Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Enterprise KPIs
through OKRs.
By, Hamed Ali
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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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.
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: 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 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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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.
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:
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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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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.
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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’).
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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.
• 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 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).
Agility
Shorter goal cycles enable faster adjustments and better adaptation to change, increasing innovation and reducing
risks and waste.
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The use of shared OKRs improves collaboration among different teams, solving Interdependencies and unifying
competing initiatives.
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.
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:
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:
➔ Initiatives: What we are going to do to reach our OKR: projects, tasks or activities.
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➔ Too many OKRs or Key Results: OKR is not a laundry list of everything you do. It is a
➔ 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.
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.
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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o
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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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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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
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.
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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
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.
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.
• 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.
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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:
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.
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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.
• 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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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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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.
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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You need your strategic objectives in this very specific form to support the next steps in the OKRs process.
• 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.
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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.
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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.
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.
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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.
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.
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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.
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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.
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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:
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• Minimise 'Average Handling Time’ conflicts with ‘Maximise First Touch Resolution’.
• ‘Minimise performance rewards’ conflicts with ‘We have motivated staff‘.
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• 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?
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
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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• 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.
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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.
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).
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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.
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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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:
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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.
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.
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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
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
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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.
• 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.
• 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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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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Salt 3g 8g +5g
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.
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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.
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.
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• 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
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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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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…
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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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.
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:
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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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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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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):
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.
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• 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.
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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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?
Ref. Question
3 Is a consistent design theme used for all charts and text boxes?
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Visual design
Ref. Question
6 With RAG (red-amber-green "traffic light") indicators is it clear what criteria are used for RAG?
Layout
Ref. Question
1 Is text and chart size used proportionate to the importance of the information it's conveying?
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Layout
Ref. Question
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
2 Are the charts intuitive i.e. they do not require careful study or explanation?
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Charts
Ref. Question
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?
Targets
Ref. Question
Axes
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Ref. Question
Trending
Ref. Question
Labelling
Ref. Question
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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
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Visual Clarity
Ref. Question
2 Does the layout work for the delivery medium? e.g. a smartphone or projector?
Misc
Ref. Question
3 Is it clear who to talk to if there's a query or correction and how to contact them?
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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:
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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:
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.
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
• 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.
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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Step 2: Engage
Engage stakeholders and assess situation
Step 5: Define
Define KPIs
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Step 6: Prototype
Design and test your dashboards and reports
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
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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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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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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.
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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.
• 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.
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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.
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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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
(Strategic) Objective
A broadly defined outcome that an organization must achieve to make its strategy succeed.
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.
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
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.
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 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 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.
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.
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.
# 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
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 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.
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