BSC Designer – Balanced Scorecard Software

The latest release of BSC Designer has got a couple of new features, namely possibility to generate and store QR codes. Recently, smartphones running on various operating systems, like Bada, Windows Mobile and Android, grew in popularity, especially among business people, who need to stay online and access necessary commercial info anywhere and anytime.

QR codes are extensively used in a variety of smartphones since they provide easy ways to encode information or even use cell phones as payment gateways. BSC Designer has two new features with QR coding.

Firstly, users can encode any text or url by accessing Tools-Generate QR code. The procedure is rather simple, since the code is generated simultaneously to text input. The image can be then saved as a screenshot, or alternatively it’s possible to make a picture with a cell phone.

Secondly, when generating html reports users will have an opportunity to generate QR code, which, in fact, is generated automatically. This feature covers html reports published at ftp so, basically, QR will encode web address of the generated report. This feature will be helpful for users who are often on the road and use cell phones to access business info.

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Work with strategy maps and BSC software such as BSC Designer is an integral part of company routine and day-to-day schedule of employees who are in charge of BSC, strategic planning and development, as well as performance evaluation. The latest version of BSC Designer PRO makes it possible to add initiatives which can be assigned to any indicators and categories to Google Tasks and Google Calendar. As known, Google offers a myriad of free tools and services widely used to share and edit information online, schedule tasks and initiatives, alert on important events etc. By adding initiatives from BSC Designers, users will make sure they never forget about work with indicators or categories. Also, this is an advanced method of sharing information and plans with colleagues (by sharing Google Calendar details).

Add initiatives to Google calendar

Initiatives in BSC Designer PRO can be assigned to any indicator or category. If early versions of the software made it possible to attach files and urls, while now users may add initiatives to Google Calendar and Google Tasks. It is necessary to allow BSC Designer to access relevant Google account or accounts. Thus, having entered passwords and proving BSC Designer as the application with permission to enter data into Calendar and Tasks from Google.

Integration of BSC Designer and Google Tasks

BSC Designer will automatically add necessary events or tasks to the abovementioned Google services. Users may choose any dates or times of events, enter event or task title, description and choose necessary Google account (in case there are several accounts to choose from). Also, it is possible to choose notification method: email or pop-up. Initiatives can be assigned to both indicators and categories. The number of attached files and urls is not limited. The same concerns Google Tasks and Calendar entries.

Work with Google Calendar and Tasks is helpful in scheduling initiatives on improving indicators, categories and BSC in general.

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Still using excel to track KPI? Try BSC Designer!

Of course, it is possible to use Excel to evaluate metrics. Moreover, sometimes, use of MS Excel is even recommended, especially when it comes to small companies or demo dashboards. The potential of this software is enough to understand overall concept of BSC and create a sample dashboard.

• BSC Designer can help you with designing scorecard in Excel as well.

Many managers and companies are successfully using Excel for performance evaluation. At the same time, with all respect to Excel, this software was not specifically created for performance evaluation purposes. Yes, it uses any maths formulas, however, this software lacks user friendly interface (user friendly is meant in the context of strategy and metrics management).

The first and the key downside of using excel to track metrics is lack of visualization. It is rather difficult to keep track of all sells and numbers, as well as find various indicators on the dashboard. This is not a big problem for small scorecard, however, multi-level (cascading) scorecard may seem extremely complicated for users.

There is a way out, though. Use of specialized BSC software – BSC Designer (either light or professional) version will resolve this problem. Even free edition of BSC Designer is much more convenient than using Excel, since the software has easy to understand and convenient interface which makes measurement of scorecards simple even for inexperienced users.

As known, evaluation of indicators is a continuous process. BSC Designer makes work with past and present data convenient (users always have a calendar at hand), as well as helps in analysis of information. Casting just one glance at BSC may be enough to understand the trends in company/department performance (arrows, stop lights etc). Even features of free version is enough to manage simple scorecards, however, serious work with BSC requires use of PRO edition that has a myriad of helpful features. Even if users got used to Excel, it is possible to generate excel reports, or in other words, export BSC to Excel. At the same time, as already mentioned, it is way easier to manage scorecard using whatever edition of BSC Designer. At the same time, data in Excel format may be imported to BSC Designer.

The decision to use software for strategy management and performance evaluation is definitely a good idea! This saves time and makes the entire process of handling metrics easy and takes it to a new and better level.

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Work with dashboards in BSC Designer has become way easier and convenient. Having the most important info at one place it extremely important for managers responsible for company or department BSC. A dashboard is a collection of “tiles” with details of indicators, categories or the entire BSC. A tree mode is convenient to check out general information on all indicators and categories, while dashboard enables detailed monitoring of individual KPIs properties. So, dashboards are convenient for analysis of evaluation results, composition of company/department BSC, changes of indicators progress and performance etc. BSC Designer PRO offers the following advantages of its dashboard project view:

Standard dashboard for selected indicators

• Two dashboard types are available – standard and custom. Standard dashboard includes all basic diagrams according to chosen indicator or category and chosen dates on the calendar. Custom dashboard gives more freedom to users. Firstly, it is possible to choose among type of data to be displayed (chart, kpi link, business object link, strategy map link). Secondly, users choose indicators and categories. Thus, the principle difference between standard and custom dashboards is that standard dashboard incorporates the same diagrams with the possibility to switch indicators that feed data, while custom dashboard may contain the exact info in various indicators BSC Designer users might need.

Custom dashboard

• It is possible to close unnecessary diagrams and blocks, change position of diagrams, modify their size and shape etc. In other words, dashboard in fully customizable as per users needs or personal preferences. For example, when there are too many diagrams, users may change their sizes or use overlapping. BSC Designer may also help users arrange diagrams. Currently there are 4 options available: arrange, cascade, horizontal and vertical split.
• For performance and progress charts it is possible to build diagrams for several indicators. There are two ways to select several indicators. The first one is to press and hold Ctrl when selecting indicators. Also, users may add more indicators by pressing + icon on the indicator diagram in the dashboard. As a result, the graphs will have several muti colored curves representing progress of performance of corresponding indicators (below the graphs there will be explanations on which color belongs to which KPI).

Several kpis in one graph

• Business goals and strategy map links are available to complement information on the dashboard.
• It is possible to import dashboard settings from another bsc project which might be useful in teamwork and cascading Balanced Scorecard.

Overlapping in customized dashboard

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Sometimes it is easier to measure certain KPIs in language (text) terms other than numerical. Of course, in the majority of cases figures work the best, especially when it comes to financial info. However, there are KPIs that will for which text values work the best. Here are a few examples of how to use text measure values if BSC Designer.

Text measure units

First off, it is possible to create personalized measure units, in case default units do not meet users’ requirements (such as score, percent, $, risk etc). From time to time it might be necessary to create own measure units, for example complex ratios like $ per m2 or opinion values. Thus, BSC Designer users may easily create new units within several mouse clicks (measure entry-new). Once a new measure unit is created and given name, it is time to create measure values. As already said above, number may not always meet requirements of performance evaluation in certain cases. Let’s review a few usage cases.

Adjust measure settings

1. Often there’s nothing better than answer to Yes/No question. In fact, such questions may vary depending on company goals, structure, scorecard and a number of other factors. “Is organization climate favorable for employees” or “Did planned revenues overpass real figures” are mere examples. In such a case it is recommended to create two new values 0 and 1, with the names “No” and “Yes” accordingly.
2. Evaluation of expert opinion. This approach is similar to grading system in schools. In other words, an expert evaluates KPIs (processes, performance results, efficiency etc) as Poor, Satisfactory, Good, Very Good, Excellent etc. To apply this evaluation method, it is necessary to create the required amount of measure values, for instance from 0 to 5, and assign names accordingly. As a result, KPIs will get text evaluations as per user’s requirements and grading system.
3.  Compliance with rules, guidelines, principles. Sometimes, managers might need to evaluate compliance of employees with company/project guidelines or certain rules. Thus, it is possible to a new measure unit and several measure values, for example Measure Unit – Compliance with guidelines, measure values 3 – Full compliance, 2 – Slight deviation from norms, 1 – Serious deviations from norms, 0 – Incompliance. In fact, this evaluation system can be used for a variety of performance evaluation purposes.

As in case with numerical evaluation, users may set max and min value, baseline, target and weight to optimize evaluation of KPIs to requirements of company BSC.

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Available grouping type options

It is important to be able to analyze changes in indicators values over a certain period of time to evaluate performance of company or business unit. BSC Designer offers such an opportunity in form of various graphs/charts created based on indicators values and time points. The latest release of BSC Designer went further – from now on it is possible to choose among different grouping type options. If previous versions of software indicated average values for indicators during a certain time period, now one can choose among:

• Average (average of all values for a given time period)

• First value (the first KPI value for the chosen period. For instance, if Sept 11 – Sept 18 is chosen, value for Sept 11 will be shown)

• Last value (the last KPI value for the chosen period. For instance, if Sept 11 – Sept 18 is chosen, value for Sept 18 will be shown)

• Min value (minimal value for a given time period)

• Max value (maximum value for a given time period)

• Sum of changed (sum of values that where amended by users, but not inherited)

Grouping types options are available in right mouse click menu in the chart panel.

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Timely and adequate data entry to BSC Designer is one of preconditions for successful implementation of Balanced Scorecard or at least effective evaluation of company/business unit performance. However, frequency of data updates may vary, depending on indicators types, company goals, other internal and external factors. Some indicators require daily/weekly updates while others should be updated on monthly or quarterly basis.

Change calendar view for required frequency of indicators update

New version of BSC Designer PRO offers users possibility to change format of data entry in the calendar. For instance, if all or the majority of indicators need to be updated on a weekly basis, it is more convenient to use calendar in the weekly mode, i.e. dates will not be displayed while users will see enumerated weekly periods with indication of starting and end dates for each week. It does not only simplify the calendar view since unnecessary dates will not be displayed but also facilitates data entry for timely updates of indicators values.

Calendar view can be changed by right mouse click – View: days, weeks, months, quarters, years. Since frequency for updates of indicators values may vary over time, it is possible to switch between various calendar views as per company goals and requirements of BSC.

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The latest version of BSC Designer PRO from now on incorporates a new feature which makes it possible to temporary enable and disable indicators, thus, excluding their values from calculation of category performance. Sometimes, managers use several related indicators that refer to different time periods. It becomes necessary to temporary disable indicator without deleting it from the scorecard.

New functions in BSC Designer PRO to disable and enable indicators

To ignore indicator in the scorecard, it is necessary to click on the chosen indicator with a right mouse button and choose Ignored in formulas. The indicator will be disabled from the selected date. As known, BSC Designer uses inheritance principle, i.e. all values are inherited until changed by users. Thus, to enable indicator and let the software to use its value in calculation of category performance, it is necessary to choose the desired date on the calendar, right click the indicator and choose Enable item for all dates. When ignore function is applied the indicator font becomes bold. Once ignore function is removed the font restores to normal. When disabled indicators or groups of indicators are delegates all disabling settings remain in force in the delegated bsc file.

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The latest version of BSC Designer PRO from now on has a new category and indicator formula feature.

Indicators formulas

BSC Designer offers an opportunity to create custom made formulas for KPIs

The latest version of BSC Designer has a new helpful feature that makes it possible to obtain customized values for indicators, unlike the previous version where values were either typed in by hand or obtained as values from parent scorecards (in cascading scorecards). Now it is possible to calculate indicator values as based on values of other indicators. For example, Indicator A value may be calculated as sum of Indicator B and Indicator C values. In fact, available operations are not limited by sum or subtraction. BSC Designer formulas support all basic mathematical operations. BSC Designer users, however, need to pay attention to syntax of formulas and bead in mind several rules, namely:

• Put special symbols before and after indicator’s name, for example, [New Indicator] (no spaces)
• Use brackets if you want to use complex formulas, for example, ([New Indicator1] + [New Indicator2]) * 2
• Test formulas before using them. There is an opportunity to test formulas for each indicator. Moreover, if there is an error, the software will identify it, thus helping in locating mistakes.
• Be patient since complex formulas require some time to be processes, so huge scorecards that get data from other scorecards or sql databases may require some time to open or update values.
• Avoid [ ] symbols in the indicators’ names since the software will view them as part of formulas.

Creating own KPI formulas is easy

Categories/perspectives formulas

Choose suitable way to calculate category performance

Sometimes, it is necessary to calculate performance of a category consisting of several indicators in a special way. For example, some users do not want weights to affect final category performance or need to use maximum value of all indicators in the perspective. The latest version of BSC Designer lets users choose the way they want to calculate performance of various categories. There is a default option – weighted average which means average performance of all indicators taking into account their weights. However, users are free to choose from several options: average, weighted average, max, min, sum. Some of the formulas can be effective for various industries that require accumulative but not average data. The same concerns the entire Balanced Scorecard performance which can be calculated, for example, as sum of all 4 categories values.

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Balanced Scorecard gains popularity among managers and business owners who want to be able to access BSC information from any PC or even a mobile device. The recent year saw a real Apple boom, which especially concerns iPhones and iPads. Although desktop versions of BSC Designer from AKS-Labs cannot be directly used and installed on iPads, the software can be still partially associated with these popular devices.

Balanced Scorecard report on iPad. Report was generated and published with BSC Designer. Click to view full screen.

As known, all projects can be saved as .bsc files, while evaluation results are summarized in reports. Very often it is necessary to access BSC information and share it with business partners, shareholders, top managers etc. For these purposes one can generate a HTML report and immediately publish at the selected FTP server. This feature is particularly popular with organizations when dozens of people work on BSC project. There is no need to send lots of unnecessary emails and clutter up email boxes.

Balanced Scorecard report on Android smartphone - the report was generated with BSC Designer

Since we at AKS-Labs do not currently offer Balanced Scorecard iPad application, there is still an opportunity to view the software reports on iPad. This device is said to be perfect to be used while on the road. Users can easily access FTP servers to which BSC reports are published. For example, a BSC team regularly publishes a report on company performance one a month.

Shareholders and investors may be located in various parts of the world, many of them on the road. iPad is just an ideal device to check email, read news and perform a number of other tasks while not in the office. Thus, lots of people can view the report from their iPads.

• Sample report is located here and can be accessed with any mobile device by clicking link or reading QR code below.

Use software of your mobile devise to recognize QR code and check Balanced Scorecard report on your smartphone or iPad

Besides, AKS-Labs customers can use BSC Designer Online, a web based version of BSC Designed. No matter what PC or laptop you use it is possible to access your BSC projects online by entering login and password. Although the online version has somewhat limited features as compared with STD and PRO version it is still extremely powerful and helpful for managers in charge of BSC implementation.

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