BSC Designer – Balanced Scorecard Software

The Balanced Scorecard is all about linking strategic goals to line-level actions.  That requires collaboration between top managers and line-level employees.  And this collaboration is not possible without proper communication.

That is why BSC Designer includes powerful reporting features.  You can generate a wide range of reports, to share information, give professional presentations, and analyze the information on your Balanced Scorecard.

To generate a report, just open your Balanced Scorecard project, go to the Reports menu, and select the type of report you need.

Reports are available in three basic formats:

• HTML reports are the most common choice.  They’re perfect for analysis and teamwork.

• PowerPoint reports allow you to turn your Strategy Map or Strategy Tree into a professional business presentation.

• Excel reports turn the indicators and categories on your Balanced Scorecard into a spreadsheet, so you can collaborate with colleagues who don’t have BSC Designer.

HTML Reports

To generate a basic HTML report, you can select “Export to HTML” or “Report for selected item” from the Reports menu.

• You can choose the range of dates to include in your report.
• You can choose the level of detail for your report: Mini, Standard, or Advanced.  The Advanced option includes the most details.

• You can publish your HTML reports straight to the Internet.  You will need to specify your FTP access details so that BSC Designer can automatically upload your report.

If you chose a Standard or Advanced report, your HTML document will include diagrams.  Select “Report Options” from the Reports menu, and you can choose what kinds of charts to include, and how to arrange them on the page.

• Read more about HTML report, Selected Item Report.

Overview Report

The Overview Report is an HTML file that looks like a classic Balanced Scorecard.  You’ll see each of your categories—as many as eight—with your top-level indicators inside each one

• Read more about Overview report.

Key Risk Indicators Report

If you have any risk indicators on your scorecard—that is, any indicators that measure a risk—you can generate a Key Risk Indicators Report to review these special indicators.  This report will include a special risk diagram, but it will not include any information about your normal, non-risk indicators.

Dashboard Report

The Dashboard Report is exactly the same as the HTML report, but it only includes information about the values of your indicators and categories on one particular day.  If you want to know how your Balanced Scorecard is performing on a certain day, the Dashboard Report has all the information you need.

• Read more about Dashboard Report.

Export to MS Excel

You can choose “Export to MS Excel” from the Reports menu to generate a live copy of your Balanced Scorecard in MS Excel.  This spreadsheet will include all of the indicators and categories from your scorecard.  If you change the value of an indicator on your spreadsheet, Excel will automatically update the total value of your scorecard, as well.

The Excel Report is a great choice when you need to collaborate on your scorecard with a colleague who doesn’t have BSC Designer.

• Report more about Excel Report.

Export to MS PowerPoint

When you choose “Export to MS PowerPoint” on the Reports menu, BSC Designer will turn your scorecard into a professional-looking PowerPoint presentation.  The presentation will include all of your indicators and categories, as well as charts and data tables.  Make a few minor changes, and you can present your Strategy Map or your Balanced Scorecard to investors, top managers, or your CEO.

• Read more about MS PowerPoint report.

Tree Report

The Tree Report is an HTML report which includes an image of your strategy tree.  You can choose whichever tree view you prefer.  When you need to include an image of your Balanced Scorecard in a document or a presentation, a Tree Report is the perfect solution.

Strategy Map Report

Finally, you can generate a Strategy Map Report.  This is an HTML report which includes all possible strategy map placements for your project.  If you need to include your strategy map in a document or presentation, the Strategy Map Report will give you plenty of styles to choose from.

admin Official

During my MBA had to develop several projects involving BSC and had to do by myself, using templates found on Internet. After some digging I finally found BSC Designer, which made my life easier. It truly goes beyond normal capabilities improving performance. Now it’s simpler and quicker to get things done.

Evandro Meneguella, FGV MBA
Campinas – SP – Brazil.

admin Case Studies

Charts and diagrams are a standard part of doing business today.  Good managers know that visual representations of data save them time, and make their decisions easy.

That’s why BSC Designer has a whole set of charts built in, to show you all the most important data on your Balanced Scorecard.

When you open a project in BSC Designer and select an indicator or a category, you will see all the relevant charts.  Click on any of the small charts on our main window to see a larger view.

Let’s take a closer look at each of the charts in BSC Designer.

Optimization Chart

The optimization chart shows you the current performance of your indicator.  It includes your indicator’s value, and its function line.

• The three points on the chart show you the indicator’s baseline value, its current value, and its target value.  Just look at these three points, and you can see your progress toward your goal.
• The line represents the indicator’s optimization formula—that is, the relationship between the indicator’s value, and its performance.  Our default formulas, Maximize and Minimize, are both linear functions, so this will usually be a straight line.
• The relationship between an indicator’s value and its performance is not always linear.  It might be binary, or it might be more complex.  To create a different optimization formula, just select the indicator, open the Optimization dropdown menu, and choose “Editor.”  The line on the optimization chart will change shape accordingly, to show you how the indicator’s performance will change when you change its value.

Read more about Optimization Chart.

Pie Chart

The pie chart shows the relevant performance of each of the indicators in a particular category.  This is an easy way to see which indicators are doing well, and which ones need more of your attention.

Read more about Pie Chart.

Weight Chart

The weight chart shows the absolute weight of your indicators.  It takes into account not only the weight of each indicator within its parent category, but the weight of each category on the Balanced Scorecard.  In other words, it shows you how important each indicator is to the overall value of your Balanced Scorecard—that is, to the overall performance of your company.

Read more about Weight Chart.

Gauge Chart

The gauge chart shows you the performance of each indicator:

• The small red arrow represents the indicator’s baseline value.
• The small black arrow represents its target value.
• The large arrow shows its current value.
• And the colored scale matches the colors and thresholds you chose for your stop lights.  Open the Tools menu and choose “Application Options” to choose what colors to use, what values they should represent, and whether they should measure your indicator’s performance, or its progress.

Read more about Gauge Chart.

Diamond Chart

The diamond chart, also known as the Radar Chart, shows you the baseline value, current value, and target value of your indicators.  This is an easy way to identify the best and worst performing indicators in a category.

Read more about Diamond Chart.

Time Chart

The Time Chart shows you how the values of your indicators and categories have changed over time.

• When you select an indicator, its Time Chart shows each change in the value of the indicator, compared to its baseline and target values.
• When you select a category, the Time Chart shows you how the overall performance of the category has changed over time, compared to the baseline and target values of the indicators in that category.

The colors in the background match the colors of your stop lights.  Go to the Tools menu and choose “Application Options,” and you can decide what colors to use, what values they should represent, and whether they should measure your indicators’ performance, or their progress.

• Learn more about Time Chart.

Risk Chart

The Risk Chart is designed specifically for risk indicators.  It shows the impact and the probability of the risk.  And again, the colors in the background match the color scheme you chose for your stop lights.

• Learn more about Risk Chart.

Which Charts Do You Need?

By default, BSC Designer’s toolbar gives you instant access to all of these charts.  If you decide you don’t need one of the charts, you can right-click on any chart to open the Charts Visibility menu.  Here, you can choose which charts to show, and which ones to hide.

Dashboard View

On the other hand, if you’d like to use all of our charts, BSC Designer includes a handy Dashboard view, where you will see all of our charts at once.

Just click on the Dashboard tab at the bottom of the window to switch to the Dashboard view.  This is a quick, easy way to visualize and analyze an indicator.

admin Features

There are three different ways to bring data from an external source into BSC Designer. You can import indicator values, import an indicator, or use SQL Indicators. It is important to understand the difference between these approaches.

Import Values

When you use the “Import Values” command, you are simply copying data from a spreadsheet into your Balanced Scorecard project.  If you update the spreadsheet, the data in the BSC Designer project file will not change.  You will need to import the new values manually.

• Read more about importing values.

Import Indicators

When you use the “Import Indicator” command, you are not copying data.  Instead, you are creating a link between two BSC Designer projects.  If you update the values on the source scorecard, they will be updated on your scorecard, as well.  “Import Indicator” is designed to give you access to data in other BSC Designer scorecard projects.

• Read more about import indicators.

SQL Indicators

SQL Indicators establish a connection between your current scorecard and an external data source.  When that data source changes, the indicator changes, as well.  In this way, SQL Indicators are similar to Imported Indicators.  The difference is that an SQL Indicator does not get its data from another balanced scorecard.  Instead, it uses an SQL Statement to query an external data source, like your company database, ERP system, or CRM system.

• Read more about SQL indicators.

admin Features

BSC Designer provides a wide range of visual cues to help you understand the current state of your Balanced Scorecard.

• Learn more about managing stop lights and dynamic threshold in BSC Designer manual.

The Strategy Tree view includes stop lights and dynamic indicators to help you understand how the performance of your indicators has changed.

• Stop Lights are small colored circles that show the current state of the indicator.  Typically, stop lights will be green, yellow, or red, depending on whether the indicator’s value is good, marginal, or unacceptable.

• Dynamic Indicators are arrows which show whether the indicator’s performance has improved, remained the same, or gotten worse since the last time point.

Application Options

Stop lights and dynamic indicator arrows are fully adjustable.  To access these settings, just open the Tools menu and choose “Application Options.”  Here, you can choose:

• Which arrows to use, and which stop light colors to use.

• What the threshold values should be—for instance, at what value a green light should become yellow or red.

• Which view to use for your Strategy Tree: the Column Tree View, or the Simple Tree View.  We recommend the Column Tree View, which presents your strategy tree as a simple table.  You can hide any columns you don’t need.  Just click on the header at the top of the table, and check off which columns you’d like to display.

Strategy Tree Reports

If you’d like to share your Strategy Tree with your colleagues, just open the Reports menu and choose “Tree Report.”  BSC Designer will generate an HTML document with a graphical image of your Strategy Tree.  Notice that the Reports menu also includes a wide variety of other useful reports, so you can review, analyze, and share your progress at each step of the Balanced Scorecard process.

admin Features

Video manuals will review all major features of BSC Designer:

• Introduction
• Managing your Key Performance Indicators
• Calculating an Indicator’s Performance and Progress
• Grouping data by time periods
• Stop Lights and Dynamic Indicators
• Key Performance Indicators and Time Points
• Importing and Exporting Data in BSC Designer
• SQL Indicators
• Teamwork with BSC Designer
• Three Different Ways to Import Data
•  Data Series in BSC Designer
• Charts in BSC Designer
• Analysis and Forecasting in BSC Designer
• Update interval for indicators
• Strategy Maps
• Reports in BSC Designer

Check also:

• Editions comparison chart;

admin Features

Examples of companies experience in mission development

Development of company strategy and mission can be a daunting task.  Indeed, there is so much literature and studies related to strategic planning and mission development.  Each business guru has his own concepts and methods, so it is really difficult to choose the most effective technique.

Buy Mission Expert:

• Enterprise Edition for $99.95
• Consultants Edition for $249.95

Learn more about the difference between editions;

Mission Expert

The problem is that different experts put different meaning in the same words.  In such a way it is very difficult to get a clear picture of strategic vision and company mission.  That’s why, progressive business owners tend to use automated or semi automated software to develop mission statement.

Statistics show that companies with a well-documented mission statement perform better than those that do not have any.  Moreover, mission statement should be well understood for most of the personnel, and specialized software can greatly assist top managers in this issue.  At the same time, this is a great tool to be used to develop company mission and strategic vision.

One of the market leaders in this area is Mission Expert, which is reliable, efficient and easy to use software that makes the process of mission statement development easier and faster.  The program will be helpful both for small businesses and private entrepreneurs and large corporations.  The size of the business does not really matter.  Everyone needs a mission.

Mission Expert will guide you through the process of mission development.  Even if you have little experience and knowledge and strategy and mission development the program will be still easy to use and you are sure to enjoy positive results.

Let’s make a quick all overview of Mission Expert to discover key program features

High impact with no learning curve.  What does that mean?  Development of mission statement has several stages.  Thus, it is important to go through each step being fully aware of what you’re doing and what results you’re going to achieve.  Mission Expert will guide you through each step and offer you various options and choices.

Modular design.  Depending on what version of the program you’re going to buy, you will have access to different modules which outline basic features of the program, as well as helpful guides, visualizers, presentations etc.

Discover the power of Mission Expert

Presentations.  This is perhaps the most useful part of the program especially for those who have very little experience in the development of mission and strategy for the company.  Even experienced professionals would appreciate looking through presentations and slides which give answers to very important questions like “is it focused for the target audience”, “is it written in clear and simple terms”, “is company mission complies with company strategy”, “is it easy to memorize”, “does everyone in the company understands the mission”, “does the strategy inspire personnel”?

Useful tool kit in Mission Expert

Examples.  What can be better than to study examples of companies that became icons in the world of business?  Without any doubt, small and middle sized companies have something to learn from business monsters like, for example, IBM!  At the same time one needs to remember that something that is good for one company may be harmful for another.  These are just examples, and they are to be used to develop own mission, and own methods and techniques.  These examples will help better understand the process of mission development and significance of every step.

Facilitator guides.  This feature will surely help team leaders who have little or no experience in strategic planning and development of company mission.  With the help of these guides you will surely become a professional in the area of strategic planning.  As a team leader you need to inspire employees who should share their ideas and viewpoints.

Resource kit.  Here you’ll find sample mission statements and core values, as well as tools to create or even find mission statement.  The same concerns company vision.  Moreover, you will be explained the difference between vision and mission.  Users will have access to kickoff meeting invitations, kickoff meeting checklists, online resources, invitation attachments etc.

Wizards.  Rookies in strategic planning and mission development will find this tool extremely helpful.  With the Mission Expert wizard you’ll be guided through the process of mission creation and offered various questions and options.  In such a way, you’ll never miss a single step in the process of mission creation.  Within a short period of time you will be able to create your first draft mission statement which can be discussed with your company.

Mission Expert Wizard will guide you through the entore process of mission creation

Templates.  As already said above Mission Expert contains examples and templates which can be used in creation of an individual mission for the company.  You will see their goal examples, core values examples, case studies of real companies and much other valuable and helpful information.

Developers of Mission Expert make a unique offer.  If you do not like the program after using it within 30 days you are eligible for a full refund.  But once you get fascinated by the power of Mission Expert, there will be no reasons to do so.

bsc_ideas Articles

The Balanced Scorecard is not a static document.  It changes over time: the values of the indicators change, their weights change, the total performance of the scorecard changes.  BSC Designer allows you to define time points to measure and manage these changes.

Each indicator on your scorecard has a current value.  When you select an indicator on your Strategy Tree, its current value will be displayed in the Value field.

Each indicator on your scorecard has a current value. When you select an indicator on your Strategy Tree, its current value will be displayed in the Value field.

Indicators and Time Points

The value of an indicator is not fixed; it can and should change over time.  Therefore, BSC Designer allows you to define not just one value for each indicator, but the value of the indicator on any particular date.

You can use the calendar in BSC Designer to track how these values change.

• If a date appears on the calendar in boldface type, that means that at least one of your indicators, somewhere on your scorecard, has a specific value for that particular date.
• If a date appears in normal type, then none of your indicators have special values for that date.

If a date appears on the calendar in boldface type, that means that at least one of your indicators, somewhere on your scorecard, has a specific value for that particular date.

You can also click on the calendar to see the value of a particular indicator on that date.

Changing an Indicator’s Value

There are several ways to change the value of an indicator on your Balanced Scorecard.

• Enter the data manually.  Just select the indicator, and enter its new value in the “Value” field.
• Use the Value Editor. Open the Strategy Tree menu and select “Edit Values” to access the Value Editor.  Here, you will see all of the time points you have defined, and all of the indicator’s settings for each one: its weight, min and max values, baseline and target values, and its current value.  You can edit any of these values, or even Add or Delete new time points at the bottom.
• Import data from an external data source. For instance, BSC Designer supports Imported Indicators and SQL Indicators.

admin Features

BSC Designer provides all the features you need to manage the categories and indicators on your Balanced Scorecard.

Creating Categories and Indicators

To add a new category, just go to your Strategy Tree, select the root level of your Balanced Scorecard, and click on the “New Category” button on the toolbar.

To add a new category, just go to your Strategy Tree, select the root level of your Balanced Scorecard, and click on the “New Category” button on the toolbar.

To create a new sub-category, just go to your Strategy Tree, open one of the categories on your Balanced Scorecard, and click on the “New Category” button on the toolbar.

To create an indicator, open a category on your Strategy Tree, and click the “New Indicator” button.

To create an indicator, open a category on your Strategy Tree, and click the “New Indicator” button.

Remember:

• You can add categories inside other categories, or on the root level of your Balanced Scorecard.
• Indicators can only be placed inside categories.

Changing Categories and Indicators

It’s easy to move indicators and categories on your scorecard.  Just use the up and down arrows on the toolbar, or drag and drop.

It’s easy to move indicators and categories on your scorecard. Just use the up and down arrows on the toolbar.

You can also cut, copy, and paste indicators and categories from one place to another in BSC Designer.

Copy As a Text

Need to copy an indicator or a category to another program, like your word processor?  Just use our “Copy as a text” feature.  The name, weight, and performance of your indicator will all be added to your clipboard as one block of text, which you can paste into any program you like.

Need to copy an indicator or a category to another program, like your word processor? Just use our “Copy as a text” feature.

Other Properties

Each indicator on a Balanced Scorecard also includes other details.  Just click on indicator on your strategy tree, and you’ll see all of its properties:

• Name. This is the name of you indicator, as it will appear on your strategy tree and all of your reports.  Ideally, you should choose a descriptive name.
• Weight. This is the weight of the indicator: its relative importance, compared to other indicators in the same category.
• Description. Use this text field to explain what the indicator means, and how to measure it.  Your employees should be able to clearly understand the method or algorithm to use to find the current value of the indicator.
• Measure Units. Use this dropdown menu to choose the units you use when you measure this indicator.
  • You can choose a standard measurement unit from the list.
  • You can choose “Risk.”  BSC Designer will automatically switch the optimization method to “Minimize” this risk, and it will also display the Risk diagram next to the indicator for this risk.
  • Or, you can define your own measurement unit.  Just click on the last option on the list, “<new>,” and type in your measurement unit in the dialogue box.

Each indicator on a Balanced Scorecard also includes other details. Just click on indicator on your strategy tree, and you’ll see all of its properties

• Target Description and Initiatives. These properties allow you to specify your action plan for the indicator.  If your plan is simple enough, you can describe it briefly in the “Target Description” text box.  For a more complex plan, choose “Initiatives,” and you can attach any documents you might need.

Target Description and Initiatives. These properties allow you to specify your action plan for the indicator.

admin Features

“Weight” in Balanced Scorecard shows the importance of each element in comparison to other elements in the Balanced Scorecard.

• Free mini-training: What Does “Balanced” Mean?

BSC Designer shows relevant weights in KPI Tree using different icons.

Relative Weight in BSC Designer

• Relative Weight – shows the importance of indicator in comparison to the importance of another indicators in the same category;

Change the weights of the item

Select any indicator or category. Find “Weight” field in item’s properties;

Change item's weight using weight field in item's properties

By default the maximum weight is 10, this value can also be adjusted. Select “Document Properties” command in File menu. Find “Max Weight” text box there:

The recommended value for the max weight is 10, but it can be changed if needed.

Absolute Weights in BSC Designer

• Absolute Weight – takes into account the weight of indicators and weights of its parent categories, giving as a result the absolute value of the weight;
• User can check absolute weights on the Weight Chart.

admin Features