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Create KPIs That Reflect Your Strategic Priorities

• Graham Kenny

Start by identifying your most important stakeholders.

This article argues that a company should structure its key performance indicators around key stakeholder groups, such as customers, employees, suppliers, regulators, funding sources, and the communities in which they operate.  Managers who fail to do this risk ignoring performance along key dimensions necessary for success. Leaders should begin by identifying the important stakeholder groups and then listing a full range of measures that track both how well the company meets stakeholder expectations and vice versa.  An executive team should winnow the list down to two or three KPIs per stakeholder.

“What do you think of our scorecard?” asked Phil (not his real name), the CEO of the main roads department of a large Australian state. Phil had emailed me his organization’s scorecard of 29 key performance indicators (KPIs) to review ahead of a workshop I was to run for them. Unfortunately, I could see that, aside from being on the long side, the list was skewed and biased, with large holes that would leave the department vulnerable to underperformance in critical areas.

• Graham Kenny is the CEO of Strategic Factors and author of Strategy Discovery . He is a recognized expert in strategy and performance measurement who helps managers, executives, and boards create successful organizations in the private, public, and not-for-profit sectors. He has been a professor of management in universities in the U.S. and Canada.

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22 Strategic Management KPIs Managers need to know

What are the most important Strategic Management KPIs you should know? Find the full list of 22 of the most important Strategic Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for Managers.

Many different factors contribute to the success of a business. Although some aspects are easier to measure than others, it is important for managers to track as many key performance indicators (KPIs) as possible in order to make informed decisions about how to develop their business. In this article, we present 22 strategic management KPIs that managers should know.

Further Read:  Ultimate Guide on KPIs – Incl. List of 200 KPIs for Businesses

Table of Contents

What are Strategic Management KPIs?

Strategic management KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) are important metrics that top management can use to track the success of their business. By understanding these KPIs and their impact on the business, executives can make data-driven decisions about where to allocate resources and how to improve operations.

While strategic management KPIs track the success of the entire organisation, departmental KPIs can provide a more detailed insight into the performance of a specific area of the business. For example, sales KPIs can measure the success of a company’s sales department, while production KPIs can show the output and efficiency of a company’s production process. By tracking strategic and departmental KPIs, managers can get a complete picture of their company’s performance.

Why is it essential to track Strategic Management KPIs?

Understanding the organisation’s KPIs and making data-driven decisions is essential to the success of any business. By understanding which KPIs to track and what they mean to the business, managers can better decide where to allocate resources and how to improve operations. In addition, tracking KPIs can help with strategic planning, as managers can use data from the past to make projections for future success.

While some aspects of a business are easier to measure than others, it’s important to track as many business-related metrics as possible to get a full picture of your company’s performance. By knowing which KPIs are most important, managers can focus on improving the areas that impact the company’s success.

Overview of the most critical Strategic Management KPIs

• Revenue per Employee / Revenue per FTE
• Total Costs

Profit Margin

• Operating Margin
• Gross Margin
• Customer Acquisition Costs (CAC)

Customer Lifetime Value

Customer satisfaction score / net promoter score, customer churn rate.

• Sales by Product or Service
• Sales Target in % (Actual/Forecast)
• Operating Expenses Ratio
• Net Profit Margin Percentage
• Return on Assets (ROA)

Return on Equity (ROE)

Current ratio (assets/liabilities).

• Debt to Equity Ratio

Working Capital

• Employee Satisfaction Rating

Explanation of 22 important Strategic Management KPIs

Revenues are an important measure of a company’s overall performance. They indicate how much money the company makes from its operations. This allows managers to track how the company is performing and identify areas where they need to make changes to improve performance. Revenue is also important in assessing the value of a company and its attractiveness to potential investors.

Revenue per employee / revenue per FTE

To measure the success of a business, it’s important to look at more than just total revenue. It’s best if you also look at revenue per employee or revenue per FTE. The relative metric will give you a better indication of how efficiently the business is generating revenue and whether it is becoming more or less successful over time.

Total costs

Companies need to have an overview of their costs, preferably broken down by department and issue. This allows them to see where they are spending the most money and where they may be able to save. Costs can vary greatly from department to department, so it’s important to know what each dollar is being spent on.

Net income is an important measure of a company’s overall performance. It indicates how much money the company makes after expenses are deducted. This allows managers to track the company’s performance and identify areas where they need to make changes to improve performance. Net profit is also an important factor in assessing a company’s value.

Profit margin is another good indicator of overall performance. It indicates how much money the company makes from its operations after expenses. This can help managers track the company’s performance and identify areas where they need to make changes to improve performance. Net profit is also an important factor in assessing the value of a business.

Operating margin

Operating margin is an important performance indicator for strategic decision-making. It indicates how much money the company makes from its operations after expenses. This allows managers to track how the company is performing and determine where they need to make changes to improve performance. Net income is also a key factor in assessing the value of a company.

Gross margin

Gross margin is another important measure of a company’s overall performance. It indicates how much money the company makes after deducting the cost of goods sold. This allows managers to track the company’s performance and identify areas where they need to make changes to improve performance. Gross margin is also important in assessing the value of a business.

Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)

Overall customer acquisition cost is also a strategically important KPI. This metric determines how much a company spends to acquire a new customer. To maintain profitability, it is important to keep this number as low as possible. Many companies use marketing and advertising campaigns to acquire new customers, and the cost of these campaigns must be closely monitored to stay within budget.

Customer lifetime value (CLV) is an important key performance indicator (KPI) for companies that want to measure the success of their customer loyalty efforts. CLV takes into account the amount of money a customer spends throughout their relationship with a company. It can help determine how much effort a company should expend to retain a particular customer.

There are several ways to calculate CLV, but all attempt to capture the long-term value of a customer. One common method is to multiply the average purchase amount by the average number of purchases per year and then subtract the customer’s churn rate (the percentage of customers who end their relationship with a company in a given period of time).

A high CLV is desirable for companies because they benefit more from their existing customers. Measuring and tracking CLV can help companies focus on retaining high-value customers and increase profits.

Customer satisfaction and Net Promoter Scores are two important indicators for management when it comes to measuring customer loyalty and satisfaction. A high Customer Satisfaction Score means that customers are generally satisfied with the product or service. In contrast, a high Net Promoter Score means that customers are likely to recommend the product or service to others. Based on these scores, management can determine what to focus on to satisfy customers and increase loyalty.

Note: Net Promoter Score is calculated by subtracting the percentage of customers who reject the product from those who recommend it.

Customer churn rate is a management key performance indicator (KPI) that measures how many customers a company loses in a given period of time. Companies need to track their churn rate to understand how well they are retaining customers and to identify areas for improvement. Low churn rates are usually indicative of a high-quality product or service, while high churn rates may mean that customers are dissatisfied with the offering.

Sales by product or service

A company needs to track the sales of its products and services in order to make informed management decisions. By analyzing sales data, a company can determine which products or services are selling well and which are not. Using this information, the company can decide which products or services to focus on and which to discontinue. In addition, tracking sales by product or service can provide a general overview of the company’s overall performance.

Sales target % (actual/forecast).

A sales goal % can be a helpful indicator for management because it shows how successful a company is in meeting sales goals. A high percentage of sales goals met means the company is doing well, while a low percentage of sales goals means it needs to work harder to improve its sales. Sales goals can also help motivate employees to sell more products and services by giving them short- to medium-term goals.

Operating expense ratio

The operating expense ratio can be used as a performance indicator to measure a company’s efficiency. It is calculated by dividing a company’s operating expenses by its revenues. Using this ratio, companies can determine if they are spending too much on operating expenses and need to find ways to reduce costs.

Net profit margin percentage

Net profit margin percentage (NPM) measures a company’s financial health. It is calculated by dividing a company’s net profit by total revenue. The higher the NPM, the more profitable a company is. This metric is important for small businesses because it can provide insight into whether or not they are on the path to becoming a sustainable business.

Return on assets (ROA)

An important performance indicator for management is return on assets (ROA). It measures how efficiently a company uses its assets to generate profits. It is calculated by dividing net income by average total assets. A high ROA means that the company is making good use of its assets and generating profits from them. ROA can be a good indicator of how well the company is doing. Management should track ROA over time to see if it is trending up or down and take corrective action as needed.

Return on equity (ROE) measures a company’s profitability by considering the amount of equity used to fund assets. It is calculated by dividing net income attributable to shareholders by average equity.

Return on equity is an important indicator because it measures how efficiently a company uses its money to generate profits for shareholders. A high return on equity indicates that the company is making more profit on its invested capital, while a low return on equity indicates that it could be using its money more effectively. Management and shareholders use return on equity as a performance measure to assess a company’s performance.

Price-earnings ratio

The price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio is an important performance measure that allows management to gauge how the market values a company’s stock. It is calculated by dividing the current share price by earnings per share (EPS). This measures how much investors are willing to pay for each dollar of earnings per share. A high P/E ratio means investors expect high future growth, and a low P/E ratio means investors expect low future growth. Management can use this information to decide how to grow the company and increase the stock value.

The current ratio is an important performance indicator for management because it measures a company’s ability to pay its short-term debt. A high current ratio indicates that a company has more assets than liabilities and is able to meet its short-term obligations. A low current ratio, on the other hand, could indicate that a company is struggling to meet its short-term liabilities.

Debt to equity ratio

The management team should constantly monitor the debt-to-equity ratio. A high debt-to-equity ratio may indicate that a company is in financial trouble and may not be able to repay its debt. A low debt-to-equity ratio may indicate that a company is financially sound and able to borrow money at low interest rates.

Working capital is an important metric for management decisions. It is the money available to a company to pay its short-term liabilities. The calculation includes current assets such as cash, receivables, and inventories less current liabilities.

A high working capital ratio means that a company has more money available than it needs to pay its bills in the near future. This means that the company can meet its obligations quickly and may have room to expand operations or make acquisitions. A low working capital ratio means that the company cannot cover its short-term liabilities without selling assets or borrowing money.

Assessing employee satisfaction

The employee satisfaction score should also be used by management to make decisions about the company. If the score is low, the company may need to make changes to improve employee satisfaction. This may include changes in management, compensation or benefits. If the score is high, the company can maintain its current measures and may even want to consider how it can further increase employee satisfaction.

Integrate management KPIs across departments

Breaking down kpis into departmental metrics.

For effective strategic management, it is important not only to focus on overarching corporate KPIs, but also to break them down into department-specific metrics. This ensures that each department aligns its goals and metrics with the overall strategic goals of the organisation. For example, while the sales department may focus on KPIs such as conversion rates and average deal size, the production team may track efficiency metrics and error rates. This breakdown allows department heads to identify areas for improvement and make decisions that positively impact the company’s overall goals.

However, it is important to maintain a balance. Overloading departments with too many KPIs can lead to confusion and a lack of focus. Selecting a handful of relevant, meaningful metrics for each department ensures clarity and alignment with the company’s strategic direction.

Promote a shared vision with common KPIs

In addition to department-specific KPIs, it is important to have common KPIs across all departments. These common metrics provide a unified vision and understanding of the overall health and performance of the organisation. Metrics such as overall customer satisfaction and net profit margin are relevant to everyone and give everyone a clear picture of the company’s success.

Shared KPIs foster a sense of collective ownership and collaboration. When departments understand how their specific roles contribute to these common goals, it promotes cohesion and synergy in achieving objectives. Regular cross-departmental meetings to discuss the common KPIs can reinforce this spirit of collaboration and ensure that everyone is on the same page and working towards the same goals.

Benjamin Talin

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Key performance indicators

Table of Contents

What is a kpi.

KPI stands for key performance indicators. This is a quantifiable measurement of performance over time for a specific activity that is tied to a company objective.

A key performance indicator can help you better understand your business’ financial and operational achievements, so you can see where you’re at and make improvements to your strategy.

Picture Robin Hood aiming for his archery target. Without the target, Robin Hood wouldn’t know where to aim his bow. But, with the target, he can measure exactly how far off he is from his goal, so he can adjust his aim, strength, or his bow.

The same is true for the KPIs in your business. They give you a clear marker of how you’re performing so you can understand if you’re in the right direction, or if you need to make strategic adjustments along the way.

A KPI provides your business with a target to shoot for, milestones to track your performance over time, and insights to help your organization's leaders make better decisions. From marketing to sales to finance and even HR, key performance indicators can help improve productivity, progress, and achievement across every area of your business.

What is KPI reporting?

KPI reporting is the business management practice of measuring, organizing, and analyzing a business’ most important key performance indicators.

KPI reports help business leaders identify strengths and weaknesses, optimize company performance, improve engagement, and reach strategic goals. Managers also use KPI reporting to analyze trends in specific departments or in the business as a whole to improve decision-making.

KPI reporting is typically presented visually in the form of an interactive dashboard. KPI dashboards give managers a quick overview of the essential data points associated with your specific key performance indicators.

KPI dashboards present your KPIs in an easily digestible format so managers can quickly analyze and extract the most crucial information to help them optimize their overall strategy.

How to measure KPI

If you’re going to be successful in your KPI tracking, then you need to build a proper KPI measurement framework, or use a KPI Tree Template . Here are six steps to setting a framework for your KPI measurement:

1. Determine your main goal(s)

The first step to measuring your KPIs is to first identify which KPIs you'll be tracking. To figure out your KPIs, you need to first determine the goal you and your team are working towards. For instance, the goal of a specific marketing campaign could be to generate $50,000 in revenue or bring in 50 leads. No matter what your goal is, we’ll use it to establish KPIs.

2. Establish primary KPIs

Now that you have your overall goal, it’s time to establish your primary KPIs. These are significant KPIs designed to measure the overall results of your campaign and whether it was a success or not. Some primary KPI examples include the amount of revenue generated by specific channels like email marketing or Facebook ads. Or, if your goal is brand awareness, it could be your overall reach or impressions on different social platforms.

3. Establish secondary KPIs

Next up, it’s time to establish secondary key performance indicators to further understand the success of your campaign. These could be three to five additional metrics that are important to your campaign but not necessarily your primary KPI. For instance, if your primary KPI is email revenue generated, secondary KPIs could include average order value or return customer rate.

4. Choose health metrics

Next, we’ll establish metrics that'll help you understand the overall health of your campaign, rather than whether or not you've reached your primary goal. Following our email marketing KPIs, health metrics could include metrics like open rate, click rate, and total email opens.

5. Establish specific KPI targets

Now that you’ve chosen the KPIs that you’ll track, it’s time to determine the exact numerical target for each KPI. The numbers you establish should be realistic and measurable numbers to help you stay on track. Simply stating you want to earn more revenue from email marketing isn’t enough. Get specific. State that you want to generate $50,000 from the campaign, with $20,000 of that coming from email. If your average order value (AOV) is $50, set a goal for your AOV to be $60. Aim for a 40% email open rate if you usually get 35%.

By setting specific, measurable KPIs, you’re much more likely to achieve them or at least come close.

6. Set up benchmarks

Finally, you need to set up benchmarks. Remember to look at past campaign performance to better understand what a typical benchmark for KPIs is. But, don’t stop there. Look at competitors. Look at others in your industry or similar businesses in other industries. By understanding where you’re at relative to your competitors or your own past performance, it'll help you determine whether you’re on the right track or not.

Benefits of tracking KPIs

KPIs are a critical part of any business strategy to ensure you’re staying on track and improving performance. Here are a few reasons why you should be tracking KPIs.

Measure performance

First off, KPIs help you measure your performance. If you’re just “winging it” when you’re working on a project or a campaign, how will you know whether or not you’re a success?

Without KPIs, you’ll be driving blind, not knowing what’s improving or worse yet‌‌ — ‌harming — your organization.

Tracking KPIs can help you measure your progress — or lack thereof — toward crucial business goals.

Improve employee morale and engagement

A business is nothing without people, and a business is almost as good as nothing if people aren’t engaged. One key path to improving engagement at work is by establishing KPIs.

You may think that pressuring your team to hit certain targets will make them dislike their job. But, the opposite is true. People crave growth. Establishing KPIs for individuals and different departments is a great way to get your team engaged.

Remember to align your KPIs with organizational goals and goals for your department. The better you can tie your KPIs to a deeper, purposeful goal, the more engaged your employees will be and the greater company morale will be overall.

Improve decision-making

KPIs provide leaders with key insights into their organization and department. They offer more than just numbers on a page or a screen. They offer valuable information that can help you understand what specific points of action are improving your business and what ones are hurting it.

Instead of just making decisions based on gut feelings, you can use KPIs to make data-informed decisions that will improve your odds of success.

Examples of KPIs

Curious to know what the most commonly tracked KPIs are?

Here are a few examples of KPIs, broken down by different departments that you can use as a baseline to establish your own key performance indicators:

Revenue by channel

Customer satisfaction

Conversion rates

Marketing qualified leads (MQLs)

Return on investment (ROI)

Return on advertising spend (ROAS)

Customer acquisition cost (CAC)

Total sales generated

Sales volume by location

Sales qualified leads (SQLs)

New inbound leads

New qualified opportunities

Total pipeline value

Average order value

Operating profit margin

Gross profit margin

Net profit margin

Operating expense ratio

Working capital ratio

Return on investment

Customer Service

Average response time

First contact resolution rate

Cost per conversation

Customer effort score

Most active support agents

What makes for an effective KPI?

Now that you know a few different types of KPIs you can track broken down by department, it’s time to figure out what makes for an effective KPI so you know how you can craft yours the right way.

First and foremost, the KPIs you track should be relevant to your role, team, department, and business. It should be connected with your team and organization’s overall business goals and mission.

For example, let’s say your company is aiming to increase annual recurring revenue (ARR) by 30% at the end of the year. If you’re on the marketing team, you might consider tracking conversion rates as this directly aligns with revenue.

KPIs need to be measurable. If you don’t know how to measure it, then you need to change it or throw it out. When you set up KPIs, ask yourself, ‘What am I trying to achieve? What is my desired end result?’

You need to make sure you don’t just set a number, but also a date. By setting a deadline, you will have a clear yes or no on whether you hit your KPI goals or not.

Your KPIs can’t be vague, and they can’t be passive. You need to set KPIs that can be achieved by taking specific actions. Once you have your KPI, it should be relatively straightforward to make an action plan broken down into smaller goals to achieve success.

Finally, your KPIs need to be simple. Don’t get too complicated, and don’t track too many. You don’t need to track every single possible KPI. Depending on your overall goals, you should only stick to a few primary KPIs and potentially some secondary ones.

What’s the difference between KPIs and OKRs?

So, how are KPIs different from OKRs? Are they the same? Do you choose one or the other?

Simply put, OKRs and KPIs work together. However, they serve different purposes.

While key performance indicators measure performance against specific targets, you can create OKRs, or objectives and key results, to achieve goals within a specific period of time that align with an organization's vision.

Objectives and Key Results (OKRs)

Objectives and key results are broken down into two parts.

Think of objectives as where you want to go. For example, an organization may decide they want to evolve their brand image from cheap to premium. This is an objective.

Key results are how you’re going to achieve your strategic objectives. These are measurable metrics to track your progress. For instance, if you’re trying to become a more premium brand, one key result may be increasing your average product price from $60 to $100. Another one may be upgrading the materials used to make your products from a $10 manufacturing cost per product to higher quality manufacturing for $20 per product.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

The way KPIs fit into an OKR strategy is one step lower. Think of Objectives as the bird’s eye view. Key results are skyscraper buildings. Key performance indicators are the foundation on which key results lay.

For instance, a key performance indicator aligned with the objective to become a premium brand and increase your average product price might be to track your average order value (AOV). In this example, if you raise your price point, you’ll want to track if the AOV is aligning with it and by how much. Perhaps the average order value isn’t rising even though you’ve raised your prices.

Another KPI you could track is your conversion rate. Since you have started raising your prices, are your conversion rates dropping? They’re likely going to dip down to some degree. If it’s too much, perhaps you moved the price up too high too quickly.

Collaboratively set and track your KPIs

With Miro, teams can collaboratively define, visualize, and monitor KPIs in real-time. Whether you need to track sales targets, project milestones, or customer satisfaction metrics, Miro makes it easy to document your KPIs in one shared space, fostering transparency and accountability. Sign up for free to get started!

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STRATEGIC PLANNING PROCESS

Providing evidence that your strategy is on track (or not!)

Click on each step above for a full description

Measures, often known as KPIs

A KPI is something that can be counted and compared; it provides evidence of the degree to which an objective is being attained over a specified time. In short, it’s the measure of how well you’re achieving your objectives.

Download the Strategic Planning Workbook

So let’s take our previous objective example: “reduce the number of days taken to convert a qualified lead into a sale” and create a KPI.

How to create KPIs

First off, we have to see what can be tangibly measured. In this case, it’s days, qualified leads and sales .

Next, we have to differentiate between lead and lag KPI’s. The go-to when creating KPI’s is usually lag. Why? Because it’s easier. And everyone loves the easy way out, right? Lag KPI’s provide proof of success or failure; think of them as the scales going up or down when you’re on a diet. However, lead KPI’s are just as important to create. These are the actions that will help you succeed – using the diet example it’s the exercise you do and calories you count to lose weight. They are harder to define but are just as important.

So, when thinking of our example objective – “reduce the number of days taken to convert a qualified lead into a sale” – our measurable KPI could be – “the average number of days between a qualified lead and sale”.

Once you’ve created your KPI’s, they should be ranked in order of importance, ensuring that the right things are measured. From low to medium to high, where does your KPI fit? Which KPI is more applicable than others?

With your final list of KPI’s, it’s time to assign ownership. You’ve got to get the right person for the right job, otherwise, all your hard work will go right down the drain! Ownership of KPI’s must belong to one individual, rather than a department or team. This ensures the work actually gets done (rather than passed around from one person to another) and positive outcomes are achieved.

Setting thresholds

KPI’s only work when they are comparable to something. There needs to be an upper and lower limit to truly see how well they are performing. These limits are known as thresholds .

Your thresholds will be based on your targets, so make sure they are reasonable and achievable. You’ll need to clearly state what is both acceptable and unacceptable when recording results.

There are many different ways you can keep track of your KPI’s, for example, the in business the most common is Red, Amber, Green or RAG.

To get the most out of this workshop download the Strategic Planning Workbook , the Strategic Plan Summary one-page presentation and the Strategic Plan Template from the Intrafocus website.

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Strategy Execution is a Matter of Cause and Effect: Strategic Planning and KPIs

RELATED TAGS:

KPIs , planning season , Strategic Planning , strategy execution

If you were to review your strategic planning process, I would bet that all of your hard work boils down to a series of causes and effects:

You’re building your plan to ensure your business grows in a positive way, so you monitor effects by reviewing certain Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) on a regular basis. Once you’ve outlined your desired state, you begin to develop your various strategies/tactics which you hope will cause the desired effect.

This sounds good in theory – cut and dry. Strategies in your plan should cause your business to grow, and your KPIs measure the effectiveness of those initiatives along the way. However, many of us never achieve this relationship. It’s complicated. Let me walk you through two very common troublesome scenarios I encounter on a weekly basis:

Scenario 1: KPIs Are Missing Context, So You Don’t Know What’s Causing Them to Rise or Fall

Company X develops a dashboard and sends out a report once a week to their management team. Everyone on the distribution list opens it, reviews the information, and begins to formulate questions based on what they see – a bunch of numbers.

For example, the management team will notice that a very important KPI is off track, but the dashboard doesn’t have any more information than that. They don’t know who’s responsible for the item and there’s little to no context around the information, so they can’t enter the meeting prepared with ideas for the next steps.

This scenario usually results in a hastily put-together status update meeting where everyone gets together to spend 55 minutes discovering why the KPI is down, and only 5 minutes discussing what happens next. Life becomes a series of meetings to put out fires and you can never seem to get ahead.

When you don’t have context around your KPIs ahead of time, conversations are dedicated to information-gathering instead of proactive strategy discussions.

Scenario 2: KPIs Are Missing Numbers, So You Can’t Determine the Direct Effect of Any Single Cause

Company Y maintains an extensive Excel spreadsheet that contains its FY18 strategic plan. They list out their various initiatives and latest status updates – but there isn’t a metric to be seen.

You now have insight into your organization’s activities but it’s unclear which projects “moved the needle” on your various KPIs. There’s no alignment between the desired outcomes for the organization and the activities team members are working on every day.

If you’re living in Scenario 2, there’s a term that’s used quite a bit which is, “Let’s just see how it goes.” You know the items in your plan aren’t going well, but you don’t have enough data to make any meaningful changes; you just hope that time will cure-all. At the end of the year, the measure of success is how many activities everyone completed instead of which outcomes improved.

The KPI-Based Strategy Equation

I would argue that both scenarios listed above are troubling because they’re terribly common. If you identify with either scenario, the root cause of the problem is that you only have access to half the story.

In Scenario 1, you see the quantitative information about your plans, but you can’t link which activities are driving your numbers up or down. In essence, you have complete visibility into the effect side of the equation.

In Scenario 2, you know the qualitative status of the various activities throughout your organization, but you don’t know if they’re driving outcomes. As we discussed earlier, the only reason you’re embarking on a set of activities is in the hopes of improving business outcomes. If you are only reviewing causes , you’re missing half of the equation.

How to Solve Strategy Execution with KPIs

You owe it to yourself to develop a process that incorporates both the quantitative aspects of your plan with the qualitative activities your team is working on. This can only be accomplished if you’re taking time during the creation of your plan to connect outcomes to activities.

I find it best to identify 3-5 Key Areas of Focus for your organization and develop a goal statement that outlines what “good” looks like. Basically, if everything goes well this year, what would we like to see happen in each of our focus areas?

Once that exercise is complete, develop 2-3 KPIs for each focus area that would clearly outline the health of each area. Remember to include the words increase , decrease or maintain in the development of your KPIs. Using this approach will ensure you don’t create a list of activities – that don’t measure success – because quantitative items can only move up, down, or stay the same.

Finally, I would look at each KPI and ask myself, “What activities would help move that item in the right direction?” Many times this area of your plan is reserved for “strategies,” which are basically the big projects you feel will make a positive impact.

The last step is to break down each of your strategies into slightly smaller chunks and call them “tactics.” (Note: If your strategies are set to last a year or more, you need to identify progressive success criteria at frequent intervals throughout that year+ to get a more accurate measurement.)

KPIs as a Strategic Planning Tool

It’s clear how the qualitative/quantitative approach to planning with KPIs would allow you to effectively articulate what “good” looks like, which makes it easier to explain what you’re working on and how it’s impacting outcomes.

If you follow my suggested approach, you can understand the relationship of causes and effects in your strategic plan, and therefore be able to make smarter, faster, and better business decisions. If you find yourself in either Scenario 1 or 2 please reach out to me and I’ll be happy to help.

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How to Use Key Performance Indicators for Strategy Implementation

Key performance indicators (KPIs) have become commonplace in large and medium-sized companies worldwide. However, despite the widespread use of KPIs, many companies still have not managed to get a high benefit from KPIs. Frequently, KPIs are just seen as a tool for measuring performance on an operational level. This approach misses the benefits KPIs can offer for strategic planning and strategy implementation.

The role of key performance indicators in strategic planning

Key performance indicators can be an essential success factor for strategy implementation. In the strategic planning process, KPIs can be directly linked to the achievement of strategic objectives (see figure).

A company’s strategy is the way in which it endeavors to realize its vision in the mid- to long-term. In order to reach the envisioned state, the strategy needs to be translated into action via strategic objectives. They can be further broken down into operational objectives. The achievement of both strategic and operational objectives needs to be regularly monitored in order to see, if the corporate strategy is on track.

This is where KPIs come in. They provide evidence on the degree to which strategic and operational objectives have been achieved. In this way, KPIs serve as an early-warning system for strategic and operational problems. If deviation between the measured performance and the targeted performance is at a significant level, it is time to reconsider, analyze the causes, and take action.

While this may sound straightforward, implementing KPIs in practice entails a number of challenges, and quite often, KPIs are not used in the most effective way.

Five common mistakes in using KPIs

1. kpis are not aligned with strategic objectives.

The crucial word in ‘key performance indicators’ is ‘key’. You can collect data for numerous performance indicators. However, in order to get the data that you need for making the right strategic decisions, you first need to decide, which performance indicators are key.

The criterion for branding a performance indicator as key is, how much it is aligned with a strategic objective. Let us assume you are a start-up company with the strategic objective of increasing the number of customers within the next year to 1,000. Then, a KPI called ‘Number of newly acquired customers’ would be aligned with this strategic objective. A KPI named ‘Level of financial reserves’ would not be aligned with this objective. It might even be opposed to the objective, as achieving it may require investments in marketing campaigns that could undermine the financial reserve.

2. Selection of KPIs is limited to those easily measurable

It is very tempting to limit yourself to KPIs that are easy to measure, like, for example, capital expenditure. However, depending on your strategic objectives, this may be insufficient. As Albert Einstein once said: “Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.”

If you are in the service business, ‘Customer satisfaction’ is very likely an important KPI. However, it is not really countable like capital expenditure. Nevertheless, it is possible to get an indication of the level of customer satisfaction, for example via a customer satisfaction survey.

It gets even more difficult, if you have a strategic objective of sustaining an innovation-friendly corporate culture. Although this is basically impossible to measure directly, you may find indicators for it, like, e.g., the number of new ideas for product features submitted by employees in a month.

3. Selection of KPIs gives too much weight to the past

There is a distinction between backward-oriented KPIs and forward-oriented KPIs. Both are important. However, if you have only backward-oriented KPIs, you create a strategic problem for your company. It is like only looking in the rear-view mirror while you are driving. Backward-looking KPIs are those that are focused on past results; sometimes they are also called key results indicators (KRIs). This could be, for example, turnover. It is important to know the turnover for the last quarter, but you have no chance of changing the result. A forward-looking KPI has influence on a future result and offers, thus, the opportunity to influence it through your decisions. This could be, for example, ‘Customer orientation’, which may help drive sales and turnover.

4. KPIs are used as instruments for controlling employees

The risk of some KPIs is that they can be used for controlling and even punishing employees. Take, for example, a KPI like ‘Number of sales per sales representative’. Although it may be interesting to know the data down to an individual sales rep level, you may provoke behavior that is counterproductive. If employees notice that their honestly produced data will be used against them, e.g., for reducing their bonus, it may stimulate counterproductive behavior, e.g. sales reps sell at loss-making discounts, in order to increase their number of sales.

5. No distinction between strategic and operational KPIs

There is a difference between strategic and operational KPIs, which is often neglected. Strategic KPIs are relevant for longer-term performance. Thus, gathering data for them is not as frequently required as for operational KPIs. For some operational KPIs, especially in production processes, data need to be captured and monitored almost in real-time, while for strategic KPIs a monthly or quarterly data gathering and monitoring frequency would be sufficient.

Three recommendations for using KPIs

Based on the insights above, I would like to give three recommendations for getting the best out of KPIs.

1. Closely align strategic KPIs with strategic objectives.

Keep strategic KPIs relevant to your strategy implementation and your regular strategy review, by making sure, they are relevant and closely linked to a specific strategic objective.

2. Integrate KPIs in a strategic management framework.

You can increase the effectiveness of KPIs by integrating them in a strategic management framework. One of the most popular frameworks is Balanced Scorecard. Despite some challenges in its practical implementation, I would still recommend to use it.

3. Apply stringent criteria for selecting your KPIs.

KPIs are like torchlights used to shine into different corners of your business. Due to limited resources, you cannot shine into every corner. Thus, you should make a stringent selection of KPIs based on criteria like relevance to your strategic objectives, balance between forward-looking and backward-looking KPIs, and comprehensibility of KPIs.

KPIs can make the difference between successful strategy implementation and failure to detect and adapt to strategic challenges early enough. The key is to implement strategic and operational KPIs in the right way, which means that they should be aligned with the corporate strategy and relevant to the purpose.

What is a Strategic KPI?

Strategic KPI Examples

How to Create Strategic KPIs

Strategic KPIs: Examples and Best Practices in 2023!

In this article, you will learn what strategic kpis are, how to develop effective strategic KPIs and some examples from 6 different industries.

A strategic KPI (Key Performance Indicator) is used to track progress towards a long-term strategic objective or goal. For example a company might want to Increase market share by 15% within three years.

Strategic KPI Examples

Here are some examples of strategic KPIs for different industries:

Retail Industry:

• Increase average customer spend by 20% over the next two years.
• Grow online sales revenue by 30% within the next 18 months.
• Expand store network by opening 10 new locations in the next three years.

Manufacturing Industry:

• Reduce production lead time by 15% over the next two years.
• Increase overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) by 10% within 18 months.
• Decrease product defect rate by 8% in the next 12 months.

Healthcare Industry:

• Improve patient satisfaction scores by 15% within the next two years.
• Reduce average patient waiting time by 20% in the next 18 months.
• Increase the percentage of successful treatments by 10% over the next three years.

Technology Industry:

• Launch 3 innovative products or services in the next two years.
• Increase active user base by 25% within the next 18 months.
• Achieve a 5% market share in the target segment by 2025.

Financial Services Industry:

• Increase assets under management by 20% over the next three years.
• Improve customer acquisition rate by 15% in the next 24 months.
• Reduce operational costs by 10% within the next two years.

Education Industry:

• Increase student enrollment by 15% over the next two years.
• Improve average graduation rate by 10% within the next three years.
• Expand course offerings by adding 5 new programs by 2025.

How to Create Strategic KPIS

To create strategic KPIs, a company should follow these steps:

1. Align KPIs with Organizational Goals:

Ensure KPIs support the organization's vision, mission, and strategic objectives.

Example: A retail company might aim to increase customer satisfaction and brand loyalty.

2. Develop Specific, Measurable KPIs:

Define quantifiable KPIs with clear targets or benchmarks for evaluation.

Example: A healthcare provider may set a target of reducing patient wait times by 15% within the next year.

3. Select Relevant KPIs: 

Choose KPIs that directly impact strategic objectives and highlight critical areas.

Example : A manufacturing firm could focus on improving production efficiency by tracking overall equipment effectiveness (OEE).

4. Track and Analyze KPIs Regularly: 

Monitor KPIs to identify trends, measure progress, and make strategic adjustments as needed.

Example : A technology company might assess monthly user growth and adjust marketing strategies accordingly.

5. Set Realistic, Ambitious Targets: 

Establish achievable yet challenging goals to drive continuous improvement and performance.

Example : A financial services firm could aim to increase assets under management by 20% over the next three years.

6. Communicate KPIs to Stakeholders: 

Share KPIs with relevant parties, ensuring a shared understanding of their roles in achieving strategic objectives.

Example : An education institution may communicate student enrollment targets to faculty and staff, emphasizing their roles in reaching these goals.

By following these best practices and examples, organizations can create strategic KPIs that effectively drive progress towards their long-term objectives.

If you enjoyed this article, you might also like our articles on how to set an effective KPI goal and what a KPI is in marketing .

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Related articles, 14 email marketing kpis for success in 2023, 21 kpis for customer service you need to track [2023 update], 25 sales kpis every sales team should track [2023 update], 20 essential kpis for digital marketing in 2023.

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KPI Examples and Templates

Find the right KPIs for your business. This guide provides examples, templates and practical advice to help you define the key performance indicators that matter most for your organization and teams.

KPI EXAMPLES GUIDE

What is a kpi.

Let’s start with the basics. A key performance indicator (KPI) is a quantifiable measure of performance over time for a specific strategic objective. Business leaders and senior executives use KPIs to judge the effectiveness of their efforts and make better informed decisions.

KPIs vs Metrics

What’s the difference between a KPI and a metric?

KPIs represent how you’re performing against strategic goals. And by goals, we mean specific business outcomes, such as targeted quarterly revenue or targeted new customers per month.

Metrics support KPIs by representing the tactical processes or actions necessary to achieve the KPIs. Metrics track and measure the success against targets for specific actions such as monthly brochure downloads or store visits.

More resources:

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10 steps to strong KPIs

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170 KPI examples and templates

170 KPI Examples And Templates

In this guide, we’ve identified and prioritized the most impactful key performance indicators examples for each department. Use the table of contents below to find the KPI examples most relevant to your organization and teams.

Project Management

Customer Service

Human Resources

Social Media

Sales KPI Examples

Sales leaders and their teams need to track the key performance indicators that help them close more orders. Below are the 15 essential sales KPI examples:

New Inbound Leads

Lead Response Time

Lead Conversion %

New Qualified Opportunities

Total Pipeline Value

Lead-to-Opportunity %

Opportunity-to-Order %

Average Order Value

Average Sales Cycle Time

Cross-Sell %

Sales Volume by Location

Sales Change (YoY, QoQ. MoM)

Sales Target %

Learn more about Sales Dashboards

KPIs for Managers

Executives and managers need KPIs that reflect their organization’s strategic priorities. Below are the 15 key management KPI examples:

Customer Acquisition Cost

Customer Lifetime Value

Customer Satisfaction Score

Sales Target % (Actual/Forecast)

Sales by Product or Service

Revenue per FTE

Revenue per Customer

Operating Margin

Gross Margin

ROE (Return on Equity)

ROA (Return on Assets)

Current Ratio (Assets/Liabilities)

Debt to Equity Ratio

Working Capital

Employee Satisfaction Rating

Learn more about Executive Dashboards

Project Management KPIs

Project managers need to keep projects on time and on budget while also ensuring a high quality outcome. That’s why the 15 key performance indicators examples below focus on timeliness, budget and quality.

On-Time Completion %

Milestones on Time %

Estimate to Project Completion

Adjustments To Schedule

Planned vs. Actual Hours

Resource Capacity %

Budget Variance (Planned vs Actual)

Budget Iterations

Planned Value

Net Promoter Score

Number of Errors

Customer Complaints

Change Requests

Billable Utilization

Return On Investment (ROI)

Explore dashboard demos

Inspire Action With Your KPIs

10 ways to take your data visualizations to the next level. Learn how to choose the right ones to highlight your KPIs and metrics.

Marketing KPIs

Marketing leaders need to track KPIs which enable them to measure their progress against clearly defined goals. The 15 marketing KPI examples below cover all phases of the customer funnel and can be accurately tracked using  modern marketing analytics .

Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs)

Sales Qualified Leads (SQLs)

Cost per Lead

New Customers

Cost per Acquisition

Upsell & Cross-Sell Rates

Conversion Rates (For Specific Goals)

Social Program ROI (By Platform)

Organic Traffic & Leads

Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)

Total Revenue

Revenue by Product or Service

Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)

Net Promoter Score (NPS)

Learn more about  Marketing KPIs and Marketing Dashboards

Operations KPIs

Operations managers need to track KPIs around efficiency, effectiveness and quality as covered in the 15 key performance indicators examples below.

Labor Utilization

Employee Turnover Rate

Employee Absence Rate

Employee Training Rate

ROI of Outsourcing

Labor Materials

Operating Margins

Processes and Procedures Developed

Project Schedule Variance

Order Fulfilment Cycle Time

Delivery In Full On Time Rate

Rework Rate

Learn more about KPI Dashboards

Customer Service KPIs

Service and support teams should focus on KPIs that measure response times. But, like the 15 key performance indicators examples below, they should also have a clear view of the customer base and longer term, preventative KPIs such as employee engagement and knowledge base articles.

Number of Issues (By Type)

First Response Time (FRT)

First Contact Resolution Rate

Average Response Time

Average Resolution Time

Most Active Support Agents

Cost Per Conversation

Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT)

Positive Customer Reviews

Customer Effort Score

Customer Retention Rate

Support Costs / Revenue Ratio

Knowledge Base Articles

Employee Engagement

Explore more dashboard examples

Finance KPIs

Financial teams have no shortage of ratios and metrics to track. Finance managers and CFO’s should use a  financial analytics  tool to focus on margin, expense, revenue and cash management as shown in the 15 key finance KPI examples below.

Gross Profit Margin (and %)

Operating Profit Margin (and %)

Net Profit Margin (and %)

Operating Expense Ratio

Working Capital Ratio

Debt-To-Equity Ratio

Quick Ratio (Acid Test)

Current Ratio

Berry Ratio

Return on Assets

Cash Conversion Cycle

Accounts Payable Turnover Ratio

Accounts Receivable Turnover Ratio

Budget Variance

Payroll Headcount Ratio

Learn more about Financial Dashboards

Human Resources KPIs

HR managers are primarily concerned with 3 main areas: workforce management, compensation and recruitment. You can use a  people analytics  tool to track and analyze the 35 key performance indicators examples below:

Workforce Management KPIs:

Absenteeism rate

ROI of outsourcing

Succession planning rate

Open/closed grievances

Promotion rate

Time to productivity

Successor gap rate

Worker composition by gender, experience, and tenure

Internal mobility

Manager quality index

HR effectiveness

Employee satisfaction rates

Training ROI

Compensation KPIs:

HR functional operating expense rate

Labor cost per FTE

Labor cost revenue percent

Labor cost revenue expense percent

Total benefits as percentage of labor costs

Profit vs. compensation per FTE

Human capital ROI

HR functional cost per employee

Recruitment KPIs:

Quality of hire

Vacancy rate

Turnover rate

Resignation/retirement rate

External hire rate

Time-to-fill

Diversity, experience, and gender hire ratio

Recruiting funnel metrics

Talent import/export ratio

Voluntary turnover rate

Retention rate

Recruiting expense per new hire

Retirement rate forecast

Learn more about HR Dashboards

IT managers should track the on-going stream of support tickets and downtime. They should also track the projects and the team that will proactively reduce the number of these tickets in the future as shown in the top-15 IT KPI examples below.

Total Support Tickets

Open Support Tickets

Ticket Resolution Time

Reopened Tickets

Average Time Between Failures

Average Time to Repair

Server Downtime

Security Related Downtime

Total Projects

Projects on Budget

Critical Bugs

IT Support Employees Per End Users

IT Costs vs Revenue

IT Team Turnover

Social Media KPIs

Social media managers should have KPIs that represent reach, engagement, and conversion to revenue. The 15 social media key performance indicators examples below should be applied both as totals and for each social media platform that your organization is active on.

Social Share of Voice (SSoV)

Total Reach

Total Impressions

Followers or Fans or Subscribers

Audience Growth Rate

Share Rate (Shares or ReTweets)

Interest Rate (Likes, Reactions, Favorites)

Response Rate (Comments, Replies)

Key Post or Hashtag Reach

Link Clicks

Site Traffic From Social (By Platform)

Conversions From Social

Conversion Rate From Social

Revenue From Social

Social Program ROI

Learn more about Marketing Dashboards

How to Define the Right KPIs

Who, what, how. Be clear about who the audience is, what they want, and how they’re going to use the KPIs. This means working with your stakeholders to identify the core KPIs that map directly to their goals and strategy.

Be SMART. This popular acronym stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-bound. This is a useful touchstone whenever you’re considering whether a metric should be a key performance indicator. SMART KPI examples are KPIs such as “revenue per region per month” or “new customers per quarter”.

Iterate and evolve. Over time, see how you or your audience are using the set of KPIs and if you find that certain ones aren’t relevant, remove or replace them.

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7 KPIs to Use in Your Strategic Planning

Topics: outsourced accounting , business strategy , KPIs , accounting trends , improving operations , professional services

KPIs measure a business's performance, to help you identify points of needed improvement in your operations. Those critical gauges are also the fundamental tools for strategic planning. KPIs are the direct evidence of your business's financial health , the strength of its position in undertaking growth initiatives, its salability, its investment value, its appeal to lenders – everything you need to execute on strategic plans to reach your goals.

But, there are dizzying numbers of departmental KPIs to be tracked, including marketing, sales, operations, accounts payable, accounts receivable, production, customer services, financial management and others. With so many key indicators, which ones are really key , when it comes to big-picture strategic planning for the future of the organization?

The first course of action, is to implement any needed remedial actions the KPIs have led you to identify in policies, systems, revenue channels, production and quality processes, service protocols, etc., that threaten to adversely impact the viability of your strategic plans. Track and evaluate progress of corrective actions well ahead of undertaking your strategic planning, to give your adjustments time to improve your KPIs before you plug them into your planning calculations.

Revenues, Expenses, Gross and Net Profits are obvious top-priority KPIs and are presumed here to be understood and in use as planning fundamentals. So, here are other essential KPIs that should also be carefully tracked, analyzed, and applied to your strategic planning process:

1. Working Capital

This is cash that is readily accessible. It includes short-term investments,  Cash on Hand and Receivables as well as Accounts Payable, loans and expenses accrued. This number indicates the financial position of your business, as reflected by its current ability to meet short-term financial obligations with available funds for operating.

A poor amount of Working Capital can indicate need for adjustments to resolve issues in any one of the above mentioned financial areas, for example, a problem of over-leveraging, as may be reflected in a high total amount of loan payments.

To Calculate: Subtract the business's existing financial liabilities from its current assets.

2. Current Ratio

The Current Ratio is the ratio of your business's financial assets to its liabilities. This KPI reveals the extent to which the business can consistently cover its financial commitments, on schedule, and sustain the level of credit standing necessary to obtain funding to pursue strategic growth initiatives.

The kinds of adjustments that can be made in light of this KPI, to help ensure success of growth strategies can include reducing the total amount of financial liability to bring it within a ratio that is more acceptable to lenders and more attractive to prospective investors.

To Calculate: Divide the business's total assets by its total liabilities.

3. Debt to Equity Ratio

This is the measurement of your business's profitability. This ratio indicates your success in managing the funding of your business growth by using your shareholders' investments. The number reveals the amount of debt that has accrued in your effort to build a profitable enterprise. An excessive debt ratio indicates a dependence on accumulating debt in order to fund growth.

To bring debt to equity into more appropriate alignment with shareholder expectations and lenders' criteria, focus on stronger financial accountability. For example, you might decide to temporarily freeze borrowing as your means of acquisition, as needed, during subsequent financial accounting periods, until the debt ratio is brought in line.

To Calculate: Divide the business's total liabilities by the total of its shareholder equity (net worth).

4. Operating Cash Flow

This number reflects your business's basic ability to pay for day-to-day expenses, such as materials and supplies deliveries. It indicates performance in generating enough cash to cover capital investments to grow the business. In making decisions about new capital investment, as part of your growth strategy, carefully consider the percentage of your total employed capital that is operating cash. Understanding the implications of that ratio provides additional insight into the financial strength of your business.

To find adjustments that you can make to affect Operating Cash Flow in ways that improve it as an indicator that supports your growth plans, look to budget modifications and tightening controls on operating expenditures.

To Calculate: Find the total operating income, not including depreciation, after subtracting taxes. OCF must also be adjusted for any changes to the amount of working capital.

5. Customer Acquisition Cost to Lifetime Value

The CAC is the total of marketing and sales costs involved in acquiring a customer. This KPI gauges the efficiency of your business's sales and marketing processes. It measures your business's commercial investment value. The LTV is the amount of value your customers are individually bringing to your business, on average, over the total period of time that they continue doing business with your company.  A LTV/CAC ratio of 2 indicates that your business is profiting 100% on its total sales and marketing investment. So, a 2 or 3 ratio is considered a good indicator of likely long-term profitability.

Adjustments to pricing, customer services, quality processes, and many other areas of sales pipeline and operations management  can be made to positively affect this critical ratio.

To Calculate: Divide the total cost of sales and marketing for an accounting period, by the total number of customers acquired by the company in that period.

6. Inventory Turnover

This KPI shows the average amount of inventory your business sold in an accounting period. It quantifies the amount of inventory turnover that is happening as the inventory continuously moves in and out again from production areas and warehouses. This indicator quantifies your business's success in selling orders that actually result in movement of inventory and in the efficiency rates of your system of production.

To make adjustments that can help ensure success of strategic growth plans based on this KPI, look at root causes of sales order cancellation rates, order processing issues, bottlenecks in production workflows, and potential issues in warehouse organizational systems, materials ordering processes, backlog management, and other processes.

To Calculate: Divide the total sales for an accounting period by the average amount of inventory in that period.

7. Return on Equity

ROE shows the amount of the business's wealth, in contrast to the net income it is generating for shareholders. The ROE reveals whether the net income for the business is sufficient for the size of the total investment shareholders have put into the enterprise.

Current net income is the primary determinate of the business's likely worth in the long-term. The ROE ratio is the indicator of the business's profitability as well as the measure of your general business management efficiency. Showing improvement in the ratio demonstrates to shareholders that management is effective in work toward maximizing their returns.

To increase ROE, adjustments that can be made include pricing changes, adding revenue channels, eliminating channels generating low margins, cutting spending, increasing training, refinancing, and any number of changes that might be indicated by careful analyses across the entire range of KPIs.

To Calculate: Divide the business's net income by the total of shareholders' equity in the company.

Other Key Performance Indicators

Other KPIs useful in strategic planning are more department-specific, for examples:

• Recurring Revenue Metrics — This KPI measures income generators that are reliable to repeat in the next period, without adding much, if any cost.
• Revenue Exit Rate — This KPI indicates revenue that is predicted to continue recurring over the coming year (not including projections for new sales). This metric is used in valuation of businesses.
• Customer Acquisition to Lifetime Value ­— This is the ratio of your Customer Acquisition Cost to the Lifetime Value of a customer in your business.
• Accounts Receivable Turnover — This KPI reflects the rate of customer payment collections. It is the total sales for a given period, divided by average accounts receivable for the same period.
• Customer Satisfaction — This is the indicator of your business's long-term sustainability. It measures the rate of customer retention that can be reasonably anticipated. The Net Promoter Score (NPS) is often used to calculate for this KPI.

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• January 6, 2023

Having an effective plan to take your business forward is one of the most important aspects. When you have an outline, you know how to proceed. Out of the various planning that a company undertakes, the most significant is strategic planning, which helps owners to identify their vision and other stakeholders learn about the same. Detecting the vision is a complicated affair as filtering from the number of purposes that a company has been established for and identifying the most vital one is quite difficult. However, when businesses know of the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to assess before setting a goal, purpose, or vision, strategic planning becomes easy.

What Is A KPI?

Before understanding how these performance indicators help businesses prepare a strategic plan for strategic decision-making , it is important to know what exactly a KPI is.

A Key Performance Indicator (KPI) is a component that helps business owners plan and schedule everything to ensure they achieve their objectives within a logically and practically set deadline. As it helps prepare an outline, you can easily track the performance and check how close you are to meeting your set targets and by when.

There are multiple  strategic planning KPIs  that businesses choose to make sure they assist them in monitoring their progress. However, the ones that help them the most have a unit of measure that is expressive enough to let users track the growth and also learn how successful they have been to date in achieving their target. This way, the businesses know when to pace up their efforts to accomplish different tasks within the deadline.

KPI Anatomy

Besides giving a chance to measure progress, the KPIs can also have targets to match the measure and the schedule to achieve the objective. Next, these indicators must have a clear data source with no confusion regarding the set target, the fixed period, or the measurement and tracking components involved.

The KPIs can have different reporting frequencies. However, the ones that are more frequently accessed and reported at least every month are preferred. So, measurement, target setting, data source, and reporting frequency are the factors that determine the anatomy of a KPI that businesses choose to use and assess for performance tracking.

Based on the field or set of people it analyses, a KPI can be of multiple types:

• Customer KPIs – No. of retained customers, percentage of market share, etc.
• Sales KPIs – No. of new contracts signed, qualified leads in the sales funnel, average conversion time, etc.
• Financial KPIs – Revenue growth, net profit margin, Earnings Before Interest, taxes, and Depreciation (EBITDA), etc
• Operational KPIs – Time to market, Order fulfillment time, etc.
• Marketing KPIs – monthly website traffic, conversion rate, etc.

The types and examples of the KPIs above show how the latter can help assess the progress of the business, and accordingly make businesses aware of how much more effort to put in to achieve the set targets within the scheduled time.

Kpis: The Key To Success

Vital Key Performance Indicators

Though there are a huge number of performance indicators to help businesses assess their pace in meeting their set goals, the most significant ones are as follows: 

1. Working Capital

This is one of the major  strategic planning KPIs  that help business units to track their readily available resources. These include the most accessible capital, including cash, short-term investments, accounts, receivables, or anything that is about to make available some funds to be used by the businesses. In short, it is the  KPI for the strategy department to consider to assess the financial health of a company or firm. When the working capital value decreases, it indicates the inefficiency of the strategies framed to achieve certain targets. 

2. Debt-to-Equity Ratio

It is a widely used KPI for the planning department. As it lets businesses track the ratio of the financial liabilities they have to the shareholders’ equity. If the ratio is higher, it indicates that the business’s performance is not up to the mark. This is because the ratio is higher only when the value of the company’s debt is higher than its shareholders’ equity. Hence, this ratio helps assess the business status appropriately.

3. Operating Cash Flow

This  KPI strategic planning gives an idea about the cash generated through the daily operational functions of a business. It, in short, exhibits the ability of a company to pay for the day-to-day operational needs that might emerge. Which include paying for materials or deliveries, etc.

4. Current Ratio

The current ratio is obtained by dividing the total assets by the total liabilities of a company. The higher the ratio, the better the business’s performance is. This is because the ratio would be higher only if the number of assets and their value are more than the financial liabilities that the business has to shoulder.

5. Customer Acquisition Cost to Lifetime Value

Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) refers to the cost involved in implementing the sales and marketing strategies for acquiring a customer. In short, this is one of the KPIs for strategic planning that helps check. If the sales and marketing procedures adopted by a company are efficient. If not, the businesses can implement some other strategies to achieve the customer target. The lifetime value (LTV), on the contrary, is the amount of value that a particular customer adds to the business. The LTLV/CAC of 2 or 3 indicates that the business is making 100% profit and achieving its set targets successfully.

Some of the other KPIs for strategic planning include return on equity, inventory turnover, accounts receivables turnover, customer satisfaction, etc.

Final Words

Now that you know what the KPIs are and how they help you set your vision and work in accordance with that to achieve the set targets within the scheduled time. You must keep checking them from time to time. Watching out for these ratios and values would surely mean a better business based on a pre-defined framework that you prepare based on these indicators. If you want your business to run smoothly. Calculate the values and see what these KPIs indicate.

If recording, maintaining, and interpreting the KPIs seems too much to handle, we are here to help. Our  CFO professionals  at Ledger Labs are always available to assist you in preparing financial statements and maintaining credentials to help your business and stakeholders make well-informed decisions. Think we could be of help?  Connect now !

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10 Essential KPIs for the IT Strategic Planning Process

When IT budgeting is viewed as a process to enable the strategic plan— and not an annual goal—it delivers a competitive advantage.  Essential KPIs in IT strategic planning help companies make informed budgeting decisions based on shared context and a system that empowers technology experts to set their own spending plans, but these plans need KPIs that show financial fundamentals, delivery, innovation, and agility to support the business strategy as proof points that IT is delivering business value.

An efficient budgeting and forecasting process delivers the financial predictability your strategic plans rely on, but a streamlined budgeting process that adapts to changing business priorities fuels innovation.

Read our guide to learn about:

• The 10 essential KPIs for the strategic plan
• The four main standardized metrics groups
• Stop run costs from eating into your innovation agenda
• Blend Agile methodology with metrics to measure success
• Prevent analysis paralysis from changed business priorities
• Eliminate the disconnect between IT strategy and execution
• Shrink cloud variance to avoid surprises
• Minimize budgeting cycle disruption

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Key Operational KPIs and Metrics to Track in 2024 (+ Template)

Looking for some operations KPIs and metrics?

Operational KPIs and metrics help COOs, heads of operations, and operations managers get a clear understanding of how their operations are performing to ensure their business is on the right track. 

But which metrics should you be tracking? And most importantly, how should you track them so you can make data-driven decisions at any given moment? 

In this article, we will cover how to measure operational performance and highlight the key performance indicators (KPIs) for every aspect of your operations. We will also show you the best and easiest way to track your operational metrics in 2024.

💡Scroll or skip straight to the part you’re most interested in by clicking on the link below: 

What Are Operational KPIs?

Why are operational metrics and kpis important, how to measure operational performance.

• Financial KPIs for Operations Manager
• Customer KPIs for Operations Manager

Operational KPIs for Manufacturing

• Operational KPIs for Logistics 

Operational KPIs for HR Managers

Operational kpis for marketing managers.

• How to track KPIs with Cascade?

Achieve Operational Excellence with Cascade 🚀

Operational KPIs are quantifiable metrics that help evaluate business performance. They're crucial for monitoring the efficiency of day-to-day operations , from production to customer service. With KPIs, you gain valuable insights into key areas of your operations, allowing you to make data-driven decisions that lead to success.

By tracking KPIs for operations, COOs, heads of operations, and operations managers can monitor their progress toward achieving specific goals, identify areas for improvement, and make real-time data-driven decisions to optimize their operations. 

Operational metrics are important for the following reasons:

• They help you align operational processes with the business strategy. By measuring and tracking the right metrics directly tied to business objectives, you can ensure that business operations support the overall strategy.     
• They increase accountability and ownership among your employees. By providing a clear and objective way to measure business performance, employees will know what expectations to meet and take ownership of their work.
• They help you communicate progress to stakeholders. By tracking and reporting on operational metrics and KPIs, you can demonstrate your commitment to continuous improvement and keep management informed of your performance.  
• They help you identify underperforming areas in your operations and immediately react if necessary. This real-time visibility helps you build resilience and flexibility to quickly adapt to challenges and opportunities.

Measuring the performance of your operational plan involves determining the appropriate KPIs that will accurately gauge how close you are to achieving your overall vision and goals. There are various operational metrics that you can use, but you should only select the most impactful ones that will help you meet your strategic objectives . 

When determining and prioritizing your KPIs, you can follow various strategic models. Here are two simple and effective models: 

• Balanced scorecard: It helps you organize KPIs into four focus areas: Customer, Financial, Internal Processes, and Learning & Growth.      
• Cascade model: It’s a strategic planning model that links your KPIs to relevant business objectives. It’s simple and easy to implement, making it suitable for any organization regardless of size and industry. Its simplicity also guarantees a seamless execution.                              

Combined with Cascade’s intuitive KPI tool , implementing these strategic models is a piece of cake. We’ve intentionally integrated them into the platform, so you can spend less time worrying about tracking your KPIs and focus more on executing your strategies . 

In Cascade , you can link your KPIs with strategic objectives. This gives your team clarity on why certain metrics are crucial to track and how they impact the overall business objectives. No matter which model you use, Cascade helps you gather the most accurate data so you can create KPI reports in record time for the management board. 

Now that you have a winning strategic model, here are different KPIs you should track for operational efficiency .

Financial KPIs for COO and Operations Manager

Operational actions will always directly impact your company’s financial health. Staying on top of the following financial KPIs will help you manage resources and processes to increase efficiency, reduce costs, and improve the bottom line. 

• Gross Profit Margin: Generally expressed in percentages, gross profit margin indicates the amount of revenue after subtracting a company's cost of goods sold (COGS) from its net sales. By tracking this KPI, operations managers can gain insights into the company's cost structure and identify areas where they can reduce expenses or improve efficiency.
• Accounts Receivables Turnover: This operational KPI measures how efficiently you collect customer payments. It’s calculated by dividing net credit sales by the average accounts receivable balance. 
• Accounts Payable Turnover: This KPI measures how quickly you pay off your suppliers. It’s calculated by dividing total purchases by the average accounts payable balance. 
• Working Capital: A financial metric that measures the amount of money a company has available to fund its day-to-day operations. It’s an important metric for COOs to monitor because it provides insight into the company's ability to manage its cash flow effectively.
• Operating Cash Flow: This KPI measures the cash your company generates from its operations. It’s calculated by subtracting the operating expenses from the operating revenue. This KPI is essential for assessing your company's financial health and ability to fund future growth.

📚 Recommended read: Financial KPIs - 12 Key Finance Metrics You Should Be Tracking

Customer KPIs for COO and Operations Manager

In a highly competitive business landscape, exceeding customer expectations is crucial to beat the competition. Tracking critical customer KPIs helps you understand how well your company is meeting customer needs and if you’re on the path to building long-lasting customer relationships.

• Customer retention rate: This measures the percentage of customers who continue to do business with your company over time. This is an essential metric for gauging customer loyalty and the overall effectiveness of your organization’s customer service and support.
• First contact resolution (FCR): This measures the percentage of customer inquiries or issues resolved on the first contact with customer support. This is an essential metric for customer satisfaction, as it indicates how well you can address customer needs in a timely and efficient manner.
• Customer satisfaction: This KPI measures customers’ satisfaction level with your products or services. This is a critical metric for gauging customer loyalty and brand reputation. It can be measured through surveys, customer feedback, or other methods.
• Net promoter score (NPS): This measures how likely customers are to recommend your company to others. It’s a widely used KPI in the customer service industry. It is often used to assess customer loyalty and the overall customer experience.
• Churn rate: This measures the percentage of customers who stop doing business with your company over a given time period. A high churn rate can be a warning sign that your company is not effectively meeting customer needs.

Manufacturing KPIs measure the output of your production line and determine the productivity of your entire operational workflow. Monitoring these key metrics will help you spot areas for improvement so you can make changes rapidly and maintain your competitive edge. 

• First Pass Yield (FPY): FPY is a measure of the quality of your company’s manufacturing process. It measures the percentage of products correctly manufactured the first time through the production process without requiring rework or scrap.
• Cycle Time: This is the time it takes to produce a unit of a product from start to finish. Measuring cycle time is crucial because it can help you identify areas where there are bottlenecks in the production process that are causing delays.
• Capacity Utilization: This KPI measures how well your manufacturing facility utilizes its production capacity. It can help you identify areas where the production process can be improved to increase efficiency. It’s calculated by dividing the actual output by the maximum possible output. 
• Throughput: This metric measures the rate at which a manufacturing system can produce finished goods over a specific period of time. It’s typically measured in units per hour, day, or week. This metric helps your production team determine if they can meet production deadlines.
• Machine downtime rate: This is a crucial metric for operations teams that measures the amount of time that production equipment is not functioning as planned. By tracking this metric, operations managers can identify areas for improvement in maintenance and repairs, ultimately improving overall productivity and profitability.

📚 Recommended read: Manufacturing KPIs - Some Commonly Used KPIs For You To Track

Operational KPIs for Logistics

Supply chain and logistics are complex aspects of any business but remain the most fundamental component of a successful operation. Using operational KPIs, you can determine bottlenecks before they become more significant problems and create measures to address them. Here are the most important metrics for logistics operations.

• On-time delivery: This measures the percentage of orders delivered on or before the promised delivery date. This KPI helps you monitor delivery performance and ensure customer satisfaction.
• Order accuracy: This measures the percentage of orders shipped without errors or issues, such as missing items or damaged products. A high order accuracy indicates a well-run logistics operation that delivers quality service to customers.
• Transportation Costs: This KPI tracks the total cost of moving goods from one location to another, including costs associated with shipping, freight, fuel, and other transportation-related expenses. By tracking this KPI, you can identify areas where transportation costs may be higher than expected and take steps to optimize your supply chain and reduce costs.
• Warehousing Costs: This KPI tracks the total cost of storing goods in a warehouse, including expenses related to rent, utilities, labor, and equipment. By tracking this KPI, you can identify areas where warehousing costs may be higher than expected and take steps to optimize your warehouse operations and reduce costs.
• Receiving cycle time: This measures the time it takes to receive and process incoming goods shipments. It includes the time from the shipment’s arrival to its put-away in storage or processing for outbound delivery. A shorter receiving cycle time can help improve inventory accuracy and reduce delays in order fulfillment.

Employees are the lifeblood of any company. Without them, your strategies will never be accomplished. Tracking the right operational KPIs for human resources ensures you maintain high employee satisfaction and keep the right talents crucial to successfully achieving your goals. 

• Employee turnover rate: This measures the percentage of employees who leave your company over a given period of time. A high turnover can be costly in terms of recruitment, training, and lost productivity.
• Employee engagement rate: This measures the percentage of employees engaged and motivated in their work. Engaged employees are more likely to be productive, contribute to a positive workplace culture, and stay with your company for the long term.
• Absenteeism rate: This measures the percentage of scheduled work time employees miss due to unplanned absences. High absenteeism rates can impact productivity and increase the workload on the remaining staff.
• Time to fill: This measures the average time it takes to fill a job vacancy from when it is posted. A shorter time to fill can help ensure that your company has the necessary talent to meet business needs.
• Time to productivity: This measures the time it takes for new employees to reach full productivity levels in their roles. By tracking time to productivity, you can identify areas where onboarding and training processes can be improved to help new hires ramp up more quickly. 

📚 Recommended read: HR KPIs - The 12 Key HR Manager KPI Examples

Organizations spend a lot on marketing campaigns without fully understanding if these campaigns are achieving their desired results. The following marketing KPIs will help you determine whether a campaign is worth it or not. 

• Conversion rate: The percentage of website visitors who complete a desired action, such as filling out a form or making a purchase.
• Cost per acquisition (CPA): The cost of acquiring a new lead. This metric is sometimes confused with customer acquisition cost, which measures the cost of acquiring new customers.
• Customer lifetime value (CLV): The total amount of revenue a customer is expected to generate for your business over the course of your relationship.
• Social media engagement: The level of activity on your company's social media accounts, including likes, comments, shares, and follows.
• Marketing ROI: The amount of revenue generated by your marketing campaign or activity compared to the cost of running that campaign. 

📚 Recommended read: Digital Marketing KPI Examples - 12 Digital Marketing Metrics to Track

How to track KPIs with Cascade? 

Cascade is the ultimate strategy execution platform that empowers businesses to execute their strategies flawlessly. Our powerful tool comes with a range of features, including extensive KPI dashboards, real-time data integration, and analytics capabilities. 

Whether you’re a COO, an operations manager, or a CEO, Cascade provides the tools you need to make data-driven decisions and achieve your goals.

Here’s how you can track KPIs in Cascade:

1. Get your free operational plan template

Sign up for Cascade and access your free operational plan template . The template will help you define your goals, objectives, and KPIs to measure success. 

Here’s a preview of your template:

2. Customize your data

While the Cascade template comes pre-filled with some examples, you have the power to customize your data and metrics to ensure they are relevant to your specific business needs.

3. Integrate Cascade with your data sources

With Cascade, you have two options to track your KPIs: manually and automatically . 

The latter option is far more efficient, as it simplifies data collection and ensures you're working with accurate and up-to-date data. 

By integrating Cascade with your favorite business tools, such as Excel, Google Sheets, or your CRM, you can easily import your KPI data and keep your team in the loop. 

No more worrying about manual data entry or inaccuracies—let Cascade take care of the hard work for you.

4. Bring in your team

Send an invite to your team members to collaborate on shared KPIs and ensure everyone is on the same page. 

With Cascade, you can assign roles and responsibilities, set up notifications, and communicate with your teams in one place.

5. Start tracking your KPIs with dashboards

Cascade's powerful dashboards provide real-time visibility into your KPIs and allow you to quickly identify areas that need attention. 

With customizable widgets and drag-and-drop features, you can easily visualize and analyze performance metrics to improve operational efficiency.

📚 Recommended read: How To Track KPIs To Hit Your Business Goals

Stop struggling with messy spreadsheets and frustrating reporting processes. Instead, ​​streamline your operations with automation and straightforward KPI reports .

Cascade brings simplicity and clarity to the process using KPI dashboards and reports that are intuitive for everyone to use. By having a real-time overview of your key metrics and access to the latest data, you’ll be able to gain critical insights into your operations and adapt quickly to drive continuous improvement.      

To help you get started, we've created a free operational plan template that includes a range of KPI examples tailored to different operational teams. With this template, you'll be well on your way to optimizing your processes and driving long-term success.

Start today for free or book a 1:1 product tour with Cascade’s in-house strategy expert.

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Management, Planning and Analysis

Management, Planning and Analysis (MPA) provides HRA/OSP mission support for strategic planning, programming, budget formulation, organizational performance, acquisition and program management, HR liaison duties and logistical support for the workforce and childcare subsidy management and execution for the VA workforce. MPA priorities focus on providing the tools, skills and communication to support the organization’s larger business transformation and integration efforts. MPA also ensures alignment with VA goals, compliance with HRA/OSP policies and procedures, and adherence to internal controls and directives. These focus priorities and compliance activities provide oversight for the organization’s human capital management, and workplace security and preparedness services.

Fernando M. Huerta

Acting Executive Director

• Creates and maintains a viable Strategic Human Capital Operational Plan for the VA enterprise.
• Supports budget formulation and tracks budget execution for HRA/OSP, conducts risk management and internal controls activities and coordinates legislative proposals.
• Develops and updates organizational performance criteria; provides routine internal and external performance reporting; responds to data calls and specific inquiries from government agencies such as GAO or Congress.
• Conducts oversight and management of HRA/OSP’s investment portfolio, to include Lifecycle Acquisition and Contract Management and other related areas.
• Ensures appropriate training and certification of acquisition professionals in HRA/OSP; provides governance, tools and resources to ensure compliance to VA acquisition policies.
• Provides targeted human resources and logistical support for effective operations and across a range of activities within HRA/OSP.
• Executes VA’s Child Care Subsidy Program for all eligible employees.

VA Child Care Subsidy Program

Congress enacted Public Law 107-67, Sec. 630, on November 12, 2001. This legislation permits Federal agencies to use appropriated funds to provide a program to assist their Federal employees with the costs of childcare. A childcare subsidy benefit can reduce the amount of costs parents pay out-of-pocket for childcare services by providing subsidies directly to the qualified licensed childcare provider. Full-time VA employees are eligible to participate if they are employed at VA a minimum of 60 calendar days. VA Childcare subsidy payments are not paid directly to VA employees. The Office of Management, Planning and Analysis (MPA), HRA/OSP, is responsible for oversight of the operational component of the CCSP.

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SWOT Analysis of a Human Resources (HR) department 

A Human Resources (HR) department manages an organization’s workforce and fosters a positive work environment. Here’s an overview of the primary functions and responsibilities of an HR department:

Core Functions of HR:

• Recruitment and Staffing : HR is responsible for attracting, hiring, and onboarding new employees. This includes crafting job descriptions, posting job openings, screening candidates, conducting interviews, and selecting the best candidates for the organization.
• Training and Development : HR departments manage employee development programs to enhance skills, improve performance, and ensure employees are equipped to meet their job requirements. This includes organizing training sessions, workshops, and continuing education opportunities.
• Compensation and Benefits : HR determines appropriate compensation structures and packages that align with industry standards and organizational goals. This includes salary, health insurance, retirement plans, and other perks that help attract and retain talent.
• Performance Management : HR oversees employee performance evaluation, working with managers to assess and manage worker productivity and setting performance standards and goals. This function is crucial for identifying high performers, providing feedback, and addressing areas where employees may need improvement.
• Employee Relations : HR plays a key role in maintaining a healthy, ethical, and productive workplace. They handle employee grievances, mediate disputes, and ensure a fair and respectful working environment. This also involves developing and enforcing company policies that comply with legal standards.
• Compliance with Laws and Regulations : HR ensures that the organization complies with all relevant employment laws and regulations, which can vary widely from one jurisdiction to another. This includes employment standards, health and safety issues, and anti-discrimination laws.
• Workforce Planning and Retention : HR departments are involved in strategic planning to ensure the organization has the right mix of skills and staffing levels to meet current and future business needs. This involves succession planning, turnover management, and workforce analytics.
• Diversity and Inclusion : Many HR departments lead initiatives to promote diversity and inclusion within the workplace. This includes developing policies that promote equal opportunities and creating programs that enhance cultural competency within the team.

Strategic Role of HR:

Increasingly, HR is seen as a strategic partner in the organization rather than just an administrative or support function. This strategic role involves aligning HR policies and practices with the overall business strategy to improve performance, productivity, and profitability. HR professionals are expected to provide insights and data that support business decisions, help manage change, and foster organizational culture.

In summary, an HR department is integral to nurturing a company’s human capital, aligning employee goals with organizational objectives, and ensuring compliance with laws and regulations. The effectiveness of HR can significantly impact an organization’s overall success.

Here is the SWOT analysis for  Human Resources (HR) department 

A SWOT analysis is a strategic planning tool used to evaluate the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats of a business, project, or individual. It involves identifying the internal and external factors that can affect a venture’s success or failure and analyzing them to develop a strategic plan. In this article, we do a SWOT Analysis of the Human Resources (HR) department.

SWOT Analysis: Meaning, Importance, and Examples

• Expertise in Recruitment and Talent Management : HR is central to attracting and retaining top talent. A strong HR department excels in designing recruitment strategies that fill positions quickly and ensure a good fit between the candidates and the company culture. This helps in building a skilled and committed workforce.
• Employee Development and Training : HR departments often lead the way in employee development, providing training programs that enhance skill sets and increase productivity. By investing in employee growth, HR can directly impact the organization’s efficiency and effectiveness.
• Enhanced Employee Satisfaction and Engagement : HR plays a crucial role in employee relations by ensuring a positive work environment, addressing grievances effectively, and maintaining high levels of employee engagement. This can lead to lower turnover rates, higher job satisfaction, and a more motivated workforce.
• Strategic Workforce Planning : HR’s ability to forecast and plan for future workforce needs based on the organization’s strategic direction is invaluable. By aligning the workforce strategy with organizational goals, HR can ensure that the company has the right people in the right roles at the right time.
• Regulatory Compliance and Risk Management : HR helps the organization comply with labor laws and employment standards, reducing legal risks and protecting the organization from potential lawsuits and regulatory sanctions.
• Cultural Stewardship : HR is often seen as the guardian of company culture, promoting core values and ensuring they are integrated into every aspect of the organization. A strong company culture can enhance employee morale and productivity and differentiate the company in the market.
• Cost Management : Through effective benefits management, salary structure design, and control over labor costs, HR can contribute to the financial health of the organization, making it a key player in overall business success.
• Resource Constraints : HR departments are often required to manage a wide range of responsibilities with limited resources. Budget constraints can lead to understaffing in HR teams, which may result in delays and inefficiencies in handling employee needs, recruitment, and training programs.
• Resistance to Change : HR departments can sometimes be slow to adapt to changes in the business environment or advances in HR technology. This resistance can hinder the implementation of more efficient systems and processes that could benefit the organization.
• Lack of Strategic Integration : HR may not be fully integrated into the strategic planning process in some organizations. This can lead to a disconnect between the company’s business goals and HR strategies, potentially affecting the overall alignment and effectiveness of the organization.
• Overemphasis on Administration : HR departments can sometimes become too focused on administrative functions such as processing payroll and managing employee records. While these tasks are important, overemphasizing them can divert attention from more strategic HR functions like talent management and employee development.
• Compliance and Legal Challenges : Navigating the complex landscape of employment law can be challenging for HR professionals. A lack of expertise or up-to-date knowledge on legal matters can expose the organization to risks of non-compliance and potential legal issues.
• Ineffective Communication : Poor communication within the HR department and with other departments can lead to misunderstandings and misalignment of goals. Ineffective communication can also impact employee satisfaction if employees feel their concerns are not addressed properly.
• Data Management Issues : With data becoming increasingly important in HR decision-making, a lack of proper systems to handle data can be a significant weakness. Inadequate data management can make tracking employee performance, forecasting workforce needs, and analyzing HR metrics difficult.

Opportunities

• Technology Integration : Adopting advanced HR technologies like AI-driven analytics, machine learning for data processing, and automated systems for routine tasks can greatly enhance efficiency. These tools can help in better talent management, predictive analytics for turnover rates, and more personalized employee engagement strategies.
• Strategic Leadership Role : HR can expand its influence by taking on a more strategic role in organizational planning. This involves participating in high-level decision-making processes, aligning HR strategies with business goals, and contributing to the company’s overall direction.
• Employee Wellness Programs : With increasing awareness of the importance of mental health, HR departments can implement comprehensive wellness programs that support employees’ physical, mental, and emotional health. This can improve employee satisfaction, reduce absenteeism, and create a more productive workforce.
• Talent Development and Lifelong Learning : HR can create employee growth and development opportunities through continuous learning and development programs. This could include career development plans, upskilling courses, and leadership training, which help retain top talent and prepare employees for future organizational roles.
• Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives : There is a growing need for workplaces to be more inclusive and diverse. HR departments can lead the way in crafting policies and practices that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion. These initiatives can enhance the company’s image, attract a diverse workforce, and improve employee engagement and innovation.
• Global Talent Acquisition : As businesses expand globally, HR departments can look to broaden their recruitment efforts to include international talent. This fills skills gaps and brings new perspectives and ideas to the organization, enhancing creativity and problem-solving.
• Enhancing Employee Engagement : HR can leverage data and employee feedback to develop more effective engagement strategies. This might involve tailored benefits, flexible working conditions, and recognition programs that directly address the desires and needs of the workforce.
• Compliance and Risk Management : As regulations evolve, particularly in areas like data protection (GDPR) and labor laws, HR departments can strengthen their role in compliance management. Being proactive in this area can prevent legal issues and ensure the organization operates within the law.
• Technological Disruption : Advances in AI and automation technologies are reshaping many traditional HR functions. Automation of routine tasks like payroll, benefits administration, and initial recruitment phases can threaten HR roles, pushing the department to evolve and adopt new skills focused more on strategic planning and employee engagement.
• Economic Uncertainty : Economic downturns and budget cuts can significantly impact HR operations, forcing the department to do more with fewer resources. These conditions can lead to layoffs, reduced training and development opportunities, and decreased employee engagement and morale.
• Compliance and Regulatory Changes : HR departments must stay current with labor laws and employment regulations, which can vary widely by region and change frequently. Non-compliance can result in fines, legal issues, and damage to the company’s reputation.
• Data Security Risks : With HR departments managing a significant amount of sensitive employee data, they are a prime target for cyber threats. A breach can lead to severe data loss, compromising employee privacy and leading to legal repercussions.
• Talent Management Challenges : In a highly competitive job market, retaining top talent and recruiting skilled workers are constant challenges for HR. The inability to effectively manage talent can lead to a skills gap in the organization, affecting overall productivity and innovation.
• Changing Workforce Demographics and Expectations : As workforce demographics shift and employee expectations change, HR must adapt its policies and strategies to meet these new demands. This includes managing a multi-generational workforce, accommodating flexible work arrangements, and implementing diversity and inclusion initiatives.
• Remote Work Dynamics : The rise of remote work has created new challenges for HR regarding engagement, performance management, and maintaining company culture. Adapting to these changes while ensuring seamless communication and collaboration is crucial.

Check out the SWOT Analysis of Global Businesses

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Fact Sheet – Update on Justice Department Strategic Plan for Supporting the Goals of the Federal Interagency Alternatives and Reentry Committee

In May 2022, President Biden issued the Executive Order on Advancing Effective, Accountable Policing and Criminal Justice Practices to Enhance Public Trust and Public Safety, calling for a whole-of-government approach to strengthening safety and building trust, fairness, and accountability throughout the criminal justice system. The Executive Order established the Federal Interagency Alternatives and Reentry Committee and called on the Attorney General to develop a DOJ-wide strategic plan for advancing the Committee’s three chief goals: safely reducing unnecessary criminal justice interactions, supporting rehabilitation during incarceration, and facilitating reentry into society of people with criminal records.

In April 2023, the Justice Department released its strategic plan, entitled, Rehabilitation, Reentry, and Reaffirming Trust, outlining an ambitious roadmap for operationalizing the Committee’s goals within the federal justice system and among states and localities nationwide. Over the past year, the Department has worked to bring that vision to life, and the Department’s efforts to-date have yielded meaningful and tangible progress across all three goals:

Safely Reducing Criminal Justice System Interactions

The Executive Order calls for a strategy to safely reduce interactions with the criminal justice system. DOJ is committed to seeding, supporting, and strengthening approaches that reduce burden on law enforcement and strengthen public safety, including by:

• Promoting community-based solutions for addressing less serious offenses. In the past year, DOJ has invested $6 million to support three communities as they develop and test community-driven models for addressing less serious and low-level offenses, as alternatives to traditional law enforcement mechanisms, easing burden on officers and strengthening public safety.  
• Supporting diversion and comprehensive continuums of first response. DOJ has made significant investments in the implementation and evaluation of co-responder models and diversion strategies that connect individuals with behavioral health disorders to community-based resources and alternatives to arrest or incarceration, in appropriate cases. In the past year, DOJ has invested more than $17 million in police-behavioral health cross-system collaboration models designed to improve outcomes for individuals with mental health disorders or co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders who come into contact with law enforcement. DOJ has delivered an additional $116 million to states and localities to implement comprehensive approaches to reducing overdose deaths, promoting public safety, and expanding access to prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and recovery services in both the community and the justice system.  
• Investing in problem-solving courts . DOJ’s grants are supporting problem-solving courts that divert people with substance use disorders into judicially supervised treatment programs in appropriate cases, with a focus on promoting equity and mitigating disparate outcomes for participants. DOJ has invested approximately $115 million to support problem-solving court programs in the last year alone.  
• Supporting Community-Based Services for Young People – DOJ is investing in promising and evidence-based services designed to prevent delinquency and juvenile justice system involvement, ultimately helping to strengthen safety and improve long term outcomes for young people. In the past year, DOJ launched a new program that has invested over $17 million to help states and localities develop community-based continuums of care for youth involved in or at risk of entering the juvenile justice system, with a focus on positive youth development, prevention, diversion, and treatment services. DOJ has also announced a partnership with AmeriCorps to provide grants to community-based programs that will enhance and expand services for justice-involved youth, which includes engaging those youth as AmeriCorps members.

Supporting Rehabilitation During Incarceration

The Executive Order emphasizes the need to ensure meaningful opportunities for rehabilitation during incarceration. DOJ is committed to bridging the gaps in opportunity for those incarcerated within the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ (BOP) facilities, and to supporting our state and local correctional partners as they undertake the critical work of promoting rehabilitation in prisons and jails nationwide, including by:

• Supporting correctional education and employment programs . In September 2023, DOJ announced over $23 million in funding for state- and local-level correctional services that expand access to high school equivalent degrees, vocational training, and other certifications. DOJ has delivered support to correctional and educational institutions to help scale up post-secondary educational opportunities in prisons and take advantage of the reinstatement of Pell Grant eligibility for incarcerated students, which took effect in July 2023 after a nearly 30-year ban. Forty-four state corrections departments are now “Pell-ready” and have established processes to select and approve post-secondary education providers. BOP is also expanding access to Pell Grants within federal correctional facilities to help incarcerated students earn college credits and/or a college degree.  
• Delivering jail-specific solutions. In November 2023, DOJ launched the Jails and Justice Support Center, a national training and technical assistance hub that is now partnering with jail administrators to help establish safe and humane environments that effectively serve residents, visitors, and staff. DOJ issued guidance to support the effective management of substance withdrawal in local jails in June 2023, and is now developing resources to help facilitate implementation of these practices in the field. And in partnership with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, DOJ launched the second cohort of the Building Bridges initiative in September 2023, delivering assistance for 10 additional jurisdictions as they develop comprehensive continua of care for individuals with opioid use disorder in jails and upon release.  
• Reducing barriers for eligible voters. To help protect the fundamental right to vote in jails, where most individuals are eligible to vote since jails are largely comprised of people awaiting trial or those serving misdemeanor sentences that do not preclude voting and developed resources that combat misinformation on voter eligibility, explain state-specific voter rights for incarcerated persons, and promote strategies for expanding voter registration and access. BOP has increased voting education for all incarcerated adults and expanded voter registration and engagement for those eligible to vote while serving their federal sentence.  
• Expanding access to civil legal services . To aid in the prompt resolution of pending civil legal issues – such as debt collection, access to benefits or child custody matters – that can help support successful reentry and promote public safety, DOJ is launching an innovative pilot program to provide civil legal services to incarcerated individuals in select BOP women’s facilities.

Facilitating Reentry for People with Criminal Records

The Executive Order calls for a strategy for facilitating successful reentry and lowering barriers to opportunity for people with criminal records, underscoring that such efforts are essential to reducing recidivism and reducing crime. DOJ is committed to facilitating successful reentry and lowering barriers to opportunity for people with criminal records, including by:

• Reducing barriers to government-issued identification . Because people often leave incarceration without a state-issued identification, a common pre-requisite to housing, employment, and other basic societal functions, BOP developed a Release Identification Card that formerly incarcerated individuals may use to obtain a state- issued ID upon return to the community. The ID is currently available to all releasing citizens at all institutions who lack valid state identification, and 21 states currently accept the ID to obtain a state-issued ID. To date, over 3,000 ID cards have been issued.  
• Investing in correctional and reentry programs nationwide . DOJ awarded almost $95 million in the past year to support a wide range of correctional and reentry services and related training and technical assistance designed to meet the needs of youth and adults during incarceration or detention and upon return to their communities. As part of these investments, DOJ launched a new initiative to strengthen the reentry ecosystem by funding intermediary organizations that are now delivering microgrants and capacity building assistance to community-based reentry service providers. OJP has expanded its cohort of Second Chance Fellows, whose professional expertise and lived experience in the justice system are helping inform DOJ’s efforts to promote reentry success.  
• Improving health coverage and continuity of care. DOJ has worked with federal partners and stakeholders in the field over the past year to build awareness of Medicaid 1115 demonstration authorities, an opportunity announced in April 2023 for states to improve care transitions for certain individuals nearing release from incarceration, as well as other related tools for improving continuity of care pre- and post-release. Building on these efforts, DOJ is developing new informational resources to increase understanding of the opportunity among corrections’ stakeholders and will launch a new policy academy for state corrections and Medicaid leaders to build capacity for collaborations that strengthen connections to health care coverage for individuals returning from incarceration.  
• Improving community supervision outcomes. The DOJ-funded Community Supervision Resource Center launched in October 2023 to provide pretrial, probation, and parole supervision agencies with the resources and assistance they need to align operations with best and evidence-based practices for improving outcomes for individuals on supervision. DOJ also awarded nearly $6.5 million to states and localities in 2023 to implement research-driven strategies for promoting supervision success.  
• Piloting a medical-legal partnership. DOJ announced a partnership that will connect medical and legal expertise to identify adults in BOP custody who require long-term access to post-release critical needs like housing, food security, and more. Specifically, this medical-legal partnership will include a team of law and medical professionals who will collaborate to better determine eligibility for, and ensure access to, Social Security disability relief for those who qualify, with the goal of improving long-term access to post-release critical needs and promoting successful reentry. BOP and ATJ are also working to develop and distribute self-help materials to address civil legal needs of adults in custody and a series of workshops focused on civil legal issues.  
• Addressing unjust and unlawful fines and fees. DOJ issued a Dear Colleague Letter for state and local courts and juvenile justice agencies that addresses common court-imposed fines and fees practices and cautions against those practices that may be unlawful and unfairly penalize individuals who are unable to pay or otherwise have a discriminatory effect. Building on this letter, DOJ released a report that highlights the most common and innovative approaches taking place across the country to reduce reliance on criminal and civil fines and fees. DOJ also launched a new initiative to provide training and assistance to help states and localities to address common barriers to creating a more equitable justice system by rethinking the use of fines and fees.

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Key performance indicators: wayfinding for strategic planners.

If you were in the middle of the ocean, stuck in the doldrums of the equator zone with no wind, no power, no visible landforms you might feel at the mercy of your environment. Skilled navigators, however, know where they start from, know where they want to go and keep track of their speed and direction along the way.

Thinking of your strategic plan as a map to reach your organization’s vision as a destination has the same kind of absolute orientation power. It gives everyone in your organization a destination to reach. The strategic planning process clearly identifies where you are starting from as well. Keeping track of your plan’s speed and direction is the role of the Key Performance Indicator (KPI).

KPIs offer a way to assess the direction and progress of your plan without having to review every single goal and task associated with your larger objectives. In setting your KPIs, identify the top seven to ten goals and associated measures that are most important to your company. All good KPIs will demonstrate the following five characteristics:

• Have target measurements that speak to the desired outcome of the goal.
• Have an easily accessible data source.
• Are able to be incrementally measured in pace with your reporting cycles.
• Will aggregate consistently to demonstrate progress.
• Connect to the health of the bigger picture of your strategy.

Wayfinding with KPIs is your dead reckoning navigational system when the larger strategic journey seems too complex or arduous to be practical. Your chosen KPIs should keep track of your momentum while also staying oriented to the larger intent of your strategic plan.

Our world is not flat or finite. As you move through time, the environment will change and you may need to reassess your KPIs periodically. Using a scorecard built from KPI is the management version of your strategic plan. Each team, department or division should have their own KPIs and scorecards that keep everyone talking about what matters most in your strategic execution.

Hitting your KPI measurements should demonstrate progress in the right direction. With more measures fulfilled you should begin to see your strategy’s larger objectives more within reach, even when the destination is unable to be seen.

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Geographic coordinates (latitude and longitude) define a position on the Earth’s surface. Coordinates are angular units. The canonical form of latitude and longitude representation uses degrees (°), minutes (′), and seconds (″). GPS systems widely use coordinates in degrees and decimal minutes, or in decimal degrees.

Latitude varies from −90° to 90°. The latitude of the Equator is 0°; the latitude of the South Pole is −90°; the latitude of the North Pole is 90°. Positive latitude values correspond to the geographic locations north of the Equator (abbrev. N). Negative latitude values correspond to the geographic locations south of the Equator (abbrev. S).

Longitude is counted from the prime meridian ( IERS Reference Meridian for WGS 84) and varies from −180° to 180°. Positive longitude values correspond to the geographic locations east of the prime meridian (abbrev. E). Negative longitude values correspond to the geographic locations west of the prime meridian (abbrev. W).

UTM or Universal Transverse Mercator coordinate system divides the Earth’s surface into 60 longitudinal zones. The coordinates of a location within each zone are defined as a planar coordinate pair related to the intersection of the equator and the zone’s central meridian, and measured in meters.

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Elektrostal , Moscow Oblast, Russia

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Savvino-storozhevsky monastery and museum.

Zvenigorod's most famous sight is the Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery, which was founded in 1398 by the monk Savva from the Troitse-Sergieva Lavra, at the invitation and with the support of Prince Yury Dmitrievich of Zvenigorod. Savva was later canonised as St Sabbas (Savva) of Storozhev. The monastery late flourished under the reign of Tsar Alexis, who chose the monastery as his family church and often went on pilgrimage there and made lots of donations to it. Most of the monastery’s buildings date from this time. The monastery is heavily fortified with thick walls and six towers, the most impressive of which is the Krasny Tower which also serves as the eastern entrance. The monastery was closed in 1918 and only reopened in 1995. In 1998 Patriarch Alexius II took part in a service to return the relics of St Sabbas to the monastery. Today the monastery has the status of a stauropegic monastery, which is second in status to a lavra. In addition to being a working monastery, it also holds the Zvenigorod Historical, Architectural and Art Museum.

Belfry and Neighbouring Churches

Located near the main entrance is the monastery's belfry which is perhaps the calling card of the monastery due to its uniqueness. It was built in the 1650s and the St Sergius of Radonezh’s Church was opened on the middle tier in the mid-17th century, although it was originally dedicated to the Trinity. The belfry's 35-tonne Great Bladgovestny Bell fell in 1941 and was only restored and returned in 2003. Attached to the belfry is a large refectory and the Transfiguration Church, both of which were built on the orders of Tsar Alexis in the 1650s.  

To the left of the belfry is another, smaller, refectory which is attached to the Trinity Gate-Church, which was also constructed in the 1650s on the orders of Tsar Alexis who made it his own family church. The church is elaborately decorated with colourful trims and underneath the archway is a beautiful 19th century fresco.

Nativity of Virgin Mary Cathedral

The Nativity of Virgin Mary Cathedral is the oldest building in the monastery and among the oldest buildings in the Moscow Region. It was built between 1404 and 1405 during the lifetime of St Sabbas and using the funds of Prince Yury of Zvenigorod. The white-stone cathedral is a standard four-pillar design with a single golden dome. After the death of St Sabbas he was interred in the cathedral and a new altar dedicated to him was added.

Under the reign of Tsar Alexis the cathedral was decorated with frescoes by Stepan Ryazanets, some of which remain today. Tsar Alexis also presented the cathedral with a five-tier iconostasis, the top row of icons have been preserved.

Tsaritsa's Chambers

The Nativity of Virgin Mary Cathedral is located between the Tsaritsa's Chambers of the left and the Palace of Tsar Alexis on the right. The Tsaritsa's Chambers were built in the mid-17th century for the wife of Tsar Alexey - Tsaritsa Maria Ilinichna Miloskavskaya. The design of the building is influenced by the ancient Russian architectural style. Is prettier than the Tsar's chambers opposite, being red in colour with elaborately decorated window frames and entrance.

At present the Tsaritsa's Chambers houses the Zvenigorod Historical, Architectural and Art Museum. Among its displays is an accurate recreation of the interior of a noble lady's chambers including furniture, decorations and a decorated tiled oven, and an exhibition on the history of Zvenigorod and the monastery.

Palace of Tsar Alexis

The Palace of Tsar Alexis was built in the 1650s and is now one of the best surviving examples of non-religious architecture of that era. It was built especially for Tsar Alexis who often visited the monastery on religious pilgrimages. Its most striking feature is its pretty row of nine chimney spouts which resemble towers.

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