At the end of the day, success is measured by how well your organization serves customers and achieves financial goals. This is much harder than one might think—it requires a well-managed operations team that can consistently meet and exceed specific standards of quality.

It goes without saying that enterprise business intelligence greatly enhances an organization’s operation. Using business analysis tools in the right way enables managers to better lead operations, help employees meet quality standards, and even increase profit opportunities over time. Whether you use a simple, manually-generated report, or a state-of-the-art auditing tool with real-time business analytics, we would like to offer some best practices for identifying the types of metrics to measure, as well as tips for implementing the results from your data analysis into your organization.

Incorporate a Balanced Scorecard Model

First of all, expand your analytics beyond basic financial and ERP data, using the Balanced Scorecard approach. It’s important to make decisions based on a balanced perspective – which some people call the Balanced Scorecard Approach. This approach provides results among your entire enterprise, including financial performance, operations performance, customer feedback, and organizational learning.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are established to provide specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-phased (SMART) measurement factors. Some examples of restaurant KPIs according to the Balanced Scorecard might include:

• Financial Performance KPIs, such as meeting EBITDA and/or return-on capital goals, or meeting top 25% percentile of QSR industry standard quarterly.
• Operational Performance KPIs, like meeting food and labor cost targets, as well as food waste targets.
• Customer Feedback KPIs show the strength of a company’s relationship with its customers through customer retention, new customer gain, and customer satisfaction.
• Organizational Learning KPIs, which shows company growth and success among people, systems, and organizational procedures, like employee turnover rate, satisfaction, and productivity level.

Compare Enterprise Performance Data to Pre-established KPI’s

Develop a system that allows you to capture operational data from performance assessments and other sources. Many systems have functions that convert data into detailed and even customize-able reports. This technology allows you generate reports instantly, often with real-time data, which allows for streamlined review, analysis, and decisions.

Find Gaps and Fix Problems

Identify root causes and implement corrective action plans that can be tracked, focusing resources on what needs to be done. Knowing the problems makes finding the answers easier. A well-designed scorecard can reveal gaps in the capabilities of people, systems, and procedures, and provide the means for quickly closing these gaps.

Align for Improved Execution

A Balanced Scorecard provides an improved view of your organization’s performance, enabling easier identification of which actions to measure and insight to create and prioritize goals for your team. By clearly communicating goals and providing tools to help individuals meet their KPIs, you will receive the greatest benefits from this model. Some of the most successful organizations have made it the cornerstone of the way they run business. By adopting these principles and aligning corporate goals with business operations, you can streamline strategy leading to breakthrough performance.