IBM® Workplace™ for Business Strategy Execution

Seven steps for getting started

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Thank you for choosing IBM® Workplace™ for Business Strategy Execution.

• Consistent measurements and metrics across the organization. A second challenge that companies face is an uncertainty about business performance results because key metrics and performance indicators are inconsistent throughout the organization. For example, a finance executive might be most comfortable with creating a strategy that is backed up by financial data. In doing this, decision makers might ignore other important metrics that can support a strategy, such as those associated with internal processes or the management of resources. Consequently, if a problem arises in the midst of the year, executives might not consider all of the factors that are shaping business performance, and they will be unable to respond appropriately because they don’t have a complete picture of the situation.

• The ability to take action to resolve issues quickly. A final chal-lenge for companies is the ability to react quickly to changes in the business landscape. There are often communication gaps that lead to missed objectives. Without having the right tools in place to alert executives, data is slow to roll up, and the gaps in the business strategy are often realized too late. Of course, knowing about the change is half the battle. The next step for decision makers is to collaborate with their teams to form a plan, and sometimes companies are missing those tools as well.

The challenges of executing a business strategy successfullyAt the beginning of each year, business leaders strive to create the right strategy for their business. A strategy might focus externally, such as to help generate revenue or to expand the customer base; or a strategy might focus inward and strive to cut costs or to improve quality. Certainly, formulating the right strategy is critical to a company’s success.

But, what happens when a well conceived strategy loses focus as the year moves forward?

During the year, challenges can arise that prohibit a company from successfully executing its strategy.

• Understanding the company strategy and how to best con-tribute. A big challenge for companies is the ability to clearly communicate the strategy and to keep employees focused on it throughout the year. If a strategy is misunderstood, then divisions, departments, and individual employees might not execute with the strategy in mind. In many companies, a small percentage of employees might actually understand the overall corporate objectives, and an even smaller number understand how their work aligns with the goals of the company. This can lead to a disjointed and inefficient implementation of the busi-ness strategy across the enterprise, and it can increase the risk of missing critical business targets. Without a linkage of performance to strategic objectives, then an individual’s impact on the outcome of the strategy will be unclear. This is especially true if management does not spend much time monitoring strategy execution throughout the year.

IntroductionTake ten minutes to read how IBM Workplace for Business Strategy Execution meets the challenges that companies face when they are trying to execute their business strategies.

After that, walk through the seven steps to learn how the product helps you create and monitor the strategic objectives that can drive the successful execution of your business strategy.

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How IBM Workplace for Business Strategy Execution can helpThe challenges presented above are not without solutions. IBM Workplace for Business Strategy Execution provides intuitive tools and features designed to meet those challenges so that your company stays focused on the business strategy throughout the year.

which the employee assumes responsibility. Employees can push objectives to others so that the right people are linked to the activities for the objectives. In this way, the Scorecard helps define ownership of objectives, and employees can see how their perfor-mance relates to other’s ability to meet objectives.

When employees manage their scorecards, they can use the Navigator to locate others easily. The Navigator displays a view of the organization structure from the perspective of a user or a custom hierarchy. The Navigator is conveniently located next to the Scorecard.

Align corporate objectives throughout your organizationIBM Workplace for Business Strategy Execution software allows objectives to be broken down into manageable and actionable tasks, cascaded to each part of the organization and linked to-gether as appropriate across business units.

The primary tool provided with IBM Workplace for Business Strat-egy Execution is the Scorecard. Conceptually, the Scorecard is the interface where strategic objectives are created and monitored. In practice, each employee maintains his or her own scorecard. An individual employee scorecard lists strategic objectives for

Scorecard, Navigator, My Alerts

Objectives, metrics, and performance indicators are clearly defined and communicatedThe Scorecard provides an intuitive interface where consistent metrics are used to determine the status of an objective, that is, how the objective is performing. Metrics include the actual values that are assigned to an objective during a time period. You have the flexibility to choose the appropriate data source for the actual values. For example, you can choose to have values extracted from an external data source or values can be rolled up across linked objectives.

In addition, performance indicators are consistent throughout the Scorecard. By default, performance indicators for objectives are broken down into four categories: Financial, Learning and Growth, Customer and Employee. These categories, called perspectives, are based on the balanced scorecard theory, by Robert Kaplan and David Norton. The purpose of the different perspectives is to ensure that scorecards look at performance in a balanced view of the business.

React quickly when the business landscape changesThe Scorecard provides a real-time view into the relevant informa-tion that affects objectives. If a low-performing objective surfaces, the responsible parties are alerted through the My Alerts window, which is located next to the Scorecard. The alert is posted im-mediately so that the decision makers can address the issue as quickly as possible.

IBM Workplace for Business Strategy Execution integrates with the collaborative and productivity tools that are provided by the under-lying portal software. Employees can access e-mail and start chat sessions to solve problems quickly. Whether you install on IBM WebSphere® Portal or with IBM Workplace Services Express, you can take advantage of the collaborative features and document management tools that each offering provides.

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Before you begin the tourNow that you are familiar with the capabilities that IBM Workplace for Business Strategy Execution provides, walk through the seven steps to tour the product and to see how you can get started.

About the tourIn our tour, you assume the role of the business executive who steps through the process of creating a strategic objective, adjust-ing its properties, and then pushing it to the appropriate people. After that, you monitor the progress of the objective and use the integrated collaborative tools to communicate with others. This tour assumes that you are already logged in to the site.

A few terms that you should know

You need a basic understanding of some terms before you start the tour. Read the following questions and answers to learn more.

What is an objective? Simply put, an objective is a goal that supports your strategy. You create objectives in the Scorecard. Examples of objectives might be land new contracts or maintain spending levels.

What is an initiative? An initiative is a project, action, or activity that you want to implement. You create an initiative as an action to an objective. The metrics and properties for an initiative are consistent with those for an objective.

What is the target scheduler? The target scheduler is a tool that allows you to manipulate value points in a fashion that resembles a line or curve specific to an objective. You use the target scheduler to adjust targets and milestones for an objective.

What is a dashboard? A dashboard is a graphical user interface that conveys real-time information about business data. A dash-board can be made up of a combination of graphs, charts, RSS feeds, business portlets and tickers. A dashboard is separate from the Scorecard.

The use of sample data

IBM Workplace for Business Strategy Execution provides sample data that includes fictitious users. This tour references two of those users. To learn more about the sample data, refer to the Informa-tion Center.

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1. Creating a new objective

The first step for getting started is to create an objective. You create an objec-tive that focuses on increasing awareness of ethical standards throughout the company. You want to monitor the progress of this objective on a monthly basis, and you expect 100% compliance before the objective will be complete.

1. To start, you click New Objective in the Scorecard.

Creating a new objective

2. Next, you select the appropriate values, including Learning and Growth for the perspective, Percentage as the value type and Monthly for the milestone.

Fields for creating a new objective

Shown below is the new objective as it appears in the Scorecard after the changes are saved.

Objective displayed on your scorecard

Business benefits

• The Scorecard presents a unified view of all objectives,

which enables you to monitor progress in a single place.

• You can open up the Scorecard to employees, so that

throughout the year the progress of your business strategy

is visible to all.

• Everyone uses clear metrics, so there is no confusion over

how results are obtained.

Tips for creating your own objectives

• Keep the objective name brief.

• Not all objectives are financial. For example, some objec-

tives might focus on the education and growth of your

employees, or internal business processes.

• Pay attention to the value type and milestones. The value

type and milestone settings provide the basis for the

graphs and reports that you can generate. Note that after

you save your objective, you cannot change the value type

at a later time, but you can adjust the targets for milestones

with the target scheduler.

• Select a value type that reflects the associated perspec-

tive. For example, Currency is a common value type for a

financial-based objective.

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2. Adding a Web resource

Adding a Web resource is a quick way to provide convenient access to impor-tant information. An example of a Web resource is a Web site or a dashboard. In this step, you create a link to an internal news site for the Legal department so that you can access information related to ethical standards.

1. In your scorecard, you access the Properties for the new objective, and then select the Web Resource tab.

Adding a Web resource

2. Next, you enter the link to the Web site as an External resource.

Adding an external link

3. After you save the changes, you launch the site from the action list for the objective.

Launching the site

About Web resources

You can select a resource that is external to your portal, such

as a different Web site, or you can select a portal resource.

If you select a portal resource, you can link to another portal

page, such as a dashboard that contains graphs, charts, RSS

feeds, business portlets and tickers.

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3. Plotting milestones and targets to reflect expectations

When an objective is created, beginning and final values are defined, along with the frequency with which milestones are tracked. Because you want to track monthly milestones beyond the default last target date, you add a new last target date that expands the timeline and creates new milestones. Next, you select a template curve where the beginning value is less than the target value and an upward trend is exposed.

1. In your scorecard, you access the Properties for the objective, and then select the Targets tab. The target scheduler displays with value points on the last days of each month, which represents the milestone dates. Next, you add a new Last target date to create a new time span for the targets and to add the new milestones.

Adding a new last target date

2. You pick a curve that promotes an upward trend for the objective.

Selecting a curve

Tips for adjusting targets and milestones

• By default, the last day of the target scheduler is the end

of the year. You can add a new last target date.

• If you add a new Last target date, adjust the milestones

to meet your new goal.

• You can adjust points on the lines to look at interim goals.

• When you edit values in the target scheduler, associated

values are updated in the Scorecard.

• You can do much more with the target scheduler. Refer

to the Information Center for details.

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The new curve is shown below with update milestones.

A new curve displays

How the zone separator lines work

By default, two lines display in the target scheduler. Together,

these lines create three zones: positive, moderate, and negative.

The line on top is the target and the threshold line is below.

The target line is generated from the beginning and end target

values that you supply when you create your objective. The

threshold line is generated from values that are 90% of your

target milestone values.

You can customize the target scheduler by adding or deleting

lines on your target schedule to create your own zones.

4. Selecting the data source for the objective

The data source is where an objective gets its actual values. The status of your objective depends on the actual values that are rolled up from other objectives. Because you will push your objective to others, you select Aggregate from alignment for the data source. By doing this, you ensure that the actual values will be rolled up from other objectives to your objective.

1. In your scorecard, you access the Properties for the objective, and then select the Data Source tab.

2. Next, you select Aggregate from alignment, and then Additive as the calculation method.

Selecting a data source

What you need to know about data sources

There are three methods for acquiring data:

• You can record data manually.

• If you plan to link or push objectives to others, select

aggregate from alignment, so that the actual values are

rolled-up from other objectives.

• You can choose to acquire data from an external source.

In this case, actual values are pulled in from a Web Ser-

vices Description Language (WSDL) file that you specify.

Although one objective might use a data source that is

different from another objective, the presentation of the

related status and trends for those objectives is consistent

within the Scorecard.

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5. Pushing objectives to the right people

You can make sure that the people who are responsible for the success of the objective are on board by pushing the objective to them. In our tour, you push the objective to two sample users that are provided with IBM Workplace for Business Strategy Execution: Elizabeth Skyler in Human Resources and Mal-colm MacGillivray in Legal. Before you push the objective, you specify that the suggested target for each person is 50%, which means that you expect Eliza-beth and Malcolm to share the responsibility for the success of the objective.

1. In the Properties for the objective, you click the Linkages tab, and then Push Objective.

Pushing an objective

2. You use Directory Search to locate Elizabeth and Malcolm, and then you add them as recipients for the pushed objective.

Using Directory Search to locate colleagues

More information about pushing and linking objectives

• You must have appropriate access to a user’s scorecard

before you can push an objective to him or her. See the

Information Center for details about access control.

• The ability to link or push objectives is a powerful feature

of IBM Workplace for Business Strategy Execution. To learn

more, refer to the Information Center.

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3. Because you want Elizabeth and Malcolm to share the responsibility equally, you enter 50 as the Suggested target, and then click Push Objective.

Assigning responsibility equally between two recipients

4. Finally, you save the changes and new objectives are created in the score-cards for Elizabeth and Malcolm.

Pushing an objective to two parties

What a recipient should do after the objective

is pushed

A recipient for an objective will receive a message in the My

Alerts window, and a new objective will appear in his or her

scorecard.

My Alerts window

The recipient should start to track the objective, and make

sure that actual values are entered from an appropriate data

source.

To do this, the recipient can change the data source for the

objective that was pushed to him or her. In addition to the

data sources mentioned previously, recipients can also

import data from a spreadsheet. Refer to the Information

Center for details.

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6. Tracking progress throughout the year

As the business year moves forward, you can easily track the progress of your objectives. You want to monitor progress as actual values are rolled up to your objective from the objectives for Elizabeth and Malcolm. To do this, you access status and reporting tools provided with the Scorecard. Additionally, you ac-cess a dashboard on your site that contains real-time data that is critical to the successful execution of your business strategy.

1. From the action list for your objective, you click Status Map. The status map gives you a quick view of the status and linkage relationship for your objective.

Status Map

About the status map

Typically, business leaders monitor progress on a monthly

or quarterly basis. But if a low-performing objective arises,

leaders can quickly analyze status maps at any time to under-

stand what areas need attention.

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2. Next, from the action list for the objective, you click Graph or Report. You view a graph or a report to get a quick look at how actual values compare to your expectations. Actual values are shown as a black line on the graph.

Graph

Report

About graphs and reports

Each objective and initiative has a corresponding graph and

report.

Graphs provide a visual representation of the actual values

recorded and the relationships with target values.

The report displays, in table form, all of the actual values

recorded, along with history of target values, variance, and

status.

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3. In the Properties for the objective, you click the History tab to see a timetable of historical activity.

History

4. You access a dashboard on your site to view short-term data related to your specific objectives and overall business strategy.

A dashboard is different from the Scorecard, in that you use a dashboard to track day-to-day changes, and you use the Scorecard to monitor progress over a longer period of time. A dashboard can provide graphs, charts, RSS feeds, business portlets, and tickers that convey relevant information for your strategic objectives.

Dashboard

Find out who did what and when

The history shows when a property for an objective or initia-

tive was changed, who initiated the change, and what was

changed.

Other items tracked in the history table include the old and

new values given to an objective or initiative.

The dashboard

The dashboard on your site is not unlike the dashboard in

your automobile. For example, your automobile provides a

dashboard with dials and controls that report on moment-to-

moment operations. How fast are you going? Check the speed

odometer. How much gas is left? Check the gas gauge. Is that

steam spitting from the hood? Check the temperature gauge.

Of course, you hope that your strategic objectives won’t

overheat, but if they do, you can quickly check a dashboard to

view the latest information.

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After time has passed and actual values are recorded, you can react quickly if a problem or opportunity arises. In the final step of our tour, you respond to an alert that displays in the My Alerts window. To get more information and to formulate a plan, you use the integrated collaborative features to communicate with others.

1. You respond to an alert that posts in your My Alerts window.

My Alerts

2. To address issues, you use the Navigator to locate others quickly and to collaborate with them through e-mail or chat sessions.

Send e-mail

7. Collaborating with others to react quickly

Collaborative tools

Because IBM Workplace for Business Strategy Execution

integrates with your existing IBM WebSphere Portal installa-

tion or with IBM Workplace Services Express, you can take

advantage of the collaborative features that those products

provide.

Let others join in by creating a team space

If you are running with IBM Workplace Services Express, you

can create a team space where you can pull a team together to

plan a response.

Team spaces are work areas in the portal, where team mem-

bers can participate in discussions, share project documents,

share a project calendar, chat with team members, create and

view lists, and much more.

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How do you know that your business is successful at year’s end? Maybe it’s the bottom line or the stock price.

Now, with IBM Workplace for Business Strategy Execution, you can look back and know that your business has kept the focus on the strategic objectives that were created earlier in the year.

Remember the following points:

To get started Create a new objective to support your business strategy

To add a link to useful information Add a Web resource such as a Web site, portal page, or dashboard

To change the targets and milestones for your objective Open the target scheduler and plot your preferences

To make sure that the actual values for your objective are Select the appropriate data source for the actual valuescoming from the right source

To make sure that the right people are involved with the Push the objective to otherssuccess of the objective

To track long-term and short-term progress of your objective Access status maps, graphs and reports, and dashboards

To quickly communicate opportunities and solve problems Use the integrated collaborative features to communicate related to your objective with your organization

You can find additional product documentation at: ibm.com/developerworks/workplace/documentation.html

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Users are responsible for identifying the business goals and objectives tracked by IBM Workplace for Business Strategy Execution. Users are also responsible for ensuring that the data supplied to IBM Workplace for Business Strategy Execution by a user’s other systems are accurate and adequate to track the progress of the user’s business against its goals and objectives. IBM does not represent or warrant that use of IBM Workplace for Business Strategy Execution will yield specific business results or that the goals and objectives identified in any demonstration of IBM Workplace for Business Strategy Execution are appropriate for implementation by users.

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