AU Balanced Scorecard sets goals, measures success Published Feb. 25, 2009 By Joy Ovington Air University Public Affairs MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. -- Air Force metrics tend to be predominantly financial or production based, which drives priorities and practices not normally focused on warfighter capabilities, according to Patricia Roberson, Balanced Scorecard Program manager for Air University. As a remedy to this imbalance of metrics and measurements, the Department of Defense has developed a "Balanced Scorecard" across the services. "The Air University balanced scorecard effort will integrate and align with that effort," Ms. Roberson said. The Balanced Scorecard Management System, or BSC, is the current management tool Air Education and Training Command implemented to translate the organization's strategy into operational terms. The BSC system provides objectives and measures allowing AETC to focus on the most critical attributes for achieving success. "The Balanced Scorecard is a way for organizations to effectively link their long-term strategic objectives to their everyday, operational activities," Ms. Roberson said. "The system involves defining a balanced range of objectives to support Air University's mission and vision statements." The essence of the system is described as a "scorecard," a proven framework for tracking organizational performance and executing strategy, she said. According to Ms. Roberson, the features which distinguish the BSC methodology from other strategic planning techniques include: use of non-financial measures; use of leading, as well as traditional lagging performance measures, and explicit linkages between the short-term performance measures at the operational level and long-range performance measures at the strategic level. With Balanced Scorecards, strategy reaches everyone in a clear language that makes sense, she said. When strategy is expressed in terms of objectives, measurements, and targets, both Airmen and civilians can relate to what must happen, which leads to execution of strategy. "We have two strategic documents that support the organization, the Strategic Plan and the BSC Strategy Management System," she said. These two processes should work in unison, articulating the AU Commander's vision, mission, establishing priorities, and supporting the development of the command's strategic goals, and objectives. "Everything we do should be linked to the Strategic Plan which communicates the strategy," Ms. Roberson said. "The strategic plan articulates the vision, mission, establishes priorities, and sets the stage for all other planning. How well we implement the strategy is reported quarterly through the BSC Strategy Reviews. Strategy is important, so is execution. If we are not communicating to everyone, what strategy is, we can't achieve it." Not only does the Balanced Scorecard transform how the strategic plan is expressed, but it also pulls everything together. This is the so-called "cause and effect" relationship or linking of all elements together, according to Ms. Roberson. The Balanced Scorecard concept seeks to address both the challenge of organizational performance measurement and the critical issue of successful strategy implementation, she said. The method implements a framework to bridge the traditional gap between leadership's vision of where the organization should be going and the workforce's daily contributions to create value within the organization, "We've been using the Balanced Scorecard for the last three years or so," said Dr. Bruce Murphy, Air University's chief academic officer. "It's also used by our higher headquarters, Air Education and Training Command. It's always helpful whenever you can get two big organizations using the same sort of tool -- so we can talk the same language to our counterparts up at AETC." Dr. Phil Chansler, director of the Air University Lean Business Office, adds that BSC pairs well with Air Force Smart Operations for the 21st Century, or AFSO21. "Balanced Scorecard identifies the processes most critical to strategic objectives while AFSO21 can help to improve those processes," he said. Associated with BSC execution is a BSC Strategy Map, a clear, concise, one-page visual for communicating the organization's most critical focus areas. Ms. Roberson explained that the map is developed using a framework outlining four perspectives of the organization. The perspectives are the four different views of what drives the organization. The perspectives are: mission, customer/stakeholder, internal processes, and learning and growth. Outlined within each perspective, as Ms. Roberson explained, are objectives describing what specially must be done to execute strategy; what is critical to the future success of the organization; and what the organization must do to reach its goal. "Critical to any effective strategic plan are a set of objectives to guide action," Ms. Roberson said. "Within BSC, the objectives reflect and guide actions across the university and are measured with relevant, outcome-based measures. The objectives and measures are briefed during quarterly strategy reviews. The AU Strategy Reviews convenes quarterly for senior leadership to evaluate the University's progress in meeting its BSC strategic objectives. The AU Strategy Management Team began their cascading process to the Spaatz, Holm, LeMay, and Barnes centers at Air University." The average person walking around the base may not have heard of the Balanced Scorecard, but it impacts their lives because decisions are made, Dr. Murphy said.