What Are Performance Dashboards? By Wayne W. Eckerson This article is an excerpt from the book Performance Dashboards: Measuring, Monitoring, and Managing Your Business by Wayne W. Eckerson, Director of Research and Services at The Data Warehousing Institute, a worldwide association of data warehousing and business intelligence professionals. THE CONTEXT FOR PERFORMANCE DASHBOARDS The Power of Focus Executives in Training This summer I found my 11-year-old son, Harry, and his best pal, Jake, kneeling side by side in our driveway, peering intensely at the pavement. As I walked over to inspect this curious sight, I saw little puffs of smoke rising from their huddle. Each had a magnifying glass and was using it to set fire to clumps of dry grass as well as a few unfortunate ants who had wandered into their makeshift science experiment. In this boyhood rite of passage, Harry and Jake learned an important lesson that escapes the attention of many organizations today: the power of focus. Light rays normally radiate harmlessly in all directions, bouncing off objects in the atmosphere and the earth’s surface. The boys had discovered, however, that if they focused light rays onto a single point using a magnifying glass, they could generate enough energy to burn just about anything and keep themselves entertained for hours! By the time Harry and Jake enter the business world (if they do), they will probably have forgotten this simple lesson. They will have become steeped in corporate cultures that excel at losing focus and dissipating energy far and wide. Most organizations have multiple business units, divisions, and departments, each with their own products, strategies, initiatives, applications, and systems to support them. A good portion of these activities are redundant at best and conflicting at worst. The organization as a whole spins off in multiple directions at once without a clear strategy. Changes in leadership, mergers, acquisitions, and reorganizations amplify the chaos. Organizational Magnifying Glass To rectify this problem, companies need an “organizational magnifying glass”—something that focuses the work of employees so everyone is going in the same direction. Strong leaders do this. However, even the voice of a charismatic executive is sometimes drowned out by organizational inertia. Strong leaders need more than just the force of their personality and experience to focus an organization. They need an information system that helps them clearly and concisely communicate key strategies and goals to all employees on a personal basis every day. The system should focus workers on tasks and activities that best advance the organization’s strategies and goals. It should measure performance, reward positive contributions, and align efforts so that workers in every group and level of the organization are marching together toward the same destination. Performance Management System ...

1. What Are Performance Dashboards?
By Wayne W. Eckerson
This article is an excerpt from the book Performance
Dashboards: Measuring,
Monitoring, and Managing Your Business by Wayne W.
Eckerson, Director of
Research and Services at The Data Warehousing Institute, a
worldwide
association of data warehousing and business intelligence
professionals.
THE CONTEXT FOR PERFORMANCE DASHBOARDS
The Power of Focus
Executives in Training
This summer I found my 11-year-old son, Harry, and his best
pal, Jake, kneeling side by side in
our driveway, peering intensely at the pavement. As I walked
over to inspect this curious sight, I
saw little puffs of smoke rising from their huddle. Each had a
magnifying glass and was using it
to set fire to clumps of dry grass as well as a few unfortunate
ants who had wandered into their
makeshift science experiment.
In this boyhood rite of passage, Harry and Jake learned an
important lesson that escapes the
attention of many organizations today: the power of focus.

2. Light rays normally radiate harmlessly
in all directions, bouncing off objects in the atmosphere and the
earth’s surface. The boys had
discovered, however, that if they focused light rays onto a
single point using a magnifying glass,
they could generate enough energy to burn just about anything
and keep themselves entertained
for hours!
By the time Harry and Jake enter the business world (if they
do), they will probably have
forgotten this simple lesson. They will have become steeped in
corporate cultures that excel at
losing focus and dissipating energy far and wide. Most
organizations have multiple business
units, divisions, and departments, each with their own products,
strategies, initiatives,
applications, and systems to support them. A good portion of
these activities are redundant at best
and conflicting at worst. The organization as a whole spins off
in multiple directions at once
without a clear strategy. Changes in leadership, mergers,
acquisitions, and reorganizations
amplify the chaos.
Organizational Magnifying Glass
To rectify this problem, companies need an “organizational
magnifying glass”—something that
focuses the work of employees so everyone is going in the same
direction. Strong leaders do this.
However, even the voice of a charismatic executive is
sometimes drowned out by organizational
inertia.
Strong leaders need more than just the force of their personality
and experience to focus an

3. organization. They need an information system that helps them
clearly and concisely
communicate key strategies and goals to all employees on a
personal basis every day. The system
should focus workers on tasks and activities that best advance
the organization’s strategies and
goals. It should measure performance, reward positive
contributions, and align efforts so that
workers in every group and level of the organization are
marching together toward the same
destination.
Performance Management System
In short, what organizations really need is a performance
dashboard that translates the
organization’s strategy into objectives, metrics, initiatives, and
tasks customized to each group
and individual in the organization. A performance dashboard is
really a performance management
system. It communicates strategic objectives and enables
business people to measure, monitor,
and manage the key activities and processes needed to achieve
their goals.
To work this magic, a performance dashboard provides three
main sets of functionality,
which I will describe in more detail later. Briefly, a
performance dashboard lets business people:
Monitor critical business processes and activities using metrics
of business
performance that trigger alerts when potential problems arise.

4. Analyze the root cause of problems by exploring relevant and
timely information
from multiple perspectives and at various levels of detail.
Manage people and processes to improve decisions, optimize
performance, and steer
the organization in the right direction.
Agents of Organizational Change
A performance dashboard is a powerful agent of organizational
change. When deployed properly,
it can transform an under-performing organization into a high
flier. Like a magnifying glass, a
performance dashboard can focus organizations on the key
things it needs to do to succeed. It
provides executives, managers, and workers with timely and
relevant information so they can
measure, monitor, and manage their progress toward achieving
key strategic objectives.
One of the more popular types of performance dashboards today
is the Balanced Scorecard,
which adheres to a specific methodology for aligning
organizations with corporate strategy. A
Balanced Scorecard is a strategic application, but as we shall
soon see, there are other types of
performance dashboards that optimize operational and tactical
processes that drive organizations
on a weekly, daily, or even hourly basis.
Historical Context
Executive Dashboards and Cockpits
Although dashboards have long been a fixture in automobiles
and other vehicles, business,
government, and non-profit organizations have only recently
adopted the concept. The trend

5. started among executives who became enamored with the idea
of having an “executive
dashboard” or “executive cockpit” with which to drive their
companies from their boardroom
perches. These executive information systems (EIS) actually
date back to the 1980s, but they
never gained much traction, because the systems were geared to
so few people in each company
and were built on mainframes or minicomputers that made them
costly to customize and
maintain.
In the past 20 years, information technology has advanced at a
rapid clip. Mainframes and
minicomputers largely gave way to client/server systems, which
in turn were supplanted by the
Web as the preeminent platform for running applications and
delivering information. Along the
way, the economy turned global, squeezing revenues and profits
and increasing competition for
ever-more demanding customers. Executives responded by
reengineering processes, improving
quality, and cutting costs, but these efforts have only provided
short-term relief, not lasting value.
Convergence
During the 1990s, organizations began experimenting with ways
to give business users direct and
timely access to critical information, an emerging field known
as business intelligence. At the
same time, executives started turning to new performance
management disciplines, such as
Balanced Scorecards, Six Sigma, Economic Value Add, and
Activity-Based Costing, to harness

6. the power of information to optimize performance and deliver
greater value to the business.
These initiatives convinced many executives that they could
gain lasting competitive
advantage by empowering employees to work proactively and
make better decisions by giving
them relevant, actionable information. Essentially, executives
recognized that the EIS of the
1980s was a good idea but too narrowly focused; everyone, not
just executives, needed an EIS.
Fortunately, executives did not have to wait long for a solution.
At the dawn of the 21st century,
business intelligence converged with performance management
to create the performance
dashboard.
Market Trends
This convergence has created a flood of interest in performance
dashboards since the year 2000.
A study by The Data Warehousing Institute (TDWI) in 2004
showed that most organizations (51
percent) already use a dashboard or scorecard and that another
17 percent are currently
developing one. The same study showed that almost one-third of
organizations that already have
a dashboard or scorecard use it as their primary application for
reporting and analysis of data.
Benefits
The reason so many organizations are implementing
performance dashboards is a practical one:
they offer a panoply of benefits to everyone in an organization,
from executives to managers to
staff. Here is a condensed list of benefits:

7. Communicate Strategy.
Refine Strategy.
Increase Visibility.
Increase Coordination.
Increase Motivation.
Give a Consistent View of the Business.
Reduce Costs and Redundancy.
Empower Users.
Deliver Actionable Information.
In short, performance dashboards deliver the right information
to the right users at the
right time to optimize decisions, enhance efficiency, and
accelerate bottom-line results.
Pretenders to the Throne
Although many organizations have implemented dashboards and
scorecards, not all have
succeeded. In most cases, organizations have been tantalized by
glitzy graphical interfaces and
have failed to build a solid foundation by applying sound
performance management principles
and implementing appropriate business intelligence and data
integration technologies and
processes. Here are the common symptoms of less than
successful solutions:
Too Flat. Many organizations create performance management
systems, especially
tactical and strategic dashboards, using Microsoft Excel,
Microsoft PowerPoint, and
advanced charting packages. Although these applications often
look fancy, they

8. generally do not provide enough data or analytical capabilities
to let users explore the
root cause of problems highlighted in the fancy graphical
indicators.
Too Manual. In addition, some organizations rely too heavily
on manual methods to
update performance dashboards that contain sizable amounts of
information. Highly
skilled business analysts spend several days a week collecting
and massaging this
information instead of analyzing it. The majority of
performance dashboards automate
the collection and delivery of information, ensuring a
sustainable solution over the long
term.
Too Isolated. Some performance dashboards source data from a
single system or
appeal to a very small audience. As a result, they provide a
narrow or parochial view of
the business, not an enterprise view. In addition, these
dashboards often contain data
and metrics that do not align with the rest of the organization,
leading to confusion and
chaos.
In the end, performance dashboards are only as effective as the
organizations they seek to
measure. Organizations without central control or coordination
will deploy a haphazard jumble of
non-integrated performance dashboards. However, organizations
that have a clear strategy, a
positive culture, and a strong information infrastructure can

9. deliver performance management
systems that make a dramatic impact on performance.
For more information on this book go here.
For more information on dashboards go here.
This chapter "WHAT ARE PERFORMANCE DASHBOARDS"
is excerpted from
Performance Dashboards: Measuring, Monitoring, and
Managing Your
Business (0-471-72417-3, October 2005) with permission from
the
publisher John Wiley & Sons. You may not make any other use,
or
authorize others to make any other use, of this excerpt, in any
print
or non-print format, including electronic or multimedia.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0471724173/103-5549045-
2304639?v=glance&n=283155&s=books&v=glance
http://www.bpmpartners.com/dashboards.shtml
Running Head: EVALUATION 1
EVALUATION 2

10. Anh La
PJM 6125
Selecting Evaluation Tools
Northeastern University
03/11/2020
Project Objective
Our efforts are focussed on opening an Orangetheory Fitness
franchise at Longwood location within four months starting
from February 2020. Our analysis showed that many gym goers
around Longwood area are extremely dissatisfied with the
services and training methods of other fitness centers. The
budget for the project is $80,000 and we have 1.5 years to finish
it.
Stakeholder Register/Analysis
Stakeholder
Stakeholders role
Type (internal or external)
Stakeholder expectation
Stakeholder interest
Level of influence
Stakeholder views
Strategy for stakeholder engagement
1
Financial manager
Handle project resources
Internal

11. Possible overruns on the project and return on investment
high
High: failure to evaluate expenditure might rid the credibility of
project to the stakeholders.
Neutral
Give daily reporting on the expenditures.
2
Customers
Offer ready market for the fitness class
External
Advancement of service delivery, advanced economic
conditions like cost-savings conveniences and measures.
High
High: the unsatisfied clients will destroy the organization
reputation.
Neutral
Provide a platform to include the client’s needs and provide
incentive.
3
Project management trainer
Enables the training of workers for at least two months
Internal
Advance the credibility as well as job references on the future
projects
High
High: realize the achievement of training
support
Offer a conducive environment for training in reference to
space.
4
Employee manager
Present the entire project to the company officials.
Internal
Works on ensuring that employees perform quality task as
needed
High

12. High: oversee training and ensuring that all things are in order
Support
Maintain strong existence through the training period.
5
Trainees
Attaining training sessions, attending evaluations and acquiring
necessary skills
Internal
Opportunities for job retention or promotion, “free” time during
training, acquisition of knowledge and skills
Medium
High: their attitude towards the training as well as attendance
will determine the project’s success
support
Use of attendance sheet to evaluate attendance
6
Financial institution
Offers funds to run the project
External
Enable financial opportunities and relationship between the
company and the clients
High
High: lack of source of funds the project will not be
successfully completed
Support
Lower interest percentage and extended means of payment
7
Executive directors
Work with the project shareholders and explain the project plan
for them to approve
Internal
Ease all the pressures from the project shareholders to work
together to gain profit and increase pay
High
High: if there is no intervention by these directors then the

13. shareholders might not approve
Support
Reporting the daily proceeding to the shareholders.
8
Suppliers
Being contracted to offer necessary equipment for the project
External
Improves the credibility of the business and facilitate the
progress of the project
High
High: if supplies are not delivered on time it will mean that the
progress of the project will be delayed
High
Timely delivery of supplies for the continuation of project.
9
Shareholders
Offer resources and approve the progress of the project
External
Additional vendor selection qualification criteria, potential for
future business contracts,
High
High: failure to deliver supplies on time will affect the project
timeline
High
Draft performance contracts to ascertain timely delivery of
supplies.
10
Instructional designer
To offer a manual on ways in which the project operations will
be carried out
External
promote their work as well as increase credibility and
Medium
High: the design and delivery of training should not stray away
from the organization’s goals
Neutral

14. Formulate a design and mode of delivery that is aligned with the
organization’s goals.
11
Government
Ensure compliance with necessary regulations.
External
Revenue inform of company and employee taxes, increased job
opportunities, improved economy
High
High: the approval from relevant authority is necessary to carry
out the project
Support
Encourage the company to have such projects by endorsing
supplies like trainee t-shirts, potential for future funding.
12
Technical manager
Oversee the installation, use and handling of all technical
equipment to be used in the training.
Internal
Get access to quality technical equipment, showoff technical
skills, put in request for technical upgrades
Medium
Medium: their expertise will facilitate a smooth training
Support
Check to ensure equipment is well-handled and in good
condition throughout the training.
Evaluation Goal Matrix
Goal
Measurement type
Metric
Stakeholder
Evaluation Tool

15. 1. Estimation of cost and striking budget.
Efficiency
$50,000
Finance manager
Analogous Estimation and Parametric Estimation
Analogous estimation will involve review of historical data on
similar projects that will be used to estimate the costs of the
project as well as the striking budget.
Given that analogous estimation presents a relatively accurate
estimation, parametric estimation will be used to enhance the
results (Samoset & Christiansen, 2017). Parametric estimation
employs statistical modelling techniques.
These tools will be used by the financial manager to estimate
the costs of the project thereby ensuring that resources are
always available throughout the project.
2. Timely completion of tasks within stipulated deadline
Efficiency
2 months
Employee manager
Parametric estimation
This tool is effective in estimating the time that a project will
take. It takes account of the time that every deliverable takes
and adds it up to determine how much time will be required to
completely finish the project.
This tool will be used by the employee manager to ensure that
deliverables are completed within their set timeframes.
3. Proper utilization of available supplies to last the project
duration
Efficiency
A remainder of supply materials at the end of the project
Employees
Classic Technique
This tool ensures that resources are efficiently utilized. This is
done through drawing down all the deliverables of the project
beforehand and ensuring that the resources required for the
deliverable are available beforehand. The estimation of these

16. supplies is done before the whole project begins as well as
before a given task.
This tool will be used by employees. It will enhance resource
allocation and utilization. Thus efficiency will be achieved.
4. Proper utilization of available space for training
Efficiency
Accommodation of 100 trainees in two hall-size meeting rooms
Trainees, employee manager
Classic Technique
The training halls will be mapped with the trainees who will
receive training in them. As such, the classic technique will be
used to place each trainee in one of the halls at a given time,
with the required resources for the training process. This will
ensure that there is no underutilization or unused resources
(Zidane et al., 2016).
The project managers will use this tool to ensure that all the
trainees are effectively placed in the available space.
5. Reputable, highly rated trainer firm
Effectiveness
Reference to past acclaimed presentations nationwide
Trainers
Hiring Criteria
A hiring criteria will be established where the qualities of the
hired trainer firm will be checked against the hiring criteria.
This way, only the bets firm will be selected.
The project managers will use this tool to ensure that only the
best suited trainer firm is selected.
6. Successful training project
Effectiveness
80% trainee attendance based on sign-in sheets
Employees
Interviews
The trainees will be interviewed to get a report of the training
process. The interview questions will be tailored to ensure that
they will evaluate the outcomes of the training process against
the set objectives.

17. This tool will be used by the organizations management to
ensure that the training process was a success.
7. Successful project implementations
Effectiveness
10% increase in success rate of projects undertaken
Trainers, employees
Interviews
Trainers and employees will be interviewed on their satisfaction
with the project implementation. Their work will be located at
the gym. They will therefore offer verdict on their satisfaction
with the project.
This tool will be used by the organizations management to
ensure that the project implementation was a success.
8. Alignment of instruction design and delivery mode with
organization’s goals
Effectiveness
Instruction manual teachings centered around the projects
implemented by organization
Instruction designer, trainers
Key performance indicators (KPI)
KPIs will provide data driven evidence of the alignment
process. They will be necessary in reporting how the instruction
design and delivery mode is p0erforming when compared to set
objectives.
The project managers will check the instruction design and
delivery modes against set objectives as per KPIs.
9. Skills and knowledge enhancement in the field of project
management
Impact
70% success rate on project management exam results
Trainers, employees
Performance Appraisals
Performance appraisals, just like KPIs evaluate the success of
an undertaking. Performance appraisals will be used to evaluate
the levels of skills and knowledge gained in the field of project
management. The appraisals will test for skills and

18. competencies of the trainers and employees.
The project managers will check the skills and knowledge
against set minimum performance metrics.
10. Innovation in project creation and implementation
Impact
5% increase in new project idea submissions
Employees, employee manager
360 degree feedback
This tool will assess the performance of employees regarding
innovation from the eyes of the people surrounding them
(Kärnä&Junnonen, 2016). Employee managers and employees
themselves will give feedback about every employee on their
innovation during project creation and implementation.
This tool will be used by the project managers to measure
individual employees’ innovativeness in project creation and
implementation.
11. Gaining competitive edge
Impact
Approaches for consultation by other organizations
Directors, employee manager, employees
Differentiation Strategy
The organization’s differentiation strategy will inform its
performance as compared to peers. When the products are well
differentiated from those of competitors, the business will have
gained a competitive edge.
This tool be used by the organization’s management to identify
ways through which the organization can implement
differentiation as a competitive strategy (Yang &Vashney,
2016).
12. Client satisfaction
Impact
New client referrals, growing clientele base
Customers
Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT)
CSAT is a metric that is used to measure the customers’
satisfaction regarding a certain product or service that they

19. receive (Liu et al., 2017). As such, the organization will use
CSAT to get feedback about the training services offered. This
tool will be used by organization’s management to track the
success of the project in terms of client satisfaction.
This tool be used by the organization’s management to identify
areas of the project with which the clients are satisfied or not
satisfied with.
1.2: Evaluation Goal Matrix.
References
Büyüközkan, G., &Karabulut, Y. (2017). Energy project
performance evaluation with sustainability
perspective. Energy, 119, 549-560. Retrieved from
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544216
318928
Kärnä, S., &Junnonen, J. M. (2016). Benchmarking construction
industry, company and project performance by participants’
evaluation. Benchmarking: An International Journal. Retrieved
from https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/BIJ-
05-2015-0050/full/html
Liu, F., Zhu, W. D., Chen, Y. W., Xu, D. L., & Yang, J. B.
(2017). Evaluation, ranking and selection of R&D projects by
multiple experts: an evidential reasoning rule based
approach. Scientometrics, 111(3), 1501-1519. Retrieved from
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11192-017-2278-1
Samset, K., & Christensen, T. (2017). Ex ante project
evaluation and the complexity of early decision-making. Public
Organization Review, 17(1), 1-17. Retrieved from
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11115-015-0326-y
Yang, A. T., &Varshney, U. (2017). Categorizing Mobile Health
Project Evaluation Techniques. Retrieved from
https://aisel.aisnet.org/amcis2017/Healthcare/Presentations/14/
Zidane, Y. J., Johansen, A., Hussein, B. A., & Andersen, B.
(2016). PESTOL-Framework for «project evaluation on
strategic, tactical and operational levels». International Journal
of Information System and Project Management, 4(3), 25-41.
Retrieved from

20. http://www.sciencesphere.org/ijispm/archive/ijispm-040302.pdf
PJM6125 Project Evaluation: Performance Dashboard
Overview and Rationale
For this assignment, you will create a project performance
dashboard.
Program and Course Outcomes
This assignment is directly linked to the following key learning
outcomes from the course syllabus:
LO8:Create a performance dashboard to summarize and report
project performance status
In addition to these key learning outcomes, you will also have
the opportunity to evidence the following skills through
completing this assignment:
· Critical thinking and analysis
· Problem solving
Essential Components & Instructions
Throughout this course, you have used a project you selected to
create a set of performance metrics, identify performance tool
for each metric, and write a performance report relying on
earned value. But Earned Value is only one of the evaluation
tools identified by each of you. For this final assignment, you
will create a performance dashboard for the project you have
used throughout this course. I have included some readings on
performance dashboards in the reading this week, and you have
already done most of the work with your performance
evaluation matrix. Here is what you need to do for this
assignment:
· Using the latest version of your performance evaluation matrix
(make sure you have updated it with my feedback), create a
performance dashboard that includes all the relevant
performance evaluation tools you identified

21. · Specifically, create a way of presenting and/or displaying the
performance data in a single page or excel spreadsheet so that
relevant project stakeholders could view it
In addition to creating the dashboard, you will need to provide a
guide and/or legend to it. Namely, you will want to provide a
few paragraphs describing who is responsible for updating and
maintaining the dashboard, how frequently the different metrics
will be updated, and any other relevant details you think are
pertinent.
Format
As I grade you dashboards, I will be looking at the following
items closely:
· Does it include all the tools you identified in your
performance evaluation matrix?
· It is arranged in a clear and professional looking manner?
· Do you provide a clear description / guide for each of the
metrics?
· Do you state how frequently it will be updated and by whom?
· The document should be free and clear of grammatical and
typographical errors
Please be sure to review the attached rubric. It along with these
assignment instructions will ensure you have a solid
understanding of the assignment requirements.

22. Rubric(s)
Assessment Element
Above Standard
(100-95%)
Meets Standards
(94.9 – 84%)
Approaching Standards
(83.9 – 77%)
Below Standard
(76.9 – 70%)
Not Evident
(69.9 – 0%)
Performance Evaluation
(50%)
Illustrates a discerning awareness of performance evaluation
reporting and contains all required elements.
Illustrates an understanding of performance evaluation reporting
and contains all required elements
Illustrates an understanding of performance evaluation
reporting, but does not include all required elements or one or
more elements provide insufficient data.
Illustrates only a basic understanding of performance evaluation
reporting, includes minimal elements and insufficient data
The submission fails to illustrate an understanding of
performance evaluation reporting.
Critical Thinking
(35%)
Professional insights into depth and breadth of assignment -
goes WELL beyond assignment requirements to explore
performance evaluation reporting and dashboards.
Showcases a comprehensive understanding of the performance
issues related to the project environment and evidences a strong
analysis of performance evaluation reporting.
Showcases a base understanding of the performance issues
related to the project environment and evidences a less than
thorough analysis of performance evaluation reporting.

23. Does not evidence a base understanding of the performance
issues related to the project environment and evidences a weak
analysis of performance evaluation reporting.
Evidences a very poor understanding of performance evaluation
reporting.
Grammar & Clarity
(15%)
All work grammatically correct with no misspellings or
grammatical mistakes. Expresses ideas and opinions clearly and
concisely in a manner appropriate to the assignment.
All work grammatically correct with rare misspellings.
Minimal errors in spelling, grammar, sentence structure and/or
other writing conventions but the reader is able to understand
what the writer meant.
Frequent errors in spelling, grammar, sentence structure, and/or
other writing conventions that distract the reader.
Writing contains numerous errors in spelling, grammar,
sentence structure, etc. that interfere with comprehension. The
reader is unable to understand some of the intended meaning.