The Data Behind Expense Key Performance Indicators

The way to drive performance is to measure it. Do you want to judge the success of a project? Do you want to change people's behavior? You need to create Key Performance Indicators (KPI) that quantify the objectives you are striving for. Your KPIs may change from project to project and from year to year. But they should be consistent in their ability to measure the success or failure of any set of activities.

The challenge that managers face is collecting the data they need to create measurable KPIs. It's great in theory, but in reality the finance and IT teams don't have the time and resources to start collecting the information you need to measure the success of your activities.

Chrome River's technology enables you to collect fundamental data that is simply not available in most core financial systems.

• It drives the collection of data down to the people who have the information.

• Rather than gathering information after the fact (when the activity hits the finance department), you can capture information as it is happening.

• Each type of activity can have its own workflow and unique set of data. For example, business development activities drive different data gathering and different workflows than recruiting activities.

• It makes analytics—the delivery of the KPI—available to the individual teams and departments that need to see and experiment with their own KPIs. IT and Finance become enablers rather than bottlenecks.

• There's no point delivering KPIs when it's too late to react. Chrome River helps capture information early enough in the activity lifecycle that there is still time to change; there is still time to affect behavior.

Key Performance Indicators are some of the most effective tools in driving organizational change. But to be credible, you need to have the ability to capture and deliver the underlying information.