Key Performance Indicators - Tools for Business Performance Management

KPIs are the measure of a business' success at achieving its operational and financial goals. When the KPIs move in the right way, you know the business is operating successfully. When they move in the wrong way, you have a warning that something is not going to plan. But what are KPIs, how do you decide which you need to track, how do you go about putting a KPI system in place in the business, and how do they relate to benchmarking?

KPIs are quantifiable measures of how well you are performing an activity that is critical to the success of your business. Essentially, they should:

• Reflect the goals of your business
• Be critical to the success of your business
• Be measurable
• Point to the activities you might need to alter if things start to go off track

If you do not currently track your critical success factors, this may seem like a daunting task; however, you really just need to track 6-8 indicators that measure the truly critical processes and activities. In fact, a well designed and regularly monitored set of KPIs can provide you with:

• A knowledge of how your business is performing and

• Target the areas where immediate action ought to be applied

Goal setting and monitoring really are the basis of effective business performance management. There are literally hundreds of KPIs that could be established. To get some ideas on which KPIs are important to your business, please join us this Thursday for an interactive workshop entitled “Measuring Your KPIs” presented by Barb Bitzer, CPA. For more information, visit www.simonsbitzer.com.