Archive for the ‘KPI’ Category

Key Performance Metrics as Business Performance Indicators

Friday, June 27th, 2008

Having performance metrics as business performance indicators is a huge advantage for any company or organization. This is because the indicators show a company’s status towards achieving corporate goals.

If you are in the world of business, then you surely must have heard about performance metrics at one point or another. This is because companies can make use of performance metrics as business performance indicators. Simply put, we can use performance metrics to check on how the business is performing, especially in terms of growth and productivity.

Another term that can be used in place of business KPI is the business KSI or key success indicator. These are created for the sole purpose of measuring the performance of a business when compared against organizational goals and objectives that have been originally set by the business itself upon its foundation. Once the aspects aligning the performance of the business are measured, it would then be easier to identify where exactly the business currently is towards the realization of these corporate goals and objectives.

Upon the analysis of a business’s mission, there would come a need to name the very people behind the business itself. These people would be the business’s stakeholders and even the founders themselves. But when the goals are stated out loud, then the business would inevitably be ready to identify and define the methods that it will use in measuring its current progress towards the realization of corporate goals. These are then the business performance indicators at play.

There are certain characteristics you have to look for when selecting which KPIs to use for your business. Bear in mind that these have to be relevant KPIs because it would not make sense to use KPIs that are not relevant to your business, as well as your goals and objectives. Also, you have to remember that these KPIs are not goals per se. these are just quantifiable aspects that are set up to make clearer the status of the company against its goals and objectives. This is precisely why the identification of goals has to be done before the KPIs are developed and set up. The goals serve as guiding forces in this endeavor.

Furthermore, the KPIs have to be predetermined because it would not be worth your while to do this at a later time only to find out that the goal for a particular KPI has already been met or achieved. In the same setting, if your organization is not quite sure if it would be able to tell whether or not their goals would be achieved, then it would be senseless to come up with these KPIs. Thus, predetermination is a must here.

Lastly, there might come a time when your goals would become narrowly defined, especially when the organization gets closer and closer towards achieving certain goals. This does not mean that the business performance indicators should be modified significantly during the company’s progression towards the goal. Remember that the performance metrics here have been predetermined already, and this means they represent measures indicating progress. Since this is the case, then there really is no need for the company to modify these measures. As tempting as it is, your business performance indicators should remain as they were from the very beginning.

Learn more about business performance indicators for HR

How Training KPI Drives Performance

Friday, May 23rd, 2008

The measurement of how well members of the training class are doing is done through training KPI or training key performance indicators. This is a set of standardized processes that identify not only the areas of opportunity of each trainee, but also the training needs of each individual or as a group. This way, significant improvement is achievable in terms of training materials, curriculum, location, and many more.

With standardized training KPIs, one will be able to measure minimum skills required or MSR for hiring—which Human Resources will have to infuse in the hiring process—and minimum skills validation or verification (MSV). The minimum skills validation will be based heavily on what is expected from the students. This will also be used in congruence to what is desired and what is currently available from the pool of resources or manpower. Simply put, key performance indicators are numerical representations of targets. To drive performance on production, one must be data driven to ensure that all actions are backed up by statistical observation, not on assumption.

In training, one needs to assess how well a group or a class learned. This may be done in several ways. Some trainers conduct a pre-assessment test prior to the learning experience and then another after the entire curriculum is done. This is to measure how the student improved in terms of product knowledge. Some trainers do it after every module to make the findings more accurate and to validate the learning capacity of an individual while the information is still fresh in one’s mind.

Being data driven in training empowers a company to set standards that are all aligned with organizational goals. The numbers—say, test results—are all indications of what has possibly gone wrong or right in the training process. If majority of the students failed, it is very likely that there is a gap in the training methodology or with the trainer’s approach. If majority of the students passed the certification, it is also likely that the people who failed need to be re-assessed in terms of skills. Perhaps there are similarities in the gap between the non-passers, such as absences in classes, during which their failing areas were discussed.

To identify which key performance indicators to use, one should have a clear set of objectives and direction. A company should have a procedure that measures all required results, so this will be the basis in developing a standard measurement or evaluation, also known as minimum skills validation. Once the goals and performance expectations are set, training needs analysis may be conducted to identify key areas of concern for the development of a curriculum that will address then current issues in the operations team.

If the currently productivity level is low because the employees do not know what to do, the training team may increase the weight or bearing of that particular aspect of the job to identify who among the current roster of trainees will be hired.

This is done to ensure that action plans are really targeting what is missing in the training process. The weigh of attendance during training certification may also be increased if the main issue is attrition. In general, training KPI can be very flexible as long as each metric addresses the current issues at hand.

If you are interested in training kpi, check this web-site to learn more about balanced scorecard kpi. 

KPI - SearchAmerica Unveils Predictive Intelligence Dashboard

Tuesday, January 15th, 2008

SearchAmerica is pleased to introduce this important solution, and offer our appreciation to our customers for their valuable input. SearchAmerica?s Predictive Intelligence Dashboard offers organizations the ability to: View scorecards sharing key performance indicators (KPI) at-a-glance.