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by Joshua Greenbaum, Contributing Editor Posted on Wednesday, November 21, 2007 3:09:00 PM   | Abstract: | In their quests to deliver performance management capabilities to users, manufacturers must realize that technology is secondary to an understanding of industry best practices and business processes. Part two of this six-part "Master Class" series illustrates why performance management is less a question of which technology is used than how it is used. |
| Keywords: | business performance management, business performance |
The task of delivering performance management capabilities to users in a manufacturing company starts with the realization that there is no silver bullet. While many of the technological underpinnings are often in place, no single technology or tool can deliver the promise of performance management overnight. That's because the technology behind performance management encompasses a wide range of products, tools, and applications, all of which must coexist and interoperate in pursuit of the company's specific goals. Indeed, one of the characteristics of performance management is that technology is clearly subordinate to the business, and it is imperative that business requirements lead technology decisions, not the other way around. Those business requirements arise from a definition of the elements of success for the business -- your business -- based on best practices for performance management in a specific vertical industry. While there are many similarities among manufacturing companies -- many suppliers to the electronics and automotive industries, for example, have similar supply chain performance management issues -- there are other issues, such as regulatory compliance, that necessitate dramatically different solutions at individual companies. And manufacturers that participate in multiple verticals have overlapping performance management requirements that necessitate different approaches and solutions depending on the specific requirements of each vertical industry. [Click to continue] |