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      Measuring Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

      Measure the handful of numbers that are most important to your business's health and success.

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      Note: This content reflects our Premium software's default features and labels. For any questions, please email help@rhythmsystems.com.

      Why KPIs Matter

      Reviewing your KPI performance weekly enables you to understand the performance and health of your business so that you can make critical adjustments in your execution to achieve your strategic goals. Knowing and measuring the right KPIs will help you achieve results faster. 

      KPIs are important for 2 reasons:

      1. They are a Scorecard for Company Health. You only need a handful of KPIs to monitor your company's vital signs.  Only measure what you want to move so you can put energy where you want to effect change.
      2. They can be a Dashboard for specific business problems or opportunities. You can track what's happened in the past and the results you want to achieve with Results Indicators.  You can also measure Leading Indicators to ensure you are on track to achieve the results you want.  Leading Indicators give you an execution advantage over your competition.

      How to Add KPIs

      Decide on a handful of metrics to monitor your company's health. Also, consider whether there is a specific problem you need to solve and think about what numbers you look at to know if you had a good week. Start with 8-12 KPIs and make adjustments over time if you find that you're not measuring the right things.

      1. In the Execution menu, choose KPIs.
      2. Hit the + in the top right of the screen.
      3. Give your KPI a name. Make it clear and specific.
        Need help writing a clear, specific goal name? Click on the Rhythm AI Coach icon to generate suggestions. Clicking it again will generate even more possibilities to help you easily write a KPI.
      4. Set Red-Yellow-Green success criteria.
      5. Add a start date, and leave the end date blank to continue measuring the KPI in future quarters.
      6. Assign an Owner for the KPI. 
      7. Decide if it should be on your team KPI list or on your Individual list only.
        1. If it’s an Individual KPI, you can make it private, meaning that only you can see it.
        2. If it's a Team KPI, you can check the box to add it to the Quarter or Annual Plan Goal Dashboard. (Note that it will appear in the dashboard for the team you have selected in the app context when you created the goal.)
      8. Hit Save, or Save and Link Parent if this KPIs supports another goal in Rhythm.

        You also have some optional settings when creating a KPI:

        1. Scorecard Category: You can assign a category to use in sorting and filtering KPI lists.
        2. Criteria for Weekly Status: Indicate if you are updating the status compared to the Red-Yellow-Green success criteria you've entered for the Quarter or for the Year.
        3. Rollup Calculation: You can turn on math calculations to sum or average linked Child goals on this parent goal.
        4. Auto Status Color Setting: You can turn on a setting so Rhythm updates the status color automatically each week by comparing the Actual value you enter to the values in the Red-Yellow-Green success criteria.
        5. Variance Calculation: You can turn on a setting to automatically calculate the Variance when you add Projected and Actual values each week.
        6. Projected, Actual, Variance Setting: You can adjust this setting to specify whether the numbers you enter each week are cumulative (a running total of prior weeks) or for a single week only. This setting will be used to chart the data correctly.
        7. Status Frequency: Choose how often you want to update the status of this KPI: Quarterly, Monthly or Weekly.
        8. Goal Description: You can explain the KPI in detail, specify where the data comes from, formulas used to calculate the numbers, the time horizon, a deadline for updating the status, etc.

        How to Remove KPIs

        1. Removing a KPI from your list: If you no longer wish to see a KPI from prior quarters in your list for this quarter, click on the End Date for the KPI and choose to end the KPI at the end of the previous quarter. This will preserve any historical data associated with the KPI but prevent it from showing up in the current quarter’s list.
        2. Deleting a KPI: If you added a KPI by mistake and don’t have any historical data in previous quarters for the KPI, you can delete it by clicking the More Actions icon in the list and choose Delete from System.