A Taste for KPI Coffee

 Lifted from here is a great excerpt analogy on what KPIs are. 



"Terminology Example: 

Let’s say someone wants to use KPIs to help them lose weight. Their actual weight is a lagging indicator, as it indicates past success, and the number of calories they eat per day is a leading indicator, as it predicts future success. 

If the person weighs 250 lbs / 113 kg (a historical trend is called a baseline), and a person they would like to emulate is 185 lbs / 84 kg (comparison research is called benchmarking), they might set an 1,700 calorie-per-day target (desired level of performance) for the leading KPI in order to reach their lagging KPI target of 185 lbs / 84 kg by the end of a year.


Let’s say my business provides coffee for catered events. Some inputs include the coffee (suppliers, quality, storage, etc.), the water, and time (in hours or employee costs) that my business invests. My process measures could relate to coffee making procedure or equipment efficiency or consistency. Outputs would focus on the coffee itself (taste, temperature, strength, style, presentation, accessories, etc.). And desired outcomes would likely focus on customer satisfaction and sales. Project measures would focus on the deliverables from any major improvement projects or initiatives, such as a new marketing campaign." 

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