Inventory Management Concepts
Inventory management and supply chain management are the backbone of any business operations. With the development of technology and availability of process driven software applications, inventory management has undergone revolutionary changes. In the last decade or so we have seen adaptation of enhanced customer service concept on the part of the manufacturers agreeing to manage […]
Why are Companies Constantly Upgrading their ERP Systems?
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is the lifeblood of any business today. Any business, be it a medium scale enterprise or a multinational corporation relies extensively on the use of Enterprise Resource planning systems. This is the reason why these systems tend to be very expensive. There are mega-corporations like SAP and Oracle, which make billions […]
Perspective on International Trade – Meaning and Important Concepts
International trades between countries and across continents have existed for centuries including previous civilizations. Traditionally international trade consisted of traded goods like textile, food items, spices, precious metals, precious stones, and objects of art and various items across the borders. Everybody has heard of the silk route as well as amber road and other famous […]
Role of External Consultants in Business Continuity Management
In previous articles, we have discussed how risk management teams and the management can help in planning for contingencies. In this article, we look at the role that external consultants can play in formulating and shaping a company’s business continuity planning. For starters, the biggest advantage that external consultants have over in house risk management […]
The Global Economic Crisis: A Brief Introduction
In previous modules, we have alluded to the global economic crisis and the impact it had on the various sectors in the financial and manufacturing industries. This article introduces readers to the global economic crisis and subsequent articles deal with the various dimensions to the crisis and the causal factors that were responsible for the […]
A KPI is a great tool to measure and control the performance of any given process. In management jargon, there is a famous saying which says “That which cannot be measured cannot be managed”. The whole process of control, therefore relies on real time measurement and transfer of information from the site where the task is actually being performed to the control room i.e. the management.
Definition of KPI: The KPI can therefore be thought of as a measurement that tells that management the precise state of operations at any given point of time.
There are 4 components to any KPI.
It is important that these 4 parameters are carefully defined keeping in mind the operational and technical capabilities. Measuring the wrong KPI or measuring the right KPI in the wrong manner can cause more harm than good to the organization that is measuring it.
While a KPI is a measure of performance, the Service Level Agreement or SLA is the ideal state of those measurements. For instance our body temperature is a KPI for our health, while 98.3 degrees Fahrenheit is the SLA i.e. the ideal state of affairs.
Hence, if we were to control our health, we would create a mechanism in which our temperature is being automatically measured. When the KPI deviates from the desired SLA i.e. temperature deviates from 98.3 degrees Fahrenheit, it must send some sort of a message to the management that management interference is required.
The beauty of KPI’s and SLA’s is that it provides required solutions in required time. Hence management can take preventive action instead of having to cure the problems.
Algedonics: While BPM solutions have built in functionalities to report any and every deviation from the SLA, it would not be in the best interest of the management. It is impossible for any process to function at uniform speed, if it is being performed by humans. Even mechanised processes do not function at absolutely uniform speed. Some level of tolerance, therefore needs to be built in the control mechanism.
The KPI’s and SLA’s should therefore allow for +/- 10% changes. Anything which goes above this is serious enough to require management attention.
The 10% is a ballpark figure and may be different depending on the degree of automation and criticality of the process. But the idea is clear, some tolerance level needs to be built in this system or else the managements mailboxes will be flooded with deviation messages which do not even represent an operational problem.
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Continuous Improvement and Business Process Re-Engineering
February 12, 2025
