Summary

Automated Corporate Performance Management systems (CPM) provide greater speed and accuracy, as well as improved auditing processes for organisations, enabling them to comply more readily with new national and international regulatory standards. The term CPM is associated with the methodologies, metrics, processes and systems that are used to monitor and manage the business performance of an enterprise. CPM promises to bring about a greater transparency in the way that organisations are managed.

The centrepiece of the automated CPM system is a Data Warehouse, which comprises enterprise-wide consolidated and standardised data that is grounded upon agreed definitions and business rules. Scorecards and Performance Dashboards, which capture critical performance information in one location and in easily assimilated formats, are key parts of CPM systems.The desired end result is for an organisation’s objectivesto be translated into well-chosen key performance indicators (KPI).

An objective of CPM is that near real-time, relevant management information is made available to an organisation’s managers. This, in turn, enables greater value to be added to activities with a greater focus on an organisation’s customers. Data warehouses can help the creation of an automated workflow environment, which can radically improve organisational performance. For example, data warehouse technology has the capability to “thin slice” massive amounts of claims information into actionable reports, and to route these to specific decision makers while, at the same time, to suggest various appropriate actions that might be taken.

The simplicity, balance and cause-and-effect relationships expressed in Balanced Scorecards (BSC) have led to them becoming an attractive tool for strategic management purposes. The classic Kaplan and Norton balanced scorecard is often modified to suit the particular needs of an organisation using it. Performance dashboards are complementary to the balanced scorecard. Performance dashboards—or digital dashboards—are extremely useful when working with large amounts of rapidly changing data and communicating the results. Usually, managers are able to “drill down” from the measures displayed on the dashboard. This enables them to locate detailed information that can lead them to the root causes of problems. Performance dashboard methodologies help to reduce masses of spreadsheets and database reports by pulling out information at a high level, which allows managers to see at a glance where things are going well and where potential problems exist.

Finally, appropriate Key Performance Indicators (KPI) need to be found that are well aligned with corporate strategies. Effective KPIs are predictive of business value, actionable, easy to understand, few in number, and standardised for easy integration throughout the organisation.

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