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204 Part II • Descriptive Analytics

in focusing training funds where they can help the most. In any case, learning and growth
constitute the essential foundation for the success of any knowledge-worker organization.
Kaplan and Norton emphasize that “learning” is more than ”training”; it also includes
things like mentors and tutors within the organization, as well as that ease of communica-
tion among workers that allows them to readily get help on a problem when it is needed.

the inteRnAl Business pRoCess peRspeCtiVe This perspective focuses on the impor-
tance of business processes. Metrics based on this perspective allow the managers to
know how well their internal business processes and functions are running, and whether
the outcomes of these processes (i.e., products and services) meet and exceed the
customer requirements (the mission).

the Meaning of Balance in BsC
From a high-level viewpoint, the balanced scorecard (bsc) is both a performance
measurement and a management methodology that helps translate an organization’s finan-
cial, customer, internal process, and learning and growth objectives and targets into a set
of actionable initiatives. As a measurement methodology, BSC is designed to overcome the
limitations of systems that are financially focused. It does this by translating an organization’s
vision and strategy into a set of interrelated financial and nonfinancial objectives, measures,
targets, and initiatives. The nonfinancial objectives fall into one of three perspectives:
• Customer. This objective defines how the organization should appear to its
customers if it is to accomplish its vision.
• Internal business process. This objective specifies the processes the organiza-
tion must excel at in order to satisfy its shareholders and customers.
• Learning and growth. This objective indicates how an organization can improve
its ability to change and improve in order to achieve its vision.

Basically, nonfinancial objectives form a simple causal chain with “learning and
growth” driving “internal business process” change, which produces “customer” out-
comes that are responsible for reaching a company’s “financial” objectives. A simple
chain of this sort is exemplified in Figure 4.12, where a strategy map and balanced
scorecard for a fictitious company are displayed. From the strategy map, we can see that
the organization has four objectives across the four BSC perspectives. Like other strategy
maps, this one begins at the top with a financial objective (i.e., increase net income). This
objective is driven by a customer objective (i.e., increase customer retention). In turn, the
customer objective is the result of an internal process objective (i.e., improve call center
performance). The map continues down to the bottom of the hierarchy, where the learn-
ing objective is found (e.g., reduce employee turnover).
In BSC, the term balance arises because the combined set of measures is supposed
to encompass indicators that are:
• Financial and nonfinancial
• Leading and lagging
• Internal and external
• Quantitative and qualitative
• Short term and long term

Dashboards Versus scorecards
In the trade journals, the terms dashboard and scorecard are used almost interchangeably,
even though BPM/BI vendors usually offer separate dashboard and scorecard applications.
Although dashboards and scorecards have much in common, there are differences between

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