Web Based Metrics Software: Flexible, Visible Solutions to Metric Management

Web based metrics software make it possible for management to track relevant measures all across an organization’s different branches. For instance, different branches of a retail store chain, as long as they are connected to the web, can update their own metrics in real time. This information would then be stored in a central database, and would be accessible to other parts of the organization, no matter their physical location. Web based software improves collaboration and visibility of the information greatly.

But what exactly are these metrics? They are quantifiable measures or criteria by which performance of an organization or a part of it may be judged. Taking the same example of a retail store chain, a relevant metric for a single branch might be the gross sales, the average number of transactions daily, and so on. For other parts of the organization, such as accounting, more relevant metrics might be accuracy of records and timeliness of updates. Hence, the concept of metrics allows for a lot of flexibility to select the most relevant measures based on the type of company and the functions that each department of the organization performs.

While keeping track of metrics is relatively easy once they have been selected and established, how exactly should they be chosen? There is no easy answer for this question that would be applicable for all management situations. The answer, no matter how useless it may sound, is that it depends on the exact circumstances. However, there is a general methodology that applies to most situations.

First, an overall goal should be set for the organization, usually called a mission statement or vision. This represents what the organization would like to eventually become or achieve. Managers should carefully formulate this vision, since the next steps would depend upon it. Once this has been established, each subpart of the organization should then make their own goals in line with this vision. Then the smaller parts of each subpart should make their goals, and so on, until the individual employee level. Often, this is called the strategy map or strategy linkage method, because it connects the goals of various levels of organization of a company in a coherent manner. By ensuring that the highest-level goals and the lowest-level goals are all working towards the same vision, unified performance could be expected. Making use of a strategy map also makes it less abstract to select which metrics need to be monitored and which might not be as important.

Online metric management applications can then take over to indefinitely implement and monitor the selected metrics. These web based metrics software solutions are attractive because of their flexibility and wide reach. As mentioned above, these metrics are usually chosen to be in line with the metrics of other parts of the organization. With online applications, each part can see how well each other part of the company is performing. This further reinforces intra-organizational collaboration and ensures that everyone continues to work for the same mission.