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Disadvantages of the existing system of indicators. What is Balanced Scorecard (BSC)? What to Consider When Implementing a Balanced Scorecard

Disadvantages of the existing system of indicators.  What is Balanced Scorecard (BSC)?  What to Consider When Implementing a Balanced Scorecard

BSC has a number of advantages: - provides the management of the enterprise with a complete picture of the business; - allows you to prevent the occurrence of critical situations; - facilitates interaction at all organizational levels and gives an understanding of the strategic goals to all participants in the production process; - provides strategic feedback and training; - helps to transform a huge amount of data obtained from a multitude of information systems enterprises into understandable information.

Usage example

The Kaplan-Norton BSC technique is used by both small businesses, non-profit organizations, and entire cities. An example of a successful long-term implementation of the SSP method is the city of Charlotte in the state of North Carolina (USA) At the beginning of the draft strategy, the goals that the city of Charlotte intends to achieve are indicated here:

Be the safest big city America

The most prosperous city for each of its inhabitants

Become a city of impressive skyscrapers

The first city to integrate space use and transport alternatives

Be an eco-city.

CSP in the course of the company's activities

The balanced scorecard in practice includes the main factors of the company's activities:

    operational and financial efficiency.

    Fact management. This concept involves the constant collection of information of various types: about customers, suppliers, products and services provided, operations, costs and profits, market conditions, competitive comparisons, employees.

Based on this analysis, it is possible to determine trends, development prospects for the company, carry out planning, evaluate the company's performance, compare the company's performance with its competitors or with industry averages.

3. Customer service.

These metrics should be recorded and reviewed regularly to see if the organization is achieving its strategic goals. For the best achievement of goals, it is assumed that each employee has a separate personal scorecard and personal goals based on these indicators that he needs to achieve.

The main aspects (prospects) in the balanced scorecard

In the balanced scorecard, the organization is usually considered from the point of view of four perspectives (aspects). According to each of these perspectives, quantitative indicators are developed, data are collected and analyzed: 1) The prospect of learning and development. Employee training contributes to the development of corporate culture. In any company, educated people are the main resource. The development and improvement of knowledge and qualifications is especially important in an environment of rapid technological change, when it is not possible to hire new technically trained employees, and this also prevents the “brain drain” from the company. 2) Business process perspective. This refers to internal business processes. These indicators help to determine the customer orientation of the company. Such work cannot be entrusted to external specialists, because it requires a clear understanding of all business processes of the organization. 3) Customer perspective. It implies customer orientation and customer satisfaction in any area. Even if the current financial situation is quite good, it is necessary to constantly analyze the types of customers, processes, products or services, their compliance with customer expectations in order to ensure customer loyalty in the future. 4) Financial perspective. It is about providing timely and clear data on capital, processing and maintaining financial data. For a more accurate understanding financial indicators additional financial metrics such as risk assessment and cost-benefit comparisons should also be considered.

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Definition of Balanced Scorecard

Balanced Scorecard or SSP- the concept of transfer and decomposition of strategic goals (see. goal setting) for planning operational activities and monitoring their achievement, a mechanism for the relationship of strategic ideas and decisions with daily tasks (See. Tasks of strategic management), a way to direct the activities of the entire company towards their achievement.

SSP is a system for measuring the performance of the entire enterprise (strategic planning system), based on vision and strategy, which reflects the most important aspects of the business. The BSC concept supports Strategic planning, implementation and further adjustment of the strategy, by combining the efforts of all departments of the enterprise. .

The strategic map and BSC necessarily define the responsibility of departments and employees for achieving goals and indicators. This is one of the critical success factors in the implementation of the strategy.

Term on English languageBSC.

History of creation

The BSC is based on the findings of a study conducted in the early 1990s by Harvard Business School professor Dr. Robert S. Kaplan and President consulting firm Renaissance Solutions by David P. Norton.

At the level of business processes, control of strategic activities is carried out through the so-called key performance indicators (KPI), in the English version - Key Performance Indicator (KPI). KPIs are, in fact, indicators of the attainability of goals, as well as characteristics of the effectiveness of business processes and the work of each individual employee. In this context, the BSC is a tool not only for strategic, but also for operational management.

Operating principle

The BSC methodology allows you to transfer the strategy to the level of the company's operational activities. Proper application of the methodology

allows you to solve the following tasks:

1. Establishment of specific parameters of strategic goals: strategic indicators with their numerical values ​​- KPI (key performance indicators), cause-and-effect relationships between goals, relationships between strategic indicators, deadlines for achieving strategic goals;

2. Distribution of responsibility for achieving strategic goals among company officials;

3. Determination of tools for achieving strategic goals.

The development of the BSC begins with the creation of a strategic map. The strategic map reflects the cause-and-effect relationships between the most important tasks necessary to achieve the target result. The target result is determined in several sections - perspectives: finances, clients, business processes, personnel development. For each task included in the strategic map, its key indicators are determined, which will measure the effectiveness of solving this task. All tasks included in the strategic map are necessary and sufficient in order to achieve the required target result. Therefore, the system of target indicators, reflecting the effectiveness of solving these problems, is called balanced. That is, the system of indicators is balanced with the system of strategic tasks (tasks included in the strategic map) necessary for the implementation of the strategic plan.

However, the full application of the methodology requires significant resources. The development of a BSC system in the presence of a specialized division in the company can take more than two months. This requires serious quality control of the results. The laboriousness and complexity of development often repels company management from applying the BSC methodology.

Benefits of SSP

SSP has a number of advantages:
- provides the management of the enterprise with a complete picture of the business;
- allows you to prevent the occurrence of critical situations;
- facilitates interaction at all organizational levels and gives an understanding of the strategic goals to all participants in the production process;
- provides strategic feedback and training;
- helps to transform the huge amount of data obtained from a variety of enterprise information systems into information that is understandable.

Usage example

The Kaplan-Norton BSC technique is used by both small businesses, non-profit organizations as well as entire cities. An example of a successful long-term implementation of the SSP method is the city of Charlotte in the state of North Carolina (USA) At the beginning of the draft strategy, the goals that the city of Charlotte intends to achieve are indicated here:

To be America's safest big city

The most prosperous city for each of its inhabitants

Become a city of impressive skyscrapers

The first city to integrate space use and transport alternatives

Be an eco-city.

BSC in the course of the company's activities

The balanced scorecard in practice includes the main factors of the company's activities:

  1. Operating and financial efficiency.
  2. Fact management. This concept involves the constant collection of information of various types: about customers, suppliers, products and services provided, operations, costs and profits, market conditions, competitive comparisons, employees.

Based on this analysis, it is possible to determine trends, prospects for the development of the company, plan, evaluate the performance of the company, compare the performance of the company with its competitors or with industry averages.

3. Customer service.

These indicators should be recorded and reviewed regularly to understand whether the organization is achieving strategic goals.
For the best achievement of goals, it is assumed that each employee has a separate personal scorecard and personal goals based on these indicators that he needs to achieve.

The main aspects (prospects) in the balanced scorecard

In the balanced scorecard, the organization is usually considered from the point of view of four perspectives (aspects). According to each of these perspectives, quantitative indicators are developed, data are collected and analyzed:
1) The prospect of learning and development.
Employee training helps corporate culture development. In any company, educated people - is the main resource.
The development and improvement of knowledge and qualifications is especially important in an environment of rapid technological change, when it is not possible to hire new technically trained employees, and this also prevents the “brain drain” from the company.
2) Business process perspective.
This refers to internal business processes. These indicators make it possible to determine company's customer orientation. Such work cannot be entrusted to external specialists, because it requires a clear understanding of all business processes of the organization.
3) Customer perspective.
It implies a focus on the client and his satisfaction in any area.
Even if the current financial situation is quite good, it is necessary to constantly analyze the types of customers, processes, products or services, their compliance with customer expectations in order to ensure customer loyalty in the future.
4) Financial perspective.
It is about providing timely and clear data on capital, processing and maintaining financial data. For a more accurate understanding of financial indicators, it is also worth considering additional financial indicators, such as risk assessment and comparative cost-benefit data.

Disadvantages of the BSC

A balanced scorecard has both positive and negative sides.
1) SSP cannot be adapted to any conditions. Developed and adjusted Balanced Scorecard for a particular country or industry, for certain business conditions and internal methods management will not work as effectively in other conditions economic activity. This is especially critical for corporations and companies with a wide range of business activities (if there are many branches in different countries).
Therefore, the BSC must be developed separately for any business entity, even if there are differences only in the size of the company ( small firm and large corporation).
2) When implementation of the activity strategy companies and the development of the Balanced Scorecard, you need to be careful while maintaining the information security of the company and data privacy. This is due to the fact that in order for employees to understand the company's strategy, their awareness of all indicators of the company and intrinsic motivation all the mechanisms of the company should be disclosed to them. In this case, there is a risk of information leakage.

The introduction of a balanced scorecard leads to the fact that:

  • The barrier to vision and understanding of the company's strategy grows from 5% of the total number of employees (without BSC) to 100%.
  • The indicator of motivation and internal incentives tied to the strategy increases from the usual 25% of the total number of managers to 100%.
  • The budgeting process is tied to the strategy.

Literature and references

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We will tell you how to determine the development paths using a balanced scorecard, evaluate the performance of the company. We will share tips, documents and cheat sheets.

From the article you will learn:

Related materials:

What is a balanced scorecard

The Balanced Scorecard (BSC) was developed in the early 1990s. Harvard Business School professor Robert Kaplan and president of consulting firm Renaissance Solutions David Norton worked on it. They created a model that was later refined by other experts.

The Balanced Scorecard (BSC) is equipped with automation and design methods, has elements feedback. By tracking a small amount of data, the system is highly efficient. It is used as a tool strategic management efficiency. It allows you to standardize the reporting form in order to quickly track the execution or non-performance of tasks by employees.

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Strategic activity can also be monitored through key performance indicators, in the English version - Key Performance Indicator. KPI is the characteristics of the processes, the work of each employee. In this context, they are considered part of the balanced scorecard.

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Aspects of the balanced scorecard

Management managers view the balanced scorecard from four perspectives. In accordance with each of them, quantitative and qualitative indicators are developed, data are collected, analyzed.

perspective

Why work in this direction

Education and development

The development, improvement of knowledge, skills and qualifications is important in the context of technological changes, when it is impossible to hire new employees with high qualifications. Training contributes to the growth of labor efficiency, the quality of services, etc. It helps develop corporate culture improve the image of the organization.

Business processes

With the help of indicators determine the customer orientation of the organization. The analysis is performed only by full-time employees who know the company from the inside. Outsourcing the work to third-party experts is irrational.

Clients

Collect information about processes, services, products, customers. This contributes to the growth of the company, and timely eliminated shortcomings increase consumer loyalty.

Financial side

In the course of work, risks are assessed, costs and results are compared.

How the Balanced Scorecard works

The BSC methodology brings the strategy to the level of the organization's operations. The correct application of the methodology helps:

  1. Set the parameters of strategic goals: KPI indicators with numerical values, cause-and-effect relationships between goals and strategic indicators, deadlines for achieving tasks.
  2. Distribute responsibility for achieving strategic goals among officials.
  3. Identify effective tools to achieve results.

The development of a balanced scorecard begins with the compilation of a strategic map. It reflects the cause-and-effect relationships between the tasks that are needed to achieve the result. The target result is determined in several perspective sections: clients, finances, personnel development, business processes.

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For each task, key indicators are defined that measure the effectiveness of the solution. They must be sufficient in order to achieve results in a timely manner.

Applying a balanced scorecard requires significant resources. The development of the BSC in the presence of a specialized unit in the organization takes more than two months. This requires quality control of the results. Labor intensity, complexity of development repels management from applying the methodology.

Who can use the balanced scorecard based on strategic goals

The Kaplan and Norton methodology is used by both small firms, non-profit companies, and entire cities. Make a development plan it will turn out if you correctly analyze the state of the company and the processes in it today. Only after that, managers start from the current values, determine the goals and ways to achieve them.

A balanced performance scorecard may include the following objectives:

  1. financial policy : aggressive growth of the company and profitability of sales, increase in the value of the organization.
  2. Consumer policy: popular models or services, creating a well-known brand, long-term cooperation with customers.
  3. Domestic politics: maintaining the quality of goods or services at a high level, beneficial cooperation with suppliers.
  4. Politics of learning and growth: highly qualified staff, Hi-tech, introduction of control systems.

When compiling the BSC, one should not set unattainable goals. For example, "to become big company for 2 months." The goal must be real, otherwise there is no point in investing effort, time and money.


Advantages and disadvantages of the balanced scorecard

The introduction of a balanced scorecard is not always rational. You must consider not only the advantages of using the SSP, but also the disadvantages. If you do not know how to correctly implement and use the system, its effectiveness will decrease or tend to zero.

Advantages

Flaws

  • Provides the manager with a complete picture of the business, the performance of the company, individual departments and employees.
  • Allows you to prevent the occurrence of critical situations.
  • Facilitates the interaction of participants at all organizational levels, gives an understanding of strategic goals.
  • Provides feedback and training to the staff of the organization.
  • Helps convert the volume of data received from systems into information that is understandable.
  • SSP cannot be adapted to any conditions. A developed and adjusted system for the country or industry, business conditions and internal management methods will not work effectively in other business conditions.
  • BSC is developed separately for each subject, even if there are differences only in the size of the company. This leads to material costs, which are not always justified.
  • When implementing a balanced scorecard, you need to track information security company, data privacy.

Why do you need a BSC in a company?

The system of balanced performance indicators includes the main factors of the organization's activity: operational, financial efficiency, management process. The concept involves the collection of information of various types: about suppliers, customers, products, services provided, costs and profits. Based on it, changes are introduced to bring the company to a new level.


Based on the analysis, you will be able to determine trends, prospects for the development of the company, carry out planning, evaluate performance. It also makes it easier for you to compare your organization's performance against its competitors or against industry averages.

Record the received data, analyze regularly to understand whether the company achieves strategic goals. To achieve the desired results, develop a personal system of balanced scorecards and personal goals. With employees who have shown poor results, lead individual work send them for training.

A balanced scorecard is a special management system that allows an enterprise to set goals as accurately as possible, develop plans for their implementation and implement them. The balanced scorecard helps to achieve feedback between different business processes occurring within the organization, as well as factors from outside. Such contact is necessary to improve strategic effectiveness and achieve goals.

You will learn:

  • What is a balanced scorecard.
  • What are the advantages and disadvantages of using SSP.
  • What elements are included in the balanced scorecard.

Balanced Scorecard(SSP) - the English version of the Balanced Scorecard (BSC). This system is a concept of transferring goals to the future, allows you to plan operational activities and control problem solving. The balanced scorecard is also a mechanism for linking strategic ideas and decisions with goals that need to be achieved every day.

BSC is a method of directing the activities of the entire enterprise to solve problems. If we consider the level of business processes, control strategic activities conveniently with the help of KPIs, or key performance indicators (English version - ). KPIs in their meaning are indicators of the possibility of solving the set tasks. Thanks to KPIs, it is possible to evaluate how effective business processes in a company are, and how effective this or that specialist is. Here, a balanced scorecard is a tool for managing an enterprise not only in the future, but also at the moment.

The BSC has a number of advantages, one of which is that the company using it ends up with a coordinating system of actions to solve the task. It is the balanced scorecard that helps to organize work at any managerial levels and connect different functional sectors. An example of such functional industries is the management of employees of an enterprise, financial and IT-spheres. You can not look at the balanced scorecard only from one side, from the point of view of a functional industry. This can greatly complicate the implementation and use of the system, as well as lead to understanding of its concept in a wrong way.

SSP can be called:

  • New enterprise management system.
  • A mechanism for implementing the strategy and making adjustments to it.
  • A tool for translating the strategy into the concept of certain tasks and parameters.
  • A reliable means of monitoring performance in the future.
  • The system of motivation of employees of the enterprise.
  • A system of feedback, learning and continuous development.

SSP appeared relatively recently. The formation of a balanced scorecard took place on the basis of the findings of the study, which in the 90s. The 20th century was conducted by Harvard Business School professor Robert Kaplan and the president of the consulting company Renaissance Solutions David Norton, the balanced scorecard arose precisely thanks to their scientific research. The purpose of the study was to identify new methods that can be used to improve work efficiency and achieve any business goals.

essence SSP can be briefly described in two main provisions:

  • Balanced scorecard financial indicators alone cannot form a complete picture of a company. For a comprehensive description of its state, other parameters should be taken into account.
  • A balanced scorecard can be used for more than just assessing the full picture of an enterprise. It can become a functioning management system that links the strategic undertakings of business owners or senior executives and the operational activities of the organization's management.

There are many examples in the business environment where Norton and Kaplan's Balanced Scorecard has been successfully introduced and used. It is due to these examples that the BSC is in continuous development, and the accumulation of experience contributes to its improvement. About 200 organizations were among the clients of the Balanced Scorecard Collaborative (BSCol) consortium, and all of them were interested in the development and implementation of management systems based on the BSC. The consortium worked with the American corporation Mobil U.S. Marketing and Refining, which managed to rise to the top of the competition in terms of revenue from last place, and Cigna P&C, which went from a loss to a successful $3 billion insurance company.

Balanced Scorecard Organization: Advantages and Disadvantages

Positive sides The BSC lies in the fact that thanks to it, managers realized the insufficiency of financial resources alone. Cash cannot reflect intangible, and especially those based on knowledge. If we consider traditional areas, the success of a business is often based on economies of scale and scale, and therefore, if a company has become prosperous and rapidly developing, it means that physical and financial resources are correctly distributed in it.

It is convenient to monitor and control this type of distribution of funds using financial indicators of a balanced scorecard. However, in the information domains, the ability to mobilize and exploit softer and less “material” knowledge-based resources is becoming increasingly important.

It should be noted that when managing an enterprise whose work is related to knowledge, it is not very efficient to use traditional financial indicators. Betting solely on the financial performance of a balanced scorecard is not very far-sighted, since this can only achieve short-term goals. If in a company for managers there are financial incentives for certain financial results, specialists strive exclusively for “numbers”, which does not have a very positive effect on solving problems in the long term.

The balanced scorecard does not give up financial indicators. But at the same time, they are complemented by leading indicators that reflect the circumstances that affect financial results. Using the BSC, business leaders can more closely monitor various aspects of the company's work and monitor the economic environment as a whole.

Thanks to the BSC, enterprises manage to harmonize the interests and goals of staff at different levels and direct the energy of employees in the same direction, helping to focus on a single set of indicators. Sometimes this alignment is achieved by developing a balanced scorecard for specific employees or departments based on the corporate BSC. In the best case, the balanced scorecard demonstrates the presence or absence of interested workers with proper training (development and training), the effectiveness of ongoing processes (operational direction), customer opinion (client line). If there are positive leading indicators, the company has every chance to work effectively from a financial point of view in the future.

The balanced scorecard has and flaws. It, like any management technology, needs to be adapted to the environment and certain conditions. For example, the USA and Japan are fundamentally different states with significant differences in business processes and culture. Therefore, it is impossible to adapt an SSP intended for a gas processing plant in Tokyo to an export firm in New York.

Many foreign companies tried to apply the concepts of American BSCs to themselves. But due to differences in internal organization work, and the external economic environment of the enterprise in the implementation and use of systems faced serious problems. As a result, the firm changed the methodology corporate governance efficiency and adjusted the balanced scorecard.

Many businesses have had difficulty gathering information about internal processes because they have not yet been formalized and documented.

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Application of the balanced scorecard by Russian companies

In principle, there is no organization that has not used elements of the BSC method in a certain version. Also, there is no company that is 100% successful in the implementation of this system.

Balanced Scorecard (balanced scorecard) has been used in many companies. These are Russian Railways OJSC, the most famous in its industry, and Vladimirteplogaz LLC, a less well-known organization. Note that in it the results of the introduction of the system have become a great scientific work.

The BSC system is best used in areas where competition is very high. A balanced scorecard is better adapted to companies with a highly developed accounting system, a well-thought-out strategy and well-established business processes.

Speaking about the experience of using BSC at enterprises in Russia, it is worth saying that this system, like, in principle, many other Western methods, is most applicable to service companies, industries of innovative and so-called post-industrial type. Wherein large enterprises industry, for example, metallurgical Russian and global companies also use BSC. It is for them that it is most difficult to apply the experience of Western enterprises.

When creating your own BSC system, it should be remembered that the BSC balanced scorecard is in some way the final version of all management systems and tools used in the organization. A balanced scorecard BSC can only become an addition to a clear and well-established structure. Its action will be effective only if it stands above the system for collecting and analyzing information.

Expert opinion

How Balanced Scorecard Helps Optimize Costs

Mikhail Kuzmin,

HR Director, Kazan Apteki LLC, Kazan

From time to time, we analyze the salary market and try to bring the amount of salaries of our employees to average level in this area in our region. Financial motivation is another matter. It is he who is the key for the HR directors of the company. For example, at the level wages employees who sell our products are directly affected by the implementation of the plan and revenue. This allows you to significantly increase productivity. At the moment, we think that a balanced scorecard could be an ideal option for us to achieve an optimal staff compensation system.

The company has certain administrative costs to improve the professional level of employees. Employees of the HR department or training managers who produce pharmaceuticals, based on a previously drawn up plan, train the staff. Such costs for us are investments, the amount of which is about 1 million rubles. in year.

We are sure that the savings when using the services of outsourcers or combining specialties are not justified. External workers cannot be as interested in the efficiency of their work and customer service to all standards as our staff. If we talk about combination, I will note that we resort to interchangeability, but not in order to save money.

Firms of our stature, including us, often use IT technologies to optimize labor costs. Thanks to the automation of the drug ordering system, pharmacy managers began to pay increased attention to the development outlets, the quality of work, because they no longer perform routine work.

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The blocks that make up the structure of the balanced scorecard

The scheme shows that the tasks and results of the development of the enterprise go beyond its mission and strategic plan. There are 4 criteria for their evaluation:

Block 1.Finance.

These are the material goals and criteria of the enterprise, reflecting the highest profitability of invested finances. The use of certain indicators (for example, profit growth, loss reduction, asset utilization) is determined by the specifics of the organization: its strategy, the state and characteristics of the market in which it exists. It is required to link all goals and indicators of blocks 2, 3, 4 with material goals from the first block. This means that all indicators of the BSC separately are connected by a causal relationship with the achievement of the financial result. In this case, the block where this or that indicator is listed does not matter.

Block 2.Relationships with clients.

Goals and indicators that reflect the market segments in which the company plans to operate, and its client base, are the main sources of profit for the company. In this regard, when forming a company's strategy, it is important to assess how satisfied and satisfied customers are, what features the preferences of consumers have.

Tasks and results from the second block can give the company and all its employees a guide to work in specific market segments and take into account the wishes of the target audience.

The main indicators of the second block are market share, retaining old and attracting new customers, meeting their needs, and making a profit. As a result, consumer goals are formed in all market segments where the company plans to locate, and these goals are communicated to each employee of the company.

Block 3.Internal business processes.

The third block talks about the goals and indicators that characterize the processes that are key to achieving the goals from blocks 1 and 2. Here it is necessary to consider what customers prefer, what they need, how to satisfy their needs. We are talking about both innovation and the gradual implementation of the production process, delivery, after-sales service. IN this case use the following indicators: order fulfillment, supply work, planning, production process control, losses, quality and productivity levels, cycle time. The mechanism for solving problems from the 3rd block consists of the introduction of innovative solutions, the release and delivery of goods (provision of services) to the client, as well as after-sales service. Innovation is becoming increasingly important as it determines whether a company is able to meet customer preferences in unconventional ways, generate new customer needs, and operate over the long term.

Successful creation of innovative solutions allows the company to bypass competitors, gain high profit at the stage of creating new products, implementation (entering the market environment) and reduce production costs. If you correctly and correctly set goals for working with innovations, you can understand what will be interesting to the consumer in the coming days and in the distant future.

If you look at Scientific research and development from the standpoint of the company's work structure, we can say that this is an important organic part of the entire process of developing new products (services). Many successful and profitable businesses are currently investing more money in R&D than directly in manufacturing process. Innovation is becoming increasingly important for how organizations operate.

Block 4.Staff training and development.

The tasks and results in this block have always been considered as the costs of the reporting period, which lasted for a short time. Therefore, when such costs were reduced, there were opportunities to increase income. The balanced scorecard calls for the need to invest in training and advanced training of employees of the enterprise, informing them. In accordance with the SSP, information infrastructure should be developed, as well as investments in key funds, research and development and production process.

Experience with SSP shows that this system should not be considered as a pattern. Each enterprise requires its own balanced scorecard, taking into account the stated mission and strategy of the organization, production and product specifics, history and traditions, position in the market environment, characteristics of the client base and other factors. Usually, 3-7 indicators are selected from each block, although their number does not really matter. It is only important that they have cause-and-effect relationships and reflect a single strategy of the organization.

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Phased development of a balanced scorecard

Stage 1.Precise formulation of strategic goals.

The system of balanced strategic indicators is built on certain principles. To create a system, in the overall strategy of the enterprise, certain tasks should be distinguished, reflecting in detail the different strategic aspects. By integrating individual goals, it is possible to establish a causal relationship between them so that all goals fully reflect the strategic direction of the firm.

The system of balanced strategic indicators speaks about the planned results, describing them. Each strategic goal has a connection with one of the company's development prospects.

It is not necessary to set a lot of goals for the corporate level of the organization. 25 is enough. The most important goals should be selected based on the following criteria:

      • goals can be measured;
      • achievement of goals can be influenced;
      • goals suit all employees of the enterprise, they are related to the overall goal of the company.

If a firm sets too many goals, it means that it cannot concentrate on the main points. It also means that certain goals are not strategic for the level of the organization at which the Balanced Scorecard is being developed. In the systems of indicators of subdivisions of low levels of the organizational structure, due attention should be paid to the creation of goals for the near term and for the future.

Stage 2.Establishing causal chains between strategic goals.

There are certain components of the balanced scorecard. One of the key elements of the BSC is to establish and document the cause-and-effect relationship between the various goals of the company. The fact that the enterprise establishes links between goals means that the goals are dependent on each other.

Strategic goals are dependent and interconnected, often influencing each other. When one goal is successfully realized, it is easier to achieve another, and so on in order to the key goal of the enterprise. You can trace the relationship between different goals through a causal chain. Only those that do not contribute to the achievement of the key are not considered.

The causal chain can be called a convenient tool of the balanced scorecard to the levels that are lower in the organization. To visually display how prospects and strategic goals are related, use a strategic map.

Stage 3.Definition of indicators along with their target values.

With the help of the indicator, you can understand how the strategic goal has been achieved. The use of indicators makes it possible to concretize the developed strategic planning goal systems and the transformation of developed goals into measurable ones. Identification of indicators is possible only when the objectives are clear. As for the choice of appropriate indicators, this task is secondary, since if formulated incorrectly, even the best of the indicators will not help the company achieve the desired results. It is recommended to use 2-3 indicators (no more) for each strategic goal.

If there are no targets, there is no need for indicators created to measure strategic goals. It is possible to determine the target values ​​of indicators only in the process of creating the BSC. Finding the target value of a specific indicator is difficult only from the point of view of finding a level that can actually be achieved.

Typically, a balanced scorecard is created for 3-5 years, that is, the period long term planning. The definition of target values ​​for the future is required only for indicators that indicate the desired results of the corporate strategy. Since the strategy is being implemented in the current period, target values ​​are set for 1 year, or the medium term, for indicators that change in as soon as possible(i.e. leading). Thus, a balanced system of indicators of the enterprise is created in terms of goals for the near future and for the future.

Short-term plans are detailed by time periods (days, weeks, months, quarters) and expressed as planned values ​​of indicators. The management of the enterprise, based on indicators and target values, can learn about deviations of existing processes from those planned. That is, a comparison is being made of the quantitative results obtained in fact with those that were planned.

Stage 4.Identification of the relationship between indicators and business processes.

The indicator, as already noted, is a measure of the level of achievement of the goal. At the same time, the indicator also acts as a tool that allows you to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of the business process. Using indicators in the BSC, you can determine how effective a particular business process is, as well as evaluate the level of solution of the task at the same time.

Stage 5.Definition of strategic actions.

If it is impossible to achieve strategic goals by performing regular activities and maintaining standard business processes for the company, they resort to strategic activities. These are all procedures, projects, initiatives and programs that companies use to successfully achieve strategic goals.

In a balanced system, certain goals should be identified and projects allocated to them. Thanks to this, the company more clearly understands what role a particular event plays in achieving its goals. If a project is not particularly helping to achieve strategic goals, see if it provides opportunities to achieve basic goals. If the initiative doesn't really matter here, consider whether it should be implemented at all.

Stage 6.Collection, evaluation and analysis of data on the implementation of the strategy.

A company that plans to introduce a balanced scorecard should remember that this is a rather lengthy process. certain time necessary to debug and maintain the system. In order for the balanced scorecard to improve, top managers and responsible persons the performance of the company should be regularly reviewed and evaluated.

Strategic goals are very relevant for the enterprise. Their importance should be assessed at least once a year. In this case, the following questions should be answered and the answers to them analyzed:

  • Are the selected indicators capable of assessing the level of achievement of the set goals?
  • Is it easy to calculate indicator values?
  • Have the departments approached the target values ​​of the developed indicators?
  • Did you manage to achieve the target values ​​of indicators of corporate goals?
  • What role does one or the other play? structural subdivision in achieving the goals of higher levels?

Evaluation of indicators consists mainly in understanding the possibility of calculating the actual value of the indicator, and the basis is the information of the reporting period. It is also required to compare the plan-fact according to the values ​​of the developed indicators and to find out the reasons for the deviations. Together with the analysis, either the target value of the indicator is adjusted, or corrective measures are developed to get closer to the previously set target value.

The lowest level balanced scorecard should be evaluated in terms of achieving the highest level goals. In addition, the forecast of target values ​​of indicators for the future is rational.

Measures should also be analyzed, in particular:

  • Were the implementation of all activities in accordance with the developed plan successful?
  • Did you manage to meet the designated time frame and allocated funds?
  • Did the activities contribute to the achievement of the objectives?

How to organize the implementation of a balanced scorecard

When a balanced scorecard is introduced in a company, the entire strategy implementation process changes. Here it is important to focus on the following circumstances.

First. The use of the BSC is not the development, but the implementation of the strategy. As part of the implementation of this process, it is important that the company already has a well-defined formulated strategy.

Second. You should look at the balanced scorecard first of all as management system, which covers all processes. When implementing it, you should also not try to systematize financial and non-financial indicators. As Norton and Kaplan said, a well-designed balanced scorecard should recognize itself as a process of change.

According to Robert Kaplan, there should be 4 stages in the implementation of a balanced scorecard:

      • creation of the SSP. Here long-term plans translated into clearly defined goals and activities. Once developed, the system should be integrated into the enterprise management process;
      • clutch. All hierarchical levels are interconnected (both management and auxiliary links) by building certain indicators and goals; strategic communication is organized, compensation is provided for the promotion of initiative decisions;
      • planning. Here they determine how to achieve the set goals through the implementation of certain tasks, design strategic activities and allocate resources;
      • feedback and learning process. At this stage, the theory of strategy is tested and updated with new knowledge.

If a balanced scorecard is implemented for the first time, this process is always complicated. It should be controlled and managed by a special group, where there are specialists in different industries. In terms of the introduction of the BSC, there may be the following stages (at the same time, the implementation takes about 4 months):

      • prerequisites are created for the introduction of the BSC (company level);
      • the principal architecture (enterprise level) is established;
      • achieve alignment in strategic goals (pilot level);
      • units of measurement of target indicators are determined (pilot level);
      • action programs are being created (pilot level);
      • a plan for commissioning the project and completing the work is established.

It is important to constantly analyze the balanced scorecard. The experience of introducing BSC has been repeatedly analyzed and allowed to identify standard errors.

As for the direct introduction of the system, here the miscalculations are primarily related to the fact that the responsibility for the implementation of the project is shifted to middle managers, and top management is removed from this; with a delay in creation (the aspirations of the design team are very ambitious - they want to do everything “excellently”, when sometimes “good” is enough); the implementation of the project is delayed due to the fact that the relevant indicators are in short supply; work is performed statically, not dynamically; the new concept is treated as a system project.

As for the philosophical content, a number of mistakes are also made here. Controls are often prioritized over communications; managers dictate their terms, which suppresses the improvisation of workers. Because of this, the project is viewed as an initiative of the leaders, and not a general task of the entire enterprise.

      • Motivation to increase sales: how to inspire salespeople to exploits

Expert opinion

An example of implementing a balanced scorecard in logistics

Vadim Cherenkov,

Logistics Director at BL Trade, Moscow

We have been implementing BSC since 2006. The initiative came from the CEO of the company. The BSC Balanced Scorecard was a separate project led by experts who implemented the quality management system in the organization. Heads of departments, including the head of the personnel department, worked on the initiative.

The head of the enterprise set the following tasks for the project management and departments:

  • Provide consumers with quality service.
  • Organize transparent work of departments.
  • Unequivocally accrue the bonus part of the salary to employees (at the moment, any employee has the opportunity to calculate the amount of his monthly salary).

Before the introduction of the system (it was smooth and experimental), all areas of responsibility were distributed between departments.

At the moment, in the BSC system of the logical division of the enterprise there are such groups of indicators as:

  1. Indicators by which interaction with customers from the outside is evaluated and it is determined how well the logistics service works. Thanks to the indicators, it is possible to achieve control over the timeliness of deliveries and their quality, the order and time of passing documents, processing orders. Depending on the strict adherence to the regulations, increasing or decreasing coefficients of indicators are used (bonuses and bonus deductions for employees depend on them). The indicators are operational (that is, the current work with the client is assessed during the month) and strategic (determine how fully the sales plan is fulfilled for the quarterly or annual period).
  2. The indicators by which it is assessed inner work(for example, it is the responsibility of the distributors department to evaluate the performance of the logistics department on the issues of timely provision of transport). To evaluate logistics, we use no more than 5 coefficients (KPI). 3 of them are for evaluation external work, 2 - internal. With a large number of indicators, people can easily get confused and not understand what they should do, what to follow. For example, KPIs, with which you can evaluate the work of a department working with distributors, are formed like this.

Operational type indicators:

  • how good are the deliveries?
  • what is the delivery time (whether the obligations under the contract are observed, according to which we must deliver the goods by a certain date).

Strategic indicators:

  • implementation of the sales plan;
  • internal evaluation of the work of the department (for example, satisfaction of customer complaints).

Thanks to the BSC system, the logistics component of the company's activities has become more structured. It is easier for employees to perform their duties due to the understanding of who is responsible for what, and who works how.

How to evaluate the effectiveness of a balanced scorecard

Evaluation of the overall effectiveness of the use of the new concept in the enterprise consists of all types of effect in the aggregate. This is the effect:

  • financial (costs for current planning are reduced in monetary terms);
  • social (the motivation system for employees is improving);
  • marketing (you can increase the market share, if required);
  • informational (the validity of decisions being made increases due to the timely receipt of reliable information);
  • organizational (interaction between departments of the company improves, employee turnover is reduced, the level of education is growing, as is the professional level).

The most well-known methods can be divided into 4 groups, with the help of which the effectiveness of innovations in the management sphere is evaluated:

  • by the level of achievement of the planned results;
  • by the ratio of goals achieved in the work and expenses;
  • according to the degree of conformity to the sample;
  • by the level of satisfaction with the process of all those involved in it.

We can say about two fundamentally different methods that allow us to judge the effectiveness of management tools.

The first is the ratio of results of work to expenses. This method makes it possible to determine economic efficiency used management tool to any indicator of the company's performance.

The second is the performance assessment in general. Two periods are compared: before the tool was applied, and after its implementation. Using this method, one should start from the fact that if in general the management system can be called effective, then the management tool used in it is also effective. How effective management is can be judged on the basis of indicators characterizing the activities of the management object, that is, the company in question, where a balanced scorecard was introduced at the experimental level.

      • Performance indicators - the main sensors of the company

Typical mistakes in implementing a balanced scorecard

Why row modern systems balanced scorecard does not bring the desired results? The reason is that many firms are focused on saving money and time and do not pay attention to important components during development. Here are the most common mistakes companies:

  1. Organizations do not fully understand how the principles of the BSC work, but they are trying to implement the system.
  2. Firms try to create a system based on metrics and key performance indicators, although the basis should be a strategy. It is she who is the main component of the balanced scorecard. The use of key indicators is reasonable only when the strategy is clearly defined.
  3. Companies use a template strategy or try to adopt it from other businesses. The strategic map should reflect the unique goals of the organization, corresponding to the real state of affairs. The task of the strategic map is to solve existing problems, and therefore top-level managers should participate in its development.
  4. Firms do not want to revise and update the strategy map, key indicators and work plan. Of course, the benchmarks are gradually changing, and therefore a regular review of the balanced scorecard is required.
  5. Businesses oversimplify KPIs. While KPIs help track progress against set targets, many organizations do not develop a unique system in favor of standard KPIs. Evaluation criteria should be appropriate and meaningful, and therefore every effort should be made to select them.
  6. Companies do not have a BSC action plan. If there is a strategy, but no action plan, the desired goals will never be achieved.

What makes it difficult to implement a balanced scorecard

1. Companies are not ready to implement BSC.

The degree of readiness of the firm to implement the BSC is determined by several parameters. First, the company needs to actually need a balanced scorecard. If the enterprise is small, where top-level managers know each employee by sight and can easily monitor the work of the staff, the system in such an organization may not be needed.

Another parameter is the “maturity” of the firm. A company ready for the BSC is an enterprise with well-functioning regular management, a formalized organizational structure, the presence job descriptions And staffing. Another point by which one can judge the maturity of the company is the following: the company has procedures for planning and budgeting work.

If the above parameters are absent, then the organization is not ready, or not ready enough for the SSP.

2. Resistance of the political system of the enterprise.

The introduction of the BSC can be seen as a change in organizational activity. Management of a balanced scorecard can affect the interests of employees of the enterprise: both ordinary and management. The balanced scorecard implies increased control over the work of specialists. They, in turn, may react negatively to the changes, which will lead to demotivation. It is possible that tensions will arise, conflicts will appear or escalate.

The balanced scorecard is closely related to the motivational system and remuneration. BSC balanced scorecard is a political process in which not only the resources allocated to the work of different departments of the organization are redistributed, but also the level of monetary incentives for management and staff changes. When introducing the BSC, one should take into account the time and effort that will be spent on resisting change.

3. The mentality of management and ordinary employees.

An obstacle to the introduction of the BSC can be the mentality of the employees of the enterprise. This affects, first of all, top management, specialists who take strategic decisions, in particular, and those who are interested in the introduction of the BSC.

The balanced scorecard is a method that is widely used in the West. In Russia, the SSP is often perceived as an additional unnecessary element in a well-functioning management structure. Employees of companies doubt that the system is really useful. At the same time, top management, as a rule, tries to convey information about the effectiveness of the BSC to ordinary employees, often to no avail. Because of this, there are difficulties in vertical integration from tasks for the future to the operational execution of work, which is what the BSC implies.

Expert opinion

How to use the negative experience of implementing BSC to the benefit of the company

Artem Panin,

supervisor project management real estate agency "Domostroy", Moscow

For the first time, we tried to introduce the BSC at our enterprise in 2003. We created a system and started working with it. Formally, we implemented it, but the balanced scorecard did not bring the desired results for a number of reasons:

  1. Each manager had from 1 to 10 indicators, but it was not possible to determine which were the most important.
  2. There was a dependence of all indicators from each other.
  3. Management saw no need to implement a new system.
  4. There was no correlation between BSC indicators and staff motivation; employees were given funds for solving completely different tasks.

Since we could not come to anything definite, we decided to create and introduce a new SSP. Given the bad experience we had previously, we opted for a more consistent scheme. First we created a strategy. This took about 7 months. Having gained clarity on individual strategic parts, we began to adapt the SSP for them. It took three months. Next, we correlated the developments with the motivational system. It should be understood that it is pointless to introduce the BSC without an intended strategy. In this situation, it simply begins to be a system of operational management of the enterprise.

We want the new balanced scorecard to bear certain fruit: a clearer orientation of the personnel towards the strategic goals of the enterprise, a reduction in the cost of maintaining processes, and an increase in the efficiency of operations in general. Our main task is to increase the value of the company and its investment portfolio. All top managers need to be aware of what specific goals the company is pursuing and encourage staff to achieve them.

Information about experts

Mikhail Kuzmin, HR Director, Kazan Apteki LLC, Kazan. Kazan Apteki LLC is a pharmacy chain operating in Kazan, the Republic of Tatarstan and the Volga region. Share of presence on pharmaceutical market Tatarstan, according to its own estimates, is 14%. Currently, the network has 38 pharmacies (their number increases by ten every year). The company was recognized as the best pharmacy chain in Russia (according to the results of the Platinum Ounce 2005 contest), the best pharmacy chain in Tatarstan (according to the results of the Best Pharmacy Chain of Tatarstan 2006 contest), and was also awarded the Most Modern Pharmacy diploma (according to the results of the republican competition "Best Pharmacy 2006", held by the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation together with the Department of Pharmacy and Medical Equipment of the Republic of Tatarstan). This is the only pharmacy chain in the Republic of Tatarstan, which was included in the top ten most influential pharmaceutical organizations in Russia (according to a study conducted by CJSC CMI Pharmexpert at the end of 2006). The number of staff is about 600 people.

Vadim Cherenkov, Logistics Director at BL Trade, Moscow. The company "BL TRADE", founded in 2003, is the official representative of the industrial block of the largest Russian lighting holding BL GROUP and the exclusive supplier of products of the GALAD and OPORA ENGINEERING trademarks. The team of LLC "BL TRADE" - more than 100 people. In addition to the main services, the structure of the company includes a technical promotion department that promptly informs about new products, a design department that has the ability to prepare a custom-made project in a short time, and a new technology department that develops promising models of lamps.

Artem Panin, head of the project department of the Domostroy real estate agency, Moscow. The Domostroy real estate agency is one of the largest players in the real estate market in Moscow and the Moscow region, one of the five largest real estate agencies in the city of Moscow (according to www.rbc.ru, July 2007). The company has been operating in the real estate market since 1994. Its activities include almost the entire range of operations in the real estate business: from investing in construction to repair and design work. The main clients of the organization are individuals those wishing to purchase real estate, as well as developers, investors and landowners. The company employs more than 300 employees.