There's plenty of questions surrounding KPIs and Metrics. What is a KPI? What are KPIs used for? How do I develop KPIs? Who determines KPIs? How do I create a KPI? Which KPIs should I use? When should I use a KPI? Why should I review KPIs? How do I report on KPIs? Which companies use KPIs? KPIs vs Metrics vs Measures vs OKRs? This guide aims to answer all of that and give you resources for more information!
2. What is a KPI?
What are KPIs used
for?
How do I develop
KPIs?
Who determines
KPIs?
How do I create a
KPI?
Which KPIs should I
use?
When should I use a
KPI?
Why should I review
KPIs?
How do I report on
KPIs?
Which companies
use KPIs?
KPIs vs Metrics vs
Measures vs OKRs?
What will I learn?
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What is a KPI?
KPI stands for Key Performance Indicator
and is defined as a measurable value that
demonstrates how effectively a company
is achieving key business objectives.
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What are KPIs used for?
What are KPIs used for?
KPIs are used by individuals and organizations
to evaluate their success at reaching critical
targets.
High-level KPIs may focus on company-wide
performance, while low-level KPIs may focus on
processes within departments, teams or
individuals.
Use a KPI when you need to track progress
toward a goal over a period of time.
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What are KPIs used for?
Who uses KPIs?
The short answer:
anyone. KPIs are used by
individuals, for example,
to pursue health-related
goals, and they are used
by organizations to
pursue business goals.
Within businesses, there
are typically departmental
KPIs and overarching
company-wide KPIs.
Departmental KPIs should
be created in such a way
that their sum result moves
the needle for the
overarching KPIs.
Departmental KPIs are
often established by
departmental leaders, and
departmental managers
who ensure the team is
aligned and working
accordingly. Overarching
KPIs are typically set by the
organization's CEO and
executive team.
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The SMART Approach
Make this approach SMARTER by adding Evaluate and Re-evaluate into the mix.
Ask yourself: 1. How and when will you evaluate short-term progress?
2. How and when will you re-evaluate longer-term progress?
Specific
Is your objective specific?
Measurable
Can you measure progress
towards that goal?
Attainable
Is the goal realistically
attainable?
Time-Bound
What is the time-frame for
achieving this goal?
Relevant
How relevant is the goal to
your organization?
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How do I create a KPI?
Creating your KPIs
Let's say you are the CEO of a
publisher agency and your
overall objective is to: Increase
book sales for this year. You
are going to call this KPI your
Book Sales KPI and here’s how
you might define it.
What: To increase book
sales by 15% this year.
Why: Achieving this
target will allow you to
hire another agent.
Measure: Progress will
be measured as an
increase in number of
books sold and resulting
revenue.
How: Drive traffic
through a blog focused
on topics related to our
publishing niche.
Who: The Content
Marketing Manager will
be responsible for this
KPI.
Outcome: Book sales
will have increased by
15% this year.
When: KPI progress will
be reviewed on a
monthly basis.
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Which KPIs should I use?
Which KPIs should I use?
There is no such thing as the “best KPI” to use. There is only the best KPIs for
your particular goals. Determine which goals are most important to you, your
team and/or your company and track those.
How many should you track?
The fewer the better. It can be easy to load up
on too many KPIs, or to measure KPIs that
aren't quite right or important for the stage
of your company.
Bonus:
Best practices for picking the right KPIs for your
business
Check out our KPI Examples Library for inspiration
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Why should I
review KPIs?
Goals may change over time, and
performance and progress toward those
goals certainly will differ too. As such, a KPI
from three months ago may not be as
relevant to today. This is why it's important
not to set and forget your KPIs.
KPIs should be reviewed regularly in a
timeframe relevant to the final allotment
you've set for achieving your goals.
You could conduct reviews on a daily,
weekly, monthly, or quarterly schedule
depending on the set time span.
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How do I report on KPIs?
How do I report on KPIs?
Traditionally, KPI reports
are developed on a
quarterly basis. But,
depending on how in-depth
these reports are, you may
want to create a KPI report
every time you conduct a
KPI review.
A KPI report is a presentation
that summarizes your current
performance in comparison
to your objectives. It can be
presented in a variety of
ways: from spreadsheets and
slide decks to formal written
reports and, as we prefer,
dashboards.
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A KPI dashboard creates a real-time visualization of the KPIs
you’ve chosen to track, on mobile, desktop or to a wall-mounted
TV in your office. The best KPI dashboards are customizable,
allowing you to, among
other things, change
colors, organize your
KPI layout, and
observe your
progress in a
single glance.
What is a KPI dashboard?
What is a KPI
dashboard?
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Which companies use KPIs?
Which companies
use KPIs?
All organizations, regardless of
size and sector, that have a
goal in mind and that believe
creating a strategy to reach
those goals is important use
KPIs.
The pursuit of goals depends
on the focused, consistent
delivery of results. KPIs are
important because they serve
as the guiding path to get you
where you want to be.
Still not convinced? Check out the new trend:
How OKRs can help surcharge your KPIs
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A metric is a
quantifiable measure
that is used to track
and assess the
status of a specific
process.
Metrics
In a data context,
measures are the
numbers or values
that can be summed
and/or averaged,
such as sales, leads,
distances, durations,
temperatures, and
weight.
Measures
An OKR consists of 2 main
components:
OKRs
A KPI is a
measurable value
that demonstrates
how effectively a
company is
achieving key
business objectives.
KPIs
Objectives: What you want
to achieve. These typically
involve setting a goal
(usually qualitative) around
a specific initiative you
hope to improve or work on.
Key Results: How you will
achieve your objective.
These are quantitative
goals that are measurable
and have a defined time
limit by which they need to
be accomplished.
So... what’s the
difference?
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Want more info?
(Click on your favourite topic to get redirected to one of our blogs)
15 common KPI
questions
What is a KPI, Metric, or
Measure?
7 ways to present KPIs
that your management
team will love
How To Define Your
KPIs
How to write and
develop KPIs
How to set actionable
KPI targets
Why are key
performance indicators
important?
How to present a KPI
report
How to create a KPI
dashboard
How to identify your
KPIs
The basics of KPI
management
How KPIs can help build
a better team
Why KPIs fail
How to establish key
business metrics
How OKRs can help
supercharge your KPIs
Best practices for
picking the right KPIs for
your business