IntelliBriefs: What went wrong with business intelligence?

IntelliBriefs: What went wrong with business intelligence?

Good discussion about BI issues.
According to Mark Schroeck - BI leader for IBM Global Business Services, here are some critical success factors to consider:
Aligning data and information to business requirements
Choosing the right tools and technologies and knowing how to leverage them
Issues relating to people, process and culture

Real Time Dashboards - real, up-to-date information at your fingerstips

One of the most pressing challenges for any services company is contending with information gaps that exist between disparate systems or departments. Such information gaps impede fast, efficient decision—making and can compromise a company's market position. Only with real-time, accurate metrics delivered via an intuitive dashboard can companies make the most of their data and close the information gap.

In fact, implementing technologies and processes that support real-time information is a top business priority for many organizations in 2005, according to Forrester Research.

Using Real-time Dashboards, which integrate all critical business data across departments, companies can at last have new perspective on their data and processes. Personalized for each employee in your company, the Dashboard offers instant snapshots of key performance indicators (KPIs), such as new sales orders, commissions, project status, billing, support cases and forecasts. With the Real-time Dashboard, your employees spend time analyzing and acting on crucial business data—not gathering it. As a result, your company can accelerate and improve its business decisions.

You Can't Manage What You Can't Measure

Innovations in performance measurement are helping companies beat the competition and improve financial performance.
Performance management is an ongoing process that aligns strategic objectives with business processes, performance measures and, ultimately, employee behavior. Measurement of activities is crucial for companies that must manage employee performance to stay ahead of the competition, maintain and enhance financial performance, or manage a changing environment caused by deregulation or globalization. Our emphasis is on how to use this tool to manage rather than merely present static performance measures. Read more....

Some Cash Management KPIs worth considering

Cash Management KPIs

§ Amount of discount offered customers for timely remittance
§ Average balances in non-interest bearing accounts
§ Average daily idle cash
§ Average number of days bills are paid before due date
§ Average time between receipt and deposit of funds
§ Cash flow
§ Collection period (accounts receivable divided by sales per day)
§ Delinquent payment penalties as a percentage of purchases
§ Interest expense as a percentage of net capital
§ Length of cash cycle (time from payment for raw materials to ultimate collection of receivables from
sales)
§ Percentage of past due payables to total payables
§ Purchase discounts taken
§ Ratio of customer remittances by electronic means versus by check
§ Ratio of interest earned to average cash balances
§ Ratio of actual to planned cash flows

Welcome to KPI KnowledgeBase

Welcome to the KPI Knowledgebase. The purpose of this blog is to develop and provide information about business key performance indicators. Here's a brief definition of KPIs from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:-

Key Performance Indicators are financial and non-financial metrics used to quantify objectives to reflect the strategic performance of an organisation. These are used in Business Intelligence to assess the present state of business and to prescribe the course of action. The KPIs differ depending on the nature of the organisation. They help an organisation to measure progress towards their organizational goals. Read more.....

Here are some KPI Benefits:
Real-time visibility into your key business drivers lets you accurately identify successes as well as problems and proactively manage your business for greater success.
Timely information enables you to react to market trends with greater speed, leading to competitive edge.
Spend more time learning from and acting on your data, and less time gathering it, thereby freeing up your employees and resources for more important tasks.