Description of Scorecard Elements

Objectives: These items do not contain data points, but serve as a way to organize measures into groups based around a particular theme, i.e. an organization, a project with multiple components, a geographical area, etc. Using the arrow to the left of each objective, users can collapse objectives to hide measures within the objective.

Measures: Organized within objectives, each measure provides a single type of data for a particular organization, program, or geographical area. Information on customizing measures is described in greater detail in the “Creating and Editing Measures” section later in this guide. To the right of each measure are several columns, explained in detail below.

Trend & Duration: This column displays two pieces of information: the direction the data is moving in and the number of time periods for which this trend has existed. The red minus sign indicates that the data has moved in the direction opposite to what is desired. The green plus sign indicates that progress has been made. The black circle means one of two things:

• The organization has set the data as neutral, meaning that there is no desired direction for this data

• There has been no change in value compared to the last data point entered

Target Value: The target value column displays the figure that has been set as the goal to be reached. This item can be displayed as a numerical value, a percentage, monetary figure, or as a yes/no binary. 

Current Value: This column displays the most recently entered data for a measure. It will always appear in the same format as the target value, i.e. a target value of 90% will pair with current data values that also display percentages.

Color Coding: If color bands have been set (see section “Setting Color Bands” later in this guide), the value in the current value column for a measure will be either red, yellow, or green. The default setting for this color coding scheme is described below:

• Red: indicates that the data is more than 20% away from the target value. For example, if only 70% of adults are getting the recommended amount of physical exercise and the goal for this measure is 100%, this figure of 70% would be colored red since it is 30% away from the target.
• Yellow: indicates that the data is between 80% and 100% of the target value if the data for the measure is considered to be “higher is better” or between 100% and 120% of the target value if working with a “lower is better” measure.
• Green: indicates that the data has met or further improved upon the target value.