BSC Designer – Balanced Scorecard Software

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It is always important to be able to communicate with industry experts. That’s why we’ve decided to help our customers and compile a list of the most popular groups and forums on the Balanced Scorecard, performance management and performance measurement topics.

We applied the following requirements to the groups:

• group should be alive, e.g. there should be at least some posts in the last months
• should be public, e.g. opened for public registration
• the official language of the discussions should be English

After a lot of research, we’ve come to the conclusion that most of the active groups are in LinkedIn. Most other groups (in yahoo, google etc) are either extinct or no longer active. Some of them have already moved to LinkedIn.

Here are results that you can use right now to start communicating with Balanced Scorecard professionals:

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Resources:

• This data will be much more intuitive if you will use “Custom Measure Units“.
• The project file for this example: Download Now.

Sometimes, you may need to survey several experts to determine the current value of a Key Performance Indicator—for instance, the overall quality of your customer service.

To make surveys easier, we’ve introduced a new feature in the latest version of BSC Designer: “Data Series.”

Here’s a sample Balanced Scorecard with two survey-based indicators: Product Quality, and Marketing Service Efficiency. (See the “Resources” section below, to download a copy of our project file.)

First, I’ll turn on the “Series” panel. You can open the View tab, choose Toolbars, and click on Panel “Series.” Or, just click Panel “Series” on the toolbar.

Next, we need to add a data series to each of the relevant indicators. I’ll open the first indicator, Product Quality. And on the Series panel, I’ll click the “+ ” button.

Then, I’ll open the second indicator. I could click “+” and add another new data series. But instead, I’ll open the dropdown and choose “Series-1.” We’ll survey the same experts to determine the current values of both indicators.

To define those values, click “Edit Series.”

I want to survey three experts, so I’ll click “Add Series” twice, to add two more rows for my data. In the “Series” column, you can give each data series a name. I’ll juse name my experts: Mary, John, and Sam. And I’ll fill in what each of these experts thinks about the current state of each indicator.

Notice, there’s also a row here for the overall result from my whole group of experts. In the Grouping Type dropdown, I’ll select “Average,” BSC Designer will automatically calculate the average of my experts‘ values for each indicator. You can also choose the sum of their values, their lowest value, or their highest value. The average value for my Product Quality indicator is 68.333.

I’ll click “OK” to go back to the indicator page, and you can see that my indicator‘s value is now 68.333, using the value from my “Group.“ If I open the Series dropdown and choose a particular expert, my indicator will use that expert’s values, rather than the values from the whole group.

This is data for indicator “Product Quality” for the series “Group”, which is calculated as average of used series. You can select another series in the “Series” drop-list to see what was the result for Mary or Sam:

Please note: BSC Designer also supports Custom Measure Units. Asking each expert to choose Good, Bad, or Average, rather than a specific number, can make their work much more intuitive. (For details, please see the “Resources” section, below.)

Charts and Data Series

Click the “Edit Series” button, and then choose the Chart tab, to access a variety of charts tracking the values of your data series over time. Just select which series and groups you’d like to include, and which indicator’s values you’d like to see.

Charts for series in BSC Designer

You can also choose starting and ending dates for your chart, or switch to a different type of chart: a line chart, a bar chart, or a pie chart.

Data Series in Reports

When you generate a report, you can specify which value to use for any indicators that rely on a data series. You can choose “Active Series Value” to use the value from just one data series—the one which is displayed when you open that indicator. Or, choose “Group Value” to use the value from the whole group—in our case, the average of the values from our experts.

Series details in HTML report

You can also check “Show Detailed Series Info” if you’d like your HTML report to include a data table with all of the values from each of your experts.

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Below is the version history for the BSC Designer.

• If for some reason you need to download older versions of BSC Designer, check the version archive here. Please note: we support only the latest version.
• Please note: some features are available in PRO edition only. Check editions comparison chart for more details.

Version 5.4. Advanced dashboard report. Now user can export custom dashboards to html report.

Export diagrams from custom dashboard to html file

Version 5.3. New version with custom dashboard – users are be able to add diagram for any item to the dashboard. Release date: 26 December, 2011.

Version 5.2. Strategy map for cascading projects + function to stop delegating indicators. Release date:  24 November, 2011.

• Strategy map for cascading projects and cascading indicators. Use “Placement Wizard” to create new types of strategy maps;

• Ability to stop delegating of indicator or category. Right click on delegated category or indicator and select “Stop delegating”;

Version 5.1. Ability to work with data series is now provided. Release date: 7 November, 2011.

Version 5.0. Custom measure units with text values are now supported. Release date: 30 October, 2011.

Version 4.9. Link width on strategy map depends now on item’s weight. Release date: 22 October, 2011.

Version 4.8. Enter data by months or years. Release date: 13 October, 2011.

• It is now possible to right click calendar in BSC Designer and adjust it to enter data on weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly basic.
• Data for charts can now be grouped by time period. Program can use for the time period the sum, max, min, average.

Version 4.7. Indicator formulas. Release date: 11 September, 2011.

• Values of indicates can be calculated as sum of values other indicators.
• Some indicators can be ignored.

Version 4.6. Indicators’ update control released. Release date: 20 May, 2011.

• User of BSC Designer can now specify required update interval in days for each indicator;
• Indicators that should be updated today and indicators that were not updated on time will be marked in the Indicators tree;
• It is possible to assign update interval in indicator using only PRO version. In Standard version update interval is in read only mode;
• The new type of analysis on the “Analysis” tab allows managers to find indicators that were not updated on time;

Read more about Indicators’ Update Information.

Version 4.5. UNICODE + Business Goals Manager. Release date: 01 February, 2011.

• UNICODE support, you will be able to type in your national encoding in BSC Designer, even if this locale is not installed in Windows.
• Business Goals tab, which includes the tree structure of business goals, business solutions and attached indicators;
• New strategy map objects and new look of strategy maps arrows;

Version 4.4. Delegation of several indicators. Delegation of the value only or the full delegation. Delegation into existent project with indicators. Release date: 23 December, 2010.

Version 4.3. Ability to delegate single indicators released. Progress bars and gauges added to the strategy map objects. Release date: 13 December, 2010.

BSC Designer with progress bards and gauges in strategy map objects released

Version 4.2. Chinese localization, export function updated (parent column added), dashboard updated (it is possible now to customize the set diagrams at the dashboard). Release date: 8 December, 2010.

Version 4.1. Analysis and forecasting released in PRO edition. Release date: 25 November, 2010.

Version 4.0. Grouping data by time periods released in both – Standard and PRO edition. Release date: 1 November, 2010.

Version 3.5. Risk diagram and risk reports, Strategy maps released. Release date: 25 August, 2010.

Version 3.0. Strategy maps released. Release date: September, 2009.

Version 2.0. Custom formulas, SQL indicators,  released. Release date: May, 2009.

Version 1.5. Basic KPI Management and HTML report released. Release date: October, 2008.

Version 1.0. Brand new release based on Strategy2Act software. Release date: September, 2007.

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Grouping Data in BSC Designer

BSC Designer includes easy-to-use charts and reports, so you can see how the values of your indicators change over time.

But if you define a new value for each indicator every day, your data tables can grow very quickly.  After a month, these tables can be huge—and that means, your charts and reports can become confusing.

The solution is to group your data, and display meaningful summaries.  Just like you group your indicators into categories to review their overall performance, you can group an indicator’s daily values into weekly and monthly values, to easily track the indicator’s progress.

Grouping Data by Time Period

Starting with version 4.0, BSC Designer allows you to group the values of an indicator according to the time period of your choice.

• To group the data on a chart, open the “Group By” dropdown list in the “small chart” section.
  • To group the data in a report, use the “Group By” dropdown list in the report generation dialogue.  When you display your report, it will identify the kind of grouping you used.

Once you open the “Group By” dropdown list for your chart or report, you can choose to group your data by day, or by week, and so forth, or you can choose “Customize” and define your own grouping period.

You can also customize your grouping period from the File menu.  Just click on “Document Properties,” and choose the “Grouping” tab.

Grouping Types: Summary and Average Values

By default, the value for a group of data is the average of the individual values.  For instance, if you update an indicator’s value every day, and then group your data by week, the indicator’s weekly value will be the average of its daily values that week.

Sometimes, you may prefer to summarize those daily values, rather than calculating their average.  For instance, if an indicator tracks your daily sales, your sales for the week are the total of those daily sales, not their average.

For each indicator, you can choose whether to summarize or average its value over time.  Just click on the indicator, right-click on “Value,” open the “Grouping Type” submenu, and select “Summarize Changed Values” or “Calculate Average Value.”

Default Grouping Types

Rather than choosing the “summarize” or “average” grouping type for each indicator one at a time, you can assign default grouping types by measure unit.

On the File menu, select document Properties,” click on the Measure Units tab, and select a measure unit. Open the “Grouping Type” dropdown menu, and choose “Summarize Changed Values” (or calculate Average Value”).

Now, whenever you group the values of any indicator that uses this measure unit, those values will be summarized (or averaged) by default. Of course, you can still give an indicator its own individual grouping type, which will override this default value.

Please note: You cannot change the default grouping type for a default measure unit. You can change the grouping type for the individual indicators that use a default measure unit. But you’ll need to use your own, custom measure unit in order to set a default grouping type.

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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.

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BSC Designer provides users with opportunity to generate strategic map automatically. Your KPIs and categories will be used to build the strategic map automatically according to the selected template. This is an example of Cyclical Strategy Map Template.

Possible application: use this map template to represent the strategy of cyclical business or process development.

Cyclical strategy map template in BSC Designer

To create strategy map according to the certain template follow these steps:

1. Open your scorecard and then switch to the “Strategy Map” tab below.
2. The strategy map wizard will start automatically if your strategy map was empty. If you already have some objects on strategy map, then you need to start the Wizard manually. Select Placement Wizard Command in Strategy Map menu.
3. Select appropriate template for the strategy map and click Execute button.

Learn more about strategy maps in BSC Designer.

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Please, specify your email address below to access BSC Software Review:

• You will have access link immediately;
• You will have e-mail with some start-up instructions;
• We can send you some offers about BSC Designer products;

Please, note: if for some reasons you don’t want to have emails from us, but still want to check trial version of BSC Software Review, you can just click the button without entering any email.

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Risk Diagram in BSC Designer PRO

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.

• Charts in BSC Designer – overview video

The latest version of BSC Designer PRO supports risk indicators. KRI (Key Risk Indicators) are used during the process of risk estimation.

BSC Designer allows to:

• Add risk indicators to the scorecard (in Standard and PRO editions)
• Generate key risk indicators report (in Standard and PRO editions)
• Display the risk diagram for indicators (in PRO edition only)

• This chart is available in HTML report;
• Learn also: basic ideas about charts in BSC Designer;
• Learn more about Risk Indicators in BSC Designer manual.

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Please, specify your email address below to download BSC Designer PRO:

• You will have download link immediately;
• You will have e-mail with some start-up instructions;
• We can send you some offers about BSC Designer products;

Please, note: if for some reasons you don’t want to have emails from us, but still want to use BSC Designer, you can just click the button without entering any email.

Choose your language

The interface of BSC Designer is translated into several languages. After you will download the software choose your language in View > Language menu:

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