Scorecard Design Diagnostic

Guidance: Consult this diagnostic for selecting individual metrics and designing your
measurement scorecards. This packet includes:

1.) Metric Selection Decision Rules: These interactive decision tree and checklist
helps to aid in the selection of individual metrics. These decision trees pressure test
individual metrics for relevance within a performance scorecard.
2.) Scorecard Diagnostic: This checklist assesses the current effectiveness of your
performance measurement scorecards.
3.) The Performance Measurement Lifecycle: This performance measurement
lifecycle describes the key steps in infrastructure scorecard development and outlines
the stakeholders involved in each step.

Metric Selection and Attributes Checklist

Has the audience for the scorecard been

identified?

Yes

No

Begin scorecard design

from audience
perspective.

Determine if the metric

will provide supporting
data for another metric or
historical data for future
analysis. If yes, measure
Determine if the problem
is relevant to another
audience. If yes, include
it in a different scorecard.
Otherwise, discard the

Is this a problem of relevance to the

intended audience?

Yes

No

Include
Metric

Metrics Selection and Attributes

Discard
Metric

Include
Metric

For each metric selected using the decision rules on

the previous page, determine:

Examples

Unit of Measure

($, %, score, number of people)

Quantitative Target
Thresholds (When should it be considered a significant problem?)

(increase 20%, decrease

headcount 10%)
(>5% green, 6-7% yellow, <7%
red)

Frequency of Measurement

(monthly, quarterly, semi-annually)

Frequency of Reporting

(monthly, quarterly, semi-annually)

Expected Life of Metric (When will this metric be reviewed for relevance/
target adjustments?)
Formula for Calculating Metric (Including critical assumptions, sub-metrics,
etc.)
Owner and Provider (Responsible for acting on metric and collecting data on
metric, respectively)

(one year, six months, permanent)

(value of 1 day) x (days of
inventory removed) x 15%
(Josh Levy, David Bernstein, Ira
Abramson)

Data sources

(Finance Department, CRM system

Estimated Cost of Measurement (In personnel hours per year, system cost per
year, etc.)

(40 hours per year)

Use this checklist to decide the

final outcome of your individual
metric
Selected for the given scorecard
Potential inclusion in another
scorecard
Will be measured but not reported
on
(i.e., data source for another
metric)
Discarded

2. Scorecard Design Diagnostic

Tailored to Audience
a. Do you have customized reports for key audiences (e.g., business, IT)?
b. Are metrics included in the report screened for relevance to the intended
audience?
c. Are reporting frequencies decided based on audience decision-making needs?
d. Does the level of detail provided enable actionability for audience
context/priorities?
e. Is the reporting language adapted to the audience for ease of consumption?
Clear Definitions of Metrics
a. Is there a standard, enterprise-wide definition for every metric?
b. Was audience feedback sought while defining the metrics to verify relevance to
decisions?
c. Does each metric have a target?
d. Are performance thresholds defined for each metric?
e. Does each metric have an owner responsible for taking actions when metric
goes below target?
f. Do you publish a taxonomy outlining metrics definition, intent, and rationale?
Simplicity of Performance
a. Do you have a one-page scorecard with the high-level metrics?
b. Is the scorecard formatted to immediately draw attention to exceptions and key
issues?
c. Do you provide easily accessible drill-downs for metrics included in the high-level
scorecard?
d. Is each metric that is below target accompanied by a concise mention of action
taken/status?

Meets
Requirements
Yes
No

Yes
Yes

No
No

Yes
Yes

No
No

Yes
No
Meets
Requirements
Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes

No
No
No

Yes
No
Meets
Requirements
Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes

No

Yes

No

Assessment: Total Yes Answers

( 5 ) Potential redesign required
Effective Scorecard Design

(6-10) Some Revision Required

( 11 )

3. The Performance Measurement Lifecycle

Key Process Steps Involved in Creating and Adopting an Infrastructure Performance Report
Metric Selection and
Dashboard Definition

Strategy Mapping

Annual infrastructure
strategy devolved from IT
strategy
Scorecard audience
identified

Performance measurement
team creates initial list of
metrics.

List is refined by using

analysis of each potential
metrics strengths and

Assigning Metric
Ownership

Owners assigned to each

metric

Owner responsible for

defining metric, setting
action limits, and
establishing data sources

Scorecard Review

Scorecard reviewed monthly

by IT leadership and IT
managers to ensure
corrective actions are in
place.
Managers review
appropriate metrics with
their respective staff

Data Analysis
Performance measurement
team compiles monthly
scorecard, noting trends
and observations

Metric Definition
Performance measurement
team creates standard
definitions for all metrics,
defines measurements and
data collection processes,
and outlines initiatives that
must be completed to allow
tracking of metrics.

Data Collection and

Quality Assurance

Metrics provider collects

individual measures.

Data collection frequency

varies by metric based on
need, cost of collection, and
level of automation.