Client
Improving Holdings, LLC
Project Timeline
16 Weeks
Location
Dallas, Tx
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Provided Improving with suggestions on how they could better visualize and deliver actionable insights for their Balanced Scorecard measures for optimum effectiveness.
'Improving' the Balanced Scorecard
My Roles
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Project Manager - Team Lead
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Team Name - Nourish
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Project Researcher
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Data Analyst/Scientist​
STAR
Situation
Throughout the years, many management systems for companies have been utilized, some of which have resulted in disorganized and inefficient reports. The Balanced Scorecard (BSC), a management tool, has proven to be effective in balancing multiple aspects of a company to meet its stakeholder needs. For the Fall of 2022, the President of Improving, David O’Hara, and the Vice Presidents of Consulting, David Belcher and Kevin Baker asked us to innovate their current Balanced Scorecard. The objective of this project is to explore new visualization methods, define new goals for the BSC, and create new measures for success within Improving.
Tasks
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Research and Read The Balance Scorecard (1992 by Kaplan and Norton) to understand how companies use the management tool. Link to Book (Amazon)
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Performed Background Research and Analysis on Improving’s Balanced Scorecard and how the company uses the management tool.
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Scheduled and Organized meetings with Project Stakeholders
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Designed the Presentations for the Kickoff Meeting, the Mid-Point Meeting, and our Final Presentation for our Project Partners
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Created 5 Whys and HMW Statements and Insight Statements for Improving to develop general themes and a list of questions for our Interviews
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Sketched Wireframe Designs for potential dashboard layouts and designed the new BSC Dashboard for Improving
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Used Spearman’s Rank Correlation to find relationships within metrics in the Balanced Scorecard.
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Performed and Observed 4 Interviews with Project Stakeholders
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Performed a Rapid Quantitative Analysis of my Interview with David O’Hara
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Used VBA Macros to help excel prompt insights to BSC managers
Activities
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Created Interview Questions covering 4 different Research Topics regarding Improving.
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Created a Semi-Structured Interview Guide, Electronic Consent Form, and an Elevator Speech for our Interviews
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Created Project Management Docs to outline the Project.
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Stakeholder Communication Plan
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Performed the Bulls Eye Diagram Activity to prioritize Research Methods
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Analyzed the Balanced Scored Card through different Research Methods
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Gap Analysis
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Thematic Networks
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Content Analysis
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Elito Method
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Decided upon the Final Design for the Balanced Scorecard Dashboard
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Performed the Six Thinking Hats Exercise on our ideas for a deeper analysis
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Wrote a Business Report on the culture of Improving and provided recommendations
Results
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Presented our findings and solutions to the executives at Improving and received their feedback.
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Received feedback and validation from my team and faculty
Phase One: Discovering
In the Discovering Phase, information is collected and analyzed through the use of different research methods to clarify goals, constraints, pain points, and identify deliverables for the project.
Driving Question: How might Improving refocus their company efforts using the Balanced Scorecard Methodology?
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With the Project Brief and the Introductory Meeting with Improving, we were able to get a basic understanding of what our stakeholders wanted to see in our deliverables.
Top Quotes and Insights
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“How do we tie a story behind the numbers?” - David Belcher
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How can we find those Visual Smells within our balanced scorecard?
Research Methods Used
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Bull's Eye Diagram: To begin our research, we used Bull's Eye Diagram to outline the level of priority for each research method. This helped us determine the order in which we would perform our research for the project’s Discovering Phase.
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Background Research: We did Background Research into the way Improving uses its BSC to see if we could identify any pain points at a first glance.
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Gap Analysis ​
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Thematic Networks
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Content Analysis
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Elito Method
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Formulated a Question Bank for Interview Questions:
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Interviews: I observed and hosted 4 Interviews with the upper-level management of Improving.​​
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Top Quotes and Insights in Full Phase
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Rapid and Quantitative Analysis: To reflect back on the interviews, we performed a Rapid Analysis over each interview to find common patterns and keywords used in the responses each interviewee provided.
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Top Insight and HMW Statements in Full Phase
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Semi-Structure Guide
Question Bank
Pain Points Identified
Through the use of various research methods in the company and the Balanced Scorecard, I was able to identify three pain points:
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Poor Data Visualization: Executives and Directors at Improving express the need for better data visualization tools for the contents of their Balanced Scorecard.
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Lack of Leading Indicators: The data presented within the Balanced Scorecard did not accurately provide trends in data or leading indicators.
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High Learning Curve for New Employees: The data within the BSC requires senior-level experience which makes it difficult for new parties and acquisitions to actively understand and participate.
Mid-Point Project Update
In order to validate our findings and our direction for the project, we designed and delivered our Mid-Point Meeting to the executives at Improving. They were able to see our vision for the direction our team was taking and were really excited to see what was next.
Phase Two: Inventing
In the Inventing Phase, new ideas and potential solutions are generated based on the research and pain points that were identified in the Discovering Phase.
Pain Point 1: Poor Data Visualization: Executives and Directors at Improving express the need for better data visualization tools for the contents of their Balanced Scorecard.
Insights/Research: How Might We tie a story behind the numbers in a visually appealing manner?
Solution 1.0: Using External Platforms like Sisense to better visualize the data within Excel.
Improving’s Current Dashboard Layout for their BSC
Updated Dashboard with Sisense
BI Dashboard Examples. Sisense. https://www.sisense.com/dashboard-examples/
Solution 2.0: Re-Designing the BSC Dashboard within Excel.
Who, What, Why:
Improving’s senior to mid-level management can access a better-visualized BSC dashboard to facilitate data interpretation within the Scorecard.
Pain Point 2: Lack of Leading Indicators: The data presented within the Balanced Scorecard did not accurately provide trends in data or leading indicators.
Insights: How Might We identify leading indicators and use them as insights for the Balanced Scorecard?
Solution: Using Spearman’s Rank Correlations to Find Leading Indicators on the BSC and Prompting them as Insights through the use of VBA Macros.
Who, What, Wow:
Improving’s upper-level management can use the prompted insights to take initiative on leading indicators defined within the Scorecard.
This storyboard showcases the process:
Pain Point 3: High Learning Curve for New Employees: The data within the BSC requires senior-level experience which makes it difficult for new parties and acquisitions to actively understand and participate.
Insights: How Might We reduce the high learning curve that comes with understanding Improving’s Balanced Scorecard?
Solution: Develop a Glossary that would provide a basic understanding of the contents within the BSC.
Who, What, Wow:
Improving’s senior to mid-level management can access a standardized training guide to facilitate data interpretation within the Scorecard.
A visual of the Training Guide
Phase Three: Assessing
The Assessing Phase analyses the user’s assessment of the prototype or idea. This can be done with usability testing and determining key outcomes.
Final Idea
After careful consideration of the deliverables that we promised for the project, we decided that the best way to meet these deliverables was to combine the solutions we created for the three pain points identified. A brief summary of each idea is presented below.
Pain Point 1: Poor Data Visualization within the Balanced Scorecard Dashboard.
Solution: A newly designed dashboard using features within Excel.
Pain Point 2: Lack of Leading Indicators within the Balanced Scorecard.
Solution: Using VBA Macros to prompt insights found by Spearman’s Rank Correlations.
Pain Point 3: There is a High Learning Curve to Understanding the Balanced Scorecard.
Solution: Develop a Standardized Training Guide to Provide the BSC Basics.
Challenges
Due to the time constraints with this project, we did not have enough time to perform usability testing on our idea to see if it is fully functional and accessible. Therefore, our idea is simply a prototype and has not been put in effect.
Successes
Regardless of our challenges, my team and I were still extremely successful in developing a process for solving these pain points and we are confident that if we are provided with more time, the final idea can become a fully functional dashboard.
Next Steps
If this idea were to be implemented some of the last steps needed to ensure its success would include:
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Expanding the VBA Macro programming range across all sections of the BSC
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Expanding the Spearman’s Rank Correlations across all metrics of the BSC
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Refining minor bugs and graph visuals on the dashboard
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Hosting an Improving BSC meeting to introduce the new dashboard to the Company
Phase Four: Sharing
In the Sharing Phase, all of the research gathered, pain points identified, and ideas developed are presented to the project partners. Feedback is also received in this phase.
Final Presentation
Our team was able to develop a final presentation combining all of our findings and solutions into a 15-minute presentation. This presentations showcases:
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Defining the Problem
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Research Methods Used
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Interview Insights
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How Might We Statements
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Our Solution and a Demo Video
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Who What Why's
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Steps for Implementation
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Future Possibilities
Click to View Project Presentation
Thank You for Reading! Any Questions? Contact Me
Integration of Portfolio
Explanation of how all the areas of the PDA program integrate and compliment each other within the project. Overall understanding of learning and the program.
Project Management
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The implementation of Project Management Documents, such as the Project Brief, RACI, and Communication Plan, establishes the foundation for the project.
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Because I was the Team Lead for this project, I was able to delegate tasks and roles for my team in order to ensure strengths were being used, weaknesses were being improved, and so the project would run efficiently.
Design Thinking
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Although the Design Thinking Framework was not used for this project, we still took advantage of various Design Thinking activities and research methods.
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In the Assessing phase of the project, we developed rough wireframes on how we envisioned our final deliverable. I then used project management to develop and effective peer feedback session in order to critique everyone's wireframes.
Data Analysis
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Data analysis was used heavily in the Discovering Phase of the project. We first used Data Analysis to identify our stakeholders needs and pain points to provide us with a scope.
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We also used Data Analysis in the Assessing Phase, were we began working with VBA macros and spearman's rank correlations to see if our team's idea was feasible through excel.
External Links Used
Documents:
Project Partners:
David O'Hara
David Belcher
Mark Kovacevich
Kevin Baker
Tim Rayburn
Professors:
Bill Ward
Kevin Sanders
Kelly McFarland
Melissa Mckay
Thomas Brindle