/biz-bsc

name: "\"biz-bsc\""
description: "\"Apply the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) framework to translate strategy into measurable objectives across Financial, Customer, Internal Process, and Learning & Growth perspectives. Use this skill when the user needs to set strategic KPIs, create a strategy map, align organizational goals, or connect daily operations to strategic vision — even if they say 'how do we measure strategy execution' or 'our KPIs feel disconnected'.\"."
allowed-tools: Read, Glob, Grep

Balanced Scorecard (BSC)

Overview

The Balanced Scorecard translates strategy into objectives and measures across four perspectives, creating a cause-and-effect chain: Learning & Growth → Internal Processes → Customer → Financial. It answers "are we executing our strategy?" not just "are we profitable?"

When to Use

**Trigger conditions:**

• User needs to define strategic KPIs beyond financial metrics
• User wants to connect operational activities to strategic goals
• User building a strategy map or performance dashboard
• User says "our KPIs don't reflect our strategy" or "how do we measure execution"

**When NOT to use:**

• For one-time strategic analysis → use SWOT or Porter's
• For project-level OKRs → use OKR framework
• When only financial performance matters (rare)

Framework

IRON LAW: Four Perspectives, Causally Linked

The BSC is NOT four independent lists of KPIs. The four perspectives form
a CAUSAL CHAIN:

  Learning & Growth → Internal Processes → Customer → Financial

Investing in employee skills (L&G) improves process quality (Internal),
which increases customer satisfaction (Customer), which drives revenue (Financial).

If your BSC has no causal links between perspectives, it's just a KPI dump,
not a Balanced Scorecard.

IRON LAW: Each Objective Gets a Measure, Target, and Initiative

An objective without a measure is a wish.
A measure without a target is a statistic.
A target without an initiative is a hope.

Every BSC objective MUST have all three: measure (how to track), target
(what success looks like), and initiative (what action drives it).

Step 1: Clarify the Strategy

Before building the BSC, state the strategy in one sentence:

• "Grow through customer intimacy" (relationship-driven)
• "Win through operational excellence" (efficiency-driven)
• "Lead through product innovation" (differentiation-driven)

The strategy determines which objectives dominate each perspective.

Step 2: Define Objectives per Perspective

**Financial** (lagging indicators — outcomes):

• Revenue growth, profitability, cost efficiency, ROI, cash flow
• Question: "What financial results must we deliver to satisfy stakeholders?"

**Customer** (leading indicators for financial):

• Customer satisfaction, retention, acquisition, market share, NPS
• Question: "What must we deliver to customers to achieve financial goals?"

**Internal Processes** (leading indicators for customer):

• Process efficiency, quality, cycle time, innovation pipeline
• Question: "What processes must we excel at to satisfy customers?"

**Learning & Growth** (foundation — enablers):

• Employee skills, culture, technology infrastructure, knowledge management
• Question: "What capabilities must we build to improve our processes?"

Step 3: Build the Strategy Map

Draw cause-and-effect arrows linking objectives across perspectives:

[L&G] Train sales team on consultative selling
  ↓
[Internal] Reduce sales cycle from 60 to 30 days
  ↓
[Customer] Increase customer satisfaction score to 4.5/5
  ↓
[Financial] Grow revenue 20% YoY

Every objective should connect to at least one objective in another perspective. Orphan objectives indicate a gap in strategic logic.

Step 4: Assign Measures, Targets, and Initiatives

For each objective, define:

• **Measure**: Specific metric (quantitative preferred)
• **Target**: Concrete threshold with timeframe
• **Initiative**: Action or project that drives the metric

Output Format

# Balanced Scorecard: {Organization}

## Strategy Statement
{One-sentence strategy}

## Strategy Map

{L&G objectives} → {Internal Process objectives} → {Customer objectives} → {Financial objectives}

## Scorecard

### Financial Perspective
| Objective | Measure | Target | Initiative |
|-----------|---------|--------|-----------|
| {objective} | {metric} | {value by when} | {action} |

### Customer Perspective
| Objective | Measure | Target | Initiative |
|-----------|---------|--------|-----------|
| {objective} | {metric} | {value by when} | {action} |

### Internal Process Perspective
| Objective | Measure | Target | Initiative |
|-----------|---------|--------|-----------|
| {objective} | {metric} | {value by when} | {action} |

### Learning & Growth Perspective
| Objective | Measure | Target | Initiative |
|-----------|---------|--------|-----------|
| {objective} | {metric} | {value by when} | {action} |

## Causal Chain Validation
{Explain how L&G → Internal → Customer → Financial links work}

Examples

Correct Application

**Scenario:** BSC for a B2B SaaS company with strategy: "Grow through product-led growth"

| Perspective | Objective | Measure | Target | Initiative | |------------|-----------|---------|--------|-----------| | Financial | Increase ARR | Annual Recurring Revenue | $10M by Q4 | Expand pricing tiers | | Customer | Improve retention | Net Revenue Retention | >110% | Launch customer success program | | Internal | Accelerate feature delivery | Release cycle time | 2 weeks (from 6) | Adopt CI/CD pipeline | | L&G | Build product analytics capability | % team trained on Mixpanel | 100% by Q2 | Product analytics bootcamp |

**Causal chain**: Analytics training (L&G) → faster, data-driven releases (Internal) → higher retention from better product (Customer) → ARR growth (Financial) ✓

Incorrect Application

**What went wrong:**

• Listed 15 KPIs with no causal links → KPI dump, not a BSC. Violates Iron Law: perspectives must be