Best Practices in Planning and Performance Management: Radically Rethinking Management for a Volatile World, Third Edition

Chapter 7. Management Reporting: From Information to Insight

The worth and value of knowledge is in proportion to the worth and value of its object.

—Samuel Taylor Coleridge

In 1963, BusinessWeek commented that "the great day—when all the information for solving a management problem is only a push button away—is closer than you think."^[62] Well, almost half a century later we are still waiting.

Information is the lifeblood of the modern corporation. Without it, decisions cannot be made, customers cannot be served, and earnings cannot be grown. Management reporting has been the focus of billions of dollars' worth of technology investment. Management information systems, data warehouses, and data marts litter the business landscape. Yet despite these massive investments, surveys consistently show a high level of dissatisfaction. Fewer than 1 in 5 managers believe they have all the information they need to perform their jobs effectively, and fewer than 1 in 10 believe they have realized the full return from their technology investment. In interviews with numerous executives over the years, the same phrases keep cropping up:

"I don't have the information I need to manage the business effectively."

"It takes too long for our management reports to be produced."

"Given the amount of money we spend on information technology, we seem to have a lot more technology than information."

The problem is not lack of data—most organizations are drowning in data, and much more is on the way. The increasing ...