Key Performance Indicator

Intro

A Key Performance Indicator (KPI) measures performance against goals. In EA, KPIs help connect strategy to processes, capabilities, and technology outcomes.

Key points:

• Makes progress visible and actionable.
• Supports governance and prioritization.
• Common use cases across EA/BPM/Data/App/Tech include capability health, process SLAs, application reliability, and data quality.
• Pitfall: tracking too many KPIs without clear targets or owners.

Examples:

• Order cycle time as a process KPI.
• Application uptime as a service KPI.
• Data completeness as a quality KPI.

In practice:

Define few, meaningful KPIs tied to strategy; assign owners and review trends regularly.

Related terms: Balanced Scorecard; Metric

FAQs:

Q: What makes a KPI “key”?
A: It directly reflects strategic goals or critical outcomes.

Q: Should KPIs be lagging or leading?
A: Use a mix to manage current performance and future risk.

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