Automating the balanced scorecard – selection criteria to identify appropriate software applications

The balanced scorecard (BSC) is a management tool that helps to align behavior of all employees to the organization’s strategy. Research suggests that about half of large US firms have already adopted the BSC and many more are considering implementation. Organization‐wide implementation of a BSC requires IT support and numerous software vendors have taken the opportunity to build software solutions to support a BSC implementation. The problem executives face today is that there are over two‐dozen application‐providers to choose from, each of them claiming that their solution offers unique and important features. Selecting the wrong solution can undermine the entire BSC development effort and the credibility of the performance management system. This article addresses the issue of BSC software by (1) explaining why organizations might need software to support their implementation and (2) by developing a framework to assist organizations in this important decision process.