Balanced Scorecard

According to the Balanced Scorecards.com, the Balanced Scorecard is a management system. It’s a way of looking at your organization that focuses on your big-picture strategic goals. It also helps you choose the right things to measure so that you can reach those goals.Traditionally, companies have judged their health by how much money they make. Financial measures are definitely important, but they only give you part of the picture. They focus on the short-term, and you’re trying to build an organization to stand the test of time. The name “balanced scorecard” comes from the idea of looking at strategic measures in addition to traditional financial measures to get a more “balanced” view of performance.

It’s this focus on both high-level strategy and low-level measures that sets the balanced scorecard apart from other performance management methodologies. It takes your big, fuzzy strategic vision and breaks it down into specific, actionable steps to take on a day-to-day basis.

BSCs are used extensively in business and industry, government, and nonprofit organizations worldwide. Gartner Group suggests that over 50% of large US firms have adopted the BSC. More than half of major companies in the US, Europe, and Asia are using the BSC, with use growing in those areas as well as in the Middle East and Africa. A recent global study by Bain & Co listed balanced scorecard fifth on its top ten most widely used management tools around the world, a list that includes closely-related strategic planning at number one. BSC has also been selected by the editors of Harvard Business Review as one of the most influential business ideas of the past 75 years.

Thematic Perspectives

In Pustaka Negeri Sarawak (Pustaka), the concept of themes is introduced to encompass the four traditional perspectives of the Balanced Scorecard (BSC). The following diagram illustrates this concept is manifested in our practice of the Balanced Scorecard.

Vision		To be the reservoir and fountain of information and knowledge to the State.
Mission		To provide access to information resources and to preserve Sarawak’s intellectual heritage for the people of Sarawak.
Themes		Knowledge Management Excellence		Service Excellence		Collaboration Excellence
Strategic Results		To increase the quantity and diversity of information resources from 0.2 to 1.5 per capita by 2020 and increase the rating of information resources. To improve public library services in the State. To improve records management practices in the State agencies.		To achieve a 5 star rated agency by 2020. To ensure the public libraries meet the Public Library Service: IFLA/UNESCO Guidelines for Development. To ensure all State agencies meet records management practices.		To maximize multi-party synergy to establish the image of Pustaka as an effective centre of reference for the State of Sarawak. To maximize multi-party synergy to establish and improve the library services in the State. To maximize multi-party synergy to establish and improve records management standard in the State agencies.

Perspectives		Customer		Financial		Internal Process		Organisational Capacity
Strategic Objectives		Enhance Stakeholder’s Satisfaction		Enhance Budget Utilization Enhance Financial Compliance Diversify Source of Funding		Enhance Internal Process Leverage on Inter-agency Collaboration Enhance Quantity and diversity of Information Resources Improve State’s memory Management Enhance Stakeholder’s Communication		Enhance Training and Development OC2: Enhance Shared Values Leverage on ICT

Establishment of Key Performance Indicators (KPI)

Each strategic objective indicated in the strategy map in section two above will be measured with a special tool to know its performance. This special tool is called KPI. Every strategic objective has to have at least one KPI. A KPI can be written in the form of a long statement, encompassing attributes such measure and target, for example

To do complete cataloguing of purchased library book within 5 working days from the date if receipt of the library books

or written in table form as illustrates below.

Statement of KPI		Measure		Intervention Value		Target		Stretch Target
Complete cataloguing of library books		Number of working days to do complete cataloguing		3		5		7

Both KPI refer to the same subject, but written differently. Example 2 is preferred as it is easy to understand and measure. A good quality KPI has got to have the following characteristics:

a) Specific
b) Measurable
c) Accurate
d) Realistic
e) Time sensitive