Performance Dashboards: Measuring, Monitoring, and Managing Your Business, 2nd Edition

CHAPTER 6

Types of Performance Dashboards

Overview

Three Types

When you examine performance dashboards in organizations today, you find a bewildering array of displays and functionality used for an endless variety of purposes. There does not seem to be a common thread among the systems.

But after a while, your eyes focus, and you start to recognize common patterns and features, and slowly these patterns fuse into a general classification that brings order to the chaos. At least that was my experience. While not perfect, the framework I’ve devised provides a reasonable model to explain the similarities and differences among performance dashboards and, most important, to help organizations articulate the type of performance management system that best suits their needs.

In Chapter 1, I laid out three types of performance dashboards:

1. Operational dashboards monitor operational processes, events, and activities as they occur (every minute, hour, or day).

2. Tactical dashboards measure and analyze the performance of departmental activities, processes, and goals.

3. Strategic dashboards track progress toward achieving strategic objectives in a top-down fashion (e.g., a “Balanced Scorecard”).

All Together Now. Interestingly, these dashboard options aren’t exclusive: A majority of organizations have all three. In fact, as we’ll see, the three dashboards are complementary: Each serves a unique purpose, and no organization is truly effective without all three.

EXHIBIT 6.1 Dashboard ...