Performance management tool that boosts employees’ engagement
Nanoramic Laboratories
Nanoramic Laboratories is a unique US-based R&D company solving one of the most significant problems faced by the battery industry – energy storage and thermal management. They develop cutting-edge materials, structures and processes based on nanocarbon composites, through which they have positioned themselves as disruptive leaders in innovative, scalable and cross-industry technologies.
About the project
Our job was to support Nanoramic in developing the BSC app, an implementation of the Balanced Scorecard strategic planning and management system. The project aimed to create a revolutionary tool that would:
- effectively present performance data derived from (previously Excel sheets-based) reports with the functional division into departments and chapters;
- combine the correlations between diverse entities’ results with the external outcomes of the whole company.
Our tasks
Building diagrams displaying KPIs trees and their branches
The structure was supposed to illustrate the employees’ performance reports in organizational tree charts.
Developing graphs presenting the correlation between various metrics
The graphs visualized the metrics’ influence on each other and also how the progresses’ states were compatible with the company’s strategy.
We're very impressed with the quality of their deliverables. The Neoteric team has a good sense of responsibility, professionalism, and they're always quick to respond to our concerns.
Challenges
1. Excel Sheets based reports were not intuitive
Information stored in Excel sheets did not show a clear comparison between the state of KPIs’ accomplishments and the goals the company strives to achieve. It was extremely difficult for employees to navigate through it and draw any conclusion. Therefore the app needed to be intuitive to enable anyone to analyze data quickly and react promptly to any changes.
2. Too complicated performance management process
Even if employees understood the state of their own KPIs, they struggled to comprehend the influence of their goals on the goals of other departments (and, in general, it’s rather a tough challenge). Therefore, to take the company’s management system to the next level, it was crucial to adjust the BSC app to make the process more transparent and cause- & results-oriented.
Solutions
1. Creating tree structures that group all the metrics reported by employees
Our Client provided us with clear requirements and video prototypes how software should work. After diving into specifications, our teams created flowcharts, graphs and diagrams that enable grouping all the data reported by employees according to their dimension. For example, grouping according to departments or certain projects.
2. Devising a Strategy Map bounding in real-time KPIs with the strategic goals
After the POC phase, it was high time to handle creating MVP. That is why we improved diagrams that represent the most important medium and long term goals of the company’s strategy and bound them with the current achievements. Thanks to this solution, employees can track in real-time how their work resonates with the strategic goals.
Project Results
Boosting employees’ awareness of strategic metrics
Thanks to real-time visualization of the KPI’s state and the specific metrics’ influence on each other, employees become more aware of the goals they should achieve and how their performance affects the whole company’s operations.
Saving the company’s time and resources
As the app allows users to recognize the correlation between performance reports, it simplifies the data analysis and conclusion withdrawal that contributes to money & time savings.
Increasing employees’ engagement in their workflows
Thanks to making mechanisms standing behind the measurements, procedures and dependencies transparent, the employees are more engaged in their daily tasks.
