how to create a kpi report
with companies seemingly collecting more data every day it can become overwhelming to sort through the information and determine what kpis are most useful and impactful for decision making when beginning the process of pulling together kpi dashboards or reports consider the following steps advantages of kpisa company may wish to analyze kpis for several reasons kpis help inform management of specific problems the data driven approach provides quantifiable information useful in strategic planning and ensuring operational excellence kpis help hold employees accountable instead of relying on feelings or emotions kpis are statistically supported and cannot discriminate across employees when used appropriately kpis may help encourage employees as they realize their numbers are being closely monitored kpis are also the bridge that connects actual business operations and goals a company may set targets but without the ability to track progress toward those goals there is little to no purpose in those plans instead kpis allow companies to set objectives and then monitor progress toward those objectives limitations of kpisthere are some downsides to consider when working with kpis there may be a long time frame required for kpis to provide meaningful data for example a company may need to collect annual data from employees for years to better understand trends in satisfaction rates over long periods of time kpis require constant monitoring and close follow up to be useful a kpi report that is prepared but never analyzed serves no purpose in addition kpis that are not continuously monitored for accuracy and reasonableness do not encourage beneficial decision making kpis open up the possibility for managers to game kpis instead of focusing on actually improving processes or results managers may feel incentivized to focus on improving kpis tied to performance bonuses in addition quality may decrease if managers are hyper focused on productivity kpis and employees may feel pushed too hard to meet specific kpi measurements that may simply not be reasonable informs management of how a company is performing in countless wayshelps hold employees accountable for their actions or lack of can motivate employees who feel positively challenged to meet targetsallows a company to set goals and measure progress toward those objectivesresults in potential time commitment to consistently gather data over long periods of timerequires ongoing monitoring for accuracy and reasonableness in datamay encourage managers to focus on kpis instead of broader strategiesmay discourage employees if kpi targets are unreasonable