As data based decision making is at the core of better management practices today, tools such as scorecards and dashboards can assist with providing critical business data for decision making. Dashboards are operational tools used to illustrate the company’s performance in its most relevant areas. In their recent study on changing practices of financial departments and management audit in businesses (2011), Bearing Point and the Association Nationale des Directeurs Financiers et de Contrôle de Gestion (DFCG) identified several trends in using dashboards across organizations.
Dashboards are visual representations of the company’s performance. As an operational tool, it illustrates the most relevant information for decision making. Their core objective is to consolidate on a single screen the most important KPIs, in order to monitor data at a glance.
In the world of Performance Management, these two terms are often confused and sometimes used interchangeably. Although they both aggregate data across business units and give the reader the opportunity to monitor performance, there are important distinctions to be noted between Scorecards and Dashboards.
“Your most unhappy clients are your greatest source of learning”. Bill Gates
Performance measurement has long been an issue of concern to all companies that aim for a respectable status in the business world. Whether they use traditional methods like hard copies of surveys that are meant to evaluate certain aspects of the company’s activity and meetings with both employees and customers alike, or modern methods that use technology at its best, companies are always striving for perfection in their field.
“Measurement is the first step that leads to control and eventually to improvement.” – H. James Harrington, CEO of the Harrington Institute.
Across the years, companies have traditionally and exclusively measured their success in terms of financial achievements. In the rapidly emerging business world it appeared the need for a much broader range of measures, in order to keep companies and organizations on track into achieving their goals. This is how the fulminating interest in dashboards, scorecards and KPIs can be explained, and Procurement and Supply Management is no different.
