 |
Focusing on key performance indicators
With the rise of dashboards and mashups, the sheer quantity of information that likely to be at an average worker’s fingertips is on the rise.
In order to help keep workers happy, productive and focused, service-oriented architects need to understand the importance of key performance indicators (KPIs) — a well coded information dashboard, accessible through a secure intranet, won’t be of much use if the data doesn’t accurately present the critical metrics.
For starters, KPIs measure actual performance against predefined goals and objectives.
There are two types of KPIs: (1) the first measure real-time performance -or- predict future results while (2) the second type of KPIs measure the results of past activity.
Let’s take a look at the “today and tomorrow” KPIs which help ensure that critical objectives aren’t missed. For instance, if a project manager is advised by the system that in the coming month, the number of available staff for his project is going to be down 10% (for vacations and such), it’s much easier to anticipate staffing adjustments — this is much more efficient than reacting to problems once they’ve occured.
Now, let’s consider the value of the “yesterday” KPIs which are akin to report cards showing the performance levels, in particular areas. There’s a lot of data correlation involved on this rather more “historical” side of the key performance indicators. The first think that should come to mind, in regards to past activity, are the many logs a company typically accumulates. Correlating this data, which show the health and performance of whatever’s measured, may help plan for a more efficient future.
The mountains of data moving back and forth, over the company network but also over the internet, can seem overwhelming but thanks to the savvy use of KPIs, mainly through dashboards, it’s much easier to group (read: correlate) large chunks of data so the worker can remain focused on the issues that -really- affect the organization.
Tags: kpi, key performance indicators, dashboards, metrics, critical objectives, enterprise computing
 |
