Creating and Managing KPIs

Important! Before diving into KPI creation, take a few minutes to configure essential settings. Our guide will walk you through setting up data sources, approval workflows, notifications, and other features.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are the guiding lights for any organization seeking to measure success and achieve strategic objectives. This article will help you define and manage KPIs effortlessly.

Creating KPIs:

1. Navigate to the Perform → KPI → Manage.
• This is where you'll establish and manage your KPIs.(You can also create a KPI from the Track section)
2.  Click the + Add KPI button to initiate the KPI creation process
• This will open a page with the following steps: General Details, KPI Linkages, Configuration, and Preview and Send for Approval.

Step 1. General Details

• Title: Assign a clear and concise title that accurately reflects the KPI's purpose
• Description: Provide a detailed explanation of the KPI, outlining its objectives and how it aligns with your overall strategy
• Measurement: Establish the specific metric used to quantify the KPI and set notification rules to receive alerts for your KPI.
• Cycle: Select a cycle type from the dropdown list.
• KPI Metric: Select the unit used to measure this KPI's value (number, percent, currency. If you choose a currency, specify the exact currency used (e.g., USD, EUR)
• Limited to 2 Outcomes: When the toggle is enabled, the "Good When" field will present two options:
• Reached: Indicates that the KPI has met or exceeded its target value.
• Not Reached: Indicates that the KPI has not met its target value.

• Good When: Indicate whether the KPI value is considered positive when it increases or decreases
• Target: Choose either a Fixed or Formula option
• Fixed: Enter a specific numerical value as the target you want to achieve
• Formula: Define a dynamic target based on a baseline value and a percentage change
• Increase by/Decrease by: Specify the percentage by which you want the target to increase or decrease from the baseline value
• Threshold Ranges: The system displays default threshold ranges for acceptable performance levels, as configured in the Settings, such as Success (for exceeding the target), Average (for meeting expectations), Fail (for falling below the acceptable range), and Outstanding (for exceptional performance). You can, however, override these defaults and set your custom values for these ranges.
• Limit Impact: A toggle (ON/OFF) that allows you to control the maximum influence of exceptionally high "Outstanding" performance on the final KPI score.
• Multiplier: (Appears when "Limit Impact" is ON) Set a numerical value to define a maximum limit for "Outstanding" performance contribution to the KPI score.
• The value must be more than 0, and the default value is 1.
• Target Distribution for Current Year: This section allows you to define the monthly breakdown of your overall annual KPI target for the current year, enabling you to set specific performance expectations for each month.
• Click Save and Continue to proceed to KPI Linkages settings.

For example, if "Outstanding" begins at 100% of the target, and you set the Multiplier to 1.2, then any performance beyond 120% of the target will be capped at 120% for scoring purposes.

The KPI Linkage step allows you to connect your KPI through the following sections: Organizational Alignment, Assign Team, Strategic Alignment, Source of KPI Data, and Linked KPIs.

• Organizational Alignment

• Department: Assign this KPI to a specific department
• Branch Office: Specify the relevant branch office for this KPI.

• Assign Team

• Type: Use the checkbox to select either Individual or Group, depending on what your KPI is measuring
• Owner: Assign the primary responsibility for managing and tracking the KPI using this dropdown menu
• Contributors (Optional): This dropdown menu allows you to designate individuals who might contribute to or have a stake in the KPI, even if they aren't the primary owner

• Strategic Alignment

• Pillars: Assign a KPI to a pillar to demonstrate how it contributes to these core strategic objectives.
• Perspective: Categorize your KPI based on a pre-defined set of strategic perspectives within your organization
• Show in Mapping: Enable the toggle switch to control whether the KPI is displayed on a visual representation of your organization's strategy.
• Source: Indicate the data source that will be used to track the KPI's performance

• Linked KPIs

This section connects the current KPI to other related KPIs within the system. By establishing these links, you can visualize and understand the relationships and dependencies between different performance indicators.

Click the Link KPIs link to add relevant KPIs, then click the Save and Continue button to go to the Configuration step.

In this step, you'll set up approval workflows and reminders for your KPI. By default, these settings are populated from the Approval Configuration section in Settings, but you can customize them as necessary.

• KPI Approvals
• Approval Required: Turn a toggle switch on to indicate that this KPI requires approval from someone before the data is finalized. When you switch it on, an additional field called Approval Flow will become available
• Approval Flow ): Select the specific approval workflow that needs to be followed for this KPI. If no existing flows are defined, click here link to create a new one.

• Checkin Approvals

• Approval Required: Turn a toggle switch on to indicate that this KPI requires approval from someone before the data is finalized. When you switch it on, an additional field called Approval Flow will become available
• Approval Flow: Select the specific approval workflow that needs to be followed for this KPI. If no existing flows are defined, click here link to create a new one.

• Reminders

• Reminder on Check-in: Set the periodicity for reminder notifications
• Frequency: Select how often you want users to review and track the KPI data. (monthly, quarterly, or annually)
• Reminder Before Frequency End: Set a reminder notification for a specific number of days before the selected frequency period ends. For instance, if the frequency is monthly, you could set a reminder 3 days before the end of the month to prompt data entry or review.
• Click Save and Continue to proceed to the Preview and Send for Approval step.

Step 4 Preview and Send for Approval

In this final stage, review your KPI configurations. Once you've finalized, click Set as Ready, then you  need do:

1. Publish (if no approval is required): If your KPI doesn't have an approval flow assigned, click Publish to activate it and start tracking data immediately.

Tip: When you publish a KPI, you'll need to specify its start date. All team members involved in this KPI will be notified of your chosen start date.

Managing KPIs

Once a KPI is submitted for approval, it will appear with a "Waiting for Approval" status. As an approver, you will be notified and will then review the KPI and can either approve or reject it. If approved, the KPI becomes eligible for publishing.

You can view all KPIs in the KPI list, where each KPI is shown with its associated data, including progress bar, target value, owner, contributors, and links to view comments, attachments, and check-ins. The actions available for each KPI vary based on its status and are accessible through the Actions menu.

Key Actions:

• Delete: Delete unpublished KPIs
• Archive: Archive published KPIs for future reference
• These KPIs will be stored under the Archived section of the KPIs
• Send for Approval: Submit for approval KPIs with "Ready"  status (with approval flow)
• Publish: Make approved KPIs officially active and visible.
• Set as Ready: Designate KPIs in "Draft" status as ready for the next stage in the workflow, typically sending them for approval.
• Copy: Create a duplicate of the KPI, allowing you to use it as a template for creating similar KPIs
• Assign to: Designate or reassign ownership, responsibility, or contributing roles for the KPI to specific employees.
•  Clicking this action opens a sidebar where you can select the desired employee(s) to assign the item to.
• Add New KPI: Create a new KPI within the system by clicking the Add KPI button.
• Export: Download KPI data as an Excel spreadsheet by clicking the Export button.

Use the View Team link to see all members involved in the KPI, and the Comments and Check In links to view their respective records.

Note: The Check In action applies only to active KPIs.

Filter Your KPIs

After creating KPIs, use the available filters to narrow down your view and quickly find specific KPIs based on their Strategic Perspective or Status.

Understanding KPI Statuses:

• Upcoming: KPIs with a start date in the future
• Draft: Saved KPIs awaiting finalization
• Ready: KPIs with all required fields completed and saved
• Waiting for Approval: KPIs awaiting review and approval from designated reviewers
• Approved: KPIs that have been approved by reviewers
• Active: KPIs that have been published and are currently in use
• Rejected: KPIs that have been rejected by reviewers

In addition to Strategic Perspective and Status, you can also filter your KPIs by:

• Type
• Department
• Owner
• Contributor
• Source
• Branch Office

Accessing and Managing KPIs

To view detailed information about a KPI, click on its name within the Manage or Track section. You'll find information organized into corresponding sections. 

Key Actions:

• Delete: Delete unpublished KPIs
• Archive: Archive published KPIs for future reference
• These KPIs will be stored under the Archived section of the KPIs
• Edit: The Edit option allows you to make changes to existing KPIs. You can modify various aspects, including Name, Description, Measurement, Linkage, and others.
• Send for Approval: Submit for approval KPIs with "Ready" status (with approval flow)
• Publish: Make approved KPIs officially active and visible.
• View data related to Comments, Check Ins, and Modifications under their respective tabs. 
• To add a comment, enter your text and click the Send button.

Note: The availability of certain actions (e.g., Delete, Send for Approval, Publish) is dependent on the KPI's current status and your assigned user permissions.

You can use the Modify button to adjust the KPI distribution for the current year. The distribution can be set based on your preferred tracking period: yearly, quarterly, or monthly.

Clicking the Modify button opens a sidebar where you can:

• Set or update actual and target values.

• You can instantly see your changes reflected in the table and progress graph.

• See color-coded progress statuses (Fail, Average, Success, Outstanding) based on the entered values.

Note: When working with monthly tracking, the actual values can only be modified for past months.

You did it! Now that you're a pro at creating and managing KPIs, dive deeper into the next sections to unlock even more valuable features.