Tracking the “Right” Measures
We have already discussed the advantages of having a tie from measures to strategy. Here we will consider the number of metrics to track, the balance of measures, the role of financial measures, and CEO‐related measures.
How many measures to track: Obviously, a scorecard system will need enough measures to monitor the performance of all organizational objectives and key operational indicators. However, according to the SHAPs study, tracking more than this is a waste of time and effort. Results show a wide variation in the number of measures tracked by the organizations—both those that appear on their scorecards and those that are tracked in other systems. More than half of all organizations surveyed track 50 or fewer measures (see Exhibit 6.7 ), but there are those that track 500 and more.
Exhibit 6.7: Number of Measures Tracked
The type of business industry classification seemed to influence the number of measures tracked, with entities in the governmental sector tending to track fewer measures than those in the manufacturing and service sectors. Two patterns appeared to be repeated in numerous organizations:
Continue to measure everything that we have measured in the past, plus add more as needed.
As the thirst for information increases, so does the number of measures being tracked.
On one hand, organizations that had tracked measures historically ...
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