Common Key Performance Indicators Research Articles

The Impact of Web Analytics Tools on the Performance of Small and Medium Enterprises

In the era of data analytics, the use of web analytics tools is widely spread among Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), especially in the e-commerce sector, to analyze web usage data and measure website performance due to the several features it provides. Most web analytics studies were conducted based on marketing rather than a managerial point of view. Therefore, there is a necessity to study the impact from a managerial perspective by exploring the impact on financial and non-financial performance and the decision-making process. This study assessed the impact of web analytics tools on the overall performance of SMEs, targeting Saudi SMEs and considering the lack of web analytics studies in this sector in Saudi Arabia. The sample involved eight Saudi SMEs who participated by answering interview questions, which were analyzed using thematic analysis. The findings demonstrated four main themes: the current web analytics tools used by Saudi SMEs, the motivations behind their use, and their impact on SMEs' performance and decision-making. The results showed that these tools positively affect the overall performance of SMEs. Google Analytics (GA) was the tool most used by the sample. Seven motives were discovered that encourage SMEs to use web analytics tools. This study also addressed the common Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) used by the participants. Concerning decision-making, it was found that web analytics tools affected and supported SMEs' decisions. Furthermore, this study evaluated the role of Zid, the Saudi e-commerce platform for data analytics and performance measurement.

High-priority expected waiting times in the delayed accumulating priority queue with applications to health care KPIs

We provide the first analytical expressions for the expected waiting time of high-priority customers in the delayed APQ by exploiting a classical conservation law for work-conserving queues. Additionally, we describe an algorithm to compute the expected waiting times of both low-priority and high-priority customers, which requires only the truncation of sums that converge quickly in our experiments. These insights are used to demonstrate how the accumulation rate and delay level should be chosen by health care practitioners to optimize common key performance indicators (KPIs). In particular, we demonstrate that for certain nontrivial KPIs, an accumulating priority queue with a delay of zero is always preferable. Finally, we present a detailed investigation of the quality of an exponential approximation to the high-priority waiting time distribution, which we use to optimize the choice of queueing parameters with respect to both classes’ waiting time distributions.

Sustainability, Criticality, and Circularity in PV: Using SDG 12 as a Lens to Map Sectoral Gaps

Multiple activities in the photovoltaic (PV) sector demonstrate a will to improve environmental impacts, reduce critical material uses and waste generated by linear supply chains. A common understanding of the remaining priority gaps in sustainability is, however, lacking, hindering the implementation of strategic courses of action. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 12 (SDG 12), targeting sustainable consumption and production, constitutes an entry point for PV stakeholders to examine their impacts holistically by reconciling ecological sustainability, criticality, and circularity. This article introduces a framework to map sustainability strategies in PV under the lens of SDG 12. A gap analysis is conducted to identify the current sustainability performances of PV value chains. The readiness level of the sector to close each gap is then evaluated, thus highlighting the “low hanging fruits” and the more consequent efforts required to achieve sustainability. Overall, a lack of common key performance indicators is noticed, resulting in a fragmented and uncertain sustainability landscape. A need for more coherence, sustainability leadership, and collaboration at the sectoral level is identified for all topics of SDG 12. In particular, the implementation of circularity strategies is linked to substantial technoeconomic hurdles, which need to be addressed.

Reviews and industry: A love‐hate relationship

Reviews and industry: A love‐hate relationship

Looking for Sustainability Scoring in Apparel: A Review on Environmental Footprint, Social Impacts and Transparency

Sustainability has been recognized as a major concern globally since the Brudtland Report, in 1987, and further reinforced in 2015 by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDG) 2030. This paper reviews the methodologies and criteria of sustainability applied to fashion products, regarding products’ environmental footprint (environmental life cycle assessment/analysis; e-LCA), the social issues (including the social life cycle assessment/analysis; s-LCA) and the transparency in reporting sustainability. In our review we seek KPIs (key performance indicators) that allow classification of a pair of shoes or a piece of cloth on a scale from A to E, i.e., products can be compared with a benchmark and classified accordingly with a simple labelling scheme, which is easily understandable by the consumers. This approach is similar to those used to classify electrical appliances, housing energy consumption for thermal comfort, food Nutri-Scores, CO2 levels of road vehicles, and tire performance. In this review we aim to identify the initiatives and measures being put into practice by the top global fashion brands. We found that, despite the existence of GRI (global sustainability reporting initiative) standard reporting, most companies follow their own methods or others created within the industry rather than those created in the scientific community. Examples include the Higg index, the Transparency Index, and the Social Codes of Conduct (CoC). In this study, we conducted an extensive review of certification schemes and labels already applied to fashion products, and identified a multitude of labels and lack of harmonization in communicating sustainability. As result, we compiled a summary table of all criteria, methodologies, and possible KPIs that can be considered the basis for a benchmark and score of a fashion product. This topic is crucial to avoid “green washing” and a lack of transparency for the buyer’s community, i.e., business to consumer (B2C), and for the business community, i.e., business to business (B2B) relationships, which comprise a complex multi-layer supply chain of suppliers and sub-suppliers. The UNSDG 2030 “Responsible Consumption and Production” frames these efforts to facilitate standardization of KPIs in terms of structure, criteria, and their measurement. The most common KPI is environmental global warming impact (expressed as CO2eq) based on life cycle assessment/analysis (LCA) principles (established in 2000), which provide an appropriate base to monitor and benchmark products. However, in our innovative review of t-shirt e-LCA, we identified a wide range of e-LCA assumptions, relating to different boundaries, allocations, functional units, and impact categories, which represent a major challenge in benchmarking.

Statistical comparison of typical Hungarian administrative public service processes using key performance indicators

This study aims to comparatively analyse the front office operations of two Hungarian gov-ernment windows, one located in a capital city district and the other in a county district centre, to examine the difference in the perceived service levels. First, through an international literature review, the study describes the background of the government window system and the importance of key performance indicators (KPIs). In addition, it demonstrates how KPIs can be measured in a public service context, regardless of the type and complexity of a given service. Second, the study provides a detailed statistical analysis and a comparison of the typical administrative public services related to waiting times, processing times, and lead times. Moreover, it offers an analogy of industrial service process management by presenting how the selected meth-ods and measures can be used to review processes related to an industrial, a manufacturing, or a public service, following a holistic management approach. The study contributes to the literature by using KPIs of the private sector and industry in public service processes and shows how these common KPIs can be measured in the public service context to provide valuable insights into service processes. Finally, it demonstrates the differences between the KPIs of the government windows to help legislators to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of services.

Transnational common sustainability indicators for harmonising built environment assessment systems in relation to SDGs

Common Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs) have been set by the 2030 Agenda of United Nations in 2015. The European Commission committed to implement the SDGs and now Member States are preparing National Sustainable Development Strategies for contributing in the SDGs achievement. At a lower government level, regions and cities are also implementing their local strategies. Concerning the SDGs dealing with the built environment, how would it be possible to connect the global and local level strategies? To measure the progress towards SDGs and relative targets, a global framework of indicators has been set by UN. Many UN indicators have been adopted by the European Commission. The value of global indicators depends on the results achieved at local level, consequently quality and reliable local disaggregated data are necessary for the measurement of the progress towards the common goals. In the building sector, rating and assessment systems at building, urban and territorial scale can play a key role in this sense. The implementation and adoption of a core set of key performance indicators (KPIs), based on common metrics, in the existing and future assessment systems would allow to aggregate the information from the single building to the global level connecting the indicators trough the spatial scales. Common KPIs would also allow to compare the performance reached by buildings certified with different systems in relation to SDGs. The paper will illustrate the core sets of indicators elaborated and tested in 10 European countries by CESBA (Common European Sustainable Built Environment Assessment) in collaboration with iiSBE (international initiative for a Sustainable Built Environment) through two European Interreg projects at building, urban and territorial scale, in the form of a built environment Passport for the harmonization of assessment systems in relation to SDGs.

Four KPIs for the assessment of biofouling effect on ship performance

Biofouling accumulation on hull and propeller is one of the principal contributors to a ship's service performance losses. Ship Performance Monitoring Systems (SPMSs) are widely regarded as the primary means of monitoring the service performance decay of ships. The effect of fouling can be assessed by observing the change over time of parameters commonly termed Key Performance Indicators (KPI). Common KPIs are power increase and speed loss. These KPIs are, however, not enough to provide a clear perspective of the hydrodynamic vessel performance.This paper introduces three new KPIs in support of the common power increase KPI. These three KPIs need the propeller characteristics (e.g. open water curves) to be known, and one of them is based on the measurement of thrust. The method used to calculate them is described. The derivation of the reference performance baselines is demonstrated in applying this methodology to Newcastle University's Research Vessel “The Princess Royal”. The concurrent analysis of all four KPIs is finally shown to provide more robust and detailed information regarding the source of the performance losses and their entity when compared to the real fouling state of this vessel.

Energy saving in wastewater treatment plants: A methodology based on common key performance indicators for the evaluation of plant energy performance, classification and benchmarking

Wastewater treatment plants are a major energy user in the urban water cycle with an energy demand estimated in several countries in about the 1% of the overall national energy use. Nevertheless, the sector offers wide opportunities for energy saving and recovery to be fostered in order to reduce economic and environmental impacts. Nowadays, a consolidated procedure to assess energy performances in the wastewater sector is still not available. This work proposes a methodology for the evaluation, benchmarking and labelling of energy performances of wastewater treatment plants, based on easy-to-define data related to energy use and operative parameters. Statistical techniques are applied to validate input data and the step-by-step derived outcomes. Common key performance indicators were calculated and linearly aggregated in a global index able to convey the wastewater treatment plant energy performance. Such index allowed to carry out comparisons among energy consumptions supported by a dedicated built-up database collecting sectorial data, considered as a reference. A case study based on 10 selected wastewater treatment plants is proposed. The methodology led to derive a clear and affordable overview of the analysed plant energy performances. Moreover, the benchmarking analysis allowed to get, on the basis of the differences between the calculated global index values, a rough estimation of the potential energy gains achievable if suitable measures for ameliorating the plant energy efficiency performance are adopted. For three of the selected plants, the margins for energy savings resulted higher than 60%. The methodology suggests to focus on such cases by carrying out specific on-site inspection to detect energy use inefficiencies and define suitable actions addressed to save energy and enhance the system sustainability. In this view, the proposed procedure could also be applied with the aim of prioritizing actions to pursue energy savings among a large set of wastewater treatment plants.

Economic Inefficiency Levels of Urban Solid Waste Management Services in Portugal

Key performance indicators (KPI) are widely used tools to evaluate the economic (in)efficiency of services, including the ones devoted to urban solid waste management. Regulatory exercises are, then, mostly based on the outputs from KPIs, raising some questions about their validity. In theory, other more appropriate tools could be used to estimate those efficiency levels. This study evaluates the economic inefficiency level of urban solid waste management services in Portugal (2010–2017) through the adoption of partial frontier benchmarking models (order-m) coupled with weight restrictions. That way, the constructed model can evaluate the performance of those services under some regulatory and sustainability requirements. Then, estimated efficiency levels and some common KPIs are compared in order to understand if the latter are sufficient to explain the economic efficiency. The novelty of this research lies in two main aspects: (a) the utilization of a robust order-α model coupled with weight restrictions linked to regulatory and sustainability impositions to estimate efficiency, and (b) the comparison of economic efficiency and some commonly used KPIs, including waste fractions and recycling rate. Results point towards efficiency distributions that follow Weibull functions, with the average close to 50%; thus, nearly half of the resources have been well spent in municipal solid waste management services since 2010 onwards. Nonetheless, in an efficient system, that average would be close to 100%. Additionally, the considered management related KPIs do not exhibit any relationship with economic efficiency, which means that their interpretation and usefulness for regulatory issues are both limited and should be used carefully. In other words, those KPIs are not good performance drivers and carry no capacity to explain economic (in)efficiency in urban solid waste management services.

Financial Perspective in the System for Measuring Organizational Performance – Case Study Food Industry in Republic of Macedonia

Systems for measuring and managing organizational performance are designed to help managers in this complex business environment. Organizational performance as a category must be considered from multiple perspectives. Today, most of the designed systems for measuring organizational performance have an integrated and balanced approach to the measurement. They incorporate multiple perspectives for measuring. This is primarily due to the multidimensionality of the concept. The financial perspective is one of the most important perspectives in any system for measuring organizational performance. This perspective was the only one perspective for measuring performance in the past. That's why it still has the primacy among other perspectives today. The main aim of this paper is to research the role of the financial perspective in the systems for measuring organizational performance, with special accent on the designed adaptable system for measuring organizational performance in the companies of food industry in the Republic of Macedonia. The paper continuous to research the most common Key Performance Indicators used by the companies in this industry when it comes to financial perspective. In the end the paper researches the relationships between selected indicators.

Association between patient outcomes and key performance indicators of stroke care quality: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Translating research evidence into clinical practice often uses key performance indicators to monitor quality of care. We conducted a systematic review to identify the stroke key performance indicators used in large registries, and to estimate their association with patient outcomes. We sought publications of recent (January 2000-May 2017) national or regional stroke registers reporting the association of key performance indicators with patient outcome (adjusting for age and stroke severity). We searched Ovid Medline, EMBASE and PubMed and screened references from bibliographies. We used an inverse variance random effects meta-analysis to estimate associations (odds ratio; 95% confidence interval) with death or poor outcome (death or disability) at the end of follow-up. We identified 30 eligible studies (324,409 patients). The commonest key performance indicators were swallowing/nutritional assessment, stroke unit admission, antiplatelet use for ischaemic stroke, brain imaging and anticoagulant use for ischaemic stroke with atrial fibrillation, lipid management, deep vein thrombosis prophylaxis and early physiotherapy/mobilisation. Lower case fatality was associated with stroke unit admission (odds ratio 0.79; 0.72-0.87), swallow/nutritional assessment (odds ratio 0.78; 0.66-0.92) and antiplatelet use for ischaemic stroke (odds ratio 0.61; 0.50-0.74) or anticoagulant use for ischaemic stroke with atrial fibrillation (odds ratio 0.51; 0.43-0.64), lipid management (odds ratio 0.52; 0.38-0.71) and early physiotherapy or mobilisation (odds ratio 0.78; 0.67-0.91). Reduced poor outcome was associated with adherence to swallowing/nutritional assessment (odds ratio 0.58; 0.43-0.78) and stroke unit admission (odds ratio 0.83; 0.77-0.89). Adherence with several key performance indicators appeared to have an additive benefit. Adherence with common key performance indicators was consistently associated with a lower risk of death or disability after stroke. Policy makers and health care professionals should implement and monitor those key performance indicators supported by good evidence.

Performance measurement and metrics in supply chains: an exploratory study

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the approaches and metrics used to measure supply chain (SC) performance, and to understand the relative perceived importance of such measures. Design/methodology/approach – This research is based on empirical data captured through a survey of SC professionals in a variety of business sectors. Findings – The research confirms the importance of the balanced scorecard (BSC) approach, with BSC, SCOR and economic value added being the most commonly used tools. Economic metrics dominate, focused on cost and customer service. While social and environmental-related measures are of emerging importance, they appear to be of similar importance to economic metrics only when backed up by a legal obligation. Research limitations/implications – The small sample of 51 companies was based on access and the group is not wholly representative of all businesses. Respondents were mainly managers from EU countries involved in procurement, logistics and transport activities. Surveyed companies included manufacturing, automotive, retail, logistics services and wholesaling businesses. Practical implications – The common key performance indicators (KPI’s) are identified. These include measures related to: quality, efficiency, responsiveness, health and safety, employees, emission, natural resources utilisation, waste and recycling. Issues that influence the usage of measurement systems as well as the company and SC levels are ranked. Social implications – Implementation of a monitoring system and subsequent usage of the collected data may help to reduce negative external impacts on society and the environment. Originality/value – The field of SC performance management is still developing, with growing empirical work. Nevertheless this paper is one of the first attempts to carry out such an analysis focused on metrics and their usage. The survey instrument has been tested and can now be applied to other contexts.

Developing biodiversity indicators on a stakeholders' opinions basis: the gypsum industry Key Performance Indicators framework.

This study aims to establish a common Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) framework for reporting about the gypsum industry biodiversity at the European level. In order to integrate different opinions and to reach a consensus framework, an original participatory process approach has been developed among different stakeholder groups: Eurogypsum, European and regional authorities, university scientists, consulting offices, European and regional associations for the conservation of nature, and the extractive industry. The strategy is developed around four main steps: (1) building of a maximum set of indicators to be submitted to stakeholders based on the literature (Focus Group method); (2) evaluating the consensus about indicators through a policy Delphi survey aiming at the prioritization of indicator classes using the Analytic Hierarchy Process method (AHP) and of individual indicators; (3) testing acceptability and feasibility through analysis of Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) and visits to three European quarries; (4) Eurogypsum final decision and communication. The resulting framework contains a set of 11 indicators considered the most suitable for all the stakeholders. Our KPIs respond to European legislation and strategies for biodiversity. The framework aims at improving sustainability in quarries and at helping to manage biodiversity as well as to allow the creation of coherent reporting systems. The final goal is to allow for the definition of the actual biodiversity status of gypsum quarries and allow for enhancing it. The framework is adaptable to the local context of each gypsum quarry.

The Suitability of Web Analytics Key Performance Indicators in the Academic Library Environment

As the demand for library assessment grows, academic libraries are becoming more interested in Web analytics. Data are automatically gathered and provide information about a wide variety of online interactions. Libraries have long used simple counts such as visits and page views, but have more recently begun to choose strategic benchmarks, also known as key performance indicators (KPIs). Many common KPIs were created for commercial websites and are challenging to adapt for libraries. However, the underlying concepts are sufficiently valuable that libraries should explore their use. By evaluating the validity of web metrics, libraries can further the development of standards and benchmarks to support future investigations. This article discusses how commercial web metrics might be adapted for use in academic libraries. First, the limitations of web analytics are presented. Major key performance indicators used in the commercial sector are reviewed in the academic library context. Finally, the article discusses how the various indicators might support specific library website goals and decisions and uses local data to illustrate one example case. As libraries choose web analytic methods, they should deliberately evaluate their validity. Over time, this will slowly build the profession's ability to use web analytics more effectively for library assessment.