Planning your indicators

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated July 31, 2025
  • 1 minute to read

    • Before creating an indicator, clarify what goals you wish to attain with the indicator.

    Ask these questions before you create an indicator:
    • What
      • What do you want to measure? Are you basing what you want to measure on progress towards a business goal? Consider starting with a business goal and then deciding what to measure. You can use KPI Composer to help you.

        Do you want a simple count, like the number of open incidents, or something more sophisticated, like the average age to close an incident?

      • Is more better or is less better?

        For example, you would want the number of open incidents to be as low as possible, but the number of sales to go up.

      • What factors contribute the most to this number?
      • What factors would skew this number?

        Seasonality? A shift in staffing numbers or composition?

      • What will you do if the number goes from good to bad?
    • Who
      • Who is responsible for this indicator?

        A request fulfiller? A manager?

      • Who should not see this information?
    • Why
      • What is the next question you will ask?

        For example, once you know the number of open incidents, you may want to know what percentage of them has been open for more than 30 days.

      • Does this number predict what will happen or show what did happen?
    • How
      • Do you measure this today?
      • If Yes, what do you do with it?
      • If No, why not?
    • When
      • How fast does the data change?
      • What is a meaningful period to look at?

        Are daily changes meaningful or too noisy? How much time does it take to establish a real trend?

    • Is there already an indicator that matches my use case, or do I have to build my own?
      • Has the Platform Analytics Solution for the subject area been installed? These solutions contain indicators for many common use cases.
      • In the indicator list, is there an indicator that matches, or comes close to matching, your requirements? Can I duplicate an existing indicator and tweak it?
      • Can I create a formula indicator from existing indicators that will meet my requirements?