How to Create a Performance Scorecard

Scorecard Visual

A performance scorecard is a graphical representation providing a quick view of how an organization's key performance indicators are performing and highlight what needs attention.

In Envisio Analytics, creating a performance scorecard consists of the following steps:

1. Create a Measure Data Source or Manual Data Source
2. Create a Scorecard Data Source
3. Create a Scorecard Visual

For a full walkthrough on the full scorecard creation, check out this step by step guide:

1. Create a Measure Data Source

A Measure data source is the data source where your data gets entered. It consists of three mandatory columns: Period, Target, and Actual. You can add additional columns to the data source to track other data such as an Estimate column or a formula column, such as a variance. Use this data source type when you're tracking a performance indicator with targets and actuals or if you're looking to set up a scorecard.

A Manual data source can also be used when creating a scorecard visual if your data does not include pre-defined columns as seen in the Measure data source above

We will look at how to create a Measure data source for this example, navigate to Analytics -> Data Sources.

1. Click on New Data Source.
2. Click on Measure type.
3. Name your data source. Overwrite the default data source name Untitled Data Source.
4. By default, the Period, Target, and Actual columns are pre-populated. As these are mandatory columns, you will not be able to delete them. Note: You can change the column names to one that is more suitable by clicking on each column. 

Configuring the Measure Data Source

The following configuration options are unique to the Measure data source. Let's take a look: 

Use Estimate Column
An Estimate column uses a column type of Number. You will enable this column if you'd like to track numerical data that you wish to display in the scorecard, in addition to the three mandatory columns.  
Set Date Range, Period Start/End Date and Period Frequency
When enabled, the date interval that displays in the table is locked to the range of dates set in the Period Start and End dates, which in conjunction with the Period Frequency setting, determines the number of periods. If you wish to have your user enter the period manually, you can disable this field. 
Measure Columns
Measure columns refer to the three mandatory columns (Period, Target and Actual) and the Estimate column if enabled. The formatting options of Decimal Rounding, Thousand Separator, Prefix, and Suffix applies only to these columns. 

2. Create a Scorecard Data Source

A Scorecard data source enables you to bring different performance indicators (made up of multiple Manual or Measure data sources) together in a summary table view, or scorecard. Each row represents a unique performance measure. While each data source may be defined with varying period frequency and dates, the Scorecard data source normalizes the view. Let take a look at how to create a Scorecard data source.

Tip: Scorecard data sources can only be created from Manual or Measure data sources. 

To create a Scorecard data source, navigate to Analytics -> Data Sources.

1. Click on New Data Source.
2. Click on Scorecard type.
3. Name your data source. Overwrite the default data source name Untitled Data Source.
4. In the Input Sources tab, click on Add Data Source to start adding Measure data sources. Each measure data source forms a row in the Scorecard. Note that the period frequency from the first data source you added is used as a default frequency for the scorecard, but it can be changed. The Target and Actual columns now form the columns in the scorecard. 
   
   
5. The Mapping tab is where you can select the column mapping for all the data sources added above. This is helpful especially if column names are different in the data sources and you want them to have a consistent name on the Scorecard. The column groups can be set up here either can be a single output column or multiple output columns representing different date periods. If you have many data sources added, you may need to scroll horizontally to complete the mapping. Ensure mapping is saved by choosing 'Apply'.
   • Column Specification: used to specify which column to use from the input source inside the column group. Additional grouping can be added using '+ Add Group' button when necessary.
   • Aggregation Method: method in which to aggregate the values from the input source (Last, Average, Sum, etc.)
   • Group By Period: specifies whether a column group should be a single column (unchecked) or multiple columns representing different periods (checked)
     
6. The Scorecard tab is where you'll define the date range and frequency for the measures in your scorecard.
   • Date Range: allows you to choose from pre-defined periods or define your own date range by using the 'Custom' selection to select custom Start and End dates. 
   • Period Frequency: allows you to choose how data will be displayed - monthly, quarterly, fiscal year, etc.
   • If you would like to have a total column added to the end of the table, enable Show Total Column.
     
7. If you'd like to display additional columns to your scorecard, you can do that in the Output Source tab.
8. At this point, you've created your Scorecard data source and are ready to move on to creating the visual so that you can display it on a dashboard or link it to your plan.

Tip: Scorecard data source configuration defines the measures to include in the scorecard. In the scorecard visual configuration, you can use conditional formatting to highlight measures that need attention, see below.

3.  Create a Scorecard Visual

In this last step, you're creating a Scorecard Visual to enable you to pin it on to a dashboard or link it to a plan element. This is where you can also set up conditional formatting on the columns.

To create a Scorecard visual, navigate to Analytics -> Visuals.

1. Click on New Visual.
2. Click on Scorecard type.
3. Name your data source. Overwrite the default data source name Untitled Data Source.
4. In the Data Source tab, click on Add Data Source to add a Scorecard data source. All the columns from the Scorecard data source will now be displayed.

Conditional Formatting Columns

You can use conditional formatting to highlight areas that need attention. Simply set up the conditions and as new data is added to the underlying data source(s), the information in the scorecard will be automatically updated. 

Here's a video showing you how to set it up:

If additional assistance is required to setup and configure your Scorecard, please reach out to your Customer Success Manager.