Conversations from the Mirror42 Team

It is often said that KPIs should be SMART. But at KPI Library we believe KPIs should be SMARTER. Let us explain:

SMART stands for = Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Bound

The key ingredients for ‘good’ definitions of Key Performance Indicators (KPI) and its goals. At KPI Library we believe you should add “Explainable” and “Relative” to these ingredients, making it SMARTER!

Explainable: to ensure KPIs are easy to understand and that you can communicate the KPI definition to all stakeholders involved and be assured that everybody understands what is being measured. To often KPIs are hard to understand by people and you face the risk that KPI definitions are misinterpreted.

Relative: to ensure that your KPI definitions (and goals) still apply when your business or volume grows. For example, you could take the number of open customer support calls (per period) as a KPI, but when your business gets more customers and the volume of support calls grows it is only natural that the number of open support calls grows. Therefore, the relative value against the number of reported service calls (e.g. % of open support calls) allows comparison of KPI values through time, even if the volume changes.

Therfore, not SMART but SMARTER.