Scorecard widgets

Scorecard widgets are objects that can be created in IBM® Cognos® TM1® Performance Modeler. When you connect to a Cognos TM1 server, you can add scorecard widgets to IBM Cognos Insight workspaces.

Scorecard widgets can include the following objects that you can add to a Cognos Insight workspace: impact diagrams, strategy maps, custom diagrams, and history charts.

Impact Diagram

An impact diagram defines the relationships between metrics of three types: impacting metrics, a focused metric, and impacted metrics.

It uses traffic lights to show you how each metric is performing. Yellow diamonds represent neutral values, green circles represent positive values, and red squares represent negative values. Beside each traffic light is a trend indicator. Arrows indicate an increase or decrease, and a dash signifies no change has occurred.

Line styles in an impact diagram indicate whether the impact is positive, negative, or undefined.

The following image is an example of an impact diagram.

An example of an impact diagram showing how expenses and revenue impact profit, and how profit impacts research funding and bonuses
  • The focused metric is Employee survey.
  • The status of the Employee survey metric is Average and the trend is Getting Better.
  • The focused metric is impacted by the following two metrics: Vacation days taken and Training days.
  • The Vacation days taken metric positively impacts the focused metric.
  • The impact of the Training days metric on the focused metric is undefined.
  • The focused metric is negatively impacting the Employee Termination metric.
Tip: You can view details about the metrics that impact or are impacted by a metric by clicking the Expand icon beside the metric. You can expand all the metrics or collapse all the metrics by using the Expand all and Collapse all icons in the widget's overview area.

Strategy Map

A strategy map include business perspectives and objectives, the positive or negative performance of which is indicated by red, yellow, and green traffic lights.
Perspectives
Perspectives are areas of your business that you can use to group your business objectives. Four perspectives are included by default in Cognos TM1 Performance Modeler when you create a strategy map: Financial, Customer, Internal Business Processes, and Learning and Growth. You can also create your own perspectives.
Objectives
Objectives are the individual goals that you have within each perspective. In the following example, the financial perspective includes two objectives: grow revenue and lower operating costs.
Tip: When you hover over an objective, the metrics within that objective appear. You can filter the data in the workspace by clicking one of the metrics there.
Traffic lights
Traffic lights appear on objectives and perspectives to represent the performance of the objective or perspective. Yellow diamonds represent neutral values, green circles represent positive values, and red squares represent negative values.
In an objective, individual metrics are represented by traffic lights and numbers. In the following example, the Lower operating costs objective contains three metrics with traffic lights: one green circle represents advertising, one yellow diamond represents salaries, and one red square represents overhead costs.
These traffic lights are summarized in an objective traffic light, located beside the objective title, that signifies the overall performance of the objective. In the following example, the green circle beside the Lower operating costs objective signifies that the objective is performing positively overall.
The objective traffic lights are then summarized for each perspective to represent how the entire perspective is performing. In the following example, the yellow diamond beside the Financial perspective indicates that the perspective is performing neutrally overall.

The following image is an example of a strategy map. This example does not reflect exactly what appears in Cognos Insight.

A strategy map showing four perspectives with several objectives within each perspective
In the example, the following elements are displayed:
  • There are four perspectives: 1. Financial, 2. Customer, 3. Internal Processes, 4. Learning & Innovation.
  • The status of the Financial perspective is Average. The Financial perspective has the following objectives:
    • The status of the Grow Revenue objective is Average with the following metric values:
      • The status of the Expenses metric is Average.
      • The status of the Profit metric is Average.
    • The status of the Lower Operating Costs objective is Excellent with the following metric values:
      • The status of the Hiring Cycle metric is Excellent.
      • The status of the Product Cost metric is Average.
      • The status of the Administration Cost metric is Poor.
  • The status of the Customer perspective is Excellent. The Customer perspective has the following objectives:
    • The status of the Improve Brand Awareness objective is Excellent.
    • The status of the Memorable Shopping Experience objective is Excellent with the following metric values:
      • The status of the Cost of Employee Training metric is Excellent.
  • The status of the Internal Processes perspective is Excellent. The Internal Processes perspective has the following objectives:
    • The status of the Improve Vendor Process objective is Excellent.
    • The status of the Improve Brand Management Process objective is Excellent.
    • The status of the Improve Supply Chain objective is Excellent.
  • The status of the Learning & Innovation perspective is Average. The Learning & Innovation perspective has the following objectives:
    • The status of the Grow Revenue objective is Excellent.
    • The status of the Employee Development objective is Average with the following metric values:
      • The status of the Product Cost metric is Average.
      • The status of the Expenses metric is Poor.
  • The objectives are connected as follows:
    • The Improve Brand Awareness objective in the Customer perspective is connected to the Grow Revenue objective in the Financial perspective.
    • The Improve Brand Awareness objective in the Customer perspective is connected to the Grow Revenue objective in the Learning & Innovation perspective.
    • The Improve Brand Management Process objective in the Internal Processes perspective is connected to Employee Development objective in the Learning & Innovation perspective.
    • The Improve Supply Chain objective in the Internal Processes perspective is connected to the Memorable Shopping Experience objective in the Customer perspective.
    • The Employee Development objective in the Learning & Innovation perspective is connected to the Improve Brand Management Process objective in the Internal Processes perspective.
    • The Lower Operating Costs objective in the Financial perspective is connected to the Grow Revenue objective in the Financial perspective.

Custom Diagram

A custom diagram consists of a custom background graphic on which you can place data points when you create the diagram in Cognos TM1 Performance Modeler. These diagrams include dimensions, traffic lights, and trend indicators.

Custom diagrams include at least one dimension, called the primary dimension, and can include two dimensions to provide data points that represent intersections of data. In the following example, the primary dimension is the metrics dimension, which includes two metrics: profit and revenue. The secondary dimension is geography. The custom diagram displays data representing the intersections between metrics and geographical locations.

Custom diagrams also include traffic lights, which signify how the intersection of the metric with the dimension is performing. Yellow diamonds represent neutral values, green circles represent positive values, and red squares represent negative values. The trend indicators beside the traffic lights signify whether performance has improved or declined. In the following example, Revenue in Italy is positive, but it has declined.

The following image is an example of a custom diagram. This example does not reflect exactly what appears in Cognos Insight.

An example of a custom diagram showing a map as the background graphic with data points placed on some countries or regions
In the example, the following elements are displayed:
  • The diagram uses a world map for the background image.
  • There are 12 data points on the diagram:
    • The status of the Revenue - Canada data point is Excellent and the trend is Getting Better.
    • The status of the Revenue - France data point is Poor and the trend is Getting Worse.
    • The status of the Revenue - United States data point is Excellent and the trend is Getting Better.
    • The status of the Revenue - Italy data point is Excellent and the trend is Getting Worse.
    • The status of the Revenue - India data point is Excellent and the trend is Getting Better.
    • The status of the Revenue - Australia data point is Excellent and the trend is Getting Better.
    • The status of the Revenue - Brazil data point is Average and the trend is Getting Worse.
    • The status of the Profit - North America data point is Excellent and the trend is Getting Better.
    • The status of the Profit - Europe data point is Average and the trend is Getting Worse.
    • The status of the Profit - South America data point is Average and the trend is Getting Worse.
    • The status of the Profit - Australia data point is Average and the trend is Getting Better.
    • The status of the Profit - Asia data point is Excellent and the trend is Getting Better.

History Chart

A history chart shows a bar chart of data for a metric. By default, it compares the actual value against the target value for each time period, and indicates whether the result is within an accepted tolerance. You can change the visible range of time periods to increase or reduce the level of detail, by sliding the focus bar.

When you hover over a bar, more detail is shown about the underlying values, including traffic lights and trend indicators. Traffic lights show the status according the performance pattern defined for a metric. For example, if the performance pattern is set to Above target is favorable, the status can be one of the following:

  • Green circles indicate excellent performance - the actual value is equal to, or exceeds, the target value.
  • Yellow diamonds indicate average performance - the actual value is below the target value, but is within the accepted tolerance.
  • Red squares indicate poor performance - the actual value is below the target value, and it is below the accepted tolerance.

The trend indicators signify whether performance improved, declined, or remained the same when compared to the previous time period. Where no previous time period is available, such as the initial bar in a history chart, no trend information is shown.

The following image shows a history chart that focuses on eight months of revenue data. For every month except February 2013, total revenue performance is average. With the focus on February 2013, you can see that the performance is poor, and the trend is declining when compared to January 2013.

An example of a history chart showing 8 months of data