Metrics Center of Excellence: From Idea to Implementation of a "Meaningful" Measurement and Analysis Process

The use of performance measures in business is hardly new. Companies have been measuring costs, quality, quantity, cycle time, efficiency, productivity, etc., of products, services and processes. What is new to some extent is developing the capabilities that can help an organization determine what kind of measures it needs, provide some guidance on what should be measured and show how to set up a measuring system. What all high-performing organizations have in common is a management system that incorporates both strategic and tactical plans deployed along with a measurement system and feedback obtained from the data to monitor results and revise the plans [1]. This is not implemented as a special project but as a continuous cycle that is aimed at continuous improvement and continuous adjustment of strategy to new business conditions. Metrics center of excellence is an approach developed on this integrated measurement system concept - actual work done in two organizations (detailed in case studies), but the concepts introduced here apply anywhere in an organization, from the highest levels of a company down to the area where a specific task is accomplished. The elements of continuous improvement are built into the approach.