QuickStudy: Balanced Scorecard

Robin A. Robinson   Today’s Top Stories   or  Other Internet Business Stories  

Get a Grip on Storage Growth and Reduce Costs What's Next? Real Answers for Tough Times Dynamic Data Center and Virtualization Drives Operational Excellence at Emory Healthcare Best Practices for Delivering Virtual Classroom Training Record Capacity for Microsoft® Exchange 2007 With VMware and IBM System x3850 M2 Six Project Metrics Every CIO Should Know for Application Delivery Success Computerworld Report- Large Enterprises Pay More for IPAM An Apple for Your Enterprise? Six Questions To Ask About Information And Competition Sign up to receive Internet Business Resource Alerts

January 24, 2000 When US West Inc. in Denver recently undertook an e-commerce initiative, the company put the Balanced Scorecard model to work, says Rod Mack, the company's general manager of software development. Based on the theory that for every action there's an equal and opposite reaction, the model helps companies determine what impact a potential change will have on the rest of the organization, looking at it from four perspectives: finance, customers, internal processes, and innovation and learning for employees.

For US West's 4,500-person information technology department, that meant getting the associated computer systems Y2K-compliant in the internal processes category, implementing an IT career structure in the employee learning category and meeting overall budget commitments in the financial category.

Business Beyond Finances

Some organizations like US West are beginning to accept Balanced Scorecard analysis for assessing roll outs of new technology. Instead of focusing solely on a company's financial goal, the model requires decision-makers to consider the impact of strategic decisions on staff, customers and the organization's function.

"In the past, a lot of these might have been the same goals, but it's easier to organize your thoughts around this. We even used Balanced Scorecard as the framework for all our 2000 planning," Mack says. The regional Bell operating company has been using Balanced Scorecard for the past year and a half to gauge successful project implementations, he says.

The Balanced Scorecard concept was created by Robert Kaplan and David Norton, who coined the term in a 1992 Harvard Business Review article (see "Balanced Scorecard's Origins"). Many Fortune 500 companies use it to assess the full impact of their corporate strategies, ferreting out any unintended consequences to their workforces, their customers or their bottom lines that could occur when they alter a production process, for example.

"When companies look at setting strategies and goals, they classically fall into setting financial objectives: increasing revenue or return on assets. But Balanced Scorecard says that's looking in the rearview mirror," says Ken Rau, director of the information risk management practice at KPMG Peat Marwick LLP. He uses the methodology to advise companies on how to avoid negative consequences when implementing strategies.

Continued...
1 | 2 | NEXT  

Print this Story

Send Us Feedback

E-mail this Story

Digg this Story

Slashdot this Story

"It's a lousy job, but somebody's got to do it. Once we find someone who's crazy--err, patriotic enough to take..." Read more... "Yahoo's owners have spoken and Jerry Yang is out as Yahoo CEO. Does this mean that Microsoft is in?..." Read more... Read more E-Business & Web 2.0 posts or See all Blogs

Microsoft feared Mac vs. Vista comparison in '05, insider e-mails show Downed Hadron Collider faces $21M in repairs Thanks to gamers, the desktop supercomputer arrives More top stories...

Hosting firm takedown bags 500,000 bots New Firefox app lets users pimp their browsers Microsoft to launch major upgrade to NAV ERP software Dec. 1

2008 Salary Survey: IT pay takes tiny leaps If you're like our 7,000 survey respondents, your paycheck this year has been flattened and your bonus obliterated. We offer 12 ways to plump up your paycheck. Windows 7 in-depth review and video: This time Microsoft gets it right Microsoft's next OS might more accurately be called Windows 6.5: It's essentially a better version of Vista. Twitter for business: 5 ways to tap the power of the tweet Twitter can be a valuable business tool -- if you know what you're doing. Here's how to juice it for all it's worth. Microsoft's 'Vista Capable' changes outraged HP, insider e-mails show By helping Intel with loosened 'Vista Capable' requirements, Microsoft 'severely damaged' its credibility, said an HP exec in a newly unsealed Feb. 2006 e-mail. Windows 7 Get the latest news, reviews and more about Microsoft's newest desktop operating system More Continuing Coverage Windows 7 Voting Technology Google's Chrome browser Economy in turmoil: Latest news and tips iPhone 3G Bill Gates moves on Windows Vista A to Z Mac A to Z 2008 Salary Survey Find wage data for 50 IT job titles. More Special Reports 2008 Premier 100 IT Leaders 2007 Premier 100 IT Leaders 2008 Best Places to Work in IT 2007 Best Places to Work in IT 2008 Salary Survey 2007 Salary Survey 2006 Salary Survey 2008 IT Forecast 2007 IT Forecast 40 Years of Computerworld Top 12 Green-IT Users The FAQs About Going Green IT Schools to Watch iPhone: One Year Later Global Mobile Your Next Data Center Management: Reinventing IT Stop Data Leaks Web 2.0 Security Surviving Disasters Managing Storage Virtualization The Lean Storage Machine Storage on Trial Can Web 2.0 Save BI? Bypass These BI Potholes All Zones Business Continuity Zone The File Data Management Zone Security Management Zone The SAS Zone Business Intelligence and Analytics Zone The Enterprise Search Zone Software as a Service Zone The Security Zone See your link here

The Impact of Social Networks on Mobility Strategies The Impact of Social Networks on Mobility Strategies Download this webcast, free, compliments of RIM. Go to the webcast  Five Technologies Simplifying Infrastructure Management Get this white paper now! (Source: Liebert) Today's data centers must support more devices, are consuming more power and generating more heat. Learn five infrastructure technologies that are making it easier for growing businesses to introduce new IT systems as needed while maintaining high levels of availability. Download this white paper  Computerworld Technology Briefing: Meetings @ the Speed of Business Download this Technology Briefing now, compliments of Microsoft! (Source: Microsoft) For large organizations, Web conferencing gives a major boost to collaboration among far-flung offices. For smaller companies, experts say Web conferencing is no longer a luxury but a necessity for everything from webinars to customer presentations. But the real value lies in saving soft costs and in increases in productivity. Download this executive briefing  White Papers Read up on the latest ideas and technologies from companies that sell hardware, software and services. Collaboration Tools and Organizational Success Driving Business Success Through Workgroup Choice and Flexibility Boost Productivity While Cutting Costs with Next-Generation Collaboration View more whitepapers

• Microsoft feared Mac vs. Vista comparison in '05, insider e-mails show
• Hosting firm takedown bags 500,000 bots
• Downed Hadron Collider faces $21M in repairs
• More top stories 

Creating Tiered Storage Architecture This paper shows how Brocade StorageX enables tiers of storage across Windows and NetApp storage to align storage practices with organizational objectives. Download this white paper now!

• Google scrubs search cache of Chrome download site

• Google's Chrome aims to kill Windows, make Web the OS of choice

• Google Chrome browser: Dethroning Microsoft or killing off Mozilla?

Read more news 

• Whoah the humanity!

• Try, try again

Read more Shark Bait 

Accelerate your pursuit of perfection For almost 80 years, Kodak has been helping banks, insurance companies, healthcare providers, government agencies and other businesses produce billions of document images. So Kodak is uniquely positioned to know and deliver–what customers want: easy-to-use scanners that output the best possible image quality. Download this white paper now!