Scorecards VS Dashboards: You don’t need to choose between the two

With the increasing need to manage unstructured data and maintain a competitive advantage, the world is embracing analytics head-on. It is important for any organization adopting analytics to find the structure and method that best suits their metrics, intended use, and overarching goals. That being said, discussion has circled around two significant methods to determine which is most effective for a given organization – scorecards vs. dashboards.

We’re here to say there is no debate.

Scorecards and dashboards are two sides of the same coin when it comes to your organization’s analytics.

What is now an outdated argument, they were often seen as separate entities, one better than the other. Instead of reading the following definitions in that way, consider the following to be a guiding framework and mindset to have when determining when each tool will provide more value as it relates to your needs and use-case.

Scorecards

Scorecards offer organizations a momentary look into certain KPIs over a set period of time – a way to see current progress as it compares to expected values and target goals. Scorecards provide an understanding of where your business is positioned in relation to where you want to be so you know how to adjust your strategy to better align with your objectives. They allow an organization to “keep score” on or maintain control of a measure they want to fine-tune that may impact how their strategy is being executed.

Dashboards

Dashboards serve the purpose of viewing multiple data sets at a time, in real-time. With the intended use of analyzing data amongst numerous KPIs, dashboards provide a holistic understanding of how the organization is performing across different areas – anywhere from departments and operations, to resources and expenses. With various data sets stored in one hub, they are built for analytic structures where historic data can inform current trends and guide future strategic planning; as well as uncover relationships among common data points.

You Don’t Need to Choose Between the Two

Benefits are inclusive of both scorecards and dashboards when you can leverage the strengths of each within your analytics and reporting. Your team can make this possible when you have both tools living together in one platform – a platform like iDashboards.

Knowing which tool to use at the appropriate time, however, will provide your organization a more comprehensive understanding of its overall performance as it relates to your strategies and the individual aspects driving key findings. Let’s dive into some specific use-cases that will help explain when scorecards or dashboards can be effectively used in their respective manner.

Here are some examples across our top verticals of how we see the two co-existing:

Transportation and Logistics

• Dashboard: You need to track delivery routes and on-time deliveries to ensure efficiency, and then deliver this information to the docks via wall display.
• Scorecard: You want to see how improvement in delivery safety standards made may assist reaching performance goals (decrease outsourced trucking) more accurately.

Manufacturing

• Dashboard: You want a real-time look into the productivity and production on the manufacturing floor, in order to provide instant feedback to the operators. This will decrease downtime and ineffective habits.
• Scorecard: Measuring the amount of waste gives you the ability to produce a new product and revenue channel with that extra material.

Credit Union

• Dashboard: You want to measure in real-time, patterns of each branch across the amount of each loan type, drilling down into the amount of loans within by credit score.
• Scorecard: Utilizing not only member addresses, but also debit card swipes and work addresses to determine branch locations.

As shown by these examples, it’s evident that a single business can use one tool to gain value from both scorecards and dashboards based on metrics chosen, needs that must be met, and intended use and goals for the analytical process. Alone, they provide powerful informed perspectives; but together they encapsulate both a holistic perspective of all data sets and KPI breakdown, as well as a concise assessment of progress areas.

When business combine both tools, their decision-making process will become increasingly more efficient, reporting will no longer be outdated or time-consuming, and day-to-day operations will work towards supporting related metrics as well as overarching strategies.

Better yet, when we say ‘combine’ scorecards and dashboards, we don’t just mean having them both available, we mean capturing them both in one simple platform. No matter what your business needs are, iDashboards is a tool that will put it all together in a way that is easy-to-use and customizable. We want every business to succeed, and in order to do so, you need to have access to your data so you can optimize KPIs in the most efficient format, whether it be a scorecard or dashboard.

Our interactive data visualization solution gives you the ability to connect to an unlimited number of data sources, see any metric updated in real-time, and customize any dashboard or scorecard with hundreds of chart options. We know the challenges that come with outdated reports and data silos, so iDashboards works to give you the power to make more actionable decisions that lead to impacting the success of the entire organization.

Click on the live example below that captures scorecards and dashboards all in one with iDashboards:

Interested to see the opportunities that exist to change the way your business thinks about its data? Click here to contact iDashboards today and get started in making the most out of your data!

Andrew Gissal Senior Manager @iDashboards

Andrew Gissal manages the business development and enterprise sales teams at iDashboards. He is usually found assisting new client implementation strategies, current customer success tracks, and drinking way too much caffeine.