievement can be called a success already. But you have to be careful. While these goals should be
just out of reach, it’s important that people would still take them seriously and aim for the highest progress possible. If
66% becomes the new 100% in people's minds, nobody will push hard enough.

Aspirational Key Results

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Aspirational OKRs are also called moonshots. Like the term implies, it’s about aiming high. What you measure with
the Key Results can be the same for Committed or Aspirational OKRs, but how big the stretch is will define which
type of goal it is.

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Ultimate Guide to Enterprise KPIs


Building KPIs is hard and has lots of hidden traps. That's why I developed a bullet-proof seven step method for larger
organizations to develop the right selection of KPIs to achieve their business goals.

Who is the OKRs Enterprise™ approach designed for?


Medium to large enterprises that want to use their strategic objectives to develop focused effective set of performance
indicators. It can also be useful for smaller organizations with complex or unusual needs.

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The OKR methodology provides seven logical steps


for KPI development...
Step 1: Clear Strategy
Not having a clear strategy (or worse still, having a strategy that is woolly or vague) will completely undermine all
your work on KPIs. The good news is that there are some checks you can run to see if your strategy is fit for creating
meaningful KPIs.

Agree what you are trying to achieve

• Review strategy documentation


• Identify strategic objectives
• Where and how will your KPIs be used?

Step 2: Engage
Experience taught me the hard way, if you don't have the right people in the room when you develop and agree your
KPIs, you might as well have not bothered - you will have to do it all over again. This step is all about identifying the
right people to involve at the start, how to involve them and keeping track of that involvement.
Engage stakeholders and assess situation

• Identify key stakeholders


• Develop communications plan
• Cognitive design training
• Review existing reports and dashboards

Step 3: Longlist
People tend to want jump straight to the 'right answer' and may miss many critical KPIs by doing this. The OKR
method separates KPI selection into two stages. The first stage 'longlisting', using KPI Trees, builds a full model of all
the potential KPIs, without worrying about how important or practical those measures are.

KPI Trees to create 'longlist'

• Draft 'KPI Trees' in stakeholder workshops


• Run follow-up results mapping workshop
• Redraft, review and sign off KPI Trees

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Step 4: Shortlist KPIs


It's really easy to get 'carried away' and to try to measure too many things. This shortlisting step offers a bullet-proof
way to reduce that list to a manageable size. It also documents the 'why' for which KPIs we selected and which we
chose to leave or implement at a later stage.

Develop the measures 'shortlist'

• Workshop importance/ease-of-capture matrix


• Agree 'use, aspire or discard' list
• Set up new measures
• Develop action plans for 'use' and 'aspire' lists

Step 5: Define
Definition is all about writing down some vital information about your shortlisted KPIs, such as which data is used,
precise calculations, what is or is not in included in the data etc. Honestly, most organizations will do
almost anything to avoid doing this step. If you skip the KPI definition step bad things will happen.

Define KPIs

• Precisely define measures and KPIs


• Document known issues
• Make definitions and notes freely available

Step 6: Prototype
Fully working dashboards and reports can take lots of time, money and effort to implement. Managers often change
their minds when they see new reports or dashboards, upsetting their analysts and wasting huge amounts of time and
effort. You can avoid this trap by creating 'mockups' your reports, getting sign-off on fully reviewed prototypes
and then building the working versions.

Design and test your dashboards and reports

• Review the prototype proposals


• Run dashboard live prototyping sessions
• Review and revise draft dashboard/report
• Approval.

Step 7: Go Live
The best designed KPIs and reports are meaningless until they are part of every-day life in their organization. Rolling
out KPIs involves fixing lots of problems and people. Fortunately many of the issues have been solved in other

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organizations before, and many of those tools and strategies are outlined in this step. Typical challenges involve slow
KPI production process, reporting tool selection, lack of trust in data quality, sustainability and many other factors.

Roll out your KPIs, reports and dashboards

• Get buy-in
• Deal with issues with existing data
• Map the KPI process
• Seek user feedback and tweaks during nursery period
• Hand over to 'business as usual' team.

Strategy Checklist: Is your strategy ready to


support meaningful measures and KPIs?
Why is a strategy checklist important? Imagine a friend saying to you “Can you pop out to the hardware store
and buy a tool for me?”.
Obviously, your first question would be “What kind of tool are you looking for?”
Deciding on your measures and KPIs without having a clear strategy is exactly like going tool shopping without
knowing what it is that you are trying to achieve or what tool you need.
Trap: Be wary of ‘off-the-shelf’ KPI sets
It’s also equally strange to let someone else decide what tools you might need (so called “off the shelf KPIs”).
Imagine being told by a complete stranger that “the hammer is the most useful tool a manager can buy”. If your issue
is nail-related then she may have a point. If you have a wood-size issue then you may have a pretty compelling

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argument that the saw is the king of the tool kit. Without a clear picture of what you are trying to achieve, any debates
about the relative merits of KPIs and measures becomes completely unstructured and pointless.
Being clear on what you are trying to achieve through measurement is 100% essential and unavoidable. If you
skip this crucial step you are very unlikely to end up where you need to be by accident.
The next step, after nailing down your strategy is to break this down into a little bit more detail. This next level is
what we call strategic objectives, or long-term organizational goals.
Now hopefully your organization has a clear strategy, broken down into objectives in a readily accessible form. If it
has then you need to get hold of it and read it a few times. Once you have done that here’s a quick checklist that will
show whether it’s going to do the job for us:

Checklist: Strategy fitness


1. Is the strategy written down?
2. Does the strategy make sense to an intelligent, but non-specialist, reader?
3. Is there broad management consensus that the strategy is correct?
4. Is your strategy relevant to the key decision makers in the business?
5. Is your strategy is linked to clear and specific strategic objectives?
6. Are the strategic objectives physically accessible by all the managers within the organization?
7. Are the strategic objectives broad and non “dated” (rather than simply being important actions that will be
completed at some point)?
8. Are the management across the organization familiar with the strategic objectives, without scrambling onto
the intranet or looking for bits of paper?
9. Are the key decision makers either working to the strategy or attempting to work to the strategy?
10. Are there fewer than 7 strategic objectives?

If the answer to the questions above is “yes” then you should be in a good position to start developing your
measures. If any of your answers is “no” then much of your hard work could be done if you start to create
measures without fixing the problems with your strategy.
I learned early on, no strategy = no meaningful measures.
A clear strategy that creates an aligned set of measures will mean that most of the people in the organization are
pushing in the same direction at the same time. A badly designed set of measures and KPIs will mean that alignment
and collaboration is likely to be random and poorly controlled.

Using OKRs to improve your business


I’m often asked how to create KPIs and measures. It’s not a short process, which is why most people end up
brainstorming or using existing measures when they are tasked with doing this. The good news is that it is a
repeatable process. Here are the key steps in coming up with a new KPI or measure that will drive your organization
towards its strategic objectives…

Agreeing what we are trying to achieve with our KPI measurement:-

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1- Review Strategy documentation. Make sure you understand not just the words of the document but
the ideas behind it.
2- Identify strategic objectives. It can be hard to translate strategy into something more granular but
very often a business strategy document will have clear strategic objectives. These objectives can
make a great starting point for defining our measures.
3- Do you know what questions you are trying to answer? Without knowing what question you are
trying to answer you will only pick the right measures by accident.
If you can’t identify the question you really shouldn’t go on to the next step until you can answer it, however
tempting. What are you trying to achieve with your KPI measurement?
4- Cascade strategic objectives into measurable quantities. There are a number of techniques for doing this, I
use a method called “results mapping”. Whatever technique you use, by the end of it you should have a visual
representation showing how your measure or KPI connects to your strategic objective. This is often done
through layers of intermediate results or outcomes. Run a series of “Results Mapping” workshops with
stakeholders.

KPIs Definition Checklist


It's all too easy to end up with poorly defined KPIs. If this happens then there may be confusion about the purpose or
definition of a KPI. Confusion leads to mistrust and disuse. Use this checklist to see if each of your KPIs and
measures is well defined:

• KPI Name: Use a "what-it-say-is-what-it-is" type name, so that it doesn't mislead. Be very careful with
terms like efficiency and effectiveness - there are thousands of variants on these and everyone seems to
have a strong view that their opinion is the right one.
• Measurement Intent: Describes the measure and the reasoning behind its selection as an indicator of
progress against this strategic objective. Put simply "why are we measuring this?"
• KPI Definition/Formula: Provide a detailed formula for the calculation of a numeric value for the
measure. A simple test for how well you have defined a KPI is to pose the question "Could a reasonably
numerate stranger calculated the value using this definition and provided source data?".
• Frequency of update: Identifies how often it's calculated. This is important for a number of reasons, one
of the less obvious ones being "end effects", where the reporting cycle may create some overlap errors. A
long reporting cycle usually lessens these, a short one will make this more acute.
• Units of measure: Identifies the units in which the measure will be reported. Is it a dimensionless ratio
(e.g. efficiency) or is a good-ol-fashioned "real" measure with dimensions (e.g. kilograms, calls per day or
money).
• Notes/Assumptions: Clarifies terms in the formula. Highlights key assumptions underlying the formula.
Almost all measures and KPIs have flaws, issues and problems. The key thing is to document these issues,
make people aware of them and avoid making flawed analysis based on these issues.
• KPI Information availability: Whether the information required is: readily available, available with some
effort or not available. This gives you a feeling for the pain involved in compiling a KPI and can give you a
"hit list" for automating and streamlining KPI production.
• Data elements and source: The data elements required to calculate this measure and the source systems,
databases, documents, etc., of those data elements. This should go down to painful levels of detail, showing

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which server a file sits on, in which directory and where on the spreadsheet (for example) the data can
be found. Naming conventions should also be included where documents cover a certain period.
• Source for, and approach to, setting targets: Where does the target come from? Why is it set at the level
it is? I've seen countless organizations where no one can answer this question. Why are we aiming for a
certain score? It's pretty embarrassing not to know the answer to this.
• Person responsible for target setting: One person must ultimately be responsible for setting the target,
even if it's agreed by consensus/debate/vote.
• Person accountable for set targets: This is the person who carries the "strategic can" for the target setting.
They should be consulted on the target and it's aims, but may not be responsible for setting its actual value.
• Person responsible for tracking and reporting targets: Who manages the day-to-day of target setting
and reporting?
• Target (where known): What are the target(s) value(s) and its key results?

Each of these questions needs to be answered for each KPI and measure in the organization.

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Three questions to tell if your strategy is broken


Imagine going into map shop and saying “You know a lot about maps, I’d like you to recommend some good ones?”.
It sounds pretty silly and it’s pretty clear that the response will be “Well, where do you want to go?”.
Strangely enough, many people and organizations don’t get beyond the first question when it comes to selecting KPIs.
They are more interested in how good the tool is, how it compares with similar tools and how much it costs, but they
lose sight of what it is that they want to do with it.
Put simply, the KPIs and measures are the tool, the strategy is the job that needs doing. Without knowing what you
want to achieve, it’s impossible to choose or devise the right measurement tool.
The ultimate objectives of the organization can have a really profound effect on what you decide to measure.
If you don’t have a strategy that works and makes sense it is worse than useless if you don't linking up to the real
everyday operations of your business. It is also impossible to put together a meaningful KPI system without a clear
idea what strategic outcomes you're looking for. KPIs are often blamed for excessive admin burden and poor
outcomes, more often though it is a failure of strategy and strategy translation that leads to the really big mistakes.
Strategy is a pretty big field, and well beyond the scope of this how-to guide, but here's a quick test to see whether
you have a strategy that is good enough for our purposes:

1. Do you know what the strategy of your businesses? (Without going and looking it up)
2. If you ask a two or more senior people in your business what the corporate strategy is, do you get the
same answer?
3. If your strategy is defined, is it clear what results are implied throughout strategy? For example “our
strategy addresses: climate change" - what does this really mean?

If the answers to questions one or three are “no" or you get significantly different answers to question two, you have
some more work to do on your strategy.

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What is the difference between a strategic


objective and a mission statement?
There is a bit of a blurry line between mission statements and strategic objectives. Often clues to the strategic
objectives are contained within a mission statement. Here are some notable vision/mission statements from history.

Example: A grim mission statement


General Motors: ‘GM is a multinational corporation engaged in socially responsible operations, worldwide. It is
dedicated to provide products and services of such quality that our customers will receive superior value while our
employees and business partners will share our success and our stockholders will receive a sustained superior return
on their investment.’

Example: Three good mission statements


1. Innocent: ‘Make natural, delicious food and drink that helps people live well and die old’.
2. National Multiple Sclerosis Society: ‘A World Free of MS.’
3. Microsoft: ‘A computer on every desk and in every home.’

I like these because they are short, clearly carefully-considered, distinctive and you can see how a set of unique, and
measurable, KPIs could spring up to support the statement.

Example: A funny mission statement


Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company Mission Statement: ‘We will build great ships. At a profit if we
can. At a loss if we must. But we will build great ships.

Checklist: Are your strategic objectives clear?


1. Is each strategic objective articulated in no more than two sentences?
2. Does the description of the strategic objective make sense?
3. Is it possible to interpret a statement in a radically different way? (Best test this by getting a number of
different people to read and explain back what a given statement means - there can be very surprising
variations.)
4. Are there any ‘woolly words’ or ‘management buzzwords’ in the strategic objective? Examples of words
that don’t help include ‘synergy’, ‘excellence’, ‘outstanding’ and ‘empowerment’ - they sound great but
are very hard to pin down. If there are, then these need to be removed or replaced with clear, simple
phrases.

If your strategy is not available in this form then you will need to have a session with the leaders in your organization
to make sure that you can distil the strategy into something suitable.

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Here are some examples of clear strategic objectives:

• Increase company revenue to 11%.


• Reduce loss of life through road accidents by 50%.
• Become the biggest supplier of sliced bread.
• Be the fastest-delivering mail order memory stick retailer.
• Have the widest selection of digital delivery channels in GCC.

You need your strategic objectives in this very specific form to support the next steps in the OKRs process.

Engaging KPI Stakeholders – Communications


Because organizations are complex structures and the people within them are often anxious and busy, the
‘Engagement’ step is one of the easiest steps to mess up. Just working out who to talk to can be a serious challenge.
Here are some key things you need to tackle during this step:

• Who to talk to - You need to identify all those who have involvement in your new measures, whether in
production, review or reward.
• How deeply to engage with them - Not all stakeholders need the same level of engagement. You need a
method to manage this.
• What the ‘message’ is - KPIs can scare people. Sometimes this is a rational response, sometimes not.
Simply ignoring the issues is a recipe for disaster so you need a clear understanding of what message you
are trying to convey to stakeholders.
• How you communicate - A communications plan is needed for all but the simplest implementations. This
should cover method, timing, audience, message and outcomes.
• Stakeholder receptiveness - Introducing new concepts, such as a radically different dashboard design, can
upset stakeholders, even if they are excellent and innovative. Substantial changes should be backed up by
good-quality discussion and training. The sessions should cover both the reasoning and science behind the
changes.

Why develop a communications plan?


Using a communications plan does two things. Firstly, it makes sure you carefully consider what you say, to whom
and when - pretty obvious. The second, slightly less obvious, point is that it provides tangible evidence it has been
done properly. There will always be complaints about poor communication but the best way to show that your
communications plan was properly implemented is to:

• Discuss and share the plan in advance.


• Document progress against the communications plan during the implementation.
• Evidence the delivery through a completed plan, after the event.

Communications message, purpose and audience


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• Why are you communicating?


• What is it that you are trying to change through your communications?
• If you succeed with your communications, do you know what would be different?
• Do you understand what your communications audience currently thinks? If not, you may need to survey
the audience so you can measure any change resulting from the communication.
• If you do know the current audience’s view, make sure it is documented properly and can be referred back
to after the communications plan delivery.
• Is that difference quantifiable?
• Who do you need to communicate with? Use the RACI matrix approach.
• Write your key messages for each audience segment - keeping the purpose in mind.

Designing communications activities


• Delivery method - Will it be face-to-face, by email, intranet or teleconference?
• Timing - When will you communicate? How many updates or reminders will they receive?
• Owner - Who will deliver the communications? Will they be trained? Are they suitable and motivated?
• Audience - Are you completely clear about who is included in the communications and what type of
communications they will receive?
• Target outcomes from communications - What do you want the audience to know, think or do as a
result of the communications?

Deliver your communications


• Who will deliver the message?
• What preparation do they need?
• Have you drafted ‘frequently asked questions and responses’ and other backup resources for your
deliverers?
• How many people will you need to ensure you cover all the target audience?
• What other resources do you need? E.g. company intranet pages, dedicated SharePoint sites etc.
• How can your audience feedback comments and questions?
• What checks do you have in place to make sure the plan is delivered as intended?
• How can you tell if the communication has been effective?
• How will you know if further communication, over and above the plan, is needed?

Get the message and delivery right


The depth and method of delivery will be determined by:

• The time available.


• The number of people to be engaged.
• The geographical distribution of those people.

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• The communications resource available - especially people to present road shows etc.
• The level of controversy/complexity in the message.
• The ability/existing knowledge of the audience.

Key communications principles


• Use targeting to make sure you don’t encourage people to ignore your communications.
• Put yourself ‘in the shoes’ of your audience. Look at things from their perspective and try to provide them
with what they need to know.
• Senior endorsement can help make sure people take the message seriously, even better if the keynote
communications are delivered by a senior executive.
Be as honest as you can be.
• If you expect a bumpy ride, try and have one-to-ones with key players in advance of any group sessions to
prevent the sessions becoming ‘gladiatorial’.
• Accept that you will not always have the right information to hand. If you don’t, commit to getting an
answer and do so in the promised time scale.
• Be very, very familiar with the message.

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Engage stakeholders and understand our situation


Identify key stakeholders and subject matter experts. There are two very good reasons for engaging key
stakeholders and subject matter experts. Firstly they know a lot. Secondly, they are much more likely to agree with
the outcomes and findings if they’re involved in the process of deciding them!
Train stakeholders in Blink Reporting approach. One of the approaches is to clearly represent data and
information using the Blink Reporting approach. Training up people in this approach early on brings a fantastic level
of buy-in from stakeholders.
Review existing reports and dashboards. Go through existing reports and dashboards and critically analyze what is
successful or unsuccessful about them.

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Create the measures “longlist”


Create draft “results map”. Using your preferred method for mapping strategy into measures or KPIs you should
come up with a long list of potential measures or KPIs. It is often worth refining or polishing this long list by meeting
up again with your key stakeholders.
Keep revising your results map and long list until you build consensus and agreement amongst your stakeholders
and your team.
Workshop importance/ease-of-capture matrix. When you have a long list then it is time to rationalize that list. You
can do this using a simple 2 x 2 matrix. On the X axis you have two categories, able to gather and hard/not able to
gather. On the Y axis you have two categories, important and trivial.
The matrix will look something like this…

Agree “use, aspire or discard” list. From this you can easily create a “priority” category and an “aspire” category.
The priority category contains those measures which coincide with “able to gather” and “important”. The “aspire”
category includes those measures and KPIs which fall into the “important” category but also the “hard/not able to
gather” category.

Set up new measures


Develop the actions plans for “use” and “aspire” lists. Using action lists and project plans, you can create a
programme for implementing new measures or collating existing ones.

Design dashboards and reports


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Identify report stakeholders for use. Terms of reference set the context for use of the report. Having good terms of
reference enable you to justify the content and structure of your report. Without this context it becomes easy for
people to tear into the design decisions and choices you have made.
Properly define measures and KPIs. Having your measures properly defined increases confidence in those
measures and the reliability of the outputs.
Go live with agreed dashboard or reports. Get your measures up and running as swiftly as possible. You won’t
achieve perfection first time, so you need to make sure that you respond to feedback and criticism politely and
quickly.
Prototype the dashboards. When your measures are in place then you can start to pull together proposed
dashboards. It makes sense for these proposals to be in draft form, so you can easily change them based on user
feedback. Visio can be a useful tool for creating mockups quickly.
Review the prototype proposals with live revision session. If you can, get your stakeholders in a room and make
changes to the draft dashboards in real time. This can save a huge amount of to-ing and fro-ing on the approval
process. If you can’t get a live session together then you will need to go through a formal approval process.

Running KPI Stakeholder Workshops


KPI Stakeholder workshops are particularly useful when you are interested in gathering problem-related information
or need to understand processes. Workshops are less suited to exploring more sensitive topics.
Most of the steps are the same as for a semi-structured interview, although it is wise to dwell a bit less on the
background of the participants as this can make some of the more anxious group members uncomfortable.
Key points for running a successful stakeholder workshop are:

• Be clear about the purpose of the session.


• Make sure the sessions are not too big (10-12 attendees is the upper limit for one person to facilitate well).
• Be aware of management structures and make sure you don’t end up with an outspoken manager and
his/her tongue-tied subordinates.
• Be clear and honest about confidentiality and re-use of comments and quotes.
• Note down key points and play them back to the group at the end to make sure you have understood
correctly.

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Interviewing KPI Stakeholders and Subject Matter


Experts
It is usually best to have a mixture of semi-structured interviews and stakeholder workshops. A semi-structured
interview is one where you ask open questions and then listen carefully to the answers. When I conduct an interview I
include:

Introductions
• About you (the interviewer), who you are and why you are here.
• What your objectives are, what you are looking to get from the interview.
• Whether the outputs are anonymous or not.

About the interviewee


• Their background.
• How long they have been in their current role.
• What they are looking to get from the interview.
• Any concerns they may have.
• Any questions they may have.

Open questions I ask include:


• Which reports, measures and dashboards are they regularly exposed to?
• What are their biggest worries about current reporting/dashboarding?
• What single thing do they think should be the priority to improve as regards measures and reports?
• How confident are they in the quality of the data in their organization?
• What outputs would they like to see that are not currently produced?

..And some closed questions


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• Have the company’s strategic objectives been communicated to them?


• Can they recall those objectives?
• Do they have any specific examples of measurement issues or things that need fixing urgently?

Take notes and make sure you summarize issues as you go so you can easily review your notes and develop a
balanced overview.
These questions can be a bit aggressive if delivered poorly, so make sure you tread lightly in the interview and let
things develop.

Go live with agreed dashboard/report


Produce dashboard/report. Think carefully about the production process. Initially production will normally involve
lots of copying and pasting in and out of Excel.
Issue first production version of report. Get the first report out as soon as possible. If you don’t do this you can find
the organizational enthusiasm withers and dies before the first report ever makes it out into the light of day.
Actively seek user feedback. Take feedback on board quickly and courteously.
Revise and refine dashboard throughout “nursery period”. Keep up the support for pre-agreed nursery period. It
is this stage in the process that will often have biggest impact on success or otherwise of a report or dashboard, so
make sure you don’t skimp on it.
Don’t forget KPI measurement can sometime attract criticism because of what it shows, but this will often show itself
as criticism the system. Try and separate the two to avoid a fruitless debate.

Identifying KPI Stakeholders using RACI


Knowing who you need to talk to, gain agreement with or keep updated is central to implementing successful
measures. Many management information projects fail because of political or communications problems. This makes
it especially important that you clearly identify, document and manage your stakeholders. The first step is to identify
who your stakeholders are.
Stakeholders fall into these broad camps:
Data originators - The people at, or very close to, the point at which the data is collected or generated. This might be
an agent or team manager in a call centre, for example.
Data aggregators - People involved in pulling the data together, but probably not analysing it. Sometimes they will
be the ‘data packagers’ as well. Often these people are part of the company IT function.
Data packagers - The ‘packagers’ will perform analyses, create reports and dashboards. These people often work in a
management information, business intelligence or reporting team.
Internal customers - The people who use the output from the packagers to make decisions that affect the business.

Group stakeholders based on relationship

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Stakeholders are people who are involved in some way with what it is you’re trying to do. To identify the key
stakeholders I use a simple (and commonly used) tool called a RACI assignment matrix. It can really help clarify how
you need to engage and inform your wider audience and also gives you a document for review and approval.

RACI Definitions
The initials RACI stand for:
Responsible - These are the people who do the work to achieve the task objective.
Accountable - This is the person who is ultimately answerable for correct completion of the task. This person will
sign it off.
Consulted - These are people whose opinions are sought. They are often subject matter experts. It is a two-way
dialogue.
Informed - People who need to be kept up to date on progress. This is not normally a two-way conversation.
The idea is to create a simple matrix. Along the top you have column headings corresponding to roles within the
business - the ‘Name’ columns. Down the side you have either a specific KPI or report or a strategic objective or
business outcome.
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It will depend on the precise nature of your project and the number of measures/reports involved. On a big project it
just is not practical to go down to individual measures so you need to group things in a logical way at a higher level.

So, to summarize, the RACI matrix gives you a neat way of grouping stakeholders by the method with which you will
interact with them. It can be really useful for creating communication plans since you can refer to a complete block of
stakeholders as, for example, ‘informed’ and reference it back to your RACI matrix.
You can further refine the matrix by grouping the names into data originators, data aggregators etc.
The next step is to make contact with those stakeholders.

KPI Trees – How to build one


Creating Meaningful KPIs: Why use a KPI Tree?
Most strategic objectives are high-level outcomes. It’s very hard to agree with total confidence that you should, for
example, measure ‘process moisture content’ as a way of delivering ‘lowest cost per meter production of all
manufacturers’ unless you understand precisely how one links to the other. KPI Trees are all about turning strategic
objectives into meaningful KPIs.

What does a KPI Tree look like?


Here's an example I have developed for training. This one is fully fleshed-out and is for the strategic objective that
pretty much everyone can buy-into - 'Be Healthy'

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There are a number of benefits that come from using KPI Trees.
Benefit 1 - Sum up a complex situation with just a few indicators
With the KPI Tree you naturally arrange sub-measures into meaningful groups. Creating high-level summary
measures becomes relatively straightforward, as all you need to do is decide on the relative weightings and the
arithmetic you use to blend the sub-measures.
Benefit 2 - Help build agreement
Each Company has featured a dominant character in the group. They can bounce a group into a particular set of
measures through a mixture of rational argument and strength of will. Creating a KPI Tree avoids this through a
highly collaborative series of sessions. It also gives a tool, structure and visible output that anyone can easily
challenge and question.
Benefit 3 - Explain the approach
It normally takes two two-hour workshops to get a group up to speed and to successfully create a complex KPI Tree,
but it’s possible to get a group to grasp how to read one with about five minutes of explanation. It can also become a
powerful way for the executive to explain their strategy in terms that a group can really understand. It shows a depth,
coherence and clarity of thought that’s rare when it comes to strategy and measures.
Benefit 4 - Keep in step with changes in strategy
Businesses, markets and executive teams change. It’s absolutely guaranteed that, if you are lucky enough to have a
good strategy, it will have to change - possibly very soon. Using the KPI Tree approach means that you can see what
impact changes in the strategy will have on measures.
Benefit 5 - Understand how measures interact
You can have too much of a good things. It’s especially true in the world of measures. By pushing a ‘good’ measure
too far you can unexpectedly have a negative impact on your ultimate strategic objective.
All of these benefits help you choose meaningful and effective KPIs. If you don't use an approach like this then your
KPIs are normally selected by the person with the loudest voice or strongest personality.

Building the branches of a KPI Tree


Below is a single branch from the earlier example, showing how you move progressively closer to something you can
directly measure as you move towards the ‘measures’ level of the diagram.

Drilling down one branch of the KPI Tree


As you go down the levels there is a one-to-many relationship. So, for example, our strategic objective ‘Be healthy’
has several enablers that link into it. Here are the enablers I’ve identified:

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• Eat well
• Control/lose weight
• Be aerobically fit
• Relax
• Sleep well

Each of these will have several tactical enablers living below them, and measures below them. Here I have fleshed out
the Eat well branch:

Expanded branch of the KPI Tree


Any ‘node’ on the tree can be linked to any other to show a relationship. Use colour, intensity or terminator shape to
distinguish between the three link types, described below.
Link type 1 - Cause and effect
Where one activity directly influences another. This the most common type of relationship, so I use a plain grey line
for this.
Examples of cause-effect relationships include:

• ‘Sell popular flavours’ causes ‘Increase in ice cream sales’


• ‘Consumption of free salty snacks’ causes ‘Increase in drinks sales’

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Link type 2 - Conflict


Where one activity conflicts with another. I use a red line to show this.
Examples of conflict relationships include:

• Minimise 'Average Handling Time’ conflicts with ‘Maximise First Touch Resolution’.
• ‘Minimise performance rewards’ conflicts with ‘We have motivated staff‘.

Link type 3 - Companion


Where one measure is a subset of the other, or there is significant overlap. I use a double line for this - implying a
two-way relationship.
Examples of companion relationships are:

• 'Weight' is a companion measure to 'Body Mass Index'


• ‘Reduce loss from car accidents’ is a companion objective to ‘Reduce injury from car accidents’.

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The KPI Tree Checklist - getting it right first time


Here's a useful checklist for the process of creating a KPI Tree...

KPI Tree Checklist 1- Preparation checklist


• Become fully familiar with the strategy of your organization.
• Become fully familiar with the strategic objectives of your organization.
• Double-check those strategic objectives with all engaged senior stakeholders - if there are differences then
they must be ironed out before the sessions.
• Check that there are between two and seven strategic objectives - if there are more than this, it is likely that
lower-level tactical objectives are in the mix.
• Gain support and approval to hold a session from senior stakeholder(s).
• Gather your stakeholders together in groups.
• Select groups of between three and nine people per session (certainly no more than twelve).
• Select group to have a good mix of seniority.
• Organize two two-hour long workshop sessions, separated by between one and five working days.

KPI Tree Checklist 2- Practicalities checklist


• Book meeting rooms for both sessions.
• Create briefing email and send out invitations.
• Base group selection around broadly similar remits.
• Make sure there are desks available for them to work at.
• Ensure a whiteboard is available, if possible.
• Print out examples and worksheets.
• Take Post-Its and pens to the session. A camera phone can also be useful.

KPI Tree Checklist 3 - The first session checklist


• Explain the approach.
• Identify the strategic objectives - agree these with the group.
• Give the background to the session.
• Show a finished example.
• Get the group to do a simple (non-work) exercise example.
• Explain the three link types: cause-effect, conflict and companion.
• Help the group work through a more complex non-work example, including link types.
• Get the group to develop a draft KPI Tree specific to the group's relevant organisational strategic
objectives.
• Develop one tree per objective. The trees will almost certainly cross-link so it makes sense to create them
using one large sheet if possible.

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KPI Tree Checklist 4- The second session checklist


• Review the merged tree.
• Are there important factors that will not register with any of the measures identified? If so, then you have
missed something out of your tree.
• Is there a way of making a measure go the `right' way, but by doing something stupid?
• Add any further branches that need adding.
• Make corrections and discuss the merged tree.

Tools for building KPI Trees


There are several choices for drawing diagrams. Key points you need to consider when choosing one are:

• Does the read/edit software have to be a standard desktop application (like Microsoft Word or PowerPoint)
or do you have the chance to install specialist applications like Visio or Aris?
• What is the IT skill level of the users?
• Do you have to attach meta-data to objects? If so, you will need to go for a more specialist diagram
package e.g. Visio.
• Is there a company standard currently in use for this type of diagram? E.g. Mindjet, mind mapping
software.
• Will the software be used on a variety of operating systems? Some applications like Open Office, Free
mind and Mindjet cover two or more operating systems. Others, such as Visio, tie you firmly to one
platform.
• What level of annotation and general sophistication are you looking for? How many nodes/branches do you
need to fit in?

Tree Diagram Tools: Tips and App Reviews


Visio
Visio, for those who haven't come across it, is a vector-based diagramming tool. It has it's roots in flow charts and IT
design work. It has a steep learning curve, due to the wide range of capability and it will requires some work to set up
template shapes though...

Pros
• Powerful, flexible and pretty much forces you to use re-useable templates and shapes
• Bucket-loads of power and sophistication under the bonnet, especially with the (expensive) Pro version
• Good chance there's already expertise in your business in Visio

Cons
• Expensive
• You will need to set up some template shapes
• Steep learning curve compared with many alternatives
• Connector routing can make some untidy and infuriating decisions, and then revert when you fix them
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• Visio started as a non-Microsoft product and it still shows, as the product still doesn't obey some of the
design principles other Office apps follow, making it unintuitive at times
• Windows only

Microsoft Office - Microsoft Word or PowerPoint


It's not generally well known, but Word and PowerPoint do have a number of Visio-like properties for their drawing
objects, specifically snap points on shapes and connectors. This means that as you drag your boxes around on the
page the connectors follow them - essential for tidying and editing complex trees. Head over to the Insert menu on
either app and you can drop shapes and connectors onto the page. It's pretty limited compared with Visio or
OmniGraffle, but there's a very shallow learning curve and you can be confident that pretty much everyone in a
corporate environment can open and edit the files.

Pros
• Pretty much universally available - in companies at least
• Very shallow learning curve
• Cross-platform

Cons
• Serious limitations for bigger trees, e.g. page size and fitting, lack of layers etc.
• Rapidly run out of page space
• No custom shapes, the best you can do is Group and Duplicate
• Printing can become very buggy for diagrams created this way

Excel
Excel isn't the obvious choice for tree diagrams, and for most purposes it's a real chore to use. There is one special
case where it does work very well - massive tree diagrams. These can take up a lot of space. Here's how Excel can
help squeeze them onto one page. Be warned though, it's not a fast method...
How to fit complex KPI Trees on one page using Excel
Although people generally like brightly colored diagrams, the most space-efficient method is a wire tree diagram like
this one...

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Mac/OSX Tree Diagram Tools


OmniGraffle
As a Mac user this is one of my personal favorites. When I switched from Windows to OSX, after a brief period of
mourning the fact that Visio wasn't available for the Mac, I bit the bullet and bought Omnigraffle (price is a definite
negative) and haven't looked back. It can do much of what Visio can do, but has a heap of very intuitive vector
drawing capability. If fact it's the package I used to create most of the vector illustrations in my book KPI Checklists.
It's brilliantly flexible and is supported on IOS too. It has a steep learning curve, due to the wide range of capability
and it will requires some work to set up template shapes though...
Pros

• Powerful and flexible. Pretty much no limits on what you can do.
• Good 'fit to page' capabilities
• Slick (if expensive) iPhone and iPad companion apps
• Thriving community of Stencil designers
• You can import/export to Visio, but thing often get mangled

Cons

• Expensive
• You will need to set up some template shapes
• Steep learning curve compared with many alternatives
• Mac and IOS only

How to get it
You can buy OmniGraffle from the Apple App Store or direct from Omni.

Mind maps
Mind maps look like they should be useful for tree diagrams, but I've found that not to be the case. Typical issues I've
had are:

• Centre-Weighted structure. My KPI trees will often link to four or five strategic objectives. May mind
mapping products are designed for one central item
• Cross-linking. Mind map products sometimes support cross-linking, but often do so with different link
formats.
• Zoning. I like to zone my levels on a KPI Tree. Many tools make this a chore.

I'm not saying they won't work for you, but I've tried many of them and come away unimpressed. However, if it's
deployed across your company already, then it may be worth using the tool to-hand.

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Verdict
So you are probably looking for a 'verdict' here. As a consultant, it's pencil, paper and posits that are the first weapon
of choice when building a KPI tree with a group. When it comes to 'write up' , as an Apple user, it's OmniGraffle, on
my MacBook Pro, that I keep coming back to. If I used a PC I would probably go for Visio with a decent custom set
of stencils and shapes. Your choice may well be determined by the tools you already have on your PC.

How to measure “difficult to measure” things.


There are some things that are difficult to measure, maybe even impossible to measure directly. The key with 'difficult
to measure' things is to look at something that either affects or is affected by the thing you are interested in.

A simple method for dealing with too many KPIs or measures


By the time you have created your KPI Tree(s) you will have a large number of candidate measures. Some teams are
horrified when they realize that they have come up with 70, 80 or more measures. The good news is that you
definitely won't use all of the measures that you have on your KPI Tree.
Reasons for not including the measures would include:

• The measure isn't important enough.


• It's just not physically possible to measure or report on it.
• You will report on it, but it's going to require more work or time to do it.

How to cut the measures that don't really count


Your next task is to reduce that list. You will do this by getting the group to rate each measure on two
criteria, Importance and Availability, and plot those ratings on a four box grid or matrix.

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Here is a bit more description on those two criteria:


Importance: Is the measure significant to your business?
This is not normally a yes/no choice, but it's usually possible to get a group to rank importance on a 0-10 scale.
Importance can be broken down into criticality and breadth-of-influence if you are having real problems agreeing,
although I've never had to go this far in real life. 10 is the maximum importance rating here.
Availability: How easy is it to get hold of the data?
10, the `most available' score, would be information that is automatically-generated, fully trusted and can be sliced
and diced in whichever way you choose with little or no effort.
0 means that the data is effectively unavailable, requiring unrealistic levels of effort and disruption to collect it. In
some circumstances it may not be physically possible to collect this information at all.

Measuring the un-measurable


It is quite common in manufacturing process industries to be unable to measure a process parameter directly without
`breaking' the process you are trying to measure. In that situation you will often measure the direct drivers of that
parameter, knowing that if they are under control then the process variable you are interested in will be under control
as well.
For example, in paper making you have a very thin, very fragile sheet of paper forming on a machine which moves at
high speed. Physically measuring the thickness of the sheet without stopping the process is virtually impossible, so
you actually measure the absorption rate of gamma radiation, from a calibrated source, and calculate the thickness
based on that absorption.
So the key with anything that is `un-measurable' is to look at something that either affects or is affected by the thing
you are interested in.
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Another example of this is judging how interested toddlers are in a TV programme by seeing how frequently they are
distracted by a pile of interesting toys. This is the technique used by the creators of Sesame Street to gauge how
absorbing each element of their show was.

KPI shortlisting process checklist


• Firstly, make sure you are dealing with actual measures (the lowest-level boxes on the KPI Tree), not the
higher-level headings.
• Get a flip chart.
• Label Importance on the vertical axis and Availability on the horizontal axis.
• Number the bottom-level measures on your KPI Tree for reference.
• Add dividing lines at the midpoint of each axis so that you have a grid of four boxes or matrix.
• Go through each candidate measure with the group rating it on a scale of 0-10 for:

o Importance
o Availability
• Note down any disagreements about the scores the group assigns - this can be useful if you are challenged
later on the choices made, and it gives you an audit trail.
• Plot each candidate measure on the chart, with a cross and the measure name (or number).

How to Use this Matrix?


Top right-hand box - The high-importance and easily available quadrant is the tranche of measures you put on your
first dashboard/report. Easy to get and important, why wouldn't you?
Top left-hand box - The high-importance and difficult-to-collect quadrant. The Aspire list becomes the `to-do' list for
your dashboard. This is where you focus your KPI development effort.
Bottom right-hand box - These are the trivial but easy to collect measures. It is worth double-checking any that
border on important, but don't get sucked into putting something on the dashboard or report simply because you can.
Bottom left-hand box -The trivial and yet hard-to-collect measures. Unless these are close to the centre of the
quadrant boundaries, forget these and move on. If they are close to the top right-hand box you may just want to
double-check your assessment.
By the end of the session you should have divided your candidate measures into three:
Do-it-straight-away list of measures - the Use list
To-do list of measures to develop - the Aspire list
Rejected measures (with reasons) - the Discard list

Why the Discard list is important


It is easy to overlook the last point, as you are not going to implement these measures, but that would be a mistake.
Recording which measures you chose to reject with the reasons why can be a really powerful way of defending the

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choices made. `We didn't go with that measure and here are the reasons why…' can be powerful in stopping report
`bloat' and demonstrating the rigor of the process.

Develop measures to fill the gaps - Your Aspire list measures


The measures that ended up in the Aspire list may just not be measured currently or they may be important but tricky
to measure.
Although in some situations it may be easy to add the new measures into existing data collection systems, very often
it isn't that straightforward. I would recommend setting up each measure as a `mini project'. This gives you some
framework and structure and stops you potentially sleepwalking into something nasty.

Develop your missing measures and KPIs


• Confirm that you do really want to measure this thing/these things.
• Identify stakeholders (using the RACI matrix approach).
• Define the measure (using the KPI definition checklist).
• Review that definition with the key stakeholders.
• Do a quick feasibility study - especially if there's IT involved.
• Check to see what organizational project management methods and systems you need to fit in with.
• Assign a full-time or part-time project manager.
• Put together a one-page `charter'. A charter is a short document that outlines objectives, resources,
timescales and anticipated issues (with mitigations).
• Draft a simple project plan.
• Review the timescale and cost - are you still sure you want to go ahead?
• Create and maintain an action log.
• Set up some simple project governance (e.g. rules, meeting schedule etc.) to make sure the project stays on
track.

In some cases it may be more substantial than a `small' project but the principles remain the same and there's plenty of
guidance out there for running projects.
Action logs are simple but useful tools to keep things on track.
Of course, you can easily create your own. If you do, make sure you have the following covered:

• Track actions
• A unique reference number for each action.
• A grouping description, if it's a long list, like `IT' or `Training'.
• A meaningful description of the action.
• Who owns the action.
• When the action is due by.
• When the action is closed.
• Whether the action is on hold.
• Any relevant notes or comments.
• Risks (optional).
• Mitigations (optional).

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Ultimate Performance Index Guide


Why you need a 'Performance Index'...
It's a pretty common situation. You decide to try and fit all your measures on one A4/foolscap side. After lots of
haggling, and increasing use of small font sizes, you can just about squeeze everything on one page (if you have good
eyesight). You show it to the executive and they throw half a dozen extra measures and charts into the mix, blowing
any chance of creating a one page dashboard.

At this point you have two options:


1) Leave something out
This is the easiest option, but also risky. In some businesses it really is impossible to fit every relevant measure on
one page. There is often fierce debate amongst individual 'interest' groups about which should be included. The
surviving measures are often more an indicator of the political power of the stakeholder than of business relevance.
Imagine if the designer of the next aircraft you flew in decided to leave some of the instruments out of the cockpit as
'there's not really enough space for them' - not a pretty thought, is it?

2) Roll several of your KPIs into a 'performance index'


Performance indexes are a special kind of measure that combines several 'real' KPIs into one measure, that isn't
something that you can see/hear/touch/count. Performance indexes are surprisingly commonly used, but it's easy to
forget than they are 'artificial' and had to be designed at some point.
Some performance indexes you have probably stumbled across without even noticing that they are indexes...

• BMI - Body mass index. An indication of "lean-ness" in a single number


• FTSE 100 - A stock exchange index showing how the UK stock market is performing
• Weight Watchers Points - A measure that mixes calorific content, fat and fiber content to give a "food
healthiness score"
• Credit score - using past credit behavior to assess capacity and willingness to pay back lending
• Exam result - An indication of an individual's understanding of a topic
• RPI - The Retail Price Index - A UK government measure used to show how a selected "basket" of prices
have increased
• OEE - Overall Equipment Effectiveness - A measure of efficiency that factors in quality, up-time and
speed in production operations
• Fitness "scores" used by fitness monitoring gadgets like Fitbit
• Eco Score on a Toyota Prius dashboard - An indication of how efficiently you are driving for a given set of
conditions (speed, distance etc.)

The more you look the more you find them all over the place. It's not often that people have the confidence to
create new ones. This is a pity as they can bring some serious benefits:

• Summarize complex situations with a single number


• Free up much-needed dashboard space without compromising on the mix of input data

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• Drive you to think about the way measurement entities interact (e.g. downtime, quality and rate in the
OEE - Overall Equipment Effectiveness - measure)

Of the two approaches to saving dashboard space, a performance index is absolutely the best solution to the 'not
enough space on the dashboard' conundrum, but they aren't that simple to build. This post will be your guide through
the pitfalls, challenges and tricky aspects of building your own performance index.

What makes a good performance index?


A good performance index should:

1. Mix together elements that all genuinely contribute to the same measurable outcome ('deliverability' of
email in our later example).
2. Offer 'at a glance' insight of a complex situation.
3. Point the user in the right direction for more detailed analysis of the underlying problems.
4. Be transparent and balanced. Often use 'weightings' on their component parts. These need to be visible
and attempt to accurately reflect the true drivers behind performance.

Where a performance index will work well...


Performance indexes are great for situations where a snap assessment is important. You see them all the time, but
may not even notice. Fitness trackers, food hygiene scores and even exam results, they are all indexes that summarize
complex questions ('Am I doing enough exercise?',' Will I get food poisoning?' in very quick-to-assess ways.
They work particularly well when you 'check in' frequently on something, for instance Weight Watchers Points
score, and can be powerful motivators for behavior change.

Tell-tale signs that a performance index is the right solution…


• Existing management information is fairly stable, reliable and mature
• Sets of ingredient measures that are fundamentally, causally, related (height and weight, price, production
line performance)
• A single "at a glance" summary is really helpful

When not to use a performance index


Performance Indexes are fairly blunt instruments. The exact scores vary depending on how they are designed. This
means you cannot solely rely on them for 'big' decisions, especially where you are comparing small differences
between index scores. They are good for 'at a glance' assessments, driving behavior in the right direction and trend
analysis. They can also be badly designed, incorrectly weighted and unrepresentative. If you have any doubts
about how the index works, you need to pull it apart, understand how it works and do some deeper analysis of the
constituent measures. Another risk is that you have more than one trend that cancels each other out. Again the only
remedy is to look at the underlying trends, not just the index.

Situations where using a performance index might be risky...

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• The audience is a casual (or not very sophisticated) audience, so they don't have the time, inclination or
ability to understand how the KPI works
• There is little meaningful causal relationship between the different elements of the index KPI/measures
• The measure has not been explained to the target audience, or they don't trust the measure

When performance indexes go wrong: The Bradford Factor


One particularly poor measure I have seen affected by this is the Bradford Factor. It's a dreadful HR measure that
supposedly measures workplace disruption caused by sickness.
The Bradford Score (a performance index) is determined as B=S² x D, where B is the Bradford score, S is the
number of absences and D is the total number of days missed. Let's look at two situations.
Here's an example showing why this is such a terrible index...

1. Tim has 20 working days off for a back operation. Bradford score = 20
2. Sarah has chronic asthma and has had to take 20 working days off, as half days. Bradford score = 32000

Unfortunately, this wrong-headed measure is being used to make decisions about real people even today

Making sure your performance index gets used - Get the


right people involved
Get those who will live with the measure into a room and get them bought-in to the composite measure. Best to do
this right from the start as objections (or worse, being ignored) are the biggest challenges you are likely to face with
your new index KPI.

• Get the right people in the room for the discussion


• Explain the problem you are trying to solve
• Discuss all the options for tackling this problem
• Develop a shortlist of "ingredient measures" that should go in the index measures - these are the measures
that will be used to calculate the index measure.
• Genuinely listen to, and think about, any objections and concerns raised at this point

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Introducing the EPIK Design System


I have identified the seven logical steps you need to follow when you build your performance index. This method is
called the 'EPIK Design System'. It stands for the Express Performance Index KPI Design System. We will be using
these steps for the 'how-to' part of this blog. Here's the method...

How to design your own performance index

1-First, you need to decide what you want your performance


to tell you.
This should be simple, but if you get this step wrong, or are confused, then everything else is going to be a struggle
and probably result in disappointment.

2-Assemble the right 'ingredient KPIs' - Working out what to include in


your performance index.

3-Assess range and direction: Preparing your 'ingredient KPIs'


Go through each of your performance Index elements, think about these two questions and keep a note of your
answers:

Is a bigger value for your ingredient KPI better, or worse?


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Does a high score indicate better or worse performance? It's a simple question, but one you need to answer at the start
to make sure that your Index arithmetic is logical and consistent.
It is up to you to decide if bigger=better or vice versa, but what does matter is that all of your KPIs in your
performance index follow the same convention. If you don't do this, you will end up with nonsense.

Is your index ingredient KPI 'ranged' or 'open-ended'?

• An open-ended index is one that can just carry on getting bigger - there's no upper limit, e.g. stock market
indicators, Body Mass Index and the Retail Price Index.
• Ranged indexes are measures where there's a maximum and minimum. Examples would include credit
scoring, food hygiene scores or exam grading.

Both have their uses. You will need to do a little more work if you need to mix both types.

• Example of ranged KPI: 'Web site bounce rate' gives results in the range of 0-100%
• Example of open-ended KPI: 'Average web site visit duration' has no upper limit on it.

4-Design 'mini-indexes' for each 'ingredient KPI'


Preparing to mix 'ranged' and 'open ended' KPIs in the same performance index by building 'mini indexes'
Let's say we need to mix 'Number of Customer Contacts to Resolution' with 'Call Listening Score' in our index. Call
Listening Score varies from 0-100%. The trouble is, there's no upper limit on the Number of Customer Contacts to
Resolution. It's also true to say that the average moving up from 1 contact to 2 contacts is a much more important
change than going from an average of 18 contacts to 19 contacts to resolution. We can fix this challenge quite
elegantly by using a 1/x relationship.
Here's the maths I've used in this exact situation...
Average number of customer contacts to resolution (ingredient) index = 1/[average customer contacts to
resolution]
It's exactly what we want because...

• It is now ranged between 0 and 100%, so we can easily mix it with other ranged KPIs
• We get a '100%' score if we resolve every problem on the first customer contact with us
• It gives much more importance to 'early changes', so the change from an average of 1 contact to an average
of 2 contacts takes us from 100% to 50% (a decrease of 50%) but moving from 19 to 20 contacts takes the
index from 5.26% to 5.00% (a decrease of just 0.26%)

If we aren't getting quite what we want, we can easily tweak the shape of the curve and the axis intercept by tinkering
with the maths and coefficients of the graph. In doing this, we have built a 'mini-index' ready to be mixed with the
others, to create our finished product.

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5-Figuring out how important each KPI really is to you


Ranking your ingredient KPIs
The best way to decide the weightings, in order of importance are...

1. Fundamental physical relationships: We KNOW that density=mass/volume


2. Empirical relationships: We don't understand the science, but when the weather goes up 10C we sell 20%
more soft drinks
3. Opinion: As a group we have agreed that customer service representative hairstyle contributes 20% to
customer satisfaction
4. Solo decision: I have unilaterally decided that number of web site hits comprises up to 10% of our 'web
engagement index'

We create a measure for 'cooking accuracy' for baking a cake. That measure is for the difference between the
weight of each ingredient we put in the cake, compared with the target weights in the recipe.

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Ingredient Target Actual Difference

Flour 300g 300g 0

Sugar 75g 70g -5g

Salt 3g 8g +5g

Egg 50g 50g 0

Net error 0

If you bake a cake and put 5 grams too little sugar in it, you don't fix that problem by putting 5 grams of extra salt
in it! A common mistake when designing performance indexes is to encourage the user to do just this. Often, the
simplest solution is to use the 'absolute' variance - i.e. make the difference positive, whether it's a 'plus' or 'minus'
deviation.

7-Test, tweak and deploy


Once you have your performance index set up, it's time to test it. Most performance indexes work as expected for
typical situations but can go very strange in extreme situations - very high or low values for some of the components.
Make sure you include some zero values, as these are the ones that can sometimes cause the biggest upsets.
To test the index, set up a spreadsheet with multiple input-value scenarios. Talk through the inputs and resulting
scores with the end-users of the index.
For each extreme situation ask the question 'Is the Index value being presented an appropriate and realistic
reflection of the impact of that situation?'

Test your prototype performance index with your team


Take the new measure on a 'road-show' with those who will be creating the measure or using it to drive the business
(though it's best to involve them from Step 1, if you can).
An open discussion, with no 'right answer', will be the most effective way of developing acceptance and engagement.
Questions that normally get some interesting answers include:

• Do you feel the measure is fair?


• Which situations do you think might give a misleading output?
• How could the measure be better and/or fairer?

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Depending on the responses, you may have to go back to Step 4 at this point or you may have done your ground-work
correctly and be ready to launch your new shiny index KPI.

Getting your performance index users on-board


Indexes can be a bit strange and new when people are first exposed to them. Clear explanation is one of the best ways
to help people become comfortable with them, along with regular exposure to the output values. A 'KPI
Cheatsheet' can be a really effective way of communicating how an index is calculated and can act as a handy
reference tool.
Most critically, performance indexes will be used if they are seen as useful.

A final thought...
Performance indexes are great, but... it can take lots of time and effort to create a performance index, so it's not
something you would want to do on a whim. If you do decide to invest that time and effort, you could quickly find
that it rapidly becomes a crucial business tool, giving your organization a serious competitive advantage.

Building KPI Engagement

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KPIs are like gym memberships...


KPIs and measures are like scales and gym membership. They are great, but only if you use them (and regularly). No
matter how good your management information system is, you must make sure that the team are engaged with it. This
means

• The team use the system regularly to help make business decisions
• They trust the output
• They are able to meaningfully challenge aspects of the system and see a sensible response to those
challenges

How can you make sure you get KPI Engagement?


1. Make sure your measures are clearly and visibly aligned to your organization’s strategic objectives.
2. Make sure your teams objectives are also aligned to the organization’s strategic objectives. People will use
KPIs to move them towards their personal objectives. You must make sure that their objectives and the
organization’s substantially overlap, otherwise their efforts will be to actively push things in a
counterproductive direction.
3. Weave the reports and output into the fabric of the organizations management control system. What does
this mean in plain English?
1. Know how and where reports will be used. What meetings will they drive? What level of detail will
be needed?
2. Redesign reports and dashboards alongside the meeting “Terms of Reference”– do this with as
many of the meeting members as possible. If this isn’t possible then make sure you at least get their
feedback.
4. Make sure the reports are really simple and easy to understand. Use the Brilliant Excel Dashboard approach
to strip out unnecessary details and visual clutter.
5. Respond to feedback. The faster the better. You can rapidly undo all of your good work by ignoring broken
or flawed KPIs, measure or reports. People rapidly lose faith when they don’t see problems being fixed
rapidly and visibly. There’s a lot to do there, but the first step to better engagement is to improve at least
one of these drivers, they don’t have to be perfect overnight, just better.

Introducing the KPI Canvas


The KPI Canvas serves as a structured memory jogger to help you navigate through the key questions you need to
answer in order to fully define your KPIs.
Here is what a blank KPI Canvas looks like:

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Paper form or spreadsheet?


Whilst the KPI Canvas is shown as a sheet, one that’s designed to be printed off and scribbled on, it’s the questions
and headings that are important. You can easily build an Excel template, with each section as a heading, but I prefer
to start with a paper sheet, then stuff the definitions into a spreadsheet once they are worked out. That’s just my
preference, if you are comfortable going straight to the spreadsheet and entering the definitions - that’s fine - it will
save you some time.

The Header Box


The header at the top of the page contains basic information that helps you keep track of who created the KPI Canvas,
when it was created and what version we are on.

Designed by
The person who initially created the KPI. In organisations with more than a handful of people, it can be a real time
saver to easily find out who created a KPI. Once you know who to talk to you can (hopefully) straighten out any
questions with the minimum of hassle.

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Designed for
Was the KPI requested by a specific person or team? If so, it can be useful to record who requested it. Again, this
makes dealing with questions and queries much quicker.

Date
This shows the creation date. If the KPI Canvas has been updated, you would replace a creation date with the revision
date.

Version
Version control is particularly important as using an out-of-date definition is a particularly frustrating and
unnecessary self-inflicted wound.

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The main definition boxes on the OKRs Canvas…


KPI Name
This may seem like an obvious field, but it’s surprising how often you find multiple measures all of the same name in
one organization. If you have several measures that relate to efficiency, make sure you give them distinctive names. If
one relates to a particular process, call it Line 7 Bottling Efficiency, rather than just Efficiency. The key thing here is
that there’s only one measure for each name, so there’s no chance of getting them mixed up by accident.

Purpose
Why should we measure this?
Sometimes we lose sight of why we are measuring something (this is particularly common in very top-down
businesses where the boss maybe asks for some specific data - analysts are often too scared, or beaten down, to
ask what it’s going to be used for). You should have thought carefully about the purpose of each measure in
the Shortlisting step, so this should not be too hard.

Customers
Who will use this KPI?
We produce KPI reports to help in decision-making. If you are a one-person business, then this is a very easy question
to answer. If there are more people in your business, you need to have a clear understanding of who uses the data.
That way, if a question comes up about how we measure or report something we can talk to our KPI customer and
discuss it with them, instead of just trying to guess what they want. If there’s no clear customer or decision being
made on the back of a KPI you should seriously think about chopping it.

Data Sources
Where will the KPI data come from?
One of the most common sources of errors comes from holding similar data in multiple places. If you have lots of
spreadsheets holding data that is similar, but maybe slightly different in content or scope, then you have a real risk of
mistakes creeping in, particularly if you have more than one person involved in producing KPI reports. This field
needs to go down to painful levels of detail.

Definition or Formula
If there’s any calculation, how is the KPI calculated?
What is and is not included in the values used?
It’s important to be crystal clear about the calculation used, and what is and is not included in the figures that are used
in the calculation.

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Production Resources
What resources are needed to produce the KPI and reports?
Sometimes you will need input from other teams, a particular individual to provide or analyse data. It’s not
uncommon to need data from a particular system, or piece of software, that only a specific person is able to extract.
Knowing who, or what, you need to produce the data enables you to plan and spot dependencies that may cause
problems.

Targets
What score do we want to achieve? (If we know at this stage)
Targets can get pulled out of thin air and can sometimes change over time. Record what target we are trying to
achieve so that we have a record. If it changes, fine, but let’s record the new and the old, so we can see how things
have changed.

Target Outcomes
What will achieve the target deliver?
If you have nice round targets (10%, 50% or 100% improvement) ask ‘Why that particular figure?’. The most
powerful and compelling targets are ones that are linked to outcomes.
Backup your targets with reasons, like this…

• If we achieve a turnover of $200k we can become a government approved supplier.


• If we undershoot our budget by $11,500 we can invest in a new espresso machine.
• If we cut downtime by 14% we can all have an extra day of vacation this year.

Using outcome-linked targets can make them much more meaningful. Notices this format is very close to Objective
Key Result (OKR) approach.

Production Cost
What is the cost of implementing and producing this KPI?
KPIs don’t come for free. Unless they are a 10 for Ease of Measurement/Availability, there’s time and effort
involved in collecting and collating KPI data. It’s not normally too bad in small organizations, most people moan if
something a pain to collect, but in big organizations I have seen fifty or sixty people toiling to deliver a KPI that a
senior exec has requested on a whim. I have also seen the same execs express surprise when they discover the
resources that needed to be dedicated to answering what they thought was a simple question or ‘Something I thought
we already reported’. Recording this ‘cost’-of-reporting will help us when we review what we are measuring and
whether it is worth the effort.

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Problems and Errors


What are the known issues with KPI production & accuracy?
Pretty much all KPIs have issues. It’s one of the most common reasons I hear for not bothering to measure something
- ‘We could try and measure that, but it’s pointless because…’. All KPIs are flawed to some degree. They crunch
question is; ‘Is the information delivered by the flawed KPI better than no information at all?’. If the answer to that
question is ‘Yes’, then we need to start collecting that data but be very clear and open about the problems and
limitations of that KPI. This section is where we record, as honestly as possible, what the known problems and errors
with the KPI and its source data are. By keeping this record up-to-date we encourage ourselves to put the right level
of trust in the KPI and also to try and fix the known problems.

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Why are some bits of the OKRs Express Canvas ‘Optional’?


As this method is focused on a wide range of business sizes, not all the steps in the method make sense for all sizes of
organization. If you are a sole trader, you really are not going to have to worry too much about who the ‘Customer’
for the KPI is, it’s clearly going to be you. Similarly, it’s fairly obvious what the ‘Production resource’ is going to be
in a one-man-show too.

KPI Definition- 13 questions you need to answer


KPI definition

KPI name Use a ‘what-it-says-is-what-it-is’ type name so that it doesn’t mislead. Be very
careful with terms like ‘efficiency’ and ‘effectiveness’ – there are lots of
variants on these and everyone will have a strong view that their usage is the
right one.

Measurement intent Describes the measure and the reasoning behind its selection as an indicator of
progress against a strategic objective. Put simply ‘Why are you measuring
this?’

KPI definition/formula Provides a detailed formula for the calculation of a numeric value for the
measure. A simple test for how well you have defined a KPI is to pose the
question ‘Could a reasonably numerate stranger calculate the value using this
definition and relevant source data?’

Frequency of update Identifies how often it’s calculated. This is important for a number of reasons-
one of the less obvious ones being ‘end effects’- where the reporting cycle
may create some overlap errors. A long reporting cycle usually lessens these
while a short one will make this more acute.

Units of measure Identifies the units in which the measure will be reported. Is it a dimensionless
ratio (e.g. efficiency) or is it a good old-fashioned ‘real’ measure with
dimensions (e.g. kilograms- money or calls per day)?

Notes/Assumptions Clarifies terms used and highlights key assumptions within the formula.
Almost all measures and KPIs have flaws issues and problems. The key thing
is to document these issues- make people aware of them and avoid making
flawed analyses based on these issues.

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KPI definition

KPI information availability Whether the information required is: readily available- available with some
effort or not available. This gives you a feeling for the pain involved in
compiling a KPI and can give you a ‘hit list’ for automating and streamlining
KPI production.

Data elements and source The data elements required to calculate this measure and the source systems-
databases- documents etc. of those data elements. This should go down to
painful levels of detail showing on which server a file sits- in which directory
and where on the spreadsheet the data can be found. Naming conventions
should also be included where documents cover a certain period.

Target (where known) What is the target value?

Source and logic behind setting Where does the target come from? Why is it set at the level it is? I’ve seen
targets countless organisations where no one can answer this question. Why are you
aiming for a certain score? It’s pretty embarrassing not to know the answer to
this.

Person responsible for target One person must ultimately be responsible for setting the target even if it’s
setting agreed by consensus/debate/vote.

Person accountable for set This is the person who carries the ‘strategic can’ for the target setting. They
targets should be consulted on the target and its aims- but may not be responsible for
setting its actual value.

Person responsible for Who manages the day-to-day process of target setting and reporting?
tracking and reporting targets

Each of these questions needs to be answered for each KPI and measure in the organization. The benefits of this kind
of KPI definition are:

• It forces your organization to clarify and discuss the KPI definitions.


• Any weakness or uncertainty around a KPI is written down and ‘out in the open’.
• You avoid having similar sounding (or identical) KPIs or measures that are actually calculated in different
ways.
• It is a reference document for people who are unclear or uncertain how a measure is calculated.

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Setting up KPI definitions well is a bit like flossing regularly. Most people agree you should do it, but very few
people do it regularly, or well.

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Prototyping Dashboards – The Five Steps to Success


Why prototype?
It is quite rare to find a client (internal or external) who knows precisely what they want from a dashboard or report. If
you catch them with no preparation they will normally reach for an existing report and tell you which bits they want
changing and moving. Sometimes this ends with them sighing in a frustrated way as they realize just how far from
‘ideal’ the current report is and they become overwhelmed by the scale of the challenge.

What is prototyping?
Prototyping means building non-working or partially working examples of the end product – reports and dashboards
in your case. Doing this can avoid massive amounts of wasted effort. Even with a good prototype process you may go
through 5-10 design iterations. If you build and modify fully working reports over every item
Even prototyping needs some groundwork to be done. I have discovered that, in some situations, the current poor
report design was a direct result of the design choices made in the prototyping session. To avoid repeating the same
mistakes you need to agree some good design principles. To make this work the principles need to be backed up by
some real science and research.

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How to prototype dashboards and reports


Stage 1: Discuss and agree the principles of good design
Make sure that you won’t be proposing Sparklines (the most simplified type of graph there is) and utter minimalism
when your client is craving multi-colored backgrounds and painstakingly rendered gauge widgets like this:

Stage 2: Watch how the current reports and dashboards are really used
Observation will normally give you good insight into how people currently use information (if at all):

• Ask people how they currently use their reports.


• Sit in on the relevant meetings and watch how they are actually used.
• Look for any differences between what you observed and what you were told.

If there are big differences then proceed with caution. It suggests there is a ‘reality gap’, which may mean that your
final product succumbs to the same fate as the previous report or dashboard. It may be that you are seeing a
behavioral rather than a reporting issue here. With behavioral problems, changing the documentation will not fix
the underlying problems.

Stage 3: Create design options


Decision-makers always respond well to mocked-up options. Whilst it may be hard for them to explain what they
want without anything in front of them, suddenly it becomes a matter of pointing to the one they prefer when
presented with a range of options. Design features will also trigger valuable discussions.

Stage 4 : Review and score existing reports and dashboards


If there is disagreement over the quality of the existing reports and documentation, a good way to assess the current
quality is to use a design review checklist. It can take some of the emotion out of the discussion and help build
consensus on the need for action. It is best to run a training session on design principles first.
Once you have run the training, encourage some key stakeholders to critique their own reports. I will often use client-
specific examples during the training (just take care not to cause too much embarrassment).

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Assessing Report Design Objectively.


There are three situations where it can be a good idea to have a structured review of your reports and dashboards…

• If some of your team are in denial about the need to change existing reports
• You want some clear ideas on what needs to be included in improved dashboards or reports
• You have an innate masochistic tendencies

Whatever your reason for reviewing your reporting, assessing report design objectively helps take (some) of the
emotion out of the process. A structured approach enables easy comparison of the performance of different reports in
a consistent way.

Review existing reports and dashboards – The


Brilliant Dashboards Scorecard
Question scoring: 1=poor, 5=good
Visual design
1. Is color used to convey additional information?
2. Are colors used consistently for the same meaning?
3. Is a consistent design theme used for all charts and text boxes?
4. Are there unnecessary boxes and dividers?
5. Do dividers and boxes lead the eye in a helpful way?
6. With RAG (red-amber-green ‘traffic light’) indicators, is it clear what criteria are used for RAG?
7. Are there unnecessary tick marks?
8. Are there unnecessary borders on chart areas?
9. Is the background unnecessarily shaded?
10. Are the columns/bars unnecessarily shaded?
11. Are there unnecessary borders on columns?

Layout
1. Are text and chart size proportionate to the importance of the information being conveyed?
2. Are data points that need comparison near to each other?
3. Are logos and ornamentation kept to a bare minimum?
4. Is spacing consistent and pleasing?
5. Are lines used to guide the eye in a meaningful direction?
6. Is there a ‘logical hierarchy’ for text and comments?

Structure
1. Are there large amounts of numbers that need to be read to understand the high-level situation?

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2. Can you quickly navigate to the section of the report you need?
3. Is it clear where the biggest issues are and how to navigate to find more information?
4. Are targets clearly different from data sets?

Charts
1. Do the graphs and charts meet your objectives?
2. Are the charts intuitive i.e. no need for careful study or explanation?
3. Do the charts have impact and give insight? Do the charts allow meaningful comparison of relevant data sets?
4. Do charts clearly show patterns and trends?
5. Does understanding the document tax your short-term memory too much?
6. Do your eyes have to leap about the page to understand the document?
7. Do the charts answer an obvious question?
8. If the chart uses 3D, is 3D actually required to represent the information?
9. Is the message clear?

Axes
1. Are the axes ‘fair’ and labelled? Unfair axes might include logarithmic axes that are not clearly indicated or
axes that are not clearly marked as starting from a value other than zero.
2. Are the fonts clear, the right size and readable?
3. If you use a double axis, is it required to make a valid point?

Labeling
1. Are all charts clearly labelled, avoiding jargon or acronyms?
2. Is it clear what period the charts refer to?
3. Are labels physically near to the things they are describing?
4. If unavoidable, is jargon defined?
5. Is the level of labeling appropriate or is it obscuring the chart (or the message)?
6. Are numbers on the chart given to realistic precision (i.e. not to 5 decimal places if that precision is
inappropriate for the accuracy of the source data)?

Trending
1. Is there meaningful trending?
2. Are gridlines aiding or obscuring clarity?
3. Is there unhelpful use of colour and area/fill patterns?

Text
1. Is the text relevant?
2. Is the text concise?
3. Is the text spelled correctly and without grammatical errors?
4. Is it clear with which graph any text is associated?

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5. Is any additional text clear, the right size and readable?

Visual clarity
1. Is the document (and its sub-elements) an optimal size?
2. Does the layout work for the delivery medium?
E.g. a smartphone, iPad or projector?
3. Do any of your intended audience have eyesight issues? If so, is the output of suitable size, color and contrast?

How good are your reports? A design checklist.


The Brilliant Dashboards Checklist: A systematic approach to assessing your dashboard
You may be trying to work out why your current reports aren’t working properly or wondering if you missed anything
on your newly created masterpiece. This design checklist encourages you to consider each element of your design and
to score it if you are feeling brave. You can use the score to objectively show the improvement to a document (though
ultimately this is a subjective thing).
It is pretty long, at 54 questions, but it does cover most areas of design. With practice you will probably not need to
refer to this list but it can be a useful memory jogger. It also gives a semi-objective framework that can take some of
the emotion out of critiquing existing dashboards and reports.
Here are the questions: -

The Brilliant Dashboards Checklist


Visual design

Ref. Question

1 Is colour used to convey additional information?

2 Are colours used consistently for the same meaning?

3 Is a consistent design theme used for all charts and text boxes?

4 Are there unnecessary boxes and dividers?

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Visual design

Ref. Question

5 Do dividers and boxes lead the eye in a helpful way?

6 With RAG (red-amber-green "traffic light") indicators is it clear what criteria are used for RAG?

7 Are there unnecessary tick marks?

8 Are there unnecessary borders on chart areas?

9 Is the background unnecessarily shaded?

10 Are the columns/bars unnecessarily shaded?

11 Are there unnecessary borders on columns?

Layout

Ref. Question

1 Is text and chart size used proportionate to the importance of the information it's conveying?

2 Are data points that need comparison near to each other?

3 Are logos and ornamentation kept to a bare minimum?

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Layout

Ref. Question

4 Is spacing consistent and pleasing?

5 Are lines used to guide the eye in a meaningful direction?

6 Is there a "logical hierarchy" for text and comments?

Structure

Ref. Question

1 Are there large amounts of numbers that need to be read to understand the high level situation?

2 Can you quickly navigate to the section of the report you need?

3 Is it clear where the biggest issues are and how to navigate to find more information?

Charts

Ref. Question

1 Do the graphs and charts meet your objectives?

2 Are the charts intuitive i.e. they do not require careful study or explanation?

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Charts

Ref. Question

3 Do the charts have impact and give insight?

4 Do the charts allow meaningful comparison of relevant data sets?

5 Do charts clearly show patterns and trends?

6 Does understanding the document tax your short-term memory too much?

7 Do your eyes have to leap about the page to understand the document?

8 Do the charts answer an obvious question(s)?

9 If the chart uses 3D is 3D actually required to represent the information?

10 Is the message clear?

Targets

Ref. Question

1 Are targets clearly different from data sets?

Axes

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Ref. Question

1 Are the axes "fair" and labelled?

2 Are the fonts clear the right size and readable?

3 If we use a double axis is it required to make a valid point?

Trending

Ref. Question

1 Is there meaningful trending?

2 Are gridlines aiding or obscuring clarity?

3 Is there unhelpful use of colour and area/fill patterns?

Labelling

Ref. Question

1 Are all charts clearly labelled (avoiding jargon or acronyms)?

2 Is it clear what period the charts refer to?

3 Are labels physically near to the things they are describing?

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Labelling

Ref. Question

4 Is jargon defined?

5 Is the level of labelling appropriate or is it obscuring the chart (or the message)?

6 Are numbers on the chart given to realistic precision (i.e. not to 5 decimal places if that precision is inappropriate for
the source data)?

Text

Ref. Question

1 Is the text clear?

2 Is the text relevant?

3 Is the text concise?

4 Is the text spelled correctly and without grammatical errors?

5 Is which graphsany text isassociated with?

6 Is the text readable?

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Visual Clarity

Ref. Question

1 Is it the best size?

2 Does the layout work for the delivery medium? e.g. a smartphone or projector?

Misc

Ref. Question

1 It is possible to understand the general message "at a glance"?

2 Is it clear who created the report and contents?

3 Is it clear who to talk to if there's a query or correction and how to contact them?

Getting OKRs system Buy-In


Using the phrase `KPI buy-in’ is probably putting it a bit strongly. For many KPI implementations the best you’re
looking for initially is the absence of resistance and compliance in terms of gathering information.
Proper buy-in normally only comes after people start to see real value coming from the data. There are a few
situations, such as particularly acute, highly visible or painful problems, where it is straightforward to build
enthusiasm right from the word go.

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We can divide buy-in into five stages:


1. Creating engagement.
2. Building a case – why you need these measures.
3. Removing obstructions.
4. Public displays of importance.
5. Developing good habits.

Create engagement
• Involve a wide selection of stakeholders in the KPI Tree session. Of all the points on this list this is probably
the most effective way of building engagement.
• Go through the reasons behind the new measures clearly and simply with those who are providing the data or
are being measured.
• Hold an event, or series of one-to-ones, in which people can frankly and honestly discuss concerns and issues
with the proposed measures.
• Deal with potential issues openly and honestly.
• Create a `frequently asked questions’ document for those that could not be involved in the initial engagement
process.

Build a case
It’s rational to start by explaining to the team that you need to measure X because if you don’t you are going to `go
bust’, `upset customers’ or `get into trouble with the regulators’ etc. Here are the typical steps you would go through
to build a `rational’ case:

Build the case for measurement


• Show that there is a real-world benefit from collecting the data. Alternatively, show that there is a significant
problem that will arise or become worse if you don’t do this.

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• Give relevant and compelling real-life examples of the problems that will be tackled or solved through this
approach.
• Explain how you will manage the practicalities of the extra workload created through data collection or
analysis.

Whilst this does need to be done, this alone will not build engagement. Engagement is essentially an emotional
process and you have just outlined a rational argument.
The best way to build KPI buy-in is to start with emotional engagement followed by a KPI Tree mapping session or
stakeholder feedback workshop.
It’s not a straightforward thing, but emotional engagement needs the following in place to work:

• Honesty during dialogue.


• Trust between both parties.
• People to be listened to and feel that they are being listened to.
• Small group (or one-to-one) conversations.
• Relevancy to the needs of the person you are talking to.

A frequent mistake managers make is to react to a lack of engagement by strengthening the rational argument for `the
case’. Winning the intellectual argument does not bring people on board emotionally. In fact, steamrollering people
with rational argument can often have a completely counter-productive effect.

Remove obstructions
This is about making life as easy as possible for those that you want to deliver the data or analyses. There is research
to show that the easier you make things, the more likely people are to do them

▪ Create a cheat sheet for each type of user that will be recording or manipulating data.
▪ Clearly define the process that you want the person or team to follow.
▪ Test that process with all of the individuals who will be following it, if possible.

Create a simple KPI cheat sheet:


▪ Making it easy to use
▪ Step-by-step instructions.
▪ Decision branches.
▪ On-screen instructions or screen grabs.
▪ Identify additional required user skills and where to acquire those skills.
▪ Contact details for additional help – the more immediate the better. A telephone number is
great; having to write a letter is not!
▪ Make the user guides readily available and easy-to-use.
▪ Laminated, color, A3 user-guides work brilliantly.

Make sure the guides are version-controlled and fully up to date. Ensure that changes to the cheat sheets are actioned
as fast as humanly possible.

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Take on board any feedback as quickly as possible – nothing kills the process quicker than lack of interest from its
advocates.
Make sure that the line managers of your key data gatherers are fully engaged and are banging the drum for the new
system. Any dissent among these people, however subtle, will absolutely destroy your efforts to collect new
measures. However tempting it is to bypass middle managers, avoid it at all costs!
Keep people engaged

• Make it easy for people to highlight problems.


• Create a 30-second `any issues session’ in the morning operational meeting, if it exists.
• Add a `comments and improvements’ box on frequently used documentation.
• Spend some time sitting with people as they collect and record any data that you are requesting. (This does a
couple of things. It makes it easier for them to highlight problems and also shows that there is a keen interest
in the data that is being collected.)
• Let people know quickly about any actions taken as the result of feedback. If you can’t address feedback
positively, let people know why.

Public displays of importance


No, this doesn’t mean having a special KPI hat that teams need to wear. This is about making sure that both the
tangible and intangible signals being delivered by senior management are positive and supportive of the KPI process.
You need to do your homework beforehand, because discovering that you have no support at this point can be very
embarrassing and frustrating.
Test support for the implementation

• Have full and frank discussions with the senior managers right at the start to make sure that they are fully
engaged and supportive.
• Document what it is you’re trying to achieve and get them to sign it off (and, yes, I mean physically sign it
off).
• Get your senior stakeholders to write a briefing document explaining why this is so important. If you can’t get
them to do this (due to the usual `I’m too busy’, `I don’t have my diary’ or `Could you do me a favour and
write one for me?’), then you will need to write one for them to sign off. Not ideal but better than nothing.
• Ensure that senior stakeholders kick off any roadshow, frequently asked questions or roll-out briefing sessions.
They need to explain:
▪ Why it’s important.
▪ What will happen if it doesn’t succeed.
▪ The interest they will show in this.
▪ When the next follow-up is.
▪ What they will expect to see in a follow-up.
▪ Their confidence in the success of this process.
▪ Let people know there is an open door to discuss any real and practical problems that may
come up.
▪ Make sure that everything the senior stakeholders say in public and private is aligned and
supportive of what you’re trying to do.

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▪ Private off-the-record comments are often taken very seriously by subordinates and if you’re
hearing whispers that are not aligned to the project objectives you need to address these very
seriously and as early as possible.
▪ Follow-up here is really important so schedule in regular review or `steering’ sessions to keep
everybody focused.

Developing good habits


Good habits can be really helpful with a new KPI system. Habits take time to form. Once people have got into the
habit of gathering and analyzing the data that you need, things get a lot easier. In the same way that you barely think
about cleaning your teeth in the morning, so people will start to semi-automatically produce and process the
information that your KPI system depends upon.
There’s an awful lot of pseudo-science around the number of repetitions required to form a habit. I’m not going to try
and come up with the `magic figure’ for habit formation but you will certainly recognize when you reach that stage.
When you reach that stage, things get done as part of everyday business, rather than as the result of chasing. There are
certain things that you can do to help habit formation – or to really stuff it up.

Make sure data collection stays on track


▪ Minimize the amount of process variation between repetitions. Don’t make the process too
different each time if you can possibly avoid it.
▪ Make sure there is a `heartbeat’ i.e. a predictable frequency between repetitions.
▪ Tackle any instances of `falling out of the habit’ as quickly as possible.
▪ Fix any problems that stop people doing what they should – and fast!
▪ Reinforce good work with plenty of positive feedback.
▪ Track and measure errors and omissions on a visual management chart, if practicable and
appropriate.

Ways to ‘break’ KPI buy-in..


▪ Changing the process frequently or unnecessarily.
▪ Changing the layout or position of user interfaces, forms or documentation.
▪ Making the process complex, cumbersome or difficult to adhere to.
▪ Allowing `grey’ exceptions to exist without clear guidance on procedure. This will only
encourage people to park something not completed.

The process of gaining buy-in is different every time. There are no guaranteed routes to success. The principles
above should put you in the best possible position, but remember that you are dealing with humans – honesty,
persistence and regular review are your best tools.

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The OKRs methodology provides seven logical steps for KPI


development...

Step 1: Clear strategy


Agree what you are trying to achieve

• Review strategy documentation


• Identify strategic objectives
• Where and how will your KPIs be used?

Step 2: Engage
Engage stakeholders and assess situation

• Identify key stakeholders


• Develop communications plan
• Cognitive design training
• Review existing reports and dashboards

Step 3: Long list KPIs


KPI Trees to create 'long list'

• Draft 'KPI Trees' in stakeholder workshops


• Run follow-up results mapping workshop
• Redraft, review and sign off KPI Trees

Step 4: Shortlist KPIs


Develop the measures 'shortlist'

• Workshop importance/ease-of-capture matrix


• Agree 'use, aspire or discard' list
• Set up new measures
• Develop action plans for 'use' and 'aspire' lists

Step 5: Define
Define KPIs
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• Precisely define measures and KPIs


• Document known issues
• Make definitions and notes freely available

Step 6: Prototype
Design and test your dashboards and reports

• Review the prototype proposals


• Run dashboard live prototyping sessions
• Review and revise draft dashboard/report
• Approval

Step 7: Go live
Roll out your KPIs, reports and dashboards

• Get buy-in
• Deal with issues with existing data
• Map the KPI process
• Seek user feedback and tweaks during nursery period
• Hand over to 'business as usual' team

F = Find a process to improve


• Define the process, identify the process
• Who will benefit from the improvement

O = Organize a team that knows the process


• Organize a team who understands the process
• The team should consist of people directly involved in the process being improved.
• The size of the team is usually 5 to 9

C = Clarify current knowledge of the process


• Clarify the current process related to the problem, collect data regarding
the process using a flowchart and brainstorm and determine where the
defects are.
• Analyze to distinguish between expected and actual performance

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U = Understand variable and causes of variation


• Identify all possible causes and variation, and developing solutions to
achieve desired outcomes
• Use a cause and effect diagram (Fish bone Diagram) to know why the process is not working effectively.

S= Select the process improvement


• Select the most appropriate goal
• It should meet the department/KFHU vision, mission
• The goal should be SMART;
Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Realistic

P= Plan for the improvement


• Refer to the Cause and Effect Diagram to determine problems that need to be addressed
• Develop an action plan
Make everyone responsible
Make the project timely
Meet the goals of the project
• Organize a method of data collection

D = Do the Improvement
• Implement the plan
C = Check the improvement
• Gather data and compare before and after improvement date.
A = Act on the results
• Do whatever is necessary to maintain the improvement

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• Not successful, abandon the plan and rework the cycle

Strategic Management Process


“Strategic Management is all about specifying organization’s vision, mission and objectives, environment scanning,
crafting strategies, evaluation and control."

Defining the levels of strategic intent of the business:


• Establishing vision
• Designing mission
• Setting objectives

Formulation of strategy
• Performing environmental and organizational appraisal
• Considering strategies
• Carrying out strategic analysis
• Making strategies
• Preparing strategic plan

Implementation of strategy
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• Putting strategies into practice


• Developing structures and systems
• Managing behavioral and functional implementation

Strategic Evaluation and Control


• Performing evaluation
• Exercising control
• Recreating strategies

BENEFITS OF STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT


This approach, which has been applied and applied for years, has many benefits for both the private sector and public
and non-profit organizations. Generally, the benefits of strategic management can be summarized as follows:
• It brings long-term thinking and vision to institutions and people.
• It gives organizations the opportunity to understand and focus on what is of strategic importance.
• It gives them the ability to adapt to the rapidly changing environment, to make changes on time and to be
flexible.
• It provides coordination within the hierarchical structure.
• It provides integrity and coordination within the business.
• It prevents different units and stages from setting independent goals.
• It analyzes the external environment, such as competitors, customers and suppliers, that threaten itself for the
business to survive.

Task Management
It is a discipline that contains many important activities. This means that it includes project, performance and service
activities that require advanced creativity, including functional activities.
Creating a task is at the heart of creativity. That is, if the person responsible for the task is teams or an individual task,
the person brainstorms himself. The person details the task and sets goals and priorities by organizing.
Project activities are about using time well, being planned and cost reporting in this context. These 3 points can
contain more than one activity, but they are always more purposeful considering the final form of the puzzle as a
whole. Project activities should allow project task distribution, also known as work breakdown structure, distribution
of tasks, simultaneous access to inventory and task databases between projects.

WITH TASK MANAGEMENT TOOL

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Work efficiently and reduce waste of time


Stay organized
Ensure teams and individuals are being utilized in the correct ways
Meet deadlines
Keep tasks in one place
Prioritize your work
Improve collaboration
Customizable dashboards

WORK AUTOMATION
What is Work Automation?
We can define work automation, the main purpose of which is to increase efficiency, as an corporate transformation.
Because it also provides transparency and compatibility between processes. Companies need automation to easily
move the written documents they create for projects, business processes and their approvals to another time or
location. Thus, physically complex tasks are made easier thanks to automation. With the help of the work automation
software, progresses in tasks and projects are accelerated in individual and team works. In addition, there are answers
to questions such as what inefficiencies exist in these processes, which points should be improved.

Organization
At its most basic level, a work automation tool is used to help individuals, teams or businesses stay organized. Part of
being organized includes setting priorities for assignments, visualizing the progress of tasks as they pass through
stages of completion and compiling analysis or reports to direct future tasks and workflows.

Prioritization
A project board lets you organize your assignments by priority so you can ensure that the most important things are
completed first. Work automation tools are easy to update. By prioritizing assignments, we are able to focus on how
work should be attacked, rather than jumping from one item to another without any direction.

Visualization
Not only will visualizing assignments help you remember what you need to do, but it helps you better understand the
whole parts of the project. This means work automation tools are easily accessible by everyone. When every item is
laid out in a way that is easy to comprehend, dependencies become clear and collaboration is natural.

Analysis
Work automation tools produce concrete data that can be reviewed and digested so end users can easily grasp what
they are doing, what they have done and how things can be done better. Work automation tools always provide for

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some form of analysis, whether it is a formula that you have created or something built into the tool. This is an
essential part improving the way things get done.

BENEFITS OF WORK AUTOMATION


• Reduce errors with automated process by eliminating the manipulation of papers. As a result, you can store
your documents on your automated system. It brings both saving money and time.
• Map processes and better understand dependencies between tasks within your organization through scheduler
and workflow studio. Because of all of your information stored in the system, it gives you more precise and
clear data.
• Improve time to result or time to access some information. One of the most important features of Work
automation systems is to complete the work that takes long processes with human power in a short time. Thus,
individuals can show their success more effectively in the areas where their personal abilities are stronger.
Thus, more innovative methods emerge.
• Build a solid base of processes to support business changes, adapt to market trends and focus on innovation.
As with many other software systems, you must first determine the most important points in your business
process. Then, you should configure automation. In this way, all steps in the process are clearly manifested.
As a result, while you follow the process, you follow the level of work.
• Manage departments and teams in different places. It is impossible to handle many jobs at the same time in
many places. For example, when you go on a business trip, it is very difficult to organize the office from
where you go. However, thanks to the work automation systems, you can manage your work from another
place and monitor how far the employees have made in their work.

SOME DISADVANTAGES OF WORK AUTOMATION SYSTEMS


Of course, the benefits of work automation systems cannot be underestimated. However, some of the challenges
cannot be ignored. A few are as follows.

• Integration of the system


You should test whether the work automation system, which you find suitable and budgeted, matches your current
system.

• Return on investment
Software based automations can be at high prices, especially since they can be developed on a company basis. For
this reason, you should be sure of the budget you allocate and the priorities you decide when allocating this budget.

• Complexity
You prefer these automations to make your complex work in a shorter time and easily. Therefore, it is an important
point that the system does not make it difficult for you to learn.

• Information security
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We get news of hacking attempts almost every day in technologically connected systems, which is much easier in a
time when information has spread so quickly.

What is an OKR template?


Well, we should start with asking: what is an OKR? Objective and Key Results, in brief OKR, is a methodology used
for defining and tracking objectives and their outcomes. It can be said that its history began with Peter Drucker, who
invented Management by Objectives or shortly MBO, and Andy Grove, who developed MBO into the model of OKR.
One of the key differences between OKR and KPI is the intention behind the goal setting. KPI goals are typically
obtainable and represent the output of a process or project already in place, while OKR goals are more ambitious and
aggressive.
An OKR template is a spreadsheet that helps to visualize your company’s target and summarizes its achievements by
percentage.

Where you can find an OKR template?


Templates allow you to create workbooks that you need and a great way to save time. You can build an OKR
template on your own or in order to save time you can download the basic OKR template which we arranged basic
excel spreadsheet and a word report document for our clients. To build your own OKR template as an excel
spreadsheet:
• Make your objectives SMART
S- Specific
M- Measurable
A- Achievable
R- Realistic

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T- Time bound
• Make your key results
-Measurable
-Limited to 3 to 5 per objective
-Challenging yet achievable
-Specific, not a list of tasks
-Assigned to individual team members

After these considerations are done, open an empty excel worksheet and do the
following steps:
-Specify first column as “team member”.
-Next specify following columns as “personal objective”, “start value”, “final value”, “objective fulfillment”,
respectively.

When you finish naming columns we are ready to name lines:


-Write name of your team member-1 under the “team member” column.
-Write objectives of team member-1 under the “personal objective” column. You can write more than 1 personal
objective one under the other.
-Write your start value under the “start value” column. If you do not have any put 0.
-As you complete the objectives you will make changes on the “final value” to see where you are.
-Write an excel formula under the “objective fulfillment” column to see the results as a percentage. It will
calculate the percentage of the progress as you enter data on this template.
Congrats! You have created your own OKR template!

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Abbreviations
ADET actual unit delay time
ADOT actual unit down time
APT actual production time
ASUT actual unit set up time
AUBT actual unit busy time
AUPT actual unit processing time
CIP cleanings in progress
CM consumed material
GQ Good quantity
kg kilograms
KPI key performance indicator
KRI key result indicator
LT loading time
NaGlyP sodium glycerophosphate
NOT net operating time
OEE overall equipment
effectiveness
OPT operating time
PBT planned busy time
PDT planned down time
PI performance indicator
PL90 phospholipids

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POT planned operation time


PQ Produced Quantity
QA quality assurance
QC quality control
RI result indicator
RT reference time
TPM total productive maintenance
VOT valued operating time
WT waiting time

Glossary
Activity
One of the steps required to complete a process.

Analysis
The examination and close scrutiny of data and information without the introduction of opinions, biased perceptions
of the data and information, or evaluative statements.

Balanced Scorecard
the concept of a “balanced scorecard” stressed the need to monitor, measure and control strategic performance within
four perspectives: Financial, Customer, Internal Business Process, and Learning and Growth. The main value of the
balanced scorecard model lies in its emphasis on forging a balanced approach to measuring and managing strategic
control factors. It remains for each organization to identify its own key strategy, strategic objectives, strategic
initiatives and strategic measurements.

Baseline
The organization’s actual performance level from the most recent reporting period.

Benchmark
A third-party comparison point on performance, e.g. industry standard, published statistics, peer comparison, etc.

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Business model canvas


The Business Model Canvas is a strategic management and lean startup template for developing new or documenting
existing business models. It is a visual chart with elements describing a firm's or product's value proposition,
infrastructure, customers, and finances.

Cascading
Cascading is arranging strategic devices (objectives) to ensure collaboration and cooperation downward through all
levels of the organizational system in a connected series or sequence, like a waterfall, so that the intended strategy is
exhibited from leadership levels all the way to the customer-facing personnel.

Change management
The process of moving an organization, function, or process through a transformation process to a new and/or
improved level of performance.

Competitive positioning
Competitive positioning is about defining how you'll “differentiate” your offering and create value for your market.
It's about carving out a spot in the competitive landscape, putting your stake in the ground, and winning mindshare in
the marketplace – being known for a certain “something.”

Consensus
A group decision or action that all members agree to support, even though it may not exactly reflect an individual’s
preferred choice. Consensus is possible when diverse points of view have been heard thoroughly and openly.

Core competency
Any area, factor, or consideration perceived by the customer that differentiates the organization and provides for a
competitive edge over its rivals.

Cross-functional
A process or activity that includes portions of the process or activity from two or more functions within an
organization.

Customer
The person(s), or organizations who use your output. Whether your customers are internal or external to your
organization, they use your output as an input to their work processes.

Customer Value Proposition


Customer Value Proposition is the intended overall value and/or benefit a customer/stakeholder will gain from your
product or service in return for its costs, including money, time and effort; a marketing statement that summarizes the
tangible and intangible value of a particular offering helping the customer to understand why they might want to buy
a product or use a service.
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Delta
The delta is where change occurs. It is where people stop operating in the old way, learn new ways, make mistakes,
mourn the loss of the old, test the new way and integrate it into ongoing operations.

Development
The results of systematic efforts to bring about structural, operational, and performance improvements, in a set of
capabilities in order to enhance and/or increase outputs.

Double loop learning


In double-loop learning, feedback from management consequences is fed back to the action strategy development
process and back into the governing variables that were used to develop the strategies in the first place.

Environmental scan
A systematic review of current and/or emerging trends, events, situations, problems, and issues that are or might
impact the organization, its operation, and/or its performance. A scan may be focused on either external or internal
factors.

Environmental assessment
Environmental Assessment is a thoughtful analysis and evaluation of the strategic environment facing the
organization

Evaluation
The process of comparing and assessing some entity or attribute using a specific criterion (or criteria), i.e., a norm,
standard, regulation, or expectation.

External analyses
An examination of the dimensions of an organization’s external environment, including the close scrutiny of those
trends, events, that are having, or might have an impact on the performance capabilities of the management,
resources, structure, processes, and operation of an organization.

Function
Specialized area of related activities within an organization that are grouped together in order to manage them
effectively and efficiently, for example, finance, marketing, and operations.

Functional management
A level of management below general management that is in charge of a given function.

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Globalization
A process of interaction and integration among the people, companies, and governments of different nations, driven
by international trade and investment and aided by information technology. This process also impacts the
environment, culture, political systems, economic development and prosperity, and human well-being in societies
around the world. It includes investing, managing, organizing, and operating on a world-wide scale, i.e., across
national boundaries and in different cultures and societies.

(Overarching) Goal
A long-term result to be achieved as an organization moves toward the vision.

Growth
The measurable increase in the input, throughput, or output of an organization, process, or activity.

Implementation
The set of management and operational processes required to add to, or modify, an existing strategy, organization
structure, process or operating system, such that the change is accepted by the organization as the new strategic and
operational norm.

Improvement
The enhanced capability and/or performance or an organization, its functions, processes, or activities made possible
by changes in their design, management, and/or operation.

(Strategic) Initiative
Strategic initiative is a collective endeavor, with a defined beginning and end, to reduce performance gaps and help
accomplish strategic objectives.

Innovation
Introduction and adaptation of a new idea, concept, or invention to an activity or process.

Input
The materials, equipment, information, people, money, or environmental conditions that are needed beforehand.

Internal analyses
Critical examination of the internal dimensions and performance capabilities of the management, resources, structure,
processes, and operation of an organization.

Key driver of success


A Key Driver of Success is an explicitly stated area where tangible results must be realized to achieve a desired
goal(s).

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Key performance indicator


A key performance indicator (KPI) is a measure, for which the organization has data, that helps quantify the
achievement of a desired strategic objective or outcome.

Lagging indicator
A measurable economic activity that changes after the economy has established a pattern or trend. They have no
predictive value, but they are useful in confirming changes that have taken place in economic activity.

Leading indicator
A measurable economic activity that changes before the economy has established a pattern or trend. Useful in
predicting changes in economic activity.

Line Manager
Person who heads a department or sub-function and is responsible for collaborating with his team to achieve a
specific objective(s) via listening, learning, policy making, target setting, decision making.

Macro environment
Forces at work in the external operating environment that can affect an organization’s ability to serve its customers
and make a profit, e.g. demographic changes and economic trends.

Market positioning
The process of identifying and occupying a distinct niche or place in the market for products and services in order to
achieve an advantage over competing products and services.

Measure
A Measure is a quantifiable value that is used to track and manage operations or assess strategic performance.

Micro environment
External forces close to an organization that affect its ability to serve its customers and make a profit, e.g. regulatory
changes and stakeholder perceptions.

Milestone
A key activity, whether a deliverable or a decision, being completed in a project or in the development or in the
operations of the organization.

(Focused) Mission
Statement of purpose that provides the rationale for an organization’s existence.

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(Strategic) Objective
A broadly defined outcome that an organization must achieve to make its strategy succeed.

Objectives and key results (OKRs)


OKRs is a critical thinking framework and ongoing discipline that seeks to ensure employees work together, focusing
their efforts to make measurable contributions that drive the company forward.

Operations
The organization’s day-to-day activities with respect to all functions, processes, and departments of the organization.

Organization culture
The specific collection of values and norms that are shared by people and groups in an organization, and that control
the way they interact with each other and with stakeholders outside the organization.

OTSW evaluation (sometimes known as SWOT analysis)


An evaluation of the external environmental scan to determine opportunities or threats, followed by an evaluation of
internal scan to determine strengths and weaknesses. The result of this evaluation will be the development a
comprehensive understanding of the current environment and context of the organization. This, in turn, will provide
the foundation for strategic thinking and planning.

Performance management
Performance Management is the process of achieving desired organizational outcomes. It includes all organizational
activities aimed at ensuring that the organization’s strategic goal(s) and objectives are met in an effective and efficient
manner.

Performance measurement
Performance Measurement is a process of collecting, analyzing and reporting information regarding the performance
of a component.

Planning
Planning is a process of thinking and organizing activities to achieve a future-oriented goal. Planning involves
forethought and forecasting.

Planning Horizon
The length of time the strategy is being developed for.

Process
A sequence of steps, tasks, or activities that converts inputs to outputs. A work process adds value to the inputs by
changing them or using them to produce something new. Some processes may be contained wholly within a

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department or function (that is, accounting, marketing). However, the critical areas of work performed by an
organization usually involve processes that cross functional or departmental boundaries. These are cross-functional
processes. Processes are composed of sub processes that in turn consist of a group of related activities (e.g. order
entry). Activities consist of groups of related tasks (e.g. writing an order). Tasks are elementary actions of work (e.g.
time stamping an invoice).

Project
An undertaking with a defined starting point and ending point. It includes significant allocation of resources and has
defined parameters that determine completion of the project. A project has finite or limited resources assigned to it. In
the case of a new projects it includes increased levels of risk and uncertainty.

Project management
Project Management is the discipline of mobilizing resources to bring about the successful completion of specific
project outcomes and outputs.

Risk appetite
The broad-based amount of risk an organization is willing to accept in pursuit of its mission/vision. It is established
by the organization’s most senior level leadership and serves as the guidepost to set strategy and select objectives.

Risk tolerance
The acceptable level of variance in performance relative to the achievement of objectives. It is generally established at
the program, objective or component level. In setting risk tolerance levels, management considers the relative
importance of the related objectives and aligns risk tolerance with risk appetite.

SBU
A Strategic Business Unit of an organization. An internal profit center composed of discrete and independent product
or market segments. An SBU may be any size, but it must have a unique mission, identifiable competitors, an external
market focus, and significant control over its business functions and processes.

Scenario planning
Scenario Planning is a discipline for rediscovering the original entrepreneurial power of creative foresight in contexts
of accelerated change, greater complexity, and genuine uncertainty.

SKU
Stock Keeping Unit, it’s a retail code that track product, manufacturer, and price information. It’s use for inventory
and sales tracking.

Stakeholder
Individual person, group, association, or external organization that has a significant interest in, and/or impact on an
organization.

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Standard
Rule, norm, regulation, custom, or principle that is used as a basis for measurement, evaluation, comparison or
judgment.

Strategic alternatives
Potentially actionable options for achieving the direction of the organization. Options should be consistent with the
external and internal dimensions of the organization to leverage its strengths and exploit available opportunities.

Strategic direction
The vision, mission, values, policies, and primary goal statements of a strategic plan.

Strategic information system


The system established to maintain an organization’s strategic focus through ongoing management and
communication of information related to the development, implementation, and performance evaluation of strategy.

Strategic management
The set of processes and competencies required to specify the goals and objectives and develop and manage the
initiatives to attain them. It includes those decisions and actions that determine the long-run performance of an
organization.

Strategic operating plan


The blueprint for strategy execution linking strategic objectives with deployable implementation plan. It is a set of
marching orders detailing exactly what will be done to achieve measurable results during the upcoming operating
cycles. It includes the objectives, responsibilities, measures and initiatives to be implemented and tracked in the
current and next annual operating cycle.

Strategic operational planning


(Strategic) operational planning is a process of converting strategic goals and objectives to tactical goals and
objectives.

Strategic plan
A long-term, comprehensive document that summarizes the outputs of longer term strategic thinking and planning.
Key elements include strategic direction, key drivers and time-phased strategies, and strategic objectives.
Strategic planning
The process of converting the results of strategic thinking as a set of potentially actionable strategies into an
integrated plan of action that can be implemented.

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Strategic policy
Guidelines developed for use in an organization to influence, instruct, and specify how leaders should act when
making decisions in given circumstances.

Strategic thinking
Primarily an analytic and creative decision-making process that ultimately results in an appropriate strategic plan for
the organization.

Strategy
A plan of action to achieve a goal(s).

Strategy cadence
Strategy Cadence is the pace of moving from the present state to the desired future state.

Strategy canvas
The strategy canvas is a central diagnostic tool and an action framework developed by W. Chan Kim and Renée
Mauborgne for building a compelling blue ocean strategy. The canvas graphically captures, in one picture, the current
strategic landscape and future prospects for a company.

Strategy formulation
The processes required to articulate the overall strategic direction of the organization, to compile a set of feasible
strategies, and to evaluate and select those strategic options that are to be included in the strategic plan.

Strategy map
A strategy map is a visual representation of the cause and effect relationships among strategic objectives driving the
achievement of the organization’s goal(s).

Supplier
The people (functions, departments, or organizations) who supply a process with its necessary inputs.

SWOT analysis
An evaluation of the external environmental scan to determine opportunities or threats, followed by an evaluation of
internal scan to determine strengths and weaknesses. The result of this evaluation will be the development a
comprehensive understanding of the current environment and context of the organization. This, in turn, will provide
the foundation for strategic thinking and planning.

Tactic
Actions taken by line management to deploy and implement corporate strategy throughout all levels and functions of
the organization.

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Tasks
One of the steps required to accomplish a particular process or project.

(Core) Values
Belief, preference, or philosophy held by members of an organization that is a primary determinant of an
organization’s culture and ethical behavior.

(Shared) Vision
The extrapolation of a current organizational state to a desired future state.

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Meeting Schedule Hierarchy:-

QCDSM , KPIs List:-

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S.M.A.R.T KPIs Measuring


QCDSM Detailed KPIs (Value-Based Key results) Unit
GMP & GWP Notifications response rate %
# ISO certifications acquired #
Quality Improvement (First-Pass Yield) or Average DPMO Rate or AQL % %
(Internal audits) Defects Detection Effectiveness % - DDE %
# Non-Compliance ( Food safety issue) corrective action clock-speed min
total numbers of NCRs #
(NCRs) Deficiencies improvement rate %
# of Customer Complaints due to poor quality #
% Complaints resolved %
% Customer retention %
% Customer attrition %
% Repeat Catering customers %
% Compliments to complaints %
Quality

% Recovery yield rate of returned products (sold again) %


Annual SFDA Compliance average rate% %
% Faults detected perior to Failure %
% Failed Audits %
% of quality department Cost to revenue %
$ quality department annual cost per employee sr
# Employees allocated to quality management activities #
% Quality controls meeting intended objectives (except CCPs) %
# Quality control stages (# check points / line / product) #
# New aquired customers #
% New clients %
%key Accounts expansion (NPDs) %
% Key accounts Contribution to total sales revenue %
# Heavy usage index (Most salable items) #
% Market Brand penetration %
Emergency Purchase Ratio %
Total Quality cost per Total Manufacturing Cost %
$ Cost of quality inspection per sample SR
Supplier Quality Rating plan compliance %
Company Approved QDI % %
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% Average Manufacturing Cost (cost of goods manufactured) / Unit %


$ annual Total manufacturing cost (DM +DL+OH) sr
% Employee cost over Total Manufacturing Cost %
total Annual Plants Down time reduction hr
$ Cost of poor quality (COPQ) SR

% Cost of goods sold (COGS) %


Sales revenue SR
% Manufacturing Cost as a Percentage of Revenue %
Scrap % (RM & PM) from standard yield %
% Sales growth rate %
$ Sales force effectiveness ( annual average sale / route) SR
$ Rejected materials cost SR
%Rework cost from TMC %
Energy Cost per Unit sr
Manufacturing Budget compliance %
Company Budget Variance %
Gross Profit Value (margin) sr
% Gross Profit margin ratio %
%Contribution profit margin ratio %
Operating Profit Value sr
% Operating Profit %
% Operating Expenses %
Net Profit Value sr
% Net Profit %
% Sales Efficiency %
Sell through Rate %
Inventory Carrying Cost % from total inventory cost %
Purchase value as a percent of sales value %
Cost

Purchasing Employees as a percent of company employees %


Procurement ROI %
% Expense of temporary staffing to labor cost %
% Employee cost over sales revenue %
$ Cost Of Insurance SR
% Cost saving against plant Budget %
% Cost Avoidance against plant Budget %
Ratio of Received materials Rejection %
Percentage of Certified Approved Suppliers from total suppliers %
Inventory shrinke rate %
% SG&A to Revenue (operating expenses) %
% Total Employee Cost to Revenue %
% Variance of actual overheads to Budgeted Overheads %
% Variance operating expenses to Expense Budget %
Distribution Cost per KM sr
% Revenue Variance to Budgeted revenue %
Raw Material Cost per Kilogram finished product output %
% Transport Cost vs Sales revenue %
Average Labors Cost (man/hour) SR
Average External labor cost (man/hour) SR
slow moving items % from total inventory value %
Revenue per Employee SR
Profit per Employee SR
Overtime % from total Salaries %
Maintainance Cost / Unit out put SR
Total Maintainance cost / Total Manufacturing Cost %
Total Maintainance cost / COGS %
Total Maintainance cost -TMC as % ERAV %
Total Maintainance cost -TMC as % total sales revnue %
cost of Non-Productive items from the TMC % %
Export Contribution % %
HAMED ALI 118
Catering contribution % %
Cash market contribution % %
Expiry % from total sales revenues %
August 7, 2023 [BY, HAMED ALI]

# of processing plants or manufacturing units #


Product Complexity - # of Running SKUs #
Process Complexity - # of process category types #
Total Annual gross Transfer by SR (sales turnover) SR
# Selling opportunities ( counter sales) #
% Counter Store conversion rate %
Annual Unplanned downtime rate hr
Annual planned downtime rate hr
Capacity / asset Utilization (CU or AU %) %
Total Effective Equipment Performance - TEEP %
Average Overall Operations Effectiveness - OOE %
Average Lines Overall Equipment Effectiveness - OEE %
Average Productivity Man per Hour unit/man/hour
Production plan Adherence - PPA% %
$ Value of WIP SR
$ Value of safety stock (RM + PM+Spare parts) SR
$ Value of safety stock (FP long shelf life items) SR
% Delivery deadlines met %
% Transport capacity utilization %
Delivery

$ Cost per ton-kilometer SR


# Fuel consumption L/100 Km
$ Delivery cost per truckload shipment SR
Forecasted Demand Adherence - FDA% %
# of Maintainance Work Orders (# of repairs) #
% Unplanned maintenance %
# Average production lines Failure rate (complete shutdown) #
Mean Time To Repair - MTTR min
Mean Time Between Failure - MTBF hr
Just On Time Delivery - JIT % or OTIF- On time in full %
Demand Forecast Accuracy %
Number of Approved Suppliers #
Overtime as a percentage of total hours %
Average Takt Time min
Mean Average Work-in-process (WIP) value sr
# Production response time (advance indent 48 hrs) day
% Warehouse capacity utilization rate %
% Orders delivered with damaged products %
preventive maitainance plan compliance % %
Inventory turnover #
Inventory turnover Time period days
Raw Materials Waste reduction %
Direct materials procurement adherence %
Inventory accuracy %
Materials Purchase Price Variance - PPV %
Average Manufacturing cycle Time hr
Average Manufacturing Lead Time hr

HAMED ALI 119


August 7, 2023 [BY, HAMED ALI]

% Incidents caused by lack of required support skills %


# Recordable health and safety near misses #
Total # of Recordable health and safety Incidents #
Total Recordable health and safety Incidents Rate TRIR #
Annual Incidents rate-IR / employee #
Total recordable cases frequency rate (TRCFR) #
Medical treatment cases (MTC) #
Medical treatment cases Rate (MTCR) #
First aid cases (FAC) #
First aid cases Rate(FACR) #
Fatal incidents ( work-related loss of life) #
Fatal-injury frequency rate (FIFR) #
# of DART incidents #
DART Rate (Days Away/Restricted or Job Transfer Rate) #
Total # of lost days #
Safety

Lost Work Day Rate (LWD) #


# of lost time Injury Cases #
Lost Time Injury Case Rate - LTIR #
Lost time Injury Frequent Rate -LTIFR #
Severity Rate - SR #
Total Employees hours Worked - FTE hr
Conducted Safety audits and inspection & CAPA %
Reduction in Penalties #
# of annual environmental Incidents #
Total safety Training Hours (Internal & External) #
Average Overtime Hours per person hr
Compliance with Environmental Regulations and Civil Defence %
# of fitness assessments and health check up campaigns #
Productive days % %
Annual Health and safety prevention cost sr
Mock Evacuation Drills Preparedness %
Employee Perception of Management Commitment %
company OHS maturity level %
Employees OHSAS 18001 / ISO 45001 Training penetration %
Employees ISO 14001 Training penetration %
Staff proactive HSE behaviour %
HAMED ALI 120
August 7, 2023 [BY, HAMED ALI]

# Management-to-staff ratio %
Direct / Indirect labors Ratio %
direct labor rate multiplier sr/hr
Employees Absenteeism Rate -EAR % %
Employees Turnover rate % %
% Employee retention rate %
Employee NPS score % %
Employee Satisfaction Index (ESI) %
# Training hours per employee per year #
Internal Promotion Rate %
% Training penetration rate %
Overtime % from total Salaries %
Average wage rate per hour sr
# Fringe benefits to basic salary ratio %
% Products meeting cost target %
# Rookie ratio %
% Staffing rate %
% Operational Budget Spent on Training %
Morals

$ annual Incentive or annual Bonus Payout / Employee %


% Compensation Packages with Pay for Performance Arrangements %
% Human Capital Return on Investment (ROI) %
# of Employees on annual vacation %
Health Care Cost Per Employee SR
# Innovation Awards #
Training Effectiveness %
Cost of Training per Employee SR
Saudization % %
Innovation time for new products (Innovation Funnel) days
% New product success rate %
# Employees in R&D #
$ Research & development costs SR
% R&D budget from total budget %
% Products meeting cost target %
% R&D intensity %
Average Market share % %
% R & D Return on investment %
Ideas & suggestions Generation rate #
% Market share increase due to R&D %
Revenue per Employee SR
Profit per Employee SR
# of Business Review Meetings #
% of ladies from total employees %

HAMED ALI 121


August 7, 2023 [BY, HAMED ALI]

The heart of Fuchsia success is the trust earned over 45 years of continuous commitment to quality,
Leadership through discipline, Renewed trust every day by providing great products that meet people’s
Strategy needs, assures the quality of all its products by using high-standard ingredients and applying stringent
measures for food safety, Understanding the needs of Fuchsia’s customers.

To be the consumers’ preferred choice by leading in chosen markets with superior Bakery products, to make
sustainable living common place. We believe this is the best long-term way for our business to grow.
Vision
To provide quality and nutritious Bakery items that enrich consumers’ lives every day. We believe that as a
business we have a responsibility to our consumers and to the communities in which we have a presence.
Mission Around the GCC Countries . And through our business and brands, we run a range of programmes to
promote hygiene, nutrition, empowerment and environmental awareness.

We are agile and flexible in our work, confidently taking bold


Values Adaptable decisions that benefit our stakeholders.

We work together as one, openly collaborating and sharing


Sharing skills & knowledge to enable our people to be the best.

We are proud of the work we do, and strive for


Passionate exceptional results.

We are driven to improve our business everyday and


Innovative to maximize the creative potential of our people.

We earn respect by embracing fairness, trust and


Respect integrity in all our relationships.

We are diligent in our work and consistently deliver the


Excellence best quality in everything we do.

consumer We are passionate about our consumers and always


first exceed their expectations.

We do the right thing at all times. We inspire trust. We


integrity are honest and ethical.

We think and act like owners of our business, make tough choices and treat
every SR as if it is our own. We keep it simple, focus on the work that matters,
Ownership and have a culture of meritocracy that recognizes and rewards exceptional
performance at every level.

We have an unwavering commitment to quality.


Quality

HAMED ALI 122


August 7, 2023 [BY, HAMED ALI]

Strategies Strategic Objectives Tactical Aligned Objectives

Company Profitable growth Maximize Annual Net Profit to 120 m SR maximize the company sales volume by 20 %
Operation Cost Reduction Increase Market share up to 15 % reduce the operating cost to be < 30 %.
High Performance Organization TEEP should be > 85% to conduct Effective Employees training program
Deep Market penetration Zero customer complaints Zero customer complaints
Product development zero work accidents Maximize the Total Equipment Effectiveness up to 90 % and reduce the hidden factory
parameters to the minimum.
Quality & Efficiency OCR-Operation Cost Reduction Increase the customer satisfaction and loyality
Products differentiation 100 % Just In time delivery compliance Increase the front line Employees Engagement.
Talents Management Increase the customer satisfaction and loyality Reduce the expiry percentage to be < 8 %
Employees Engagement Maximize the company revenue to 1,000,000,000
Budget Balancing 100 % Just In time delivery compliance
100 % compliance with the internal & external regulations
reduce the average lines Un-Planned down time to be < 2%
Increase the annual Total Transfer value by 5% .
zero work accidents
100 % compliance with the preventive mainainance plan and Increase assets reliability.
Reduce the annual transportation cost by 10 %
Minimize the inventory level and standardize the lead time.
Combining OpEx and TPM Focused improvement tactics
Train operators on standardized work procedures.
Tighten the raw materials quality standards.
Improve the precision of equipment set-points.
launching of new products at least 4 items / year.
Optimize Variable Manpower Cost ( OT Cost + Contract Labour Cost )
Optimize Specific Energy Consumption per Production Tonnage
Optimize Specific Water Consumption per Production Tonnage
Optimize Repairs & Maintenance Cost per Production Tonnage
Reduce Plant COPQ (Internal+External) by 25%
improving inventory accuracy & turnover
Cross-sell more products
Expand company Market share

2021/12/05 ‫تم بحمد هللا في‬


All the best

Just Pray Form me, I’m Just asking for Doaa.


‫نسألكم الدعاء‬

HAMED ALI 123

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