BSC Designer – Balanced Scorecard Software

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.

Expert_KPI Articles, Features, Screenshots

• The articles was moved to Cascading with BSC Designer.

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.

Expert_KPI Articles, Features, Screenshots

“Import Indicator” feature is used to import indicators from external Balanced Scorecard project.

• 3 Different Ways to Import Data in BSC Designer
• Learn more about imported indicators in BSC Designer manual

Linking to external scorecard

In order to import indicator from other BSC Designer project follow these steps:

1. Select “Import Indicator” command. Select “Import Indicator” command in “Strategy Tree” main menu.  New dialog window will appear with 3 tabs in it: “From File”, “HTTP”, “FTP”.

2. Select .bsc source project. Click “Select” button to find the source balanced scorecard project. Note: you can access projects located on hard disk, in local network, at HTTP or FTP server:

3. Select indicator to be imported. After that have look at “Step 2” field and click on “Select” button there in order to choose the proper indicator to be imported:

Selected indicator will appear in the “Name of imported item” text box:

Click “Test connection” button to make sure that all settings were specified properly.

4. Click OK to finalize import. After the indicator is selected press “OK” button to finish the process of importing.

5. Results of import. Here it is! New indicator is added and it is written in the indicators tree with italics font:

Projects linking process is performed automatically. When source balance scorecard project file is changed by its owner, the imported indicator will be updated as well.

• Learn more about imported indicators in BSC Designer manual

Other means to enter data:

• Importing data values
• SQL indicators

Expert_KPI Articles, Features, Screenshots

Intro

This is the second part of the article “How to visualize data with BSC Designer: diagrams and charts”. The beginning might be found here.

The following part will describe three charts and diagrams:

• Pie Chart
• Absolute weights chart
• Diamond diagram

Pie Chart

As it is known pie chart is a circular graph divided into sectors, illustrating percents. In BSC Designer pie chart performs visualization of such information as current performance values. This simple circle graph shows the performing percentage for the whole project as well as for categories. Viewing this chart it becomes right clear what exactly component makes business project stronger and weaker. Such factor as weight value does not have influence on pie chart. The only message of pie diagram is to show the current performance. In order pie chart to be shown select “Pie” tab of diagrams and charts dialog field.

Pie diagram for the whole project

Absolute weights chart

Every category and indicator in the project’s tree has its own weight. While new data is coming into the BSC project (like indicator values updating) it calculates performance values automatically but sometimes it could be helpful to look at the elements weights visualized in graph. Absolute weight chart shows categories and indicators weight values according to the project. For the whole project this graph will show exact categories values were typed by the user but for the category indicators values will be shown according to their influence on the project. For example the indicator with weight value of “5” located in the category with value of “8” will have an absolute weight value of [ ( 5 x 8 ) / 10 ] which equals “4”. This instrument could help managers to analyze business strategy, to understand and sometimes change company’s priorities.

Absolute weight chart for one of the categories

Diamond diagram

One of the most interesting diagram is a Diamond one. Oppositely to other charts and diagrams it works only with elements that contain at least 3 sub elements inside. Certainly it could not be shown for any indicator. Diamond diagram in BSC Designer is based on radar chart method. A radar chart is a graphical method of displaying multivariate data in the form of a two-dimensional chart of three or more quantitative variables represented on axes starting from the same point.

Diamond diagram presents current performance values comparing to minimal and maximal values. In a way it shows a model that looks even like 3D. This diagram aims to make it easier for the user to manage the most important measure in Balanced Scorecard concept – performance.

Diamond diagram for one of the categories

Expert_KPI Articles, Features, Screenshots

Data visualization is an important feature aimed to help managers monitoring company’s Balanced Scorecard. That is why BSC Designer supports complex data visualization mean – charts.

Charts in BSC Designer

Here are basic functions that user need to know about charts in BSC Designer:

Charts in BSC Designer are located in the sidebar on the right

Double-click on any chart to show the larger version of the chart.

Right-click on the chart to access charts visibility options

Background of some diagrams is colored according to stop-lights settings

• Learn more about stop-lights in BSC Designer manual.

Expert_KPI Articles, Features, Screenshots

BSC Scorecard Online – is a web-based system for KPI management, in comparison to desktop versions it provides user access control and is accessible from any web-browser.

BSC Designer Online - Main Window

Once you have logged in BSC Designer online, you will see the control panel that provides access to all functions of the online system:

BSC Online Control Panel

• KPI – general interface for tree modification
• Manage Users – create or delete view only and input users
• Manage Options – access account settings, for instance measure units
• Balance – check and add credits to current balance
• Contact – contact form to send a message to support service
• Profile – user profile details
• Log out – logging out from the system

Online KPI - tree of indicators and categories

Toolbar provides functionality necessary to manage KPI:

• Create new project
• Add/remove category
• Auto-balance weights of categories and indicators
• Fill data with random values
• Create report
• Add/remove indicator
• Move indicator up/down

Time points in BSC Designer online calendar, performance chart

• Click on calendar to access different time points
• Chart displays changes of performance

Details of indicator - weight, value, scale

Change the details of indicators:

• Measure units
• Min and max values
• Description
• Optimization direction
• Target description
• Score
• Weight
• Click on “Edit” to access advanced details

Using details of indicators you can add “SQL Indicators” to you project:

Access data from external databases using SQL indicators

admin Features, Screenshots

• Learn about major features of BSC Designer in the Video Manuals.

You will find below screenshots of BSC Designer, please, pay attention to the caption of the Window, if there is a “PRO” word then this screenshot is of BSC Designer Professional version, and there are differences between Standard and PRO versions of BSC Designer.

BSC Designer PRO - Main Window: toolbar, strategy tree view, calendar for timepoints, radar, time, performance charts, indicator data panel.

• Download and try 30-day trial version of BSC Designer.
• More about Basic KPI management

Two examples of optimization function in BSC Designer. With custom formulas there might be any type of optimization function.

• Read more about optimization formulas and performance charts

Diamond (radar) and time charts in BSC Designer

• Learn more about diamond (radar) chart and time chart in BSC Designer

Indicator weight and performance charts

• Indicator weight and performance charts shows the relative weight of indicator in category and the relative performance of each indicator in category

Settings of key performance indicators - weight, value, measures, measure interval, description

• More about Weight management

Strategy Map Wizard in PRO version. Create strategy maps using KPI as a data source

• Learn more about strategy maps

Cascading strategy map created automatically of KPI

• Read more about strategy maps in BSC Designer

BSC Designer Project can be automatically exported into Excel file, all formulas stay "alive"

• Learn more about export of BSC file into Excel

HTML reports created using Export function of BSC Designer

• Learn more about HTML reports.

Overview Balanced Scorecard Report created with BSC Designer

• Read more about Overview Report

Dashboard HTML report created with BSC Designer

• Dashboard report includes information represented in “radar” diagrams

Create custom performance formulas - linear, binary, complex

• Learn more about custom performance formulas

Incorporate stop lights in KPI

• Learn more about stop-lights in BSC Designer

Attachments in BSC Designer - attach action document to indicator

• Learn more about attaching documents to KPI in BSC Designer

Define custom measure units in BSC Designer

• Define custom measure unit in BSC Designer

admin Features, Screenshots

Learn about BSC Designer PRO in 5 minutes!

BSC Designer is a software solution for designing and managing the Balanced Scorecard.

• Managing your Key Performance Indicators
• Calculating an Indicator’s Performance and Progress
• Stop Lights and Dynamic Indicators
• Key Performance Indicators and Time Points
• Importing and Exporting Data in BSC Designer
• SQL Indicators
• Teamwork with BSC Designer
• Three Different Ways to Import Data
• Charts in BSC Designer
• Strategy Maps
• Reports in BSC Designer

It is recognized by business professionals and Balanced Scorecard consultants as one of the most powerful—and one of the easiest—Balanced Scorecard tools on the market.

BSC Designer comes in four different editions:

• BSC Designer Standard
• BSC Designer Pro (our most powerful and feature-rich version)
• BSC Designer Light (our freeware edition)
• And BSC Designer Online (our web-based solution).

BSC Designer software helps companies to design, implement, and use the Balanced Scorecard to measure and improve their business performance.  It supports every stage of the Balanced Scorecard process:

1) Strategic Planning. Designing a Balanced Scorecard begins with defining your strategic goals and creating a strategy map.  Not only can BSC Designer help you to draw your strategy map; it can generate your map automatically, and link your strategy map with your Key Performance Indicators.

2) Designing your Key Performance Indicators. BSC Designer includes powerful features to help you create and manage your Key Performance Indicators.  It can track the value of your indicators as they change over time, and even access your company database to update these values automatically.

3) Improving your Business Performance.  The goal of the Balanced Scorecard is to improve your business performance by linking top-level strategic goals to line-level actions.  With BSC Designer, you can assign specific performance goals for each indicator, and link each indicator to the initiatives, tasks, and requirements that will help you to reach those goals.  You can measure and control your progress toward your goals with visual cues like stop lights, dynamic thresholds, and charts.  You can even customize the performance formulas for each of the indicators on your scorecard.

4) Teamwork and Cascades.  The key to successfully implementing the Balanced Scorecard is to involve all of your employees, from your top managers to your line-level employees.  BSC Designer includes all the features you need to combine your scorecards into cascades, delegate indicators to lower-level scorecards, and import the values of your low-level scorecards back into your higher-level scorecards.  And to make your collaboration easier, BSC Designer also allows you to create reports in HTML, MS Excel, and MS Powerpoint formats, so you can easily share your experience with colleagues at every level of your organization.

Now, you can try BSC Designer for yourself, and use all of our features, absolutely free, for your first 30 days.  Just go to www.BSCdesigner.com, and download the free trial.

admin Features, Screenshots

BSC Designer online is a web-based KPI service, which brings the power of desktop versions of BSC Designer online.

BSC Designer Online Pricing

• Price: 15$/month for one project;
• Buy now: buy BSC Online Credits;

Benefits of BSC Designer Online

• KPIs can placed on-line, can be accessed by your colleges;
• Projects from BSC Designer Online can be exported into desktop format;
• Flexible project-based pricing starting 15$/month;
• No need to install or upgrade any online software;
• Companies who are using our web-based and desktop balanced scorecard solution.

Benefits of online Balanced Scorecard Software

• With BSC Online the information from KPI is represented in a form of diagrams, charts and online dashboards;
• It is possible to integrate this SaaS with other business systems in your company;
• Balanced Scorecard metrics from our commercial library of KPI metrics can be imported into web-based balanced scorecard software.

BSC Designer Online – Features Overview

BSC Scorecard Online – is a web-based system for KPI management, in comparison to desktop versions it provides user access control and is accessible from any web-browser.

BSC Designer Online - Main Window

Once you have logged in BSC Designer online, you will see the control panel that provides access to all functions of the online system:

BSC Online Control Panel

• KPI – general interface for tree modification
• Manage Users – create or delete view only and input users
• Manage Options – access account settings, for instance measure units
• Balance – check and add credits to current balance
• Contact – contact form to send a message to support service
• Profile – user profile details
• Log out – logging out from the system

Online KPI - tree of indicators and categories

Toolbar provides functionality necessary to manage KPI:

• Create new project
• Add/remove category
• Auto-balance weights of categories and indicators
• Fill data with random values
• Create report
• Add/remove indicator
• Move indicator up/down

Time points in BSC Designer online calendar, performance chart

• Click on calendar to access different time points
• Chart displays changes of performance

Details of indicator - weight, value, scale

Change the details of indicators:

• Measure units
• Min and max values
• Description
• Optimization direction
• Target description
• Score
• Weight
• Click on “Edit” to access advanced details

Using details of indicators you can add “SQL Indicators” to you project:

Access data from external databases using SQL indicators

admin Official, Screenshots