A practical guide on how to find a KPI for people, project, business goal. Check out the step-by-step approach to the indicators that we recommend. Read more http://www.bscdesigner.com/find-a-kpi-for.htm

4.  To support intuitive guesses with the
numbers
 To understand the nature of the project
better
 To have early-warning signals and
prevent big losses
 To see that we are on the right track in
project execution

5.  Step 1 – Understand business context
 Step 2 – Prepare an action plan
 Step 3 – Find proper leading and lagging
indicators
 Step 4 – Load indicators with the details
 Step 5 – Automate with the software

6.  Before looking for KPIs you need to
understand the business context well,
answer these questions:
› What is your business goal?
› What are the success factors?
› What results do you expect to achieve?

7.  Business goal: get more leads interested
in our service.
 Success factors: find effective and
efficient marketing tool to generate new
leads.
 Expected results: leads converted into
customers.

8.  How are you going to achieve business
goal from Step 1?
› Do we have a clear action plan?
› What tools will be used?
› What factors are important for successful
execution?
› Ask your team a number of “How?” and
“What?” questions to make sure they know
how to achieve the goal.

9.  Our action plan will be:
› Research current market and formulate
attractive proposal.
› Find cost-effective way to deliver our
message to the prospect clients.
› Work with generated leads and convert
them into clients.

10.  The business goal from Step 1 that you
want to achieve has:
› Factors that determine the success of
execution (leading metrics);
› Factors that confirm that expected results
were actually achieve (lagging metrics);
› Make sure that you has at least one leading
and one lagging metric for your business
goal.
 If you are not sure about success factors and
expected results, then return to the steps 1 – 2 to
research the topic more.

11. • For the part of action plan “Research current
market and formulate attractive proposal” we
have the following indicators:
 Leading indicator: the number of prospects who
participated in the research.
 Lagging indicator: prospects that contacted us
for the details.

12.  By now you should have a set of:
› Clear defined business goal
› Action plan
› At least one leading indicator (success factor)
› At least one lagging indicator (expected results)
 Make sure that indicators:
› Are measurable and your team know how to
get the value for them;
 Are actually linked to the business problem that you are
trying to solve, if not, return to the step 1.

13. › Business goal: get more leads interested in
our service.
› Action plan: research current market and
formulate attractive proposal.
› Leading indicator: the number of prospects
research.
› Lagging indicator: prospects that contacted
us for the details.

14.  KPIs won’t work if they are not automated
with user friendly software:
› If you have 2-3 KPIs use MS Excel
› If you have more KPIs and complex business
context, use professional Balanced Scorecard
software (for example, BSC Designer)
 In software:
› Build strategy map where business goals are
linked with each other
› Align KPIs and action plan with each business
goal

15.  Strategy
map in
BSC
Designer
with
business
goals,
KPIs, and
action
plan.

16.  Make sure that you have some
supporting documentation that
summarizes the results of steps 1 - 5.
 Make sure that the cause-and-effect
connection between various business
goals is defined.
 Make sure that you have an action plan
that includes “What if this KPI is in the red
zone” part.

17.  Good KPI is aligned
with business
context and action
plan.
 Good KPI helps to
understand project
better.
 Good KPI is updated
regularly
(depending on the
business goal).
 Bad KPI is not
aligned with
organization’s
strategy.
 Bad KPI is used for
formal reporting
only.
 Bad KPI is updated
annually or is not
updated at all.

18.  After following steps 1-5 you have
aligned leading and lagging indicators
with your business goal.
 Repeat the process for other business
goals to find more indicators and to
make your business more trackable.
How to find a KPI for...? | WWW.BSCDESIGNER.COM

19.  Check out BSC Designer PRO (Windows
desktop software) at
www.bscdesigner.com
 Checkout BSC Designer Online (Cloud-
based software) at www.webbsc.com