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Vol 28 - No 03 - April 2002 Measuring Business Performance On the 8th February, 30 members of the London Branch packed into a room at Computer Associates' European Headquarters, to hear Gunther Kruse of Scope Management Ltd., deliver his talk on ‘Measuring your Business Performance –A Vital "Survival Tool" in Today's Competitive Markets'. This had proven to be a popular event even before it occurred, as the attendees list had to be closed prior to the event because of the number of those wishing to attend. The demand was well judged, as the evening went extremely well with the presentation living up to expectation Branch news Org) Scope Management Per) Kruse, Gunther Gunther took the attendees through the need to control a business in today's commercial environment and offered the solution through well thought out and structured business performance methods. This solution, although not high tech or expensive, is capable of producing the required results. The method could in fact be free - all it needs is good professional management, well thought out processes, structured thinking, measurement and the necessary reaction to the results. The measurement process and how it was developed was explained to the audience. An organisation needs to develop a Mission from which a vision and objectives of the business may be derived to support this Mission. The objectives then need to be measured. These measurements are Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and naturally from the manner in which they were derived, they support the organisation's Mission. Gunther then introduced the concept of the balanced scorecard, which measures the company from an internal and external perspective. After all, we may think we are doing an excellent job internally, but if the external perspective of our organisation is negative, we are doomed to failure. Gunther then went through the definition of a set of KPIs for a hypothetical organisation showing their logical development from the Mission statement. This was followed by an analysis of several well-known companies, their Missions, objectives and probable KPIs. He then summarised his talk and I quote his key points from his final slide for measuring performance: Few good measures – quality not quantity Supporting business objectives Watching the trends Visible to all, understood by all Realistic but stretching targets Gunther then answered questions raised before the meeting showed its appreciation for an excellent talk. The floor was then given to Duncan Pummell, the Institute's Honorary Secretary, who explained that he had the happy duty to present the highest honour the IOM could bestow on one of its members. Don Ralston, a member of the Institute for some 35 years, was awarded an Honorary Fellowship and the meeting registered its approval. The Chairman then added that Don had been a member of London Branch and committee for many many years and his contributions had been numerous and of great value to the Branch. Special thanks was and is extended to Don. The London Branch AGM followed. The current committee, except for Don who was standing down, had put themselves forward for re-election and were unanimously re-elected. Finally the attendees enjoyed refreshments in the Restaurant. London Branch IOM would like to express their sincere thanks to Computer Associates for their hospitality. Page number: 6 Word count: 530 Related Topics: Strategic
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