KPI Academy
Contradictory KPIs. When KPIs should agree, but don’t
Contradictory KPIs are a common problem and can rapidly undermine management confidence in the KPI system. Even someone who knows nothing about measurement knows that if you look at, say, a figure for widget production in July 2007, then you would expect any other figures for widget production in July 2007 to be the same,…
Common KPI Problems – Stranded Data
There are lots of practical data problems you are likely to come across when implementing KPIs and measures. I’ve identified five of the most common ones. The first of this series is ‘Stranded data’ or data living in small pools throughout your organisation. This issue is fairly simple to spot but probably the toughest of…
Getting KPI 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,…
Free Meetings Terms of Reference Template
Report bloat is a significant problem in many organisations. Much of this problem stems from the people producing reports and dashboards not being clear on how they are being used and which parts of their output are even looked at. In short, they don’t understand the purpose of their reports. To design reports and dashboards…
How to measure “difficult to measure” things.
What lipstick, the Panama Canal and toilet breaks can tell you. 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. Here are three examples of…
The wrong KPI. Dangers of the ‘obvious’ measure
A powerful example of wrong KPI is a measure used in call centres. Many of us have experienced a call centre agent who is clearly dying to get us off the line (even if they are scripted to hurriedly ask you ‘Is there anything else I can help you with today, Mr Smith?’). The…
Why Finance should not own (all) your KPIs
A point to make is that KPIs are not just financial measures. Financial measures are crucial in many organisations, but they are also `lagging’ – which means they tell you what happened after the event. KPIs should also help you see what is coming, not just what has passed. It’s like the difference between a…