Coming up with good business performance indicators is not easy, and too often we get it wrong. I use a simple question to help me decide if the indictor is relevant - "Is the indicator a measure of how many children had a bath, or is it a measure of how many children had a bath and came out clean!?" I suggest you probably want a mix, but with a definite bias to "had a bath and came out clean"!

Coming up with business performance indicators for a knowledge management initiative is particularly difficult, but it is key to knowledge productivity™. Frankly it's too easy to report activity rates - how many children had a bath - because these are tangible and relatively easy to measure. Measuring and reporting the true impact of the initiative on the organisation - had a bath and came out clean - is much more difficult; if only because the impact will be variable, and not everyone will agree the strength of the outcome.

Finding published guidelines is difficult, but a good starting point is Patrick Lambe's "How To Use KPIs in Knowledge Management ". Another good resource is the "European Guide to Good Practice in Knowledge Management - Part 4: Guidelines for Measuring KM ", although in my opinion most of the examples are of the how many children had a bath ilk. The bottom line is you will have to develop your own indicators, which are relevant to your particular circumstances and business - one size does not fit all.

Business performance indicators are important, but ensure you asking the right question and measuring what is important rather than what is easy - it matters!

Regards, Graham