Scorecard Best Practices

Appendix. Glossary of Terms

Term	Definition
Accountability	The state of being obligated to, liable for, or answerable for any part of a scorecard system.
Accounting	The process of classifying, recording, and summarizing in a significant manner and in monetary terms transactions and events that are, in part at least, of a financial character. Also, the act of interpreting the results thereof.
Activity	A unit of work performed by people, equipment, technologies, or facilities that has defined initiation and termination conditions. Upon completion of the activity, the resultant work product will generally be routed to other participants. Activities may occur in a linked sequence.
Activity‐Based Costing (ABC)	A costing system that (a) identifies the relationship between the incurrence of cost and activities, (b) determines the underlying “driver” of the activities, (c) establishes cost pools related to individual “drivers,” (d) develops costing rates, and (e) applies cost to product on the basis of resources consumed (drivers).
Analytics	Relatively sophisticated forms of data analysis. Also known as business analytics.
Attribute	A quality or characteristic inherent in or ascribed to a person, system, or object.
Balanced Scorecard	Part of a performance management system that emphasizes the linking of an organization's performance metrics to its vision and strategy. By organizing metrics along financial, customer, internal process, and learning and growth perspectives, it provides a balanced view ...