--- title: Why your Balanced Scorecard needs qualitative analysis description: To get the most out of the Balanced Scorecard, organizations must think beyond solely tracking KPI actuals and targets and write effective analysis. image: https://www.esmgrp.com/hubfs/Stock_Photos/man_alone_office._blue.min.jpg --- {% set baseFontFamily = "Open Sans" %} /* Add the font family you wish to use. You may need to import it above. */ {% set headerFontFamily = "Open Sans" %} /* This affects only headers on the site. Add the font family you wish to use. 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Organizations use the BSC to track operations, strategy, and project management. Those performance management systems manifest themselves in many forms such as PowerPoint slides, Excel files, Sharepoint, or dedicated BSC software. One of the greatest downsides of solely using Excel-based KPI tracking is a tendency to focus too heavily on the quantitative part of the BSC. For many organizations, the BSC is just an Excel file with status colors, actuals, and targets. ![If you're BSC looks like this, that's okay! But there are some steps we can take to improve it.](https://www.esmgrp.com/hs-fs/hubfs/BSC_and_Blog_Process_Images/Example%20Initiative%20Template%20-%20Excel.png?width=1020&name=Example%20Initiative%20Template%20-%20Excel.png "If you're BSC looks like this, that's okay! But there are some steps we can take to improve it.") While any best-practice BSC contains those components, they are only half of the puzzle. Many Balanced Scorecards take the shape of the above [Excel example](https://www.esmgrp.com/balanced-scorecard-template) without taking the next step. Key performance indicators only tell you whether or not you are on or off target. In this approach, KPIs become blinders that do not foster any analytical thinking in advance of strategy review meetings. In an [ideal strategy review meeting](https://www.esmgrp.com/blog/best-practices-for-managing-strategy-review-meetings), objective or KPI owners come prepared with a short performance analysis and list of recommendations to explain the performance of KPIs. In other words, managers need to explain **why** a KPI is off target, and **how** to fix it. Yes – this is more homework for management in advance of regular strategy review meetings. Yet, if leadership is not asking these uniquely strategic questions before and during strategy review meetings, then the value of the BSC has already been diminished. **Performance analysis and recommendations fields provide more information** Common approaches to solving the overemphasis on actuals and targets include adding two fields to the updated process: “performance analysis” and “recommendations.” The **performance analysis** field provides owners with an opportunity to – - Explain current performance - Analyze important trends - Justify a status color - Identify key risks The **recommendations **field is a logical follow-up where owners can explain how they want to correct a given problem. An effective recommendation should include multiple options for management to discuss. Each option should include the following characteristics – - A clear deliverable that must be accomplished - Who should complete a deliverable - When the deliverable should be achieved by By providing detailed recommendations, the senior leadership team can generate discussion from a thoroughly thought-out starting point. ![An example of an objective detail page with a KPI chart and detailed performance analysis and recommendations.](https://www.esmgrp.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Screenshots/Objective_Page.png?width=1020&name=Objective_Page.png "An example of an objective detail page with a KPI chart and detailed performance analysis and recommendations.") Even if at the conclusion of the discussion, no recommendation is accepted as the consensus next step, the goal is to have fostered useful strategic conversation. Ultimately, if solely relying on KPI actuals/targets to track the BSC process, strategy review meetings can easily lose out on the value of effective dialog. 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