Services · Business consulting
Strategic planning with the Balanced Scorecard
We turn your organization's strategy into measurable objectives, KPIs, targets and initiatives with the Balanced Scorecard, and help you review it every period so it guides decisions across every department.
Strategic planning with the Balanced Scorecard turns an organization's vision into objectives, KPIs, targets and initiatives that can be measured and reviewed. At AVILA®, a technology and business consulting firm based in Monterrey, Mexico, we have helped manufacturers, institutions and small and midsize businesses build their strategy since 2004, and track it with data instead of gut feeling.
What is the Balanced Scorecard?
The Balanced Scorecard (BSC) is a management framework that Robert Kaplan and David Norton published in the early 1990s. Its core idea is simple: financial results tell you how the business did, but they don't explain why or predict what comes next. So the BSC balances four perspectives:
Financial: what results shareholders or the board expect (profitability, growth, cash flow).
Customer: what value proposition makes customers choose you, and how that shows up (retention, satisfaction, market share).
Internal processes: which processes you must excel at to deliver that value proposition.
Learning and growth: what skills, information and technology your team needs to improve those processes.
The four perspectives come together in a strategy map: a single page showing how your team's capabilities improve processes, how processes create value for customers, and how customers drive financial results. That map is what lets each department see its part of the strategy and why it matters.
What's included
Baseline assessment: a review of your mission, vision, past plans, existing KPIs and the data already available in your systems.
Planning workshops with the leadership team to agree on the value proposition, strategic themes and objectives for each perspective.
A strategy map for the organization and, when needed, maps for each division or business unit aligned with the overall one.
KPI definitions: what each one measures, its formula, data source, frequency, owner, and whether it is a lagging or leading indicator.
Targets by period, with a baseline and the reasoning behind each number.
Strategic initiatives: prioritized projects with an owner, estimated budget and dates, tied to the objectives they move.
Tracking dashboards that show each KPI's progress with traffic lights and trends.
A regular review routine: agenda, inputs and ground rules for strategy meetings, so the BSC gets used instead of filed away.
How we work
Understand. Interviews with leadership and a review of existing information. We want to know what decisions are made today, with what data, and where they get stuck.
Agree. Strategic alignment workshops where the leadership team defines, in its own words, where the organization is headed and what has to happen to get there. Our role is to facilitate, ask questions and keep the method on track; the decisions are yours.
Measure. KPI and target design. This is where we separate what can be measured today from what needs new data, and identify which system each number comes from.
Cascade. We roll the map down to each division and, if you want, to individual departments. Every division sees which company-wide objectives it moves and which ones it owns.
Follow through. Dashboards and review meetings. We support the first cycles to fix KPIs that aren't useful and targets that turned out too low or out of reach.
Who it's for
CEOs and general managers who have a plan but don't know whether it's working until year-end.
Growing companies where each department chases its own goals, sometimes at odds with the others.
Organizations preparing a major change (a new plant, an ERP, a new line of business) that need to prioritize projects.
Boards of directors that want a clear dashboard to oversee management.
Associations and nonprofits that must report on their commitments.
From map to dashboard: technology serving strategy
A BSC that lives in a slide deck is forgotten within weeks. As a technology firm, we make sure KPIs are fed from real sources: your ERP, your CRM, controlled spreadsheets or a purpose-built system. When the data doesn't exist, we say so and propose how to capture it. If you need a dashboard built around your KPIs, we develop it as custom software; if what's missing is order in the processes that generate the data, the next step is process mapping and redesign.
Experience behind the service
AVILA®'s Business Consulting Unit was created in 2004, founded and led by Joel Avila González. Between 2004 and 2011 we implemented a Balanced Scorecard for each division of a steel company, with maps and KPIs aligned to the corporate ones, and facilitated strategic alignment and effectiveness workshops for manufacturing and construction companies. In 2018 we worked with a business association to build a database of indicators and targets for 14 citizen proposals, designed for public accountability. See more in case studies and in manufacturing and heavy industry.
Benefits
- A one-page strategy that the whole leadership team understands and shares.
- KPIs with an owner, a formula and a source: no more arguing over which number is right.
- Targets by period that let you course-correct in time, not at year-end.
- Projects prioritized by their impact on strategy, not by who pushes hardest.
- Aligned divisions: every department knows which company objective its work moves.
- Shorter review meetings focused on decisions.
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between a strategic plan and a Balanced Scorecard?
A strategic plan defines where the organization is going: mission, vision, objectives and priorities. The Balanced Scorecard is the tool that turns that plan into measurable KPIs, targets and initiatives, and lets you check each period whether it's working. In practice they go together: first you agree on the strategy, then you translate it into a BSC to track it.
How many KPIs should a Balanced Scorecard have?
Enough to track the strategy and no more. As a rule of thumb, each objective on the map gets one or two KPIs, ideally including one that predicts the result instead of just confirming it. A dashboard with hundreds of KPIs becomes a report nobody reads. In the workshops we trim the list down to the ones that actually change decisions.
Does the Balanced Scorecard work for a small business?
Yes. In a small or midsize company the map is usually simpler and the payoff comes sooner, because the leadership team is small and decisions are made around the same table. The key is to start with a few KPIs you can measure with the data you already have, and grow the dashboard as reliable data becomes available.
How long does it take to implement a Balanced Scorecard?
It depends on the size of the organization, how many divisions are included and the quality of the available data. The strategy map and the main KPIs are defined in one round of workshops; cascading to divisions and building dashboards takes longer. We put the timeline and deliverables for each phase in writing in the proposal before we start.
Do we need special software for the BSC?
Not to get started. Many organizations begin with a well-designed spreadsheet or with the Microsoft 365 tools they already have. When the dashboard needs to pull data automatically from the ERP or CRM, or many people use it, an online dashboard makes sense. We help you decide and, if needed, build it to fit.
Who on our team should take part?
The CEO or general manager and the directors or managers accountable for results. Their participation in the workshops is essential, because strategy is their decision, not the consultant's. It also helps to include whoever manages your systems and data, so the agreed KPIs can be measured from the first review cycle.
What happens if we miss our targets?
The BSC is a learning tool, not a way to punish people. If a target is missed, the regular review shows whether the initiative failed, the KPI measured the wrong thing or the target wasn't realistic, so you can correct course in time. That cycle of review and adjustment is what makes the Balanced Scorecard useful.
Can you facilitate just a planning workshop?
Yes. We facilitate planning and strategic alignment workshops as a standalone service, for example to prepare the annual plan or revisit strategy after a major change. You get a document with the agreements, objectives and owners. If you later want to track it with a full Balanced Scorecard, we build on that work. Reach out through our contact page.
Case studies with this service
Steel · 2011
A Balanced Scorecard for each division at a steel company
Two divisions of a steel company turned the corporate strategy into their own Balanced Scorecard, with objectives, measures, and initiatives, supported by AVILA® consulting between 2004 and 2011.