You are on page 1of 10

Chapter 7: Using Templates and Manual Inputs

After completing this lesson, you will be able to: Instruct CorVu to use a pre-built template when building a new scorecard. Select from a list of templates when building a new scorecard. Manually enter input information into a scorecard. Create, Edit and Save a template.

Using Templates and Manual Inputs

Chapter 7 Exercise 1 Templates

Accessing Templates
CorVu comes with pre-built templates to make it simpler to create scorecards. These templates contain default attributes, including background graphics and color settings, default inputs/results, default scorecard designs, default measures and links, and so on. These templates are located in the CorVu\templates directory. The reference to this path is located in your CorVu.ini file. If the templates have been moved or installed in an alternate location, you will need to modify your CorVu.ini file to point to the correct location. In this chapter you will create a new scorecard to measure the financial performance of Outback Warehouse and Service Center during the first 6 months of 1999. The warehouse is under new management and is gradually phasing out their inventory function. The old manager was monitoring several lead indicators, or drivers of performance, but she hadnt really monitored the financial outcome (lag indicators). The financial information for the location is not in a database, nor is it in a spreadsheet. Steve, the new manager has simply kept track of this information with pencil and paper and has given it to you to incorporate into the scorecard. You will be monitoring three key financial measures: Profit Margin, Return on Investment (ROI) and Budget Variance %. Each of these measures is equally important to overall financial performance. You will manually enter these measures into a new scorecard. Complete the following steps to view pre-built templates when creating a new scorecard: 1. Select Tools|Option|Request Template from the scorecard menu:

Page 7-2

CorVu Corporation 2000

Chapter 7 Exercise 1 Templates

Using Templates and Manual Inputs

Complete the following steps to use a template to create a new scorecard: 1. Click on the Create New Scorecard toolbar button. A list of templates should be shown:

2. Select the BSC 2 Measure Template and click OK. 3. Click OK to close the Period Linking box that displays.You will define the period after the data has been entered. A pre-built tactical scorecard should be shown that looks similar to the one below:

This particular pre-built template assumes that there are two inputs files in which the data will be manually entered. Note that the measures and links have already been defined for the scorecard. First you will rename the inputs and results to match the data you will be entering.

CorVu Corporation 2000

7-3

Using Templates and Manual Inputs

Chapter 7 Exercise 1 Templates

Complete the following steps to rename the scorecard elements: 1. Right-mouse click the Measure 1 Input icon in either the Input pane or the Scorecard pane. 2. Click Rename Input. 3. Type the new name: Profit Margin and click OK. 4. Rename the Measure 2 Input to ROI. 5. Rename the Initiative/Theme Result to Financial Performance. You will add the final input for Budget Variance % later, since this template is assuming two input files instead of three.

Manually Entering Input Data


The data the new manager wants to enter into the scorecard is as follows: P P r o f i t M a r g i n 1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 R B

Complete the following steps to enter the Profit Margin and ROI data: 1. Double-click the Profit Margin Input in either the Input pane or the Scorecard pane. 2. Right-click the Measure 1 column and select Rename Entry Column. 3. Rename the column to Profit Margin and click OK.
Page 7-4 CorVu Corporation 2000

Chapter 7 Exercise 1 Templates

Using Templates and Manual Inputs

Next you will fill in the Profit Margin values and rename the column called Measure 1 to Profit Margin. 4. Click into the empty cell next to 31 January 1999 and type in 8 for the Profit Margin % for January of 1999. 5. Tab down to fill in February and March with 9 and 11, respectively. 6. Right-mouse click in the dynamart and select Auto Add Rows. This will allow you to continue to add rows for the 2nd quarter. Continue to fill in the remainder of the dates and profit margins until the dynamart looks like the one shown below:

6. Repeat steps 1-7 to enter the ROI (refer to the chart on page 7-4). 7. Save your scorecard as Financial Performance.

Adding a Manually Entered Input


Finally you would like to enter the Variance from Budget numbers, however the template only allowed for two inputs. You will create the 3rd input from scratch: Complete the following steps to create a manually entered input: 1. Select Data|Create from the scorecard menu. 2. In the Create New Dynamart window, type Budget Variance in the Title box. 3. Define the new input as 2 columns by 1 row. The first column is already correctly defined as a date column called Period. 4. Use the drop-down arrow to Set Parameters for Measure 2. 5. Rename the column Variance % by typing this text in the Name box.

CorVu Corporation 2000

7-5

Using Templates and Manual Inputs

Chapter 7 Exercise 1 Templates

Your dynamart definition window should look similar to the one shown below:

3. Click OK to continue. 4. Fill in the Budget Variance percentages and dates based on the table shown on page 5-4. To add the Budget Variance as a KPI, you will need to link it into the Financial Performance result. Use the following summarized steps to incorporate this new input into the Financial Performance scorecard. If you need additional help, refer back to Chapter 3. Complete the following summarized steps to add the Budget Variance KPI to the scorecard: 1. Drag Budget Variance into the Scorecard pane as a new component of the Financial Performance result. The new input box is shown in gray since the null data color is clicked on in the options for the template. You can clearly see that the measures and links have not been selected for this input yet! 2. Select Variance % as the measure to monitor. 3. Verify that the Variance % is a ratio column. 4. Link Budget Variance based on the Period column. 5. Verify that each KPI is weighted equally. 6. Review the financial performance for January of 1999. 7. Save your scorecard as Financial Performance.pmm by selecting the Save button on the toolbar. 8. Generate the Scores/Analysis table to view the remaining periods

Page 7-6

CorVu Corporation 2000

Chapter 7 Exercise 1 Templates

Using Templates and Manual Inputs

The scorecard colors automatically are using level breaks instead of scaled coloring since the template is pre-set to have Level Coding for the scorecard colors. Note the substantial improvement during the 2nd quarter! Now that the Financial Scorecard is built you need to link it to the strategic Service Center.pmm scorecard. Complete the following to link you financial scorecard to your service center strategic scorecard: 1. Open the Service Center.pmm. 2. Right-mouse click on the Financial objective icon. 3. Choose the Select Result menu option. 4. Select the Referenced Result File option. 5. Select the File button to browse for your Financial Performance.pmm. 6. Select the Financial Performance result to reference. 7. Select OK to continue. 8. Select the Calculate button on the toolbar to populate the values from the financial performance result into the strategic scorecard. The strategic scorecard now has three of the four strategic objectives defined. When the service center decides on what KPIs to measure and builds the tactical scorecard for the Learning and Growth objective, the scorecard can be referenced the same way as listed above.

Creating a New Template


You decide that while the two-input template is useful, you would like to create a new two-input template that has your company logo in the corner of the Scorecard pane. Complete the following steps to create a new 2-measure template from your original 2-measure template: 1. Close any open scorecards. 2. Select Tools|Options|Templates. The available templates are shown. 3. Select the BSC 2 Measure Template that you would like to copy:

CorVu Corporation 2000

7-7

Using Templates and Manual Inputs

Chapter 7 Exercise 1 Templates

4. Click Add. A new template name box appears. 5. Type BSC 2 Measure wLogo in the New Template Name box and click OK to continue. The new template name appears on the list of templates to choose from. 6. Select BSC 2 Measure wLogo and select Edit. The template showing the 2 inputs is shown. You will modify the background to include a bitmap: 7. Right-mouse click in the scorecard pane and select Options. 8. Modify the Panel tab to show the BSC Gold 1.bmp in the background. 9. Move the input and result icons below the logo in the Scorecard pane. 10. Click the Save button on the scorecard menu to save changes to your template. 11. Test that the template is correctly modified by creating a new scorecard with this template.

CONGRATULATIONS! You have completed this lesson on using and creating templates and manually inputting data into your scorecard. Please continue to the exercises that follow to reinforce the concepts you just learned. In the next chapter you will learn how to update the scorecard for new periods and for different periodicity.

Page 7-8

CorVu Corporation 2000

Chapter 7 Exercise 1 Templates

Using Templates and Manual Inputs

Chapter 7 Exercise 1 Templates


Youve decided that you are going to build a start-up strategic scorecard to streamline the development of other organizational strategies. You will add four objectives to the scorecard as a starting point for assisting others that need to create a strategic scorecard. Make a new template based on the New Scorecard template. The changes you will make are: Add a strategy. Add four objectives Name the template Four Objectives. Modify the Panel Options to add a background color to the strategy and scorecard pane.

Use the steps below if you need assistance on how to modify the existing template. 1. Close any open scorecards. 2. Select Tools|Options|Templates from the menu. 3. Select the New Template template and click Add. 4. Name the new template Four Objectives. 5. Select the template in the template window and select Edit. 6. Show the Strategy Pane and hide the Inputs Pane and Results Pane. Right-click in the Scorecard Pane and select Show Pane|Strategy. Right-click in the Inputs Pane and select hide.
7-9

CorVu Corporation 2000

Using Templates and Manual Inputs

Chapter 7 Exercise 1 Templates

Right-click in the Results Pane and select hide.

7. Right-click in the Strategy Pane and select Create Strategy. 8. Add Four Objectives to the strategy pane. Right-click in the strategy pane and select Add Objective. 9. Save the modified template. 10. Open a new scorecard and select the four objectives template to verify that it is set up correctly.

Page 7-10

CorVu Corporation 2000

You might also like