Craig Colangelo, Sr Consultant at PerformanceG2

June 30, 2009

In this week’s post, I’d like to cover just a few general best practices I’ve discovered along the way.  These are simply my conclusions as a project manager and technical leader in a data warehousing group.  They are based on my scorecarding implementation experiences at several companies. 

I think it’s important to call your first implementation a pilot or proof of concept and to treat it like one.  This helps to set the tone for the effort and lets everyone know that this is really the first touch with the technology and methods involved.  The implicitly lowered expectations (by calling it a pilot), greater dedication of time (by both you and the business), and greater visibility (allowing for a more focused effort) should help you to achieve a successful first implementation.  Be sure to set the expectation that this is a dual benefit effort.  Good for the business area you’re scorecarding for as it gives them greater visibility into their own performance and allows them to actively influence outcomes.  Good for the IT group as it gives you practical experience with this new tool and the ability to better support it in the future. 

Pick a strong subject area.  New, important strategic imperatives or aggressive growth plans are usually good candidates as they get the focus that they should.  Well defined metrics (both leading and lagging), focused business leaders and analysts, and committed joint effort by IT and the business (make sure it’s stated) are also important success characteristics. 

Allow for proper due diligence.  There’s always a struggle between faster time to market and a more deliberate, well thought out implementation.  A decision should be made upfront as to what’s more important.  Make no mistake, scorecarding tools are actual applications.  This is not just another means of displaying information.  The purpose of the tool is to drive performance.  It is not enough to simply build a scorecarding app and release it.  Employing the tenants of accountability using the tool, giving the application high visibility, and use of the app during staff meetings all help to ensure that performance is being driven towards the desired outcomes and ultimately aids in the acceptance of the technology. 

There are many, many factors involved in determining the success of a scorecarding solution.  This is certainly not meant to be an all inclusive list, but rather some of the more important factors I’ve encountered.  We’ll continue on with more best practices next week.

Craig Colangelo, Sr Consultant at PerformanceG2

June 23, 2009

We’ve spent time in previous posts summarizing where scorecarding fits in the larger CPM space, benefits/risks associated with implementation, and how to best realize scorecarding opportunities.  Now, we’re going to better define the solution itself and touch on some of the basics.

First, it is important to understand that scorecarding is not an IT solution.  IT is necessary, but not nearly enough to fully achieve an effective solution in this space.  A typical implementation does involve software, hardware, and other systems…but only to the extent that they deliver information to business users and drive performance in the right manner. 

Many a scorecard project has failed because it was not designed or implemented to meet the strategic needs of executives, managers, and other decision makers.  Choosing the right business sponsor can go a long way in mitigating that risk.  Getting lots of business input and implementing the tool specifically to drive performance are also paramount to success.

There’s plenty of bleed over in the data presentation world and one solution may encompass several presentation methods.  Many confuse dashboards for scorecards.  Let’s cover a few differences:

• Dashboards are generally more dimensionally biased and usually have the ability to add more dimensional contest.
• Dashboards are more operational in nature and data is usually updated more frequently (hourly, daily).
• Dashboards usually answer one or just a few performance type questions and performance is quickly gleaned with just a glance.
• Scorecards are very performance management centric…think accountability, goals, performance improvement, etc.
• Scorecards are more strategic in nature and data is updated less frequently (weekly, monthly, quarterly, annually).
• Scorecards are generally less graphic.

Scorecard basics:

• A scorecard is a collection of performance metrics designed to reflect the strategic goals of a unit in an organization
• A metric is a measurement which has a target value; an actual value and an owner who is responsible for the performance of that metric.  A metric is related to a strategic goal.  They allow you to understand how you are performing.   Metrics and your scorecarding application answer key questions like …
  • How am I doing?
  • When has this happened before?
  • What drives this metric?
  • What could be causing the problems?
  • What other metrics and objectives does this affect?
  • What do I have to do about it?
  • Who else is included in the decisions?
  • Where does the data come from?
• A metric type defines the behavior of a collection of metrics.  Metric types  typically identify one aspect of performance (such as revenue or expenses) defined by a performance pattern, for example:
  • Revenue has a performance pattern of “above target is positive”…you want revenue to be higher than target.
  • Expense has a performance pattern of “below target is positive”…you want expenses to be lower than target.
  • Inventory has a performance pattern of “on target is positive”…you want just the right amount of inventory, not too high and not too low.

Requirements gathering:

• Make sure you have the right audience at the right time…
  • Senior leaders craft vision then formulate, articulate, and communicate strategy to their groups.  They are the ones ultimately responsible for performance in this overall scorecard area.  They hold their direct reports accountable for performance of their own metrics (metric owners).  A combination of senior leader + direct reports should define which metrics to use for each strategic objective.
  • Analysts help define where the data for the predefined metrics live, how their group would like the data to display, and a metric’s impact on other metrics (just their theory…you should definitely involve metric owners and senior leaders in this theory formulation).
• Be ready to define the following during requirements gathering sessions…
  • Any graphics to support the strategic direction available (strategy map, balanced scorecard, road map, common mission statements, etc.)
  • Name users of the scorecarding system and their role (information consumer, metric owner, analyst, scorecard owner, SME, etc.)
  • For metrics, you’ll need some of the following information:
    • Business and technical descriptions
    • Owner’s name and contact info
    • Frequency of data
    • Data source for actual, target, and tolerance
    • Unit of measure, scale, and how it rolls up
    • Metrics that impact this metric
    • Metrics that are impacted by this metric
    • General groupings and location for metric on graphic
    • Supporting reports/analysis/dashboards for potential drill out
  • For scorecards, you’ll need some of the following information:
    • Scorecard name
    • Business and technical descriptions
    • Owner’s name and contact info
    • Hierarchy – where does this scorecard fit in the tree
    • Supporting documentation for the strategic initiative

That’s all for now.  We’ll touch on best practices and other general advice in next week’s post.

Craig Harding

First of all, scripts may break when upgrading versions. There are new objects available to use and some taken away with each release. I will be talking about Cognos 8.3 for the purposes of this blog.

I want to show you a basic script that can be very useful. The idea for this came from a client who asked me to solve a problem. They had a report that had 2 optional prompts. The problem was some users were not making use of either. This was resulting in very large result sets being returned.

What we wanted to accomplish was requiring the user to choose a value from either prompt. It did not matter which one.  To accomplish this I put two list prompts on a prompt page. One was called om (I am making use of the provided sample data) for order method and the other was called pl for product line. An html item was inserted near the top of the prompt page which includes my function.

<script type=”text/javascript”>

function checkNumSelected()

{

// The following 4 lines of code are needed in Cognos 8.3

var fW = (typeof getFormWarpRequest == “function” ?

getFormWarpRequest() : document.forms["formWarpRequest"]);

// if it’s undefined, check if it is running in a portlet.

if ( !fW || fW == undefined) { fW = ( formWarpRequest_THIS_ ?

formWarpRequest_THIS_ : formWarpRequest_NS_ );}

//setting up my variables

       var countom=0;

       var countpl=0;

       var omcount = fW._oLstChoicesom;

       var plcount=fW._oLstChoicespl;
       // count how many choices were selected in the Order method prompt
       for (var i=0; i < omcount.length; i++)
       {
             if (omcount.options[i].selected)
                  countom = countom +1 ;
       }      
      // count how many choices were selected in the Product Line prompt
      for (var i=0; i < plcount.length; i++)
       {
             if (plcount.options[i].selected)
                  countpl = countpl +1 ;
       }    

     // If at least one option was selected in wither prompt call the promptbuttonfinish fuction
    // If nothing was selected throw up an alert box with directions
         if (countom >=1 || countpl>=1) {
          promptButtonFinish();
     }
     else if (countom == 0 && countpl==0) {
          alert(“You have not selected a value!\n Select a value in one of the prompts.”);
   }

}

</script>

In order to call this function I deleted the finish button on the prompt page and created my own through an HTML item with the following code

//<input type=”button” OnClick=”checkNumSelected()” value=”Finish”

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Craig Colangelo, Sr Consultant at PerformanceG2

June 15, 2009

Peter Drucker said, “There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all”. I can certainly understand this quote’s applicability in today’s corporate climate of mass measurements and broad focus. T.P.S. report, anyone? But what, exactly, should be done? Where, exactly, should we focus?

The answers vary by company, industry, and even change with the economic times. The secret to your company’s success is complicated and specific and is ever evolving. Scorecarding applications allow you to clearly map out and perform along your own path to corporate success. Benefits of implementing thoughtful, actionable scorecarding include:

• Strategy focused organization
• Agility – well equipped to handle internal and external change
• Greater results focus
• Better accuracy in forecasting business results
• More holistic view of performance
• Clear cause and effect leading to better decision making

Understanding potential corporate culture risks are key to a successful implementation. Contemplating the following risks will help you more thoughtfully implement components at the right levels and in the right way at your own organization:

• Accountability and visibility – Think about your own organization’s tolerance for broadcasting results. This is truly putting a metric to a name…in some form.
• Need to trust the tool – If your ‘check engine’ light is glowing and you ignore it, is it doing any good?
• Adversity to change – If your implementation is meant to guide change in your company, give thought to how willing you are to accept change.
• Time constraints – Many decision makers are completely bogged down living only in the operational management space (day to day)…how can you best introduce strategy based decisions? Who should learn the new system? How?

Recognizing the right kind of scorecarding opportunity is another key to a successful implementation. Often times, meaningful corporate change projects are started with little thought around how to influence, measure, and communicate results. Do your best to piggy-back on just that sort of project. Opportunities include:

• Whenever performance becomes an issue (under performing, aggressive growth plans, acquisitions of new businesses, etc.)
• Corporate or departmental strategic initiatives
• ‘Franchise’ type opportunities (i.e. – bank branch performance)
• Senior leaders looking for new ways to manage their portion of the business
• Process improvement or change management initiatives
• Incentive programs

Now that we’ve covered some of the key benefits, potential risks, and common opportunities…. we’ll touch on scorecarding 101 and requirements gathering during next week’s post.

Kirk Wiseman, VP of Training for PerformanceG2

Great article from ZDnet Asia on how economic uncertainties have intensified the need for timely, accurate and relevant information to make sound business decisions.
Read the article here.

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Craig Colangelo, Senior Consultant for PerformanceG2

This is part one of a five part series on successful scorecarding. Over the course of the next several weeks, we’ll touch on the following scorecard related topics…

• Strategy and corporate performance management
• Identifying benefits
• Understanding potential risks
• Realizing opportunities
• Scorecarding 101
• Requirements gathering
• Best practices & other practical advice

Tune in weekly for the latest and greatest!

Many successful companies realize the importance of strategy and the benefits of driving performance in the desired strategic direction. Unfortunately, relatively few have properly articulated, communicated, or implemented the practical means to wind up at their chosen strategic destination. Scorecarding applications allow you to do just that…guide day to day decisions in the direction of your company’s chosen strategy. Living your company’s mission statement OR strategy/road map OR balanced scorecard doesn’t have to be a pipe dream or something that only happens in an annual review. Implementing a pragmatic and actionable scorecarding system gives employees the ability to think and act strategically every day.

The uses of conventional BI systems are really only one part of a larger corporate performance management opportunity. Combining planning components (drive the business), scorecarding components (monitor/influence the business), and reporting components (understand the business) allows for a fully synergistic decision making continuum. This is true closed-loop analytics, where clearly stated strategy influences outcomes, and those outcomes influence future planning, and so on. In this continuum, corporate strategy can now be implemented and thoughtfully executed at all desired levels of the organization.

Now that we’ve set the table on where scorecarding fits in terms of living strategy and corporate performance management, we’ll spend next week’s post detailing the benefits, identifying risks, and better understanding scorecarding opportunities.

(more…)

Sanjeev Datta, Senior Consultant for PerformanceG2

With IBM Cognos acquiring TM1 (formerly Applix), there have been numerous case studies lately all over blog sites displaying how TM1 has helped various clients achieve phenomenal success.

Particularly, I found one case study very interesting: TM1 was used as a sales and reporting engine to feed the needs of a global sales audience – breaking away from the norm of implementing TM1 for a financial/accounting/budgeting purpose.

Microchip Technology, Inc., reviewed TM1 (Applix) and its competitors only to be impressed by TM1’s” in-memory architecture” which enabled
1. Faster Load Times
2. Faster Query Responses
3. Near Real Time Data

With its success, Microchip has just started using TM1 for its financial needs.

Click here to read more.

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Sanjeev Datta, Senior Consultant for PerformanceG2

I have used a report studio feature at a few client sites and have found it to be greatly appreciated by report authors as well as business analysts.

By default, the reports you create are stored on the Cognos 8 server. You
can, however, open and save reports on your computer. This is useful if you
want to send a report to a report author that is working in a different
environment, or you want to save the report to a source code controlled
directory on a local network or drive.

Steps
1. Obtain the LFA.dll from your Cognos 8 administrator
The DLL is located in the bin directory where Cognos 8 is installed
2. Open a command prompt window
3. Register the LFA.dll file by typing regsvr32 LFA.dll
4. In Internet Explorer, set your computer and the Cognos 8 server as
trusted sites:
• From the Tools menu, click Internet Options
• On the Security tab, click Trusted sites
• Click the Sites button
• In the Add this Web site to the zone box, type http://localhost and click
Add.
Tip: If the Cognos 8 server is not on the same computer as the browser, type
http:// instead.
• Repeat the above step for http://
• Clear the Require server verification (https:) for all sites in this
zone check
box
• Click OK twice
5. In Report Studio, from the Tools menu, click Options
6. Select the Allow local file access check box and click OK
The menu items (Local) Open and (Local) Save As appear in the File menu
7. Close and restart Report Studio

You can now open and save reports on your computer. The first time you try
to open or save a report locally, Internet Explorer asks you whether you
want to allow an ActiveX control.

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Kirk Wiseman, VP of Training for PerformanceG2
A requirement of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) is for all funds to be tracked and results measured. IBM Cognos 8 and PerformanceG2 are perfectly positioned to help Federal, State and local governments meet the stringent ARRA requirements. Check out the links below to learn more about reporting on your Economic Recovery Funds:
Tracking and Measuring Funds with IBM Cognos 8

Tracking and Measuring the Success of Your Agency’s Stimulus Dollars archive seminar

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Ken Davenport, President of PerformanceG2, Inc.
Following up on my last post about how Corporate Performance Management will weather the recession, check out this free Webinar from IBM/Cognos entitled “Performance Management in Today’s Economy: How IT Can Help the Business Manage in Troubled Times”.

Here’s the teaser for the Webinar:

“Now, more than ever, organizations need to optimize business performance. To gain a competitive advantage in this tough economic climate, your business users need to have immediate visibility into the performance of the business to make timely, well-informed and confident decisions. Are you able to deliver the information they need to understand how the business is performing, with intuitive applications that let them plan for the future?”

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