CHAPTER 8

In order to get a scorecard project going, responsibilities need to be assigned. These should cover a variety of aspects of "living with scorecards". Every manager whose unit now has a scorecard will be accountable for using it. Scorecard "technology" (definitions, formats, timetable, handling of measurements) needs to be the responsibility of someone, usually in the controller's department. Promoting scorecard use and training people will need someone's attention during the first year or two. This responsibility may require a special task force near top management. If software is introduced, usually someone in the IS department will be accountable for its functioning. As data is collected about the various metrics, someone should periodically analyse it in order to learn about cause-and-effect relationships - did the patterns play out as expected, or should previous assumptions be reconsidered?

How these responsibilities are identified and allocated will have impact on the success and cost of a scorecard project. A key success factor is that top management is clear about these roles. People to whom they are assigned need to have sufficient knowledge and organizational status. Most of them will not be working full-time on scorecards, and so management has to make sure that the persons involved have enough time and perceive their tasks as important. It may take a long time before the entire organization understands the ideas involved in the concept and how they should enter the daily work of individual employees. During this time it is of utmost importance for the entire organization to feel that management unreservedly endorses the values, ideas, and management philosophy inherent in the concept. People playing the roles we here are discussing need to act as their missionaries.