Balanced Scorecard Designer

Exporting data from the BSC Designer project is an important function, widely used by our clients while maintaining the Balanced Scorecard concept within the company. The tool allows a wide range of easy to create and understandable reports, including several types of HTML – based reports (Export to HTML, HTML report for selected item, Overview report, Dashboard report for the whole project and for selected item, Strategy Map report), Microsoft Office Suite –based reports (Exporting data to MS PowerPoint and MS Excel). Those reports not only export data from the BSC Designer project (*.bsc file) but also build diagrams and charts, showing different aspects of data, presented in the project.

MS Excel report (“Export to Excel” function) with BSC Designer

This article is aimed to describe the most unusual and unique report, which in some way cannot even be called report, because it contains lots of digits, but no graphs or diagrams. MS Excel Report (or “Export to Excel” function) really has unique structure and the situations, it could be used successfully, might differ from the cases, the other reports (like HTML or MS PowerPoint) could be used. The purposes of Excel Report’s usage might be the following:

How to create MS PowerPoint Report with BSC Designer

Let’s create and explore the MS Excel report with BSC Designer to learn more about this powerful and unique function. A real example of creating MS PowerPoint report will be described and shown.

Launch BSC Designer (Standard or Pro version) and open one of the projects (the default one will be used in our case). Then change some of indicators maximal and minimal values – it will be needed to show the potential of Excel report. The next step to be recommended is filling the project with random values. This function also allows the report to show all its functionality by filing the project with values for the selected period of time. If you already had a chance to use time points in your project (if your project is already filled with values for different dates), it would be better for you to skip this step. Check out the article called “How to manage time points with BSC Designer” to learn more about the calendar function and time points management, it provides. To fill the project with random values, click on “Tools” button on the top menu and select “Fill with random values” sign. That is it, we have just filled our project with values for different time points within the selected period.

Now, when the project is filled up with the different values of the indicators and their parent categories, it could be presented in report. So it’s time to create the MS Excel report. Click on “Reports” button on the top menu and select “Export to MS Excel” sign. Please make sure you have MS Excel program (the part of the Microsoft Office suite) installed on your computer and registered, otherwise BSC Designer will not be able to export the information. After “Generate” button was clicked, MS Excel will be launched and the report, created by BSC Designer, will be opened. Congratulations! The report has just been created! Now every of its features will be shown and described. If you are not BSC Designer user yet and you are not able to create the report, you may download the full version of the report, described in this article.

The top field of MS Excel report with BSC Designer

The top field of the Excel report contains the basic information for the project. First of all it presents the project’s name (it is “Balanced Scorecard” in our case) and its description (in our case it is “The default project filled with random data created to show how to operate with BSC Designer software”). This information could be changed by the user manually while editing Excel file or, but also it could be changed in BSC Designer program, so this information will be exported correctly not only to MS Excel, but also to MS PowerPoint and HTML formats of reports. To change this information, open BSC Designer, click on “File” button on the top menu and select “Document Properties” sign. Then input the author’s name and type correct project’s name (for example, Financial Scorecard) instead of “Balanced Scorecard”. Press “OK” button to apply changes.

Then the report shows the performance values for the main categories and the whole project’s total performance. Please note, oppositely to other reports, showing performance values (Export to HTML, HTML report for selected item, Dashboard report for the whole project and for selected item, exporting to MS PowerPoint) MS Excel report does not ask user to select the reporting period – it shows the value only for the date, which is currently selected on the calendar (read more about the calendar function and time points management in the article: How to manage time points with BSC Designer).

Now let’s move to the “Help” field – it says: You can change the values in “weight” column, the value must be between 0 and 10; You can change the values in “Value” column; That is really one of the most important point of MS Excel report with BSC Designer – it actually could be used as an alternative tool to manage *.bsc projects. Changing the values and the weights, it will automatically recalculate the project’s performance. All the formulas to recalculate the performance already exist in the *.xls / *.xlsx file, created by BSC Designer. So the project might be operated with Excel even without using BSC Designer at all. Certainly, the functionality of using this configuration of Excel project is limited by values for indicators and weight management, but it could be enough in some cases. For example, this file could be shared with colleagues or other people involved (for example, outsourcers), who are not equipped with BSC Designer, but equipped with MS Office with MS Excel in it. Excel version of BSC Designer project, i.e. MS Excel report, does not support management of a time points and that is why the time dynamics cannot be displayed in it. We will show the example of changing values and weights directly in Excel (not BSC Designer) later, after the columns of data will be described.

The left part of the chart (the beginning)

Let’s start describing the chart, presenting one of the categories. All the columns, presented on the image are actually easy to understand: “Perspective” field shows the name of the category, “indicator” field shows the name of the indicators, “Description” field shows description for the categories and for the indicators. “Weight” column shows weight values for the elements: yellow color for the categories and green for the indicators; those values could be changed manually while editing MS Excel project, changes of weight values will cause the changes of their parent items (categories or subcategories) performance values: the more is the weight of the item (the range is from 0 to 10), the more important it appears to be for the parent category. For example, the category with the three indicators in it, having weight values of 1, 2 and 10: the changes of the first two indicators’ (weight = 1, weight = 2) values will have much less effect on the category’s performance, than any changes of the last indicator’s (weight = 10) value. “Value” column shows the values of the indicators and the calculated value of the categories. Changing the values of the indicators will affect the performance values of their parent categories and the whole project. The values, showing on this column are exact values, had been set in the BSC project (without linking to “Min” and “Max” values).

The right part of the chart (the end of it)

Continuing describing the informative chart for the category, we are moving to the right part of it. The picture presents 4 more columns. “Target Value” column shows the goal for the indicator – the ideal number, which is needed to be reached in order for company to achieve the strategic goal (or part of it), measured by the indicator. It could be minimal number for the indicator or the maximal, depending on the optimization direction (read more about optimization direction of the indicator in the article “How to manage indicators and performance values with BSC Designer”). “Target Description” column presents the information from the same field of BSC Designer Project, located on the bottom panel for every of the indicators – this information does not participate in the calculations. “Absolute Weight” column shows the coefficient of weight value of the item, referring to the whole project’s performance. The numbers here depend on both the indicator’s own weight and its parent category’s weight. This column shows technical measuring information, which is not presented in BSC Designer’s project, but it is presented here in Excel Report to give users a possibility to improve the file or to link it to some other database if needed; usually such procedure is performed by technical professionals of the company or outsourcers. One more column, presenting technical information is named “Absolute Performance”. This is an absolute value, which depends on absolute weight value of the item, its current value, minimal and maximal values and the direction of the optimization and the formula of the optimization (read more about customizing formulas for the indicators in the article “ How to build performance formula with BSC Designer ”). For example, with maximizing direction of the optimization and the standard formula of calculation, the formula of calculating Absolute Performance value will be the following: (Absolute Weight) * ( Value – Min ) / ( Max – Min ). The value, opposite to target one is also presented in the chart, it is located under unnamed column, left to “Absolute Performance” column, lettered “M” in our example. This value is minimal when the maximizing direction of optimization is selected and maximal for minimization direction of optimization.

Editing file in MS Excel

We have promised to describe how to manage values of the items and their weights in MS Excel without using BSC Designer. First of all, let’s change the weights values for the indicators of the category called “Education and Growth Perspective”. When the report was created, the weights of the indicators were the following: 2, 7, 1. Their parent category’s value with those settings was “58.13”, % and the whole project’s value was “64.92”, %. Now we will change the weight values for the indicators to 4, 6, 9 directly in MS Excel. After the new weights are input, MS Excel project recalculates the performance of the category into “69.55”, % and the performance of the whole project into: “67.20”, %. The same way we could change the values for the indicators – after new value will be added, MS Excel will recalculate the performance values of the categories and for the whole project.

Editing weights – before changing

Editing weights – after changing

Here you may download the full version of MS Excel report, which had been shown in this article to look through it or it might be even better to create your own report using BSC Designer right now!

Alternatives

As you see, MS Excel report is not just a report but a project, living is own life. BSC Designer does not just transfer its data to MS Excel but also provide users with an opportunity to change weights and values so the project’s value will be automatically recalculated. Certainly, such MS Excel project does not provide users with an important function – time points. That is why it is not going to be easy to see the dynamics of values in time, using only MS Excel. MS Excel report is unique when it comes to creating some huge database on Excel project’s base or integrating data from BSC Designer project to the existing database of the company. It sure needs lots of knowledge referring to database management and SQL computer language and only a high ranking specialist could perform this.

AKS-Labs also provides its customers with one more alternative to paid versions of the tool. The free one is called BSC Designer Light and, oppositely to MS Excel project, it allows to work with time points. This version is limited by functionality but it still could be more useful in some cases, such as: sharing the project’s data with colleagues or other people involved (for example, outsourcers), who are not equipped with paid version of BSC Designer; changing the basic aspects of project’s data and perform simple indicators and categories management (including time points management) functions without paid version of BSC Designer. There is no opportunity in BSC Designer Light to create such informative reports as HTML report, PowerPoint report, Dashboard report, available in BSC Designer Standard and BSC Designer Pro and there are more limitations of functionality (check out the full chart, presenting the difference between functionality of versions on this page).

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Reports play significant role in Balanced Scorecard system maintenance. There are lots of ways to show the information, measured by the dashboard to the one who created the exact task and knows every detail of it, but what if it comes to the need of presenting information to the investor or the shareholder, who might not know all the detail of the process?

First of all, when it comes to presentation, the first tool that comes to mind of most of MS Windows OS users is certainly MS PowerPoint, the part of the Microsoft Office suite. PowerPoint is widely used by business people, educators, students, and trainers because of its availability, simplicity and usability.

The second thing is when the tool is determined, it needs to export the information to it and in most of cases, and just copying the data from the dashboard and pasting it to PowerPoint does not make lots of sense. It sure is much better when the dashboard has its own function to export the information to PowerPoint the way, it could already be presented.

That is why BSC Designer allows the function of exporting the information to MS PowerPoint (also called “PowerPoint report”). This function could be really helpful in the following cases:

• To report about the activity’s performance to senior managers;
• To keep the report files in achieves for internal or external inspections needs;
• To make clear and informative presentations of the activity’s performance to the top management, management company as well as to shareholders and investors.

How to create MS PowerPoint Report with BSC Designer

Now let’s try to create MS PowerPoint report to see what it contains. A real example of creating MS PowerPoint report will be described and shown.

Launch BSC Designer (Standard or Pro version) and open one of the projects (the default one will be used in our case). The next step to be recommended is filling the project with random values. This function allows the reports to show all its functionality by filing the project with values for the selected period of time. If you already had a chance to use time points in your project (if your project is already filled with values for different dates), it would be better for you to skip this step. Check out the article called “How to manage time points with BSC Designer” to learn more about the calendar function and time points management, it provides. To fill the project with random values, click on “Tools” button on the top menu and select “Fill with random values” sign. All right, we have just filled our project with values for different time points within the selected period.

Now, when the project is filled up with values of indicators for different dates, the dynamics appeared for the project, so it could be presented in report. Now let’s create the PowerPoint report. Click on “Reports” button on the top menu and select “Export to MS PowerPoint” sign. The new dialog window will appear; select the reporting time period (it will be “last week” in our case) and click on “Generate” button. Please make sure you have MS PowerPoint program (the part of the Microsoft Office suite) installed on your computer and registered, otherwise BSC Designer will not be able to export the information. After “Generate” button was clicked, MS PowerPoint will be launched and the report, created by BSC Designer, will be opened. Congratulations! The report has just been created! Now every important slide of it will be described in details.

What does MS PowerPoint Report contain

Now when the report is ready let’s see what it contains and where does the information come from. Please note, if the report, created by you is not alike the one, that is shown below, it means you have an old version of BSC Designer Program. In this case, it is recommended to download the latest version of the program directly from our site and reinstall the software. The download page could be found here. Now we will start with MS PowerPoint presentation slides.

The first slide shows the general information: the name of the project reporting, the reporting time period and the author’s name. The name of the project and the author’s name could be changed manually in PowerPoint, but also it could be changed in BSC Designer program, so this information will be exported correctly not only to MS PowerPoint, but also to MS Excel and HTML formats of reports. To change this information, open BSC Designer, click on “File” button on the top menu and select “Document Properties” sign. Then input the author’s name and type correct project’s name (for example, Financial Scorecard) instead of “Balanced Scorecard”. Press “OK” button to apply changes and recreate the report (“Reports” -> “Export to MS PowerPoint”), if needed, so it could present correct information.

The second slide of the MS PowerPoint report presents the overview for the project. It actually contains the same image, the Overview Report presents (read more about Overview Report in the article: Reports with BSC Designer: Overview and Dashboard). To be short, both the Overview Report and the second slide of the MS PowerPoint report show the map of the elements (categories, subcategories and indicators), the project contains, mentioning their names and descriptions. This chart does not contain any information concerning performance values (BSC Designer and even the describing report allows several other tools to present the performance values) but shows only the overview for the project to provide better orientation and understanding the reporting project. If you want to change the information presented in this slide (or in the Overview Report), change the names and the descriptions for categories and indicators, your project contains and recreate the report (“Reports” -> “Export to MS PowerPoint”).

The third slide starts the report of the main category (the whole project; it is named “Balanced Scorecard” by default). It contains the general information concerning the performance values presented in textual format, including:

• Start Value – the value, the category had at the beginning of the reporting period;
• End Value – the value, the category had at the end of the reporting period;
• Dynamics – the difference between the Start Value and the End Value (Dynamics = End Value – Start Value).

Also there is a chart presented on the slide, which shows the performance data overview for every of the elements, included in the reporting category.

There are no maximal and minimal values in this slide because all the categories in BSC Designer are calculated within minimal value of ”0” and maximal value of “100” and the measure unit for the them can only be “%”. That does not mean you cannot select measure units at all but the functions, allowing editing performance values’ details, are available for the indicators (read more about editing performance values for the indicators in the article “How to manage KPIs using BSC Designer’s functions”). The categories, on the other hand, are aimed to automatically calculate the performance of the indicators and subcategories they include and show this information in a form of a point in the range from 0 percent to 100 percent.

The next slide continues the report of the main category. It presents the time performance chart for the category within the reporting period. More information about the time chart could be found in the article “How to visualize data with BSC Designer: diagrams and charts”. Time chart clearly shows the dynamics of the category’s performance and looks much more presentable, then just digits.

As for the colors of borders, they could be green, yellow and red. “Good” performance values area is marked with green light, red area is for “bad” performance and yellow area shows that the performance is not “bad” already but is not yet “good”. Certainly both “bad” and “good” terms have their own performance percentage value. By default, green area are covers the graph within the interval of 80 – 100, %%, yellow color is for 21 – 79, %% and red colored area covers the graph within the interval of 0 – 20, %%. Those boarders could be changed by the user, find out how to do this in the paragraph named “Stop Lights” of the article “ How to visualize data with BSC Designer: signal icons ”.

This slide finishes the report for the main category with the second graph, presented for it – the gauge diagram. This slide is also aimed to present the information for the category’s performance value in a form of understandable image, to make it more clear and presentable. Definitely, Gauge diagram shows the percentage of performance value for any item of the tree (both the categories and the indicators). The hand shows current performance value (End Value of reporting period to be exact) comparing to “min” (the left starting point; it is 0 percent in our case) and “max” (the right finishing point; it is 100 percent in our case) values. Read more about Gauge diagram in the article: “Gauge diagram added! HTML reports updated!” The colors boarders of gauge diagram could be managed the same way as it was described above.

This slide is an overview for the part of report, presenting one of the indicators value. Just like the same slide for the category, this one contains Start Value, End Value and Dynamics. But the indicator’s slide also shows: Score (the value of the indicator, measured with its own measure units without referring to determined minimal and maximal values), “Min” and “Max” values (oppositely to categories, indicators might have any minimal and maximal values set by the user), “Parent” field (shows the category or subcategory, which is parent for the indicator), Measure unit (it could be %, Score or any other measure unit added and selected by the user), Optimization method (also called Optimization Direction: shows the direction, the indicator’s value aims to; read more about optimization directions for the indicators in the article “ How to manage indicators and performance values with BSC Designer ”) There are also time performance chart and gauge diagram slides, presented in MS PowerPoint report for indicators. We won’t describe them in detail, because they are almost the same as for the categories.

Here you may download the full version of MS PowerPoint report, which had been shown in this article to look through it or it might be even better to create your own report using BSC Designer right now!

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According to our surveys, one of the most important BSC Designer’s functions for our clients is reporting. Visualizing data and exporting it into convenient format makes it possible for employees to easily present the information to the higher level of management as well as to investors and shareholders. The latest version of the tool allows users to create: several types of HTML – based reports (Export to HTML, HTML report for selected item, Overview report, Dashboard report for the whole project and for selected item, Strategy Map report), MS Excel report and MS Power Point report. Common HTML report is already available for BSC Designer Standard. In the previous article called “Reports with BSC Designer” a common HTML report was described; it actually is still available in BSC Designer Standard and Pro. But now BSC Designer Pro allows to customize this report using its special HTML Report Builder.

But our program’s development had not stopped on this wide range but created feature to improve the tool’s report functioning even more!

We are glad to introduce you the function of customizing the HTML report! Now with BSC Designer Pro you are available to:

• Set maximal number of characters in description length for Overview report (so even long element’s descriptions will fit to the Overview report);
• Select the location of graphs, presented in HTML report separately for categories and for indicators (select between placing graphs in one or two columns; you can choose different orders for categories and for indicators);
• Select what types of graphs to present in HTML report separately for categories and for indicators (select the order of different types of graphs placement and specify what exact types of graphs you need to present data separately for categories and for indicators).

How to work with Report settings (Report builder)

Let’s see how to set up reports using BSC Designer Pro. A real example of creating HTML reports, which are set up in different ways will be described and shown.

Launch BSC Designer Pro and open one of the projects (the default one will be used in our case). The next step to be recommended is filling the project with random values. This function allows the reports to show all its functionality by filing the project with values for the selected period of time. If you already had a chance to use time points in your project (if your project is already filled with values for different dates), it would be better for you to skip this step. Check out the article called “How to manage time points with BSC Designer” to learn more about the calendar function and time points management, it provides. To fill the project with random values, click on “Tools” button on the top menu and select “Fill with random values” sign. All right, we have just filled our project with values for different time points within the selected period.

When we have got values of indicators for different dates, the dynamics appeared for the project, so it could be presented in report. Now let’s try to create HTML report without changing anything in report settings. Click on “Reports” button on the top menu and select “Export to HTML” sign. The new dialog window will appear; select a time period of one week and make the report advanced. Check out the article called “Reports with BSC Designer” to learn how to work with pre-settings of the HTML report and what every option presented here actually mean. Opening the report, which has just been created, we will see HTML file, which includes information for all the elements starting with Balanced Scorecard (the whole project) and finishing with the indicators. As for graphs, presented in this report, we will see the following:

Diamond diagram, Time chart, Pie diagram and Absolute Weight chart
are presented for the categories

Time chart, Optimization chart, Absolute Weight chart and Gauge diagram
are presented for the indicators

Here you may check out the full report for the default project filled with random values and time points with default HTML report settings.

Opening Report Builder

But using Report Builder, available in BSC Designer Pro, we can now change the order of placement and the types of graphs appeared in the HTML report! To enter the Builder click on “Reports” button on the top menu and select “Report Options” sign. The following window will appear:

Report builder of BSC Designer Pro, default configuration

The configuration, the Report Builder shows when you open it for the first time, is default one. According to these settings, the previous HTML report was created and it also is the only configuration, available in BSC Designer Standard (Standard version does not include this Builder).

Now the builder options will be described and the examples of different configurations will be shown.

“Max description length in Overview Report” option

“Max description length in Overview Report” option does not change HTML report somehow – its purpose is to make an Overview report (find more information about Overview Report in the article “Reports with BSC Designer: Overview and Dashboard”) to present all the text of descriptions for project tree elements (both the categories and the indicators). The number, you will input to this field, will be the maximal number of characters of description, presented in Overview Report.

Let’s try to change max description length in Overview report so such description as “All the financial and accounting related data, showing the financial situation in company. The values of indicators of this category help informing the answer to the question “How do we look to shareholders?” for the category named “Financial Perspective” will fit in Overview report. Our example for description contains 196 characters, when the default configuration is set up to maximum of 80 characters. Input “196” (or bigger number) instead of “80” into “Max description length in Overview Report” field in the Report Options dialog field and click “OK” button to apply changes. Now let’s try to create the Overview report (“Reports” -> “Overview Report”), all the description text should now be presented:

Overview report now presents all the description’s text

Here you may check out the full version of the Overview Report for the project.

1 or 2 columns placement

The choice between 1 column and 2 columns placement is a choice of the order for graphs to be placed in HTML report. By default it is configured for the two columns placement (which could be more convenient to view on a computer’s display) but it could be changed to one column placement (which could be more convenient to view in printing version or in some other cases). As you can see on the image above, there are separated options for categories and for indicators, so you are able to select one column placement for categories but two columns placement for indicators or otherwise. Customize the appearance of graphs, presented for elements in the HTML report the way, you actually want!

Let’s change the order of graphs placement this way: leaving 2 columns placement for the indicators but selecting 1 column placement for the categories. Click on “OK” button in the Report Options dialog field to apply changes and create HTML report (“Reports” -> “Export to HTML”).

Configuration of HTML Report with different orders of graphs placement for the categories and the indicators

Charts placement order for the categories have been changed, it is now 1 columns placement order

Charts placement order for the indicators have not been changed, it is still 2 columns placement

Here you may check out the full version of the HTML Report for the default project, filled with random data and time points, with Report Option configured this way.

Selecting types of graphs and the order of diagrams and graphs appearance

The most useful function, Report Builder provides is selecting types of diagram to appear in reports. Actually at the moment the tool offers 6 diagrams and charts to present different aspects of project’s data. Find more details about any of the diagrams in the articles: “How to visualize data with BSC Designer: diagrams and charts (Part 1 and Part 2)” and “Gauge diagram added! HTML reports updated!”. Here we will just mention the list of the diagrams and charts available in BSC Designer:

• Time chart presents data both for the categories and for the indicators. Available in both Standard and Pro BSC Designer versions;
• Optimization chart presents data only for the indicators. Available in both Standard and Pro BSC Designer versions;
• Pie diagram presents data both for the categories and for the indicators. Available only in BSC Designer Pro version;
• Absolute Weight chart presents data both for the categories and for the indicators. Available only in BSC Designer Pro version;
• Gauge diagram presents data both for the categories and for the indicators. Available only in BSC Designer Pro version;
• Diamond Chart presents data only for categories, which include at least three elements (indicators or subcategories). Available in both Standard and Pro BSC Designer versions.

Now let’s reconfigure the HTML report so it could show some other types of diagrams and charts, than it was with the default settings. Open the Report Builder (“Reports” -> “Report Options”) and select some types of diagrams and charts separately for the ceategories and for the indicators. Let it be Pie diagram, Time chart, Optimization chart and Gauge diagram for indicators and Diamond chart, Time chart, Absolute Weight chart and Gauge diagram for the categories. When the types of diagrams and charts are selected, click “OK” button to apply changes. After the configuration is applied, create the HTML report to see how it looks (“Reports” -> “Export to HTML”).

Configuration of HTML Report with different types of graphs appearance for the categories and the indicators

The HTML report, created with this Builder configuration: graphs for the categories

The HTML report, created with this Builder configuration: graphs for the indicators

Here you may check out the full version of the HTML Report for the default project, filled with random data and time points, with Report Option configured this way.

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Setting up cascading using “Delegate” function

In a previous article called “Cascading process in company with BSC Designer” it was described how to set cascading using “Imported indicator” function. But now let’s try to perform the same thing using “delegation” function in order to show that it is much easier when upper managers create the task (category with any number of indicators) and just delegate it right away, but not describe how to build an indicator and only after that import it from worker’s project. The introduction of “delegate” function could be found here. Certainly importing function could still be performed in some cases, when it appears to be more convenient.

What is our example company

Our example for company will be the same as in previous article. Its structure consists of Chief Executive Officer (CEO), two Vice-Presidents (VPs) and two Specialists (SCs). Every company’s member has their own BSC project as well as BSC Designer licensed copy installed on their computer. Now we do not need to start with the lowest level (SCs), but CEO as a head of the company will give orders and delegate them to their people. Our example will be created on the only one computer but practically it cascading could be set via local network as well as via the Internet. It seems everything is ready so let’s start!

The plan of cascading

Before starting to perform the linking between the *.bsc projects, it needs a plan of cascading to be created. The management structure of our example for a small company is clear, it goes this way:

The hierarchy of our example company

But in order to show the logic of cascading in detail it needs some kind of dashboard for every unit, linked with each other according to the logic presented above. The following picture will present the example of how could those dashboards be linked with each other: managers have some tasks to be operated on their own and some tasks they are delegating to the lower levels of the hierarchy to perform the control. This example is based on random information but it could be close to real practical examples of company’s activities structure. So here the plan for cascading is:

The linking between dashboards

The plan is ready and the position of every element is determined as well as the directions of linking. The roles and the dashboards (the *.bsc projects) for every unit of this structure will be described one by one in the following paragraphs.

CEO (the highest level)

As a head of the company CEO needs to monitor their VPs’ indicators values and to see the overall statistics and performance values for the whole company’s project. Sure the leader’s role is not to create the detailed tasks for all the hierarchy levels but he or she needs to set the strategic goals to their VPs so they could set up more detailed tasks for the specialists (SCs).

CEO’s project consists of the four elements (categories in BSC Designer). It sure could be the four perspectives (according to the original theory by Kaplan and Norton, read more in the article “What is Balanced Scorecard concept: the four perspectives”) but in our example it will be just numbers of activities to abstract from the system of management and focus on the logic of BSC Designer program. In our example one of the activities CEO will perform by himself, it will be called “SELF” in the dashboard. The three other items will be delegated to their VPs so CEO could receive up to date information of the performance and monitor the dynamics of values. One of the activities will be delegated to VP1 and two of them will be delegated to VP2.

Now let’s create the project for CEO. Open BSC Designer PRO and start a new project (“Ctrl” + “N” buttons on the keyboard). Since the head of the company needs to have the overall view of all the company’s tree, let’s name their BSC project as “The whole company’s scorecard”. Click on “File” button on the top menu and select “Document Properties” sign. Then input the project’s custom name instead of “Balanced Scorecard” in the new dialog window. Here you may also add description for the whole project and author’s name but it is not actually needed for our example. Now it needs the four categories to be added named 1, 2, 3 and 4. Click on “Strategy Tree” button on the top menu and select “New sub category” four times to add the four categories. These categories might also contain indicators. To add indicators, click on “Strategy Tree” button on the top menu and select “New indicator” sign. Now when the categories and indicators are ready it needs them to be delegated to VPs’ projects. To perform delegation, select the category (let’s start with the first one according to our pan) and right click on it. Select “Delegate with indicators” sign in the pop-up menu. The program will ask to select the pass for the *.bsc project, where to delegate the category. If we had VP1’s project ready we could select the path for it and the category would be added to its tree. But in our case, the project does not exist, so it will be created by the program automatically when the name of the file will be input. So let’s input the name VP1 so the new project (VP1.bsc) will be created and will already contain the category delegated from CEO. Then let’s continue setting linking: the categories named “2” and “3” are needed to be delegate to VP2’s dashboard. Perform the similar actions as for the first delegated category, with the only difference in the name of file to export categories – it needs to be VP2.bsc instead of VP1.bsc. The fourth category will be left for CEO and will not be delegated according to the plan. That is it; here is our CEO’s project:

CEO’s project

VPs

VP1

In the hierarchy of our example company VP1 is the head of SC1 and their boss is CEO. That is why, at first, VP1 need to report CEO using the category that has been delegated to their project. The second responsibility of VP1 is to perform the operational activity (item called “SELF” in the dashboard). The third function is giving tasks to specialists (SCs) and performing monitoring of the dynamics of these tasks. While working VP1 could collect and analyze the information from the lower level as well as the data of their own indicators, and then report the overall knowledge to the boss.

According to the plan, VP1 has 4 activities in the dashboard. The first one is the task delegated by CEO, the second one is own operational task and the two last elements are the tasks for the lower level of company’s hierarchy. If the first category in CEO’s project would be the Financial Perspective, VP1 could be a Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and SC1 could be an accountant.

The BSC Designer’s project for VP1 has already been created, when CEO performed delegation of the first category. So now it needs to be opened. Let’s name the project (not file!) somehow, for example “The First Vice President’s project”. Now it needs three categories to be added (the first one already exists). The second category will be named “SELF”, the two last categories – “Task 1” and “Task 2” just like it is shown on the image. The indicators could also be added for every category. Now let’s perform the linking between VP1 and SC1. “Tasks 1” and “Task 2” are needed to be delegated to the file named SC1.bsc one by one. Since the file does not exist, it will be automatically created by the program just like the file, we are working under, had been created when CEO delegated the category called “1”.

VP1.bsc project’s tree

VP2

The role of the second VP is mostly similar to the role of the first one. The only difference is that VP2 has more than one task to perform and more than one delegated activity. Also VP2 has a task to delegate to the lower level (SC2 in this case) just like VP1 does. So this dashboard contains 5 elements: the first two of them are delegated from boss, the second two ones are operation task of their own and the last one needs to be delegated to SC2. According to the image of the planned structure above and the logic of the first VP, the project called VP2.bsc should turn out this way:

VP2.bsc project’s tree

SCs

Specialists as a lowest level of the hierarchy of our example company do not have any tasks to delegate. But they need to perform reporting to the higher levels (VPs). The connection had already been established while creating the projects for VPs. That means, the linking already works and SCs just need to input up to date information into the category, delegated from VPs. Also SCs have their own operational tasks to perform which are called “SELF” in their dashboards.

BSC projects for both SC1 and SC2 already exist and contain tasks, delegated to them from their bosses – VPs (VP1 –> SC1 and VP2 -> SC2). That is why we need to name their projects and fill it with tasks of their own. Three more categories are needed to be added to SC1.bsc and just one category is needed to be added to SC2.bsc. Also several indicators could be added to any of these categories. As a result we should have such BSC Designer’s projects for our SCs:

SC1.bsc project’s tree

SC2.bsc project’s tree

Conclusion

Now the cascading is established and could start functioning at any time. Also, knowing the logic of creating such group of projects and the algorithm of establishing connection between them, it should not be a problem anymore to set up a fast, stable linking between employees according to the structure of company’s hierarchy. Having several copies of BSC Designer it now needs just several clicks to delegate the function and then get up-to-date information of the indicator’s performance value as long as it is needed. Saving time to establishing connection could be a good factor to improve the performance by spending this time to some much more important activity.

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As it is known, Balanced Scorecard concept stands not only for the perspectives and measurements but also for the fast and uninterrupted communications between staff members all over the company. One of the most important communication functions is establishing cascading within the company. The linking process between company’s users needs to be performed as fast as possible and that is why any Business Intelligence software contains a module of importing and exporting tasks between staff members.

Referring to BSC Designer, it certainly provides cascading tools but in earlier versions it had just “imported indicator” function which could only import tasks but not to export them. A description of how to set up cascading within the company using “imported indicator” function might be found in the article “Cascading process in company with BSC Designer”. Also the description of this instrument itself might be found in the article “How to manage data sources with BSC Designer”.

Practically, most of the companies have top – bottom direction of management hierarchy. According to the original Balanced Scorecard concept it is absolutely logical because the strategic level knows exactly the situation with strategy and gives objective strategic goal to the operational level. Only then the strategic goal translates into detailed tasks for specialists. It means the need of managers to have an opportunity to delegate tasks to lower hierarchy level staff.

The latest version of BSC Designer software product now allows delegation via the new tools called “Delegate category” and “Delegate as a project”. It is an easy to operate and really useful function aimed to set up top to bottom cascading directly. Now every manager might set tasks for the specialists or managers he or she stands under in hierarchy as well as CEO might set tasks and delegate responsibilities to their vice precedents.

“Delegate as a project” function with BSC Designer

How to update Balanced ScoreCard Designer program

Please make sure you have the latest version of the program to use “Delegate” function. This function might work correctly in BSC projects only if the *.bsc file was created by the new version of BSC Designer. It might happen that files created by older versions could not present the information of delegated categories correctly.

Current users need to download BSC Designer installer and overwrite the software. No system’s reboot is needed. After the installation is done run the program and use all new functions and features!

Not a user yet? Well join us by downloading a full function software product and use it 30 days long for free! After that the program’s license might be bought.

How to set up cascading using new function

The new function provides new ways of setting up cascading within the company. Read the article “Improved cascading with BSC Designer PRO” to learn how to use “Delegate” function and how to set up the linking process between employees according to the hierarchy of the company.

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What exporting functions allowed in BSC Designer

Continuing articles referring to reports with BCS Designer program more types are to be described. Previous article “Reports with BSC Designer” presented common HTLM reports but there are also several ways to export BSC project’s information in order to keep it or present it to someone.

The following functions referring to reports will be described in this article:

• Overview report function;
• Dashboard report function;
• Dashboard report for selected item function;

Overview report

Oppositely to common “HTML report” function overview report does not show any values. Its aim is to visualize project’s tree with descriptions for every element. Overview HTML document presents easy to understand diagram with all tree’s elements noticed and described. Description for elements might be input by the user (read more about descriptions in the article “How to manage KPIs using BSC Designer’s functions”). Overview report might be useful to gain overall knowledge on what the balanced scorecard project stands for, how to operate with it. Executive managers performing overall monitoring as well as shareholders and investors could find this type of report very helpful.

Note! How to change the whole project’s description

It is known from our previous articles where to fild description field for such items as categories and indicators. But the way to change description for the whole project is different. In order to do it click on “File” button on the top menu and  select “Document properties” sign. New dialog window will appear with the following fields. Find “Description” field and type or paste the project’s information. Aslo “Author” field might be filled with project’s creator’s name and position and “Name” field might be overwrited in order to change project’s name in tree and reports. After that press “OK” button to save changes.

Document’s properties dialog field

It does not matter for “Overview report” function what element is actually selected in a tree because it works with the whole project. In order to perform create this type of report click on “Report” button of the top menu and choose “Overview report” sign. The document appeared as a result of this function’s performing is not sophisticated so no program’s settings dialog window will appear. System’s dialog window will ask you to select the file’s path. It is recommended to use names written in English in order to prevent any errors, for example: “overview.html”. After the file is saved it might be opened by any web browser or sent to anyone via email. Pay attention to send web page’s source folder along with *.html file itself for all images to be viewed correctly.

The whole project’s overview HTML report

Dashboard report

Dashboard report is an alternative to common HTML report (described in previous article “Reports with BSC Designer”). It is also based on hyper text format language and could be viewed and sent the same way as HTML report but has some differences inside. One of the main differences is “Diamond” diagram usage instead of “Time” chart. As it was noticed in the article “How to visualize data with BSC Designer: diagrams and charts (Part2)” diamond chart works only with elements that contain at least 3 sub elements inside. That is why if any category does not have at least three indicators inside the following sign will appear in the report: “Diamond type chart is available for 3 and more sub items”. It does not mean the report will not be created but it will just not be able to show diagram’s image for those elements.

Not enough sub categories sign

Dashboard report might be used in the same cases as common HTML reports. It could be sent to a higher manager to show the current working progress as well as to investors and shareholders to present current company’s performance values. Surely it is up to program’s user what type of report needs to be used in different situations and for different purposes. While common HTML report aims to present the performance’s dynamics which might be interesting for shareholders dashboard report is referring to the current project’s performance values which might suite better for executive officer.

In order to perform dashboard reporting function click on “Reports” button in the top menu and select “Dashboard report” sign. Then select the date to report in new dialog window appeared. After that system’s dialog window will appear asking to select the file’s path. When the file is saved it might be opened by any web browser or sent to anyone via email as well as any other HTML based report.

Dashboard HTML report for the whole project (part of it)

Dashboard report for selected item

Dashboard reports are able to present not only overall project but one of the items selected in a tree as well. Any sub category could be selected and reported using “Dashboard report for selected item” function. Dashboard report does not work for indicators because of “Diamond” diagram usage in it. This function might be used in order to report any performance values but not the whole project. For example dashboard report for the “Financial perspective” category will present textual data and graphs for this category and for every element it includes.

In order to perform dashboard reporting for selected item function click on “Report” button of the top menu and choose “Dashboard report for selected item” sign. The second step is to select the date to be reported in new dialog window appeared. Then select file’s path in system’s dialog window appeared. After that the report will be created and ready to be viewed or sent to anyone.

Dashboard HTML report for one of the categories (part of it)

Other report types

To fill the list of reports available with BSC Designer software product several more reporting functions are to be noticed. There are common HTML reports among them that were described in previous articles as well as some other types that are going to be described in coming soon how to articles. It is certain that the range of reports using BSC Designer is really wide.

The full list of other reporting functions is:

• Export to HTML function;
• HTML report for selected item function;
• Export to MS Excel function;
• Export to MS Power Point function;
• Strategy map report function.

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We are happy to present a new diagram in BSC Designer program called “Gauge”. It is now available in diagrams and charts dialog field. Learn more about diagrams and charts in the article “How to visualize data with BSC Designer: diagrams and charts” (First part, Second part).
Also now the current “Time” diagram is filled with basic colors showing the performance rate’s level.

What Gauge diagram shows

Gauge diagram shows the percentage of performance value for any item in the tree (indicators, sub categories and the whole project). The hand shows current performance values at the moment comparing to “min” (the left starting point) and “max” (the right finishing point) values.

To select gauge diagram turn all diagrams on at first. In order to perform this run BSC Designer and click on “Chart Options” button right under chats dialog field. After a new dialog window appears mark every diagram type. Now click “OK” button to save changes. Now when all the diagrams had been turned on select “Gauge” tab in chats dialog field.

Gauge diagram for one of the indicators

Red, yellow and green colors mean the same as stop lights’ colors. Read more about stop lights in the article “How to visualize data with BSC Designer: signal icons“. As for colors’ borders it could be changed the same way as stop lights’ colors intervals. In order to manage color intervals click on “Tools” -> “Stop lights” and select “Options” sign. A new dialog window will appear with two lines – one for Red light and one for Green. Drag sliders in both lines until the needed interval is chosen.

Colors’ intervals management dialog field

“Time” chart is now colorized too!

Such tool and “Time” chart is now colorized using three basic colors. This update aims to make the graph easier to understand and monitor. Since color’s borders are set by the user it is now so easy to notice when some indicator or category does not suit company’s plan. For example the critical percentage value could be set on 50 percent. Now all the values under this border will be red colored so it will help manager to notice what exact indicators or categories for what exact dates he or she is not satisfied with. Oppositely green color might help manager to notice what specialists had made great job in some period of time and need to be awarded.

“Time” chart’s new look

HTML reports’ new look

HTML reports is a common type of reports in BSC Designer. Read more about HTML reports is the article “Reports with BSC Designer“. Advanced HTML reports now present not only “Time” chart but also “Gauge” diagram. This diagram’s usage in reports might help for better understanding presented information by visualizing not only time progress but also current values comparing to minimal and maximal borders. Colorized visualization might be especially useful while presenting reports to persons without special knowledge about balanced scorecard and Business Intelligence concepts like shareholders and investors.

HTML reports’ new look (the first part of it)

HTML reports’ new look (the second part of it)

How to update Balanced ScoreCard Designer program

Current users need to download BSC Designer installer and overwrite the software. No system’s reboot is needed. After the installation is done run the program and use all new functions and features!

Not a user yet? Well join us by downloading a full function software product and use it 30 days long for free! After that the program’s license might be bought.

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Intro

There are many ways for performance values in BSC Designer’s project to be visualized. Most of them were described in the article “How to visualize data with BSC Designer: diagrams and charts”. Specific diagrams and charts are good for executive managers and sometimes specialists but what about people like shareholders and investors who need to be reported about company’s progress rate? Reports might also be needed for company’s members to inform higher level managers. Reports for indicators and categories could also be used as detail information source to be analyzed and monitored.

BSC Designer software offers a wide range of report types. It could be several kinds of html reports differing by its detail presentation and data sources; also information might be exported into MS Excel and MS Power Point. With help of the program’s report functions it could be so easy to ctreate understandable materials to make presentations and reports.

HTML Reports

HTML is a good format to present both text and image information in one file. Also HTML files could be easily sent via email. All this makes HTML one of the most popular formats for reporting.

This article will describe the following kind of HTML reports functions allowed in BSC Designer:

• Export to HTML function;
• Report for selected item function.

Note!

Make sure you are experimenting on scorecard with various values for various time points. It is recommended to perform “Fill with random values” function before studying how to make reports. You may read more about this function in the article “How to manage data sources with BSC Designer”. When the project is filled with values no errors will appear while reporting and it is better for understanding the logic of reports as well.

Export to HTML function

Exporting to HTML function creates a document describing the whole project’s values. According to the type of HTML report this document could also include charts and diagrams, details for indicators and other properties and visualization tools.

To perform this function click on “Reports” button in the top menu and select “Export to HTML” sign. The new dialog window will appear asking to select report’s settings. Let’s see what exact parameters HTML report might have.

Report’s settings dialong window

Select report period field

“Period” field allows selecting time period (before the selected date) that needs to be reported. It could be last week, last month and last year. But also it could be a custom period selected by user in “From” field.

Report Types

There are three HTML report types in BSC Designer differing by details usage:

• “Mini” report contains an organized text charts presenting such parameters as Name, Start value, End value, Dynamic and few more for every element of Balanced Scorecard project;
• “Standard” report shows everything what “Mini” version has in it, but also it presents time graphs showing dynamics for every item in the tree;
• “Advanced” report equals “Standard” version plus chart showing exact values of an item for every date within selected period of time.

How to save and view report

After all settings had been selected click on “Generate” button and select file’s path and name. It is recommended to use names written in English in order to prevent any errors. After the file is saved it might be opened using any web browser or sent to anyone via email. Pay attention to send web page’s source folder along with *.html file itself for all media to be viewed.

An example for Advanced HTML report (part of it)

Report for selected item function

HTML reports could present not only overall project but one of the items selected in a tree. Any indicator or sub category could be selected and reported. In order to make report for the selected item click on “Report” button of the top menu and choose “Report for selected item” sign. After that the same dialog window as for “Export to HTML” function will appear. Select time period and the type of report and save the file. The feature of “Report for selected item” function is that all child items in the tree for the selected one are presented as well. For example HTML report for category will include every indicators and sub categories (with its indicators) it has inside. Logically “Export to HTML” function is a particular case of “Report for selected item” function with Balanced Scorecard (the whole project) item selected in the tree.

Report for one of the categories (Financial Perspective)

Other report types

There are also other types of reports available in BSC Designer software product. More articles aimed to describe the following program’s functions referring to reports are coming soon:

• Overview report function;
• Dashboard report function;
• Dashboard report for selected item function;
• Export to MS Excel function;
• Export to MS Power Point function;
• Strategy map Report function.

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Intro

Business organization is a complex structure with its own hierarchy, strategy and plan. It is certain that the linking process between management and specialists is required to be performed perfectly. Business intelligence concept aims to optimize process of company’s management so any BI corporation software should perform the linking process between its users. BSC Designer allows the cascading via one of it tools called “Import Indicator”. A common description of this instrument could be found in the article “How to manage data sources with BSC Designer”.

Basic project

Let’s see how the linking process could be executed in a company. As an example a simple project with few categories and indicators will be needed. Those who had read all ours “how to…” articles may take the project created (and filled with data) there as an educational supply element. But also this project could be created manually.

Basic project’s tree

What is our example company?

Our company’s structure consists of Chief Executive Officer (CEO), two Vice-Presidents (VPs) and two Specialists (SCs). Every company’s member has their own BSC project as well as BSC Designer licensed copy installed on their computer. In order cascading to work properly users’ projects will be filled with info and set starting with the lowest level (SCs) and finishing with the highest level (CEO).

Specialists

Each of two specialists in our company will be responsible for one indicator. Let it be “Number of products manufactured” KPI in category of “Internal process perspective” for the first specialist (SC1) and “Cash flow” KPI in category called “Financial perspective” for the second specialist (SC2). It is no need for the specialists to have other indicators and categories in their projects so everything they are not responsible for will be deleted.

SC1’s BSC project

In order to build the project for SC1 open (“File” -> “Open” or type Ctrl + “O” buttons) the basic BSC project and delete everything except “Internal process perspective” category with the only indicator in it called “Number of products manufactured”. That will be the project for SC1. Save it as “SC1.bsc” file by clicking on “File” -> “Save as”.

SC1’s proect’s tree

SC2’s BSC project

For the second specialist their project will be created using the same logic. After opening the basic BSC project find “Cash flow” performance indicator located in “Financial perspective” category. Now delete every category and indicator except those that noticed before. Remember that SC2 does not hare its responsibilities with SC1 so “Number of products manufactured” KPI should be deleted as well. Save the file as “SC2.bsc”.

SC2’s proect’s tree

Vice-Presidents

Vice-presidents being managers have not only key performance indicators they are responsible for, but also have to perform monitoring process. Our example company has two VPs. Let each of them be responsible for several indicators and monitor one of the specialists. To make it simple VP1 will monitor SC1 and VP2 will monitor SC2. Also VP1 will be responsible for “Complains number” KPI in “Customer perspective” category and VP2 will be responsible for “Illness rate” KPI in “Innovation and learning perspective” category.

VP1’s BSC project

The logic here is a bit more sophisticated than in previous projects. As it was done before the basic project needs to be opened and all the elements except “Complains number” KPI in “Customer perspective” category should be deleted. BUT! Since VP1 is monitoring SC1, the SC1’s indicator should be imported to VP1 project. Surely the indicator is coming along with category it is related to. Now import “Number of products manufactured” KPI into “Internal process perspective” category. After that all the changes had been applied to SC1.bsc will be shown in manager’s project. Save the project’s file as “VP1.bsc”.

VP1’s proect’s tree

VP2’s BSC project

The second Vice-President is monitoring SC2’s project and has his own responsibility named “Illness rate”. That is why the base project should be configured this way:

• “Internal process perspective” and “Customer perspective” categories should be deleted;
• “Innovation and learning perspective” category with “Illness rate” KPI in it should be left;
• Indicator called “Cash flow” in “Financial perspective” category should be replaced by the same indicator imported from “SC2.bsc” file;
• “File” – “Save as”. Input “VP2.bsc“.

VP2’s proect’s tree

CEO

At least CEO as a head of executive managers needs to monitor all the values and to see the overall statistics and performance values for the whole company’s project. But sometimes CEO needs to perform some tasks. Let it be “Return on investment” calculation indicator in “Financial perspective” category that CEO is directly responsible for.

CEO’s BSC project

In order to create CEO’s BSC project open basic file and perform the following actions:

• In “Financial perspective” category leave “Return on investment” indicator as it actually is;
• Replace all other KPIs by the same name indicators from VP1.bsc and VP2.bsc files;
• “File” – “Save as”. Input “CEO.bsc“.

CEO’s proect’s tree

Conclusion

That is how projects’ linking works in a company with BSC Designer installed. When SCs are updating their indicators this information comes to upper level (VPs) and VPs corrections and own indicators values are coming into CEOs project to be viewed by the head of the company.

Our example is very simple but it could be a good educational supply element helping our clients to understand and perform the logic of balanced scorecard project’s linking within the organization.

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Date Sources

An important feature to be described is data sources management. It is common for a company to have several documents and databases for every corporate strategy direction. BSC Designer software product aims to be the main instrument for business management so it allows several ways of information from different sources to be imported. This article will present a few common ways of data import but it is also possible to add some more features for some specific request from our current and potentional users. We would like to get feedback and answer all of your questions. You could contact us using this page.

This how-to article is related to:

• “Fill with random values” function;
• “Import Indicator” feature.

Also there is one more tool aimed to manage data sources with BSC Designer called “SQL indicator”. But it will be described in special article that is coming soon.

“Fill with random values” function

While the process of study is being processed “Fill with random values” function could be helpful. It fills the project with random values including time points and performance values. The project filled with those values could be a good educational supply element to study how to work with BSC Designer. Browsing functions and features of such powerful software it is much easier to perform this simple function instead of filling the project with some values manually.
In order to perform “Fill with random values” function click on “Tools” button of the top menu and select “Fill with random values” sign. Congratulation! We have just filled our project with values!

“Fill with random values” function

“Import Indicator” feature

One of the best instruments to manage data is “Import Indicator” feature. This function is used to import indicators from some other BSC Designer’s project. With help of this function also linking projects between each other could be performed. It is an easy to use function that opens other project’s tree and allows selecting the proper indicator to be imported. Since both files are *.bsc there will be no problem with syntax of data.

In order to import indicator from other BSC Designer project click on “Strategy Tree” button on the top menu and select “Import Indicator” sign. New dialog window will appear with 3 tabs in it: “From File”, “HTTP”, “FTP”. Now select *.bsc file’s location by clicking on “Select” button using the tab you need. After that look at “Step 2” field and click on “Select” button there in order to choose the proper indicator to be imported. After the indicator is selected press “OK” button to finish the process of importing. Here it is! New indicator is added and it is written with italics font.

Imorting indicator dialog window

Selecting indicator to be imported

Projects linking process is performed automatically. When exporting balance scorecard project file is changed by its owner, the importing project will be updated as well. Surely the only imported indicators will be changed. The process of projects’ linking in company will be fully described in future articles using examples and screenshots.

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