Dashboard Applications and KPIs

Dashboard applications include some KPIs which help business users to notify and to understand the proper situation of business.
KPI stands for Key Performance Indicator and shows the situation of business that is defined with a formula.
They are shown as graphical icons and make the recognition of the position easier.
Microsoft introduced new software which is called Microsoft Office Business Scorecard Manager 2005 that can leverage the KPI capabilities of Analysis Services 2005.
Each KPI can be evaluated in five groups: Value, Goal, Status, Trend, and Weight. You can assign a MDX script to each group.

For creating new KPI you must specify the following information:
1. KPI name (is mandatory)
2. Associated measure group (is mandatory): The measure group in which your indicator is.
3. Value expression (is mandatory): The value that you want to compare with something else.
4. Goal expression: The value that you expect to reach.
5. Status: The status of your business that could be shown as one of the following figures in the Figure1.
6. Trend: The trend shows the movement of your business with graphical icons that are shown in the Figure2.
7. Additional properties: You can categorize the place in which your KPI will be shown, in this section. Moreover, you can create parent-child relationship between KPIs and assign a weight to each child KPI to calculate the parent.

Figure 1

Figure 2