Inside ASI-AP

I missed posting both the customer survey results for Q1 and the BSC results. So this is a catch up for Q1. I should have the Q2 results done in the next couple of weeks, so look out for those then.

Q1 is a great example of how the BSC works as a management system. Before the BSC we generally managed the business on financial results. But in the balanced scorecard, financial results are only 1 perspective of 4 total perspectives. The financial results for Q1 in AP were outstanding, and without the BSC everyone would be happy. But if you look at our BSC strategy map below you will see we have some significant red areas in the 3 other perspectives. And since it flows from bottom up, reds will eventually flow up and lead to poor financial outcomes if they are not addressed now.

FINANCIAL PERSPECTIVE
Consolidated Consulting Contribution Margin - GREEN
License Related Revenue - GREEN
EBITDA % per Revenue - GREEN

CUSTOMER PERSPECTIVE
Create 'Customers for Life'
- Customer retention - YELLOW
- Customer participation - GREEN
Satisfy Customers
- ASI customer satisfaction rating - RED
- iMIS customer satisfaction rating - RED
- AiSP customer satisfaction rating - GREEN

PROCESS PERSPECTIVE
Deliver consistent product services
- Service projects completed on target - RED
- Service projects in process which are on time and on budget - RED
Support Partners
- Number of partners who contribute > $50,000 - GREEN
- Partner revenue - RED
Acquire New Customers
- Number of new customers - GREEN
- Total number of qualified opportunities - RED
Grow Brand Recognition - Percentage of company budget dedicated to marketing - GREEN
Expand Partners - Number of partners - GREEN

LEARNING & GROWTH PERSPECTIVE
Optimize Workforce Contributions - Revenue per average employee - GREEN
Improve Talent Continuity
- Employee turnover - GREEN
- Positions open more than 60 days - GREEN
Improve Internal Communications
- Corporate communications - GREEN
- Reviews completed on time - RED
Develop Key Skills Sets - EQI (Employee Quality Index) - RED

The red areas of particular interest are customer satisfaction and develop key skill sets. I posted separately on customer satisfaction and the survey results.

On developing key skill sets - we need to stay committed to our training plans and the execution of each individual training plan. It is easy for these to get dropped at the busy times, but just like we can see on the BSC strategy map this will directly impact on customer satisfaction and financial results down the track.

We did make a couple of small changes to the BSC measures for 2008. If you compare the strategy map above to the one I posted here for 2007 you will see the couple of changes. Firstly in the customer perspective we changed the 2 measures of 'satisfy customers' (1 for membership customers, 1 for fundraising customers) to instead measure 3 satisfaction areas - satisfaction with iMIS, with ASI and with solution providers.

In the process area a new measure has been added to measure 'velocity' of development which will make the timeliness of our development efforts more visible. Note that this is not measured in AP, only in the corporate card.

And there were some running changes to the way some of the existing measures were being calculated. The main one of interest being the measure of execution of training plans in the develop key skill sets measure; last year we only counted the existence of training plans, but this year we are counting the existence of a training plan for each person plus a measure on how much training has actually been undertaken from each person's plan.

Copies of the BSC reports are in the ASI only (login required) wiki pages here.