Performance Management Tools
Performance management tools are considered business performance management tools and include tools for budgeting, financial consolidation, and planning. Planning includes financial metrics, workforce, capital, and so on. These were originally considered operational reporting tools. but still part of business intelligence. The popular tools from vendors are the same. However, the details of reports are granular, as their purpose is operational. Modern tools are capable of detailed reporting.
Three purposes of performance management tools are as follows:
• Monitor information: To monitor performance of department and organization at high level
• Analyze information: To summarize and analyze detail information
• Transactional information: Most granular information at transaction level Three types of dashboards or reports are as follows:
• Dashboards or scorecards summarize key strategic information for executives.
• Operational dashboard/reports monitor operational or ongoing activities by managers and front-line workers.
• Tactical dashboards capture tactical KPIs for cross-department management or activities that can be created on an ad-hoc basis, or KPIs, which are used for less than one year and can be changed frequently.
Dashboards are a visual and dynamic representation of key performance indicators and can include charts, graphs, or other visuals. Dashboards are primarily used by the range of management staff for monitoring operational activities efficiently and in a standard way.
A scorecard-like dashboard is similar in terms of functionality except it is focused on strategic goals and used at the management and leadership levels. Dashboards provide a holistic view of management’s performance, and a scorecard provides a holistic view of an organization’s performance.
Scorecards focus on metrics related to key performance indicators and compare them to a target or a previous year. Key performance indicators reflect a simple status by color (red, yellow, or green) as per business rules.
Dashboard and scorecard creation is supported by most of the tools presently on the market.