Measuring KPIs (key performance indicators) is vital for manufacturers to improve operational efficiency and reduce costs. Your business should have access to comprehensive tools for performance measurement and to generate detailed ERP reports on productivity, performance, financials, and more. These comprehensive tools help you track the overall well-being of your company for better business decision-making.
Understanding KPIs
KPIs measure performance over a set time to meet objectives. They are different for every company. The results supply your business with critical information to develop and execute informed business strategies. Typically, businesses focus on four categories of key performance indicators for measurement. Each category has its own set of performance metric measurements and timeframes.
Strategic
This type of KPI focuses on the overall goals and objectives of a company. It helps to measure how well the organization is achieving its long-term plans. For example, a strategic KPI might track the overall growth or market share of a business over several years.
Operational
Performance measurement against KPIs is an essential ERP report for manufacturers.
Operational KPIs look at the day-to-day activities and processes within a company. They measure things like productivity, efficiency, and quality of work. These KPIs help managers understand how well the organization is performing daily. They both help identify areas for improvement and provide positive feedback on forward progress.
Functional
Functional KPIs are specific to different departments or functions within a company, such as sales, marketing, or customer service. These metrics focus on department performance and how they contribute to the overall success of the organization. For instance, a functional KPI for the sales department might track the number of new customers acquired each month.
Lagging or Leading
Lagging KPIs measure past performance and people often use them to assess the results of previous actions or decisions. They are like looking in the rear-view mirror to see where you’ve been. Leading KPIs, on the other hand, look ahead and help predict future outcomes. They provide early indicators of performance trends and can help guide decision-making to achieve desired results. While a functional KPI might track the total number of support tickets, a lagging indicator can be the speed at which different reps have closed tickets.
Within each area, individual metric types should be included. Some metrics cover financial, customer experience, process, sales, and human resources-related measurements.
Frontier’s Innovative Metrics and ERP Reporting Tools
Frontier ERP uses a central database to store a wealth of operational and historical data across all supported business functions. From sales and purchasing to inventory and production. To access this data, our Performance Measurement and Reporting (PRM) applications combine standardized ERP reporting techniques with data mining and customizable reporting tools. These PMR apps generate detailed reports that you can utilize and understand easily, enabling you to improve performance. Data can also be exported to sophisticated reporting tools and combined with third-party data for enhanced analysis.
ERP Performance Measurement & Reporting Supports:
- Standardized ERP reports and inquiries are designed to provide performance measures specific to each operational area (sales, production, inventory, purchasing, etc.).
- Standardized data examination applications with flexible, user-defined filtering and drill-down functionality to analyze summary and detailed information.
- iDashboard management reporting tool designed to format and display the information and performance measures critical to an individual user across multiple platforms.
- Integrated end-user, ad hoc ERP reporting tools to provide secured access to all Frontier data files and fields.
- End-user-oriented data dictionaries within the ERP reporting tools simplify the complexities of Frontier database naming conventions and associations.
- Frontier ERP relational database design and open architecture are leveraged to support data access from any ODBC-compliant application.
For more details on Frontier ERP and our Performance Measurement and Reporting applications, contact us today.
