BI Program Business Mistake 5 - KPI Dashboard Clutter

With self publishing dashboards, users are able to construst their own dashboards, without input from IT.

Whilst this is a great benefit to deployment of performance management tools, it also has it's drawbacks:

1. Too many KPI
2. Inappropriate KPI
3. Outdated KPI

Too Many KPI

One of the most common mistakes is too many KPI.

Dashboards can be fun to put together, and in the excitement of making performance visible a common mistake is to clutter too many KPI onto a single dashboard. Not only does this dilute the effectiveness of the dashboard visual impact, it also dilutes the focus of the user to KPI's that are often not directly relevant to the outcomes being monitored.

The best dashboards are restricted to 10-12 KPI, with 18 KPI being an absolute Maximum.

Inappropriate KPI

Some dashboard KPI are direct monitors of performance, whilst others provide context. A better approach is to reduce the number of KPI by redefining the KPI themselves.

For example, rather than using two KPI, such as sales per channel, and sales per quarter- use sales per channel per quarter.

Other KPI are sometimes just put there because they were possible. These should also be removed. If you cannot determine the state of play of the business within 10 seconds, then you have too many or inappropriate KPI.

Outdated KPI

Business is moving rapidly, and as such strategy is constantly evolving. As strategy evolves, so too do strategic objectives. Dashboard KPI must be constantly updated to reflect the current directives of the business.

BI Solution

Having a centralized BICC helps to ensure that BI tools are kept up to date and aligned throughout the business.

Next: BI Program IT Mistake 1 - DataWarehouse Fever

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