Performance Dashboard Design

1. Introduction

Strategic management deals with everything that affects the ability of a company to grow profitably, and facilitates the optimal positioning of the firm in its competitive environment. The execution of strategy in an organisation is, in general, much more challenging than formulating the strategy, and businesses cannot succeed without effective implementation .

Clear and focused strategic goals are critical to the success of a business. "Strategy execution is the strategic activity required to make these strategic goals part of the performance contract of every relevant employee, translated into the business language of their organisational level and function".

Inadequate information sharing and systems and ineffective monitoring are obstacles to strategy execution. Once a strategy is developed and goals are articulated, the strategic plans must be rolled out using information system tools. Dashboards are an information system tool that should be used for operational reviews, to identify and solve operational problems, and for continuous improvement. Eckerson suggests that organisations need a performance dashboard to translate organisational strategy into objectives, metrics, initiatives, and tasks, and to measure, monitor, and manage key activities and processes.

Performance dashboards are an element of business information systems that are required to contribute to achieving organisational strategic goals. Dashboards should provide employees with the right information to optimise decisions, enhance efficiency, and increase profits. However, executives are questioning the return on their investment in business information systems. Barriers identified include software capability, lack of automation, lack of a holistic view, and overlooking the broader scope of planning, monitoring, and adaptation.

Many organisations have implemented performance dashboards, but not all have succeeded in improving their business performance. The objective of this study was to consolidate theoretical and best practice guidelines for the design of performance dashboards that are required to achieve an organisation's strategic goals; and to evaluate an organisation's performance dashboard against these guidelines and in comparison with achieving their strategic goals.