The Functions of the Scorecarding Software

Most organizations often experience some kind of disconnection between execution and strategy. As a consequence of this disconnection, managers fail to make the right decisions, department perform duties that are not inclined with the company goals and employees fail to carry out jobs necessary in implementing strategies. The blame, in reality, can not be put into the workers. Failure is caused by the lack of system that should be implemented in order to track progress and performance. This system is usually in the form of a scorecarding software.Scorecarding actually starts at the top level of the organization. The head or the senior manager defines the goals and the strategies. Out from these, key areas are then determined that will serve as the indicators or unit of measures. For example, if the goal of the company is to become the choice service provider in their area, then the key indicator is the number of customers that it serves everyday. If there is an increase of that number in a period of time, the performance of the company is then assessed as positive. The ultimate benefit then of the scorecard software is to tell the company “how well are we performing now?” But how does the software work?Generally, the functions of the software are categorized into three. Using a consolidated data on accountabilities, thresholds, targets and metrics, the purpose of the scorecard application is to manage, measure and monitor performance. In order for the software to monitor the performance of the organization, it is important to identify the two types of data resources. The application can either access a real time data or records from the databank warehouse. Examples of records that are stored in databank warehouse are daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly financial statements, whereas, real time data pertains to indicators like number of shipments per hour. The frequency and period of monitoring also differ from user to user. For example, the senior management may need a monitoring report on a weekly basis, while the accountant requires monitoring on a daily basis.To effectively measure the performance of a strategy, every component in the organization, top level or not, must contribute data. Without the inputs, the software will not be able to produce reliable figures or scores. But more importantly, it is how the organization interprets these scores. This is why the software helps in the managing function. The software answers four of the most common questions asked in performance management. First, it tells if the situation has been repeated or has been made in the past already and reviews the actions that were taken to resolve such crisis. Second, it tells managers whether an incident is part of a development or an isolated case. Third, it alerts managers if the case is also occurring in other areas of the business and reports on the factors that contributes to such occurrence. And finally, the software details who is accountable for such negligence.With all these three functions mentioned, it is clear then how the scorecarding software helps a company. It improves employee’s dedication towards work, assures performance accountability of each member in the organization and it helps in the effective execution of the strategy.