Criteria to consider

Functionality

A good balanced scorecard software will deliver the features required to comply with the principles of the balanced scorecard methodology: definition and categorization of objectives, measures and key initiatives.

Essential features of the software should also include reporting, workflow management, email notification and dashboarding. It should also be data-driven, to allow for data mining and trend analysis.

Availability

To be successful with their balanced scorecard implementation, companies must ensure that the solution they select will offer a high uptime: it is important that scorecards are available to all team members and management at any point of time.

The success of the scorecard implementation is related to a constant reminder of objectives and the ability to provide just-in-time updates of all measurements. A balanced scorecard software that would exhibit downtime would deter usage: slowly, the scorecards would show sign of obsolete data, until the data it contains becomes so out-of-date that users will not trust it anymore and eventually reverse to old unstructured management.

Also considering the needs of modern businesses, the balanced scorecard software should be accessible from anywhere and from all types of devices, including mobile ones.

Usability

A balanced scorecard software should be easy-to use to ensure that its adoption is rapid and seamless. Software with poor learnability and understandability will dissuade usage.

To achieve usability, balanced scorecard software must follow industry standards and focus the users on content rather than formatting.

Security and multi-user capability

A balanced scorecard software must enable strong collaboration between users while maintaining strong role-based security: because the content of the balanced scorecards is often confidential, the software must treat it with the highest care, protecting sensitive information yet facilitating data sharing among authorized users.

Balanced scorecard software should be server-based to allow concurrent users to edit or review status as needed.

Open API

A key element of balanced scorecard is to keep the measurement of performance up-to-date to enable timely corrective actions. While most KPI measures can be done manually, some should be automated so that the balanced scorecard are “fed” with real-time information coming from other systems. This means that the balanced scorecard software should offer an API (Application Programming Interface) that can be used to interface to other systems and centralize the information in a single tool.

How does MS2C score?