Nilukas Blog on Key Performance Indicators

 

Key Performance Indicators

 

A Key Performance Indicator (KPI) is what?

Key performance indicators (KPIs) are a collection of measurable metrics used for evaluating the overall long-term performance of an organization. KPIs specifically encourage the evaluation of a company's strategic, financial, and operational achievements, especially as compared to those of competitors in the same industry (Twin, 2023).

 

Key performance indicators, or KPIs, are measurable and quantifiable measurements that are used to track advancement toward a specific goal or objective. KPIs encourage data-driven decision-making, optimization of performance, and the identification of shortcomings and opportunities for improvement.

 

And it gives teams goals to strive for, benchmarks to evaluate progress, and insights to aid in guiding decision-making across an organization. Organizations can spot areas of strength and weakness, make better decisions based on data, and take action to boost performance by tracking KPIs (Kalipfolio, 2023)


Figure 1: Key Performance Indicator

 

Characteristics of Effective KPIs:

In an organization data-driven teams use KPIs to monitor business objectives and take part in a cycle of continuous improvement, allowing them to become more efficient over time.

Effective KPIs should possess 7 characteristics to measure key drivers of business value.

  

1.       Simple - A KPI must be simple to understand and measurable, prompting decisions and allowing employees to take initiative to affect the result. It should increase the operation's visibility of performance.

 

2.       Aligned - KPIs should flow from an organization's strategic goals and Objectives to regular operations that have an impact on them and should be aligned with all overall strategies.

 

3.       Relevant - KPIs should be assigned to the right decision-makers to ensure accuracy and realization.

 

4.       Measurable - A KPI must be quantifiable to measure both positive and negative deviations from a goal and should be based on a specific objective.

 

5.       Achievable - Setting realistic and achievable KPIs is key to achieving overall progression.

 

6.       Timely - KPIs must be generated with objectives that workers consider they can achieve. Employees are more inclined to achieve a KPI's goal if it is more realistic.

 

7.       Visibility - Visibility of KPIs is essential for successful KPIs, as it increases employee engagement and determines a standard for accountability.


Figure 2 : KPI Characteristics

 

What is a KPI Report

A KPI report is an accurate document that contains details about the key performance indicators (KPI) that a business, division, team, or individual is monitoring. KPI reports can be massive and detailed, depending on the amount of data and gathered information that traces who the intended audience is. They can be physical or digital reports, and some software programs can produce interactive documents that let the reader learn more about each piece of data. To learn more about performance data, leadership may give these reports to divisions, or they may talk about it in staff meetings (Indeed, 2023).

 

Figure 3: KPI Report

 

How to Improve Performance Using KPI’s:

KPIs are an important tool for collecting the information needed to control the cycle of continuous improvement. So, it helps to provide insights into issues or possibilities, plan steps to address, and take action to reflect improvements, measure, and improve performance (Sonntag, 2023).

 

Figure 4: Importance of KPIs

 

Types of KPIs

Key performance indicators can be used to measure the effectiveness of an organization. Others are used to track long-term progress rather than monthly progress toward a goal. The fact that each KPI is connected to a strategic goal is the only thing that connects them all. Here is an overview of some of the most common KPI types.

·       Strategic

Strategic KPIs measure organizational objectives, for example, the share of the market, revenue, and return on investment, to measure progress.

 

·         Operational

KPIs are on average more time-sensitive and focused on the effectiveness and efficiency of organizational processes, for example, sales by region, and transportation costs measure organizational processes.


·         Functional Units

Numerous KPIs have links to specific roles, like finance or IT. Finance KPIs track gross profit margin or return on assets, whereas IT may track time to recovery or average availability. These operational KPIs are also classified as strategic or operational KPIs.


·         Leading vs Lagging

Organizations use both leading and lagging indicators to track key performance indicators, as slow KPIs track what has already taken place, and leading KPIs facilitate outcome prediction (Qlik, 2023).


Figure 5: Types of KPI’s & Structure


How do KPIs apply to the Human Resource function?

Key performance indicators (KPIs) are accurate measurements of an organization's performance in essential areas of the organization that can be quantitatively or qualitatively quantified. KPIs can differ by project, department, or business; they can also be financial, nonfinancial, or both, and can be weighed variously by each project, department, or business. KPIs are HR-related systems of measurement that have been looked at to show a link to the organization's long-term Organizational objectives or essential success factors. For instance, a shorter time to fill a sales position not only helps with scheduling issues but also increases the organization's revenue due to the proper staffing levels. Another example of an HR KPI is the capacity of an organization to reduce turnover rates (SHRM, 2023).

 

Figure 6: Human Resource KPI Dashboard illustration

 

Conclusion

A key performance indicator, or KPI, is a measurable indicator of how well achieved over time for an individual goal. KPIs provide teams with goals to work toward, benchmarks to measure progress, and insights to help everyone in the organization make better decisions. KPIs can be used to measure an organization's effectiveness. Operational performance across the organization is intended to be calculated and observed by process KPIs. 


References

Indeed, 2023. Indeed. [Online]
[Accessed 22 April 2023].

Kalipfolio, 2023. Kalipfolio. [Online]
Available at: https://www.klipfolio.com/resources/articles/what-is-a-key-performance-indicator
[Accessed 22 April 2023].

Qlik, 2023. Qlik. [Online]
Available at: https://www.qlik.com/us/kpi
[Accessed 22 April 2023].

SHRM, 2023. SHRM. [Online]
Available at: https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/tools-and-samples/hr-qa/pages/whatarekeyperfindicatorsandhowtheyrelatetothehrfunction.aspx
[Accessed 22 April 2023].

Sonntag, M., 2023. Repsly. [Online]
Available at: https://www.repsly.com/blog/consumer-goods/tracking-progress-the-7-characteristics-of-an-effective-kpi
[Accessed 22 April 2023].

Twin, A., 2023. Investopidie. [Online]
Available at: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/k/kpi.asp
[Accessed 22 April March].

 

Figure 1: Key Performance Indicator

Figure 2: KPI Characteristics

Figure 3: KPI Report

Figure 4: Importance of KPIs

Figure 5: Types of KPI’s & Structure

Figure 6: Human Resource KPI Dashboard illustration

 

 


Comments

  1. Basically, I have conducted many KPI meatings in my previous company, but now its good to know 7 Charactoristics of KPI. I did not know earlier. Thank you so much for sharing. Conclusion was good Adding to that This Results of KPI leads to the Tallent management styles by getting the work done from less performanced staff. Nicelyt presented. Thank you for sharing such knowledge.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi, thank you for sharing a good topic. KPIs are more important for a company to monitor its performance and to make the right decisions at the right time. Further, this could be used as a monitoring/motivational tool for the staff.
    In my previous experience, while going for ISO certification, I had to implement KPIs as well. Some of the challenges faced during the implementation are as follows:
    01. Selecting the KPI to fulfill the needs.
    02. No of KPI to be set. This can not be few or too much
    03. Staff acceptance to follow the KPI

    ReplyDelete
  3. SMART is a requirement for a key performance indicator. In other terms, we can say SMART for the seven characteristics.
    S-Simple
    M-Measurable
    A-Attainable
    R-Realistic
    T-Time bound.
    Many companies provide KPIs for each department.

    ReplyDelete
  4. KPI is important to measure the performance for individual employees. Its also designed to measure the impact the company's training and development program has on employees.

    ReplyDelete
  5. KPI is giving us where we are at present and guide us to improve lagging areas .Therefore it is vital to get update in KPI,s content well explained.

    ReplyDelete

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