Friday, October 17, 2008

All KPIs are Metrics but all Metrics are not KPIs

Metrics represent a numeric business data in relationship with one or more context or dimensions. For example “Weekly Gross Profit By Week” represents a measure across time dimension i.e Week in this case.

KPI’s are special type of Metrics. It inherits all the characteristic of metrics but in addition to that

- KPI should reflect organizational goals

- KPI should me meaningful throughout the organization

- KPI should be based on valid data

- KPI should be actionable

- KPI should be visual and easy to understand

- Most important KPI should be decided by business unit/business users