Written by

Bernard Marr

Bernard Marr is a world-renowned futurist, influencer and thought leader in the fields of business and technology, with a passion for using technology for the good of humanity. He is a best-selling author of over 20 books, writes a regular column for Forbes and advises and coaches many of the world’s best-known organisations. He has a combined following of 4 million people across his social media channels and newsletters and was ranked by LinkedIn as one of the top 5 business influencers in the world.

Bernard’s latest books are ‘Future Skills’, ‘The Future Internet’, ‘Business Trends in Practice’ and ‘Generative AI in Practice’.

Generative AI Book Launch
View My Latest Books

Follow Me

Bernard Marr ist ein weltbekannter Futurist, Influencer und Vordenker in den Bereichen Wirtschaft und Technologie mit einer Leidenschaft für den Einsatz von Technologie zum Wohle der Menschheit. Er ist Bestsellerautor von 20 Büchern, schreibt eine regelmäßige Kolumne für Forbes und berät und coacht viele der weltweit bekanntesten Organisationen. Er hat über 2 Millionen Social-Media-Follower, 1 Million Newsletter-Abonnenten und wurde von LinkedIn als einer der Top-5-Business-Influencer der Welt und von Xing als Top Mind 2021 ausgezeichnet.

Bernards neueste Bücher sind ‘Künstliche Intelligenz im Unternehmen: Innovative Anwendungen in 50 Erfolgreichen Unternehmen’

View Latest Book

Follow Me

Performance management software – data integration and data management

2 July 2021

Data Integration and Data Management using Performance Management Software

The data issue is important in any comprehensive performance measurement system. Any strategic performance management software application must be fed with the relevant data. Since a strategic performance management system provides a holistic view of performance, it needs to bring together data from very different organizational units and departments.

A strategic performance management software solution should work in harmony with existing data sources to fulfill its function as a data integrator. Managers often believe that it is just a matter of connecting to the existing databases and then pulling out the data into the strategic performance management application. However, the efforts necessary to integrate and collect data from disparate sources are often underestimated. And more importantly, a lot of the performance data required is not readily available in existing databases. From my experience, on average only about 20-30% of the required data is held in existing databases.

The first step in any performance management software implementation, therefore, is to find out which information is relevant and required, whether the data already exists and, if so, where it is stored and how the data can be accessed. Most organizations have made significant investments in data warehouses, data marts and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, which means that a considerable portion of the required information can come directly from these back-office systems. However, as mentioned above, a significant amount of information will usually come from office applications, such as Microsoft Excel, where the data is stored in spreadsheets. Increasingly there will also be data from third-party providers that has to be fed into an application. Third-parties could provide, for example, any benchmark information, customer satisfaction information, or brand and reputation data. Many organizations also outsource their employee satisfaction surveys. A large part of the organizational performance data may have to be entered manually into the system, either because it is non-existent or because it is not stored in the available IT systems. Tapping into different data sources and creating automated feeds is not a trivial task and it is important, therefore, to ask yourself whether it is really necessary (and economical) to connect databases?

A single database for Performance Management Software

For strategic performance management, the data is usually integrated into a single database or data warehouse, and therefore the software creates a single view of “the truth”. The strategic performance management solution, however, is more than just a data repository. It should be a tool to store and share information in order to turn it into knowledge and learning. In their book Working Knowledge, Tom Davenport and Larry Prusak distinguish between data, information and knowledge. Data is just a structured record, with no meaning attached to it. Information, on the other hand, is a message that puts data into a context. It has a sender and a receiver and is meant to ‘inform’. It therefore aims to influence or change the way the receiver perceives something. Knowledge is what we make of the information. When we take on information, we blend it with our experience and values in order to turn it into actionable routines, processes, practices or norms. Strategic performance management solutions are not just a big database full of numbers. It also holds, for example, visualizations, definitions, descriptions, comments, discussion threads, and action plans. These provide the rich contextual information that allows us to make sense of the data and turn it into actionable knowledge and learning – which is the key objective of strategic performance management.

Business Trends In Practice | Bernard Marr
Business Trends In Practice | Bernard Marr

Related Articles

The Eight Biggest HR Trends In 2024

For those working in employee and people management, the focus in 2024 will be on managing[...]

Coca-Cola’s Latest Generative AI Initiative Is All About Festive Customer Engagement

Generative AI is transforming the way that brands engage with consumers.[...]

The Rise Of Generative AI In Design: Innovations And Challenges

Artificial Intelligence has been used in design and manufacturing for some time[...]

AI-Enhanced Employee Onboarding: A New Era In HR Practices

Onboarding new employees has always been a pivotal part of HR's responsibilities.[...]

The Biggest Banking And Financial Services Trends For 2024

2024 promises to be a landmark year in banking and finance, marked by significant[...]

The Evolution Of Data-Driven And AI-Enabled HR

The pulse of any organization lies not just in its products or services but in its people.[...]

Sign up to Stay in Touch!

Bernard Marr is a world-renowned futurist, influencer and thought leader in the fields of business and technology, with a passion for using technology for the good of humanity.

He is a best-selling author of over 20 books, writes a regular column for Forbes and advises and coaches many of the world’s best-known organisations.

He has a combined following of 4 million people across his social media channels and newsletters and was ranked by LinkedIn as one of the top 5 business influencers in the world.

Bernard’s latest book is ‘Generative AI in Practice’.

Sign Up Today

Social Media

0
Followers
0
Followers
0
Followers
0
Subscribers
0
Followers
0
Subscribers
0
Yearly Views
0
Readers

Podcasts

View Podcasts