Business Intelligence & Performance dashboards

• Business Intelligence (BI) refers to skills, technologies, applications and practices used to help a business acquire a better understanding of its commercial context.
• Business Intelligence helps management to take decisions at the right time based on data captured from real-time transactional data captured by structured business intelligence system wired into the MIS and Enterprise Resource Management Systems.
  
• Business Intelligence is delivered as indicative metrics called Key Performance Indicators’ ( KPI’s )1 which are tailor-made pointers built on transactional data based on analysis of the operations of the enterprise. Automated BI Systems are advanced form of report which when employed can inhibit transparency in to the reporting system of any organization and results in immense saving’s effected due to saving’s in Executive Reporting Time.
• KPI’s are based on the organizations operations, traditionally the performance of departments and individuals are fixed based on the company strategic goals diffused into tactical goals and operations Targets & Plans. The KPI’s represent the critical Success factors in the Department / organization.
• “ Key Performance Areas“ or KPA’s are the areas within the DEPARTMENT, where an individual or group, is logically responsible / accountable for the results.
• “Key Result Areas” or KRA’s refer to general areas of outcomes or outputs for which the department's role is responsible.
• To manage each KRA/ KPAs, a set of KPI are set . Key Performance Indicators define a set of values used to measure against.. Indicators identifiable as possible candidates for KPIs are Categorized into the following,
• Quantitative indicators which can be presented as a number.
• Practical indicators that interface with existing company processes.
• Directional indicators specifying whether an organization is getting better or not.
• Actionable indicators are sufficiently in an organization's control to effect change.
• Financial indicators used in performance measurement and when looking at an operating index.
• Key Performance Indicators in practical terms are indicators of strategy development and pointers that will monitor process that add the value to the businesses, if properly implement they inhibit superior financial performance to the organizations which monitor the operations using KPI’s based tools like balance scorecard. Thus the KPI’s are also the Key Indicators o Success and growth of the Enterprise.

Performance Dashboards

• Performance dashboard are tools that translates the organization's strategy into objectives, metrics, initiatives and tasks customized to each group and individual in the organization. A performance dashboard is really a performance management system. It communicates strategic objectives and enables businesspeople to measure, monitor and manage the key activities and processes needed to achieve their goals.
• To work this magic, a performance dashboard provides three main sets of functionality, which I will describe in more detail later. Briefly, a performance dashboard lets business people:
• Monitor critical business processes and activities using metrics of business performance that trigger alerts when potential problems arise.  
• Analyze the root cause of problems by exploring relevant and timely information from multiple perspectives and at various levels of detail.  
• Manage people and processes to improve decisions, optimize performance and steer the organization in the right direction.