BSC Designer – Balanced Scorecard Software

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

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

Select "Export to MS Excel" command to create MS Excel Report

• MS Excel report does not ask user to select the reporting period. BSC Designer creates Excel report for the date that is selected on the calendar

Why Excel report is needed

• To keep the report files in achieves for internal or external needs;
• To share project’s data with colleagues or other people involved who are not equipped with BSC Designer;

Inside Excel Report

The header section of MS Excel report created with BSC Designer

The header section of the Excel report contains the basic information about the project.

• project’s name (it is “Balanced Scorecard” in our case);
• project’s description;
• the total performance value.

Learn more how to change Project Properties with BSC Designer.

Indicators in MS Excel Report generated by BSC Designer

The following part of Excel report includes information about categories, indicators and their values.

• Changing the values and the weights will automatically recalculate the project’s performance;
• All the formulas are included in the *.xls / *.xlsx file;

MS Excel Report created with BSC Designer includes the following columns:

• “Perspective” column shows the name of the category.
• “Indicator” column shows the name of the indicators.
• “Description” columns 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.
• “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.
  

  Information for indicators in Excel spreadsheet

The screenshot above presents 4 more columns:

• “Target Value” column shows the goal for the indicator – the value that is needed to be reached in order to achieve the strategic goal measured by the indicator.
• “Target Description” here is the text description of target goal.
• “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.
• “Absolute Performance” column shows the performance of indicator taking into account its absolute weight. The absolute value 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.

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

• Select “Export to MS PowerPoint command” in Report menu to create a PowerPoint report;
• You can specify certain period for the report;

Some slides of resulted report in MS PowerPoint

admin Uncategorized powerpoint, report

There are several possible ways to customize HTML reports.

Adding logo into the report

1. Run BSC Designer.
2. Select “Document Properties” command in “File” menu.
3. Go to the “Custom Files” tab

Step 3. "Custom Files" Tab in BSC Designer

Step 4. Add "company_logo" template. Assign specific graphical file.

Step 5. Use "Notepad" or any text editor to open Common.html file and add %company_logo% as shown on the screenshot (click to enlarge).

• Find common.html template file, normally it is located in C:\Program Files\BSC Designer\Templates
• Use Windows Notepad or some text editor to modify the common.html
• Find in the beginning of common.html file the string: <h1 style=”margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0″><span style=”font-weight: 400″><font size=”5″>
• Right after this string insert: <img alt=”" src=”%company_logo%” width=”48″ height=”48″>

Resulted template file might be a little different, but the idea is the same:

<html>
<head>
<title><#Common Value=”DocumentName”> | <<<Balanced Scorecard Report>>></title>
</head>
<body>
<a name=”<#Root Value=”Link”>”></a>
<h1 style=”margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0″><span style=”font-weight: 400″><font size=”5″>
<img alt=”" src=”%company_logo%” width=”48″ height=”48″><#Common Value=”DocumentName”></font></span></h1>

Now, try generating HTML report. Select “Export to HTML” command in Reports menu.

The resulted report includes now the logo of the company in the header.

Changing charts position

BSC Designer’s options allow to change the position of certain chart in the report.

1. Run BSC Designer
2. Select “Application options” command in “Tools” menu.
3. Go to the “Report” tab

Here user can define what charts should be displayed in the report and the relative location of charts.

admin Uncategorized customization, customize, report

Download FREE Risk Assessment Guide

Risk assessment can be used in almost every industrial setup in the world.

Case Study 1

Problem Statement: An insurance agent needs to conduct risk assessment on a wind mill farm in Texas to check its feasibility as a prospective candidate for insurance. The objective here is to understand the most relevant category of risks that are of the highest concern while financing such an industrial insurance project. The risk assessment methodology here involves analyzing the various threats that can arise due to various technological, engineering, contractual and performance issues.

The wind mill, in question, will have 64 turbines, each of which will have the capacity of 1500W; thus, providing an overall output of around 100MW, with an energy conversion ratio of 26%. The project comes with a strong backing of the state government, as the wind farm will provide clean energy to the nearby cities.

The insurance cover demanded by the client requires the insurance firm to fully refund the original expenditure in the case of any lasting damage, productivity loss and technological short coming. Having such a client will bolster the economics of the insurance firm, but the question remains whether such strong insurance terms would one day work against the company. This case study will cover all the intricacies covered by an insurance agent before choosing his clients.

Solution: The risk assessment analysis of such a high profile client is started from the day the first draft of the wind mill farm is produced. The charm of having such clients is the fact that they work as a constant source of income and the contract value decreases with each year unless newer ones are made. The critical resources of such projects vary as the project matures. As in the project development phase, the critical resources are the funding source, government clearances and construction workers, among others. Various techniques and simulation tools are used for this risk assessment process.

Financial risk management (FRM) instruments are used to assess the risks that will affect the construction and operating phase of the wind project. These instruments will be studied based on mathematical simulations carried out on the computers. Various technical surveys, like wind speed measurements, soil density and work force availability, are also required to make sure that the wind mill will actually be productive after its completion.

Risk assessment is also done on the testing phase of the project. It can very well happen that the project does not pass the approval required by various standardizing companies. This way, both the project and the insurance company will incur losses.

Based on the above analysis, a risk analysis chart is created, which looks like this:

The above table shows only a few of the possible risks.

Results: Insurance is widely considered to be a business of risk. It involves identifying and understanding the various aspects of risks involved with insuring any particular client. In this case study, the stake holders of the wind mill farm could very well be planning to con the insurance company.

The decision to provide the financial cover is based on the data collected from the risk assessment chart. Using it, the expected loss from the project is calculated through the formula:

• Expected Loss = Financial Loss * Probability of Loss

If the value is within the budget of the insurance firm, the project is insured.

admin Uncategorized IT risk assessment, Risk Assessment, risk assessment analysis, risk assessment methodology

Download FREE Risk Assessment Guide

There are several techniques used by different types of businesses for risk assessment. Here we review three popular methods of assessing risk that can be applied across a wide range of business types.

Risk Assessment Matrix (RAM)

RAM is an extension of the original risk assessment process. With the use of this process, a company is able to identify its most critical resources (both in terms of processes and functions), identify the threats that can affect these critical resources, identify the causes pertaining to these threats and, eventually, tackle the threats and ensure smooth functioning of the critical resources.

For the smooth functioning of any organization, it is best to keep all critical resources independent of each other. This way, even if one of them is affected, the rest can perform in an unhindered manner. The RAM protocol is applied on the avenues from where the company gets it raw inputs, such as the suppliers, customers and the employee recruitment wing. Even the mundane necessities like electrical supply, water and sanitation, telecommunication, gas and sewage system are considered. This is done because disruption of any one of the above necessities will severely affect the normal work flow.

The whole RAM process can be summarized under the following steps:

1. Identifying the various business functions and processes
2. Identifying the most critical of all the resources
3. Determining how much time will be spent to recover the critical resources, if they are stopped
4. Identifying the threats that can cause harm to the critical resources
5. Determining the vulnerability to these threats
6. Planning and establishing the necessary steps to counter the threats

Risk Assessment Survey and Mapping

This risk assessment technique involves identifying, evaluating and, subsequently, ranking the various risks present in any business work cycle. Risks are an integral part of all business activities. The first part of this technique is used to survey the business processes and discover the risks that can hinder these processes. The mapping part then creates a plan, prioritizing the various risks, based on their criticality.

For the survey, the Arthur Andersen Business Risk Model is used. This model clearly describes the various risks that can affect the business. Once identified, these risks are ranked on a scale of 10, where 1 is the least risky and 10 is the riskiest factor. The important points to keep in mind are:

1. Each ranking number should be used only once
2. Once the ranking has been done based on significance, another ranking should be done based on likelihood of occurrence, where 1 stands for the least probability of occurrence and 5 for most probable risk
3. Always make a note of risks that are left out but still have a minute chance of occurrence

The biggest advantage of this format is that the risks are handled based on their priority.

Quantitative Risk Assessment

This risk assessment technique works through the calculation of single loss expectancy (SLE) of critical assets of any organization. This SLE denotes the overall depreciation in the values of the assets in the event of a single security incident. The next step involves calculating the Annualized Rate of Occurrence (ARO) of the hazard in relation to the critical resource. The ARO is a simple estimation of the number of times a hazard can make use of the system’s vulnerability. The third parameter of this technique is Annualized Loss Expectancy (ALE). This is a measure of the overall loss expected through a single hazard in a given time frame. It is calculated by multiplying the SLE with the ARO. This technique is best suited from a financial perspective, as it can help justify the expenditures made to protect the critical resources.

This technique has been successfully automated in the form of quantitative risk assessment software. However, this method has also faced severe criticism from expert risk advisors because it does not account for risks that can be caused by unquantifiable and inaccessible information.

Alternatives to Risk Assessment: A Comparison

Since its inception, risk assessment, as a business technique, has faced very little competition. In fact Dr. Kaplan, the innovator of the Balanced Scorecard, in an interview with SearchCIO.com, said in reference to the companies that failed to utilize risk assessment, “[Risk Assessment] turned out to be an extremely important function that was not done well by many of the [financial services] companies we talked about earlier. Risk management was siloed and considered more of a compliance issue and not a strategic function. Now we see that identification, mitigation and management of risk has to be on an equal level with the strategic process.”

The only risk assessment alternative is predictive functioning. The loophole can be seen in the name itself. Predictive functioning is based on market analysis. A project or function is carried out if the market shows positive trends associated with it. On the other hand, with risk assessment, it is possible to figure out, in advance, whether investing in the new avenue is financially viable or not.

Risk Assessment: A Solution to Every Problem

Risk assessment is not just a business tool. It has been proven to be effective in health, environment, banking, software, and many more fields. Consider a situation where an insurance agent is given an application to judge whether the applicant is fit for life coverage or not. The applicant is a well built man in his mid 20s and in the prime of his life. The only problem is his fixation with high risk sports. In cases like these, the use of quantitative risk assessment software is advised. Some of its alternatives come packed with an application to actually map the risk versus the feasibility graph customized for insurance workers.

admin Uncategorized quantitative risk assessment, Risk Assessment, risk assessment alternatives, risk assessment technique

Event: two-day seminar on effective strategic performance management using 3rd generation Balanced Scorecard techniques. Learn more…

When: 16th – 17th September or 2nd – 3rd December

Price: 10% discount, mention AKS-Labs when book the seminar

Where: Cookham, Berkshire, Moor Hall; Moor Hall is located about 30 miles west of Central London

Who should attend: Senior Managers, BSC Professionals

admin Uncategorized balanced scorecard, BSC, performance management, seminar