Business Scorecards

Business scorecards evaluate how an organization is functioning across key performance areas or business targets that are based on current activities and other information. They show business goals as well as the real-time measurement of activities related to those goals. SharePoint 2007 supports performance indicators that use data from business activities and applications to give a clear visual indication of how an organization is progressing toward its goals. It accomplishes this using KPI list templates that generate the information and specialized Web Parts, which construct graphs of the generated information.

This section discusses how you can work with SharePoint to display KPIs for your organization using the KPI lists and Web Parts available in SharePoint. The KPI lists and Web Parts can be an important element in any reporting solution or Dashboard.

Creating a KPI List

SharePoint has several data sources that generate key performance indicators, including those in the following table:

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Source	Description
SharePoint List	Generates performance information based on a team’s day-to-day operations and activities. To generate a KPI from a SharePoint list, you first select the list, and then the view that contains the data. You must calculate the data for the KPI.
Excel Workbook	Because many organizations use Excel for reporting, it is a viable location for up-to-date information on performance. To create an indicator using Excel Services information, you point to a published workbook and select the cell location for the indicator value. This is useful for exporting information from business applications.
SQL Server Analysis Services 2005	Possibly the most robust and dynamic of all data sources. To create a KPI item based on SQLAnalysis Services, you must have an existing data connection file within your data source that defines the connection.
Manually Entered Information	Sometimes, the information you want to use to generate a KPI may not be accessible via any digital file or information system and therefore you must enter values into KPI fields manually. This option is explored in the next Try it Out.

In the next two exercises, you create KPI information in a SharePoint list both manually and using SharePoint data. To complete your examples, you use the Sample KPI list that is created automatically with the performance site. You will notice that you can place information from multiple KPI types in a single list.

Try It Out-Create a KPI List Using Manually Entered Data

As the health and workplace safety officer, you track the overall safety of your company’s work environment. You receive accident reports and log them in a KPI List item in SharePoint. At the end of each week, you manually update the list to show the current number of accidents versus the organization’s monthly goal. Given the large size of your organization, the average number of accidents is two per month, and may vary from a worker slipping on a slick floor to a construction accident on a work site. Recently, the CEO announced a company-wide goal to completely eliminate workplace accidents, and you were asked to report progress to all employees. To do this, you create a KPI based on your manually entered information. Because your organization does not have an official application that tracks workplace accidents, you have no central tool from which to generate the information and instead must update it in the list item as workers report incidents to you via telephone, email, or fax.

1. From the home page of the performance site, click the View All Site Content link from the Quick Launch bar. You are redirected to the All Site Content page.

2. Select the Sample KPIs list. You are redirected to a view page for the KPI list.

3. Click the down arrow next to the New button and select the Indicator Using Manually Entered Information menu item. The Sample KPIs – New Item window appears, as shown in Figure 11-15.

   
   Figure 11-15

4. Type a name and description for your indicator. For this example, enter Workplace Accidents Per Month and enter the following for description:

   Important 

   The number of workplace accidents that have taken place within the past 30-day period.

5. Enter comments to explain the current value or indicator status. For this example, enter the following:

   Important 

   So far this month, there has been only 1 accident, which took place at the office holiday party during the limbo contest.

6. For Indicator Value, select 1, which is the current number of accidents for the month.

7. For Status Icon Rules, select that better results are lower because you prefer fewer accidents per month than the defined average target.

8. For the green icon, enter a value of 0 and for the yellow icon, enter a value of 1, as shown in Figure 11-15.

9. Click the OK button.

How It Works

When you select 0 as the target goal in step 8, this reflects the company’s goal to have no workplace accidents reported in the month. If this goal is met, users see a green icon. If a single workplace accident occurs, a yellow icon displays to caution the employees, but this icon isn’t as critical as a red icon, which appears whenever the company has more than one workplace accident. This icon indicates that company officials should launch an investigation.

Try It Out-Create a KPI List Using SharePoint Data

You may encounter situations where it’s more appropriate to track KPI information from a SharePoint list. For this example, you are again the workplace safety officer as in the last Try It Out; however, after seeing a red icon for several months, meaning that the company hasn’t reached its goal of zero accidents, you track data in a SharePoint list to better identify trends in an effort to prevent future incidents. To track accidents effectively, you decide to create a custom list that contains the following: Accident ID, Employee Name, Accident Date, Accident Type, and Accident Details. In addition, you want a view to report accidents that have occurred in the past 30 days.

Once you create your list, you can replace your previous manual indicator with a new one that references your custom view. This view automatically reflects any new data so your KPI now remains up-to-date. As soon as an accident is older than 30 days, it no longer displays in the view and is no longer referenced by KPI.

1. From the performance site, select View All Site Content from the Quick Launch bar. You are redirected to the All Site Content page.

2. Select the Create button from the toolbar to be brought to site’s Create page.

3. Select the option for a custom list for your accident report because no existing template contains the columns or views that you will require. You are redirected to the Custom List Creation page.

4. Enter a list name and description for the list name. For this example, enter Workplace Accidents and the following for description:

   Important 

   Detailed listing of all workplace accidents by date and type.

5. Select not to display the list on the Quick Launch bar and click the Create button. Your Workplace Accidents list is created and you are redirected to it.

6. Select Settings List Settings from the drop-down menu. You are redirected to the List Settings page.

7. Create the following columns using the column types and properties defined here:

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   Column Name	Column Type	Special Properties
   Accident ID	Single Line of Text	Rename the existing title column to Accident ID.
   Employee Name	Person or Group	None.
   Accident Date	Date and Time	Select Date Only for format and set the default value to today’s date because most accidents are reported immediately.
   Accident Type	Choice	Enter the following as values for a drop-down: Construction Site Plant Machinery Transportation Forbidden Limbo Contests
   Accident Details	Multiple Lines of Text	None.

8. Once you create these columns, you need to create a custom view on the list that displays the accidents that have occurred in the past 30 days. To do this, you must create a view with the fol-lowing properties:

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   Property	Details
   Name	Past 30 Days.
   Default View	Yes.
   View Audience	Public.
   Filter	Show items when the Accident Date column is greater than or equal to [today] -30.
   Totals	Display Count total for Accident ID.

9. To create some sample data to generate your KPI from, enter an item in the list for an accident involving an employee for the current date related to a limbo contest. Then enter an item in the list for an accident two months ago related to a construction site accident and a different employee.

   Tip 

   When you save your second item, you’ll likely notice that it does not appear in your view because the view selected will only show items for Past 30 Days.

10. Select View All Site Content from the Quick Launch bar.

11. Select Sample KPIs.

12. Hover your mouse over your Workplace Accidents Per Month indicator and click Delete from the drop-down menu.

13. Click the OK button on the pop-up message window to confirm you want to delete the indicator.

14. Select Indicator using data in a SharePoint list from the New Item menu.

15. Enter a name and description for the indicator. For this example, enter Workplace Accidents Per Month and enter the following for description:

    Important 

    The number of workplace accidents that have taken place within the past 30-day period.

16. Click the icon to the right of the SharePoint List URL text box.

17. Select your Workplace Accidents List as the source list and select the Past 30 Days as the view.

18. For Value Calculation, select Number of List Items in the View.

19. For Status Icon Rules, select that Better Values Are Lower.

20. Enter 0 for the green icon and 1 for the yellow icon as you did in the previous Try It Out, and click the OK button. You are returned to the Sample KPI list where you see your new indicator has a yellow icon because your list contains one record for the current month.

21. Return to your list by clicking Workplace Accidents from the View All Site Content page and add a new record for the current date to reflect another workplace accident.

22. Return to the Sample KPIs list by selecting it from the Quick Launch bar to see that the indicator is now showing a red icon because of the latest accident, as seen in Figure 11-16.

    
    Figure 11-16

How It Works

By creating a custom list, you create automated updates to the KPI and increase the amount of detail you receive on specific workplace accidents. When users click the KPI item, they are redirected to a details page, such as the one shown in Figure 11-17. This shows the current status of indicator and the records it is referencing.

Figure 11-17

Using KPI Web Parts to Display Performance Data

Once an organization accumulates KPI data within lists, it can make this information available to various users using Web Parts. SharePoint 2007 offers two Web Parts for referencing and displaying KPI information:

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Web Part	Description
Key Performance Indicators	Use this Web Part to display a listing of KPIs from a list.
KPI Details	Use this Web Part to display the details of a single KPI.

To demonstrate how both Web Parts operate, in the next Try It Out you add both to a new Dashboard page. This page displays KPI data and details relating to the Workplace Accidents KPI you created in the section “Creating a KPI List.” A Dashboard page contains a report Web Part, such as KPIs and Excel Web Access, so users can access information on a specific indicator.

Try It Out-Create a Dashboard Page

In this example, you create a new Dashboard page to display the content you’ve created throughout this chapter. Using a combination of Web Parts (such as the Content Editor and related link), specific Dashboard Web Parts (such as the KPI Web Parts), and Excel Web Access Web Parts, you can create an interactive and dynamic Dashboard for others in your organization.

The example adds the two KPI Web Parts to the page. The Key Performance Indicators Web Part displays a simple listing of KPIs drawn directly from the Sample KPIs list. The KPI Details Web Part lets you select a single key performance indicator and display detail related to it, such as its current status and a link to the data from which it was generated. Using the Related Links Web Part, you can also point to supplementary materials or documents that may be of interest to the viewer. You finally add an Excel Web Access Chart Web Part.

1. From the main page of your Performance site, click the Dashboards link from the Quick Launch bar. You are taken to the Dashboards view of the Reports library.

2. Select New Item Dashboard Page. You are brought to a Dashboard creation page as shown in Figure 11-18.

   
   Figure 11-18

3. Enter a file name and page title for the Dashboard page. For this example, enter companyhealth and then Corporate Health & Safety for page title.

4. Enter a description for the Dashboard. For this example, enter the following text:

   Important 

   A dashboard displaying information related to the health and safety of our employees.

5. Select the option to add a link to the current navigation bar under the Dashboards heading.

6. Select Two Column Vertical Layout for the page.

7. Because the KPI list and data are already created, select the Allow Me to Select an Existing KPI List Later option.

8. Click the OK button. You are redirected to an uncustomized version of your new Dashboard page containing many of the Web Parts commonly used in a Dashboard page, including KPI Web Parts and the Excel Access Web Parts. There is also a basic Content Editor Web Part to allow you to write a summary of the purpose of the Dashboard to viewers.

9. Click the Open the Tool Pane link in the Content Editor Web Part to enter the following text:

   Important 

   The goal of this Dashboard is to provide you with the information you need to monitor and review the number of workplace accidents that have taken place over the past 30 days as well as view trends related to overall health of the company based on its performance on projects and overall satisfaction levels of employees.

10. Click the Open the Tool Pane link from within the Key Performance Indicators Web Part.

11. Select the icon next to the Indicator List text box. This allows you to select the Sample KPIs list from the site’s lists and libraries.

12. From the Change Icon drop-down menu, select Checkmarks.

13. Change the title of the Web Part to Overall Company Health and Safety and click Apply, and then OK on the Web Part. The page displays the Sample KPIs in the Web Part.

14. Select Site Actions Edit Page from the toolbar to make additional changes.

15. Click Add a Web Part to the middle right zone.

16. Select the KPI Details Web Part, and click the Add button.

17. Click the Open the Tool Pane link for the KPI Details Web Part. The KPI Details pane appears as shown in Figure 11-19.

    
    Figure 11-19

18. Select the icon next to the KPI List field, and select the Sample KPI list.

19. Select Workplace Accidents as the KPI to display and select Traffic Lights as the Icon Type to show within the Web Part.

20. For the Web Part Title, enter Workplace Accidents This Month.

21. Click Apply, and then OK on the Web Part to save changes. The page displays the details of your Workplace Accidents KPI.

22. Next, you create a link to the Workplace Accidents list from the Related Information Web Part. Click the New Group item from the Web Part toolbar and enter Performance Details as the group name. Click OK to add your heading.

23. Click New Link from the Web Part and enter Workplace Accidents Details as the title. Browse to the location of the workplace accidents list by clicking the Browse button to the right of the link URL field.

24. For Style, select Bulleted Title.

25. Click the OK button to save your link within the Web Part.

26. Select the Click Here to Open tool pane link from the Excel Access Web Part [1] item on the page.

27. Click the icon next to the Workbook field and browse to the Project Performance workbook you uploaded to the Reports Library in a previous example. Click the OK button to save your selection.

28. Click Apply, and then OK on the Web Part.

29. Drag the Web Part to the top-left zone underneath the summary.

30. For the Web Part in the bottom-right zone, select Delete from the Edit menu. Click the OK button to confirm your action.

31. Click the Publish button to save the changes to your Dashboard and make them available for others.

How It Works

The page looks similar to Figure 11-20 when you are complete.

Figure 11-20

Because the Dashboard gives a very visual consolidation of information, charts can often provide the update that users require in a format that is easy to follow.