From my observations the failure rate for KPI and balance scorecard projects is off the scale.  There are a number of contributing factors that have led to this failure rate.

Organizations, in both the private and public sectors, are being run by management who have not yet received any formal education on performance measurement. Unlike accounting, and information systems where rigorous processes have been formulated, discussed and taught, performance measurement has been left as an orphan of business theory and practice. To make matters worse, organisations are being led by poorly trained CEOs.

Key Performance Indicators, in many organisations are dysfunctional and thus a broken tool. Measures are often a random collection, prepared with little expertise, thus signifying nothing.  KPIs should be measures that link daily activities to the organisation’s critical success factors, thus supporting an alignment of effort within the organisation, in the intended direction.  I call this alignment the El Dorado of management.

In the article I cover:

1. management educated on performance measurement
2. avoid going for a quick fix
3. invest in ascertaining the organisation’s critical success factors.
4. Click here to read the full article

This information has been extracted from David Parmenter’s implementation guides

How to implement winning KPIs (180 page Whitepaper + electronic templates)

Finding your Organization’s Critical Success Factors – implementation guide(Whitepaper 115 pages+ electronic templates)

You may like to visit:

• his KPI home page
• his KPI implementation guide (whitepaper + e-templates) for (<100 FTEs, 100-250 FTEs, 0ver 250 FTEs)
• his KPI book page
• his KPI database
• his KPI book e-templates