Every organisation, regardless of its size or industry, has objectives, overarching business goals. Key performance indicators (KPIs) are strategic measures that are used to continually monitor the company’s performance toward achieving these business goals and objectives. In other words, KPIs are the guide your company can use to work towards meeting organisational targets.
Why and How of KPI Reporting
KPI Reporting is a tool businesses leverage to track how well they are doing in terms of their performance and overall company objectives. These reports are detailed summaries of how different areas within the organisation are performing. A KPI report gives broad feedback on the health of business operations.
It enables organisations to segment their operations to determine high-performing areas and those that may need further process evaluation. Identifying key performance indicators that the company can monitor and improve is the basis of KPI reporting and analysis. Additionally, aligning key performance indicator reports with quantifiable business objectives allows it to be used as a strategic measurement of business goals.
For KPIs to be effective, they need to be:
- Straightforward
- Actionable
- Easy to Measure
- Aligned with Organisational strategies
KPI Types and KPI Libraries
There are over a dozen categories of KPIs that can differ depending on a company’s business model and its industry. KPIs can cover:
- Financial metrics – Sales by region, cost of goods sold, profit
- Customer metrics – Number of new customers, customer lifetime value, customer satisfaction ratings
- Process metrics – Product defects, customer support requests, days of inventory
- Employee metrics – Employee turnover rate, employee satisfaction levels, percent of open positions.
With so many KPIs to choose from, KPI libraries can be an efficient tool to help organisations select the right KPIs for their business goals. The types of KPIs you select should be appropriate to your industry and this will guide the effectiveness of KPI Reporting for your organisation. Using financial industry KPIs for a manufacturing company would not be wise, as they would likely be tracking and reporting on business areas that carry little to no relevance for their industry.
Real-Time Performance Monitoring is Key
With your KPIs identified, having access to real-time business data is key in tracking KPI performance and generating accurate KPI reports. A KPI or business dashboard is a business analysis tool used by a wide range of job roles to continually monitor the performance of the company as a whole, a particular functional area, or an essential business operation. To be used as an effective business management tool, the dashboard should be clear and relay messages related to KPI performance, at any given time.
Depending on the KPIs tracked and the assigned owner for each KPI, a customised dashboard can be used to provide just the right information to the right people within an organisation. For example, the owner of the social media KPIs would want to see and track different performance measures than the supply chain managers. Understanding the components of KPI Reporting are important to maximise the benefits of monitoring KPIs.
Make Real-Time, Data-Driven Decisions
Analysing the performance of KPIs and the overall efficiency of business operations requires a robust and agile system. With its strong functionalities, PRIME BPM can prove to be an easy and effective tool for effective KPI Reporting by clearly defining key performance indicators and tracking them in real-time.
Customising the dashboard views will enable all users to see the essential performance indicators they need for their business functional areas. Being able to test scenario improvements within PRIME BPM is a powerful way for businesses to see how process changes can influence business performance and they can choose the scenario that offers maximum result.
Easily ensure your process is performing optimally as per set requirements while getting automated alerts in case of under-performance. To experience the full range of KPI Reporting that PRIME BPM has to offer, register here for a free trial.
