If your name is on a metric, you’re the person the team trusts to say what that number is this week, whether it’s where it should be, and if not, why. That trust is the whole value of a scorecard. A scorecard with stale or guessed numbers is worse than none, because people make decisions on it.
Keeping metrics current takes a few minutes a week. This guide covers how to do it reliably, and how to stop doing it by hand where you can.
Know what you own
Open the Metrics page and look at each metric with your name on it. For each one, you should be able to answer:
- What does it measure, exactly? The metric’s description should say how it’s calculated. If it doesn’t, or if you’d calculate it differently, raise it with whoever runs the scorecard and get the description fixed.
- What’s the target? And is it a weekly, daily or monthly number?
- Is lower better? Some metrics, like churn, complaints or cost per lead, are inverted: under target shows green, over target shows red. If the colours look backwards for your number, the metric probably needs to be marked inverted. See set targets and inverted metrics.
- Where does the number come from? Which report, system or spreadsheet. Write it in the description so someone could cover for you when you’re away.
Enter values before the sync
Set a fixed time each week, the afternoon before your sync works well, and enter your numbers on the Metrics page. You can also enter them in the sync’s Scorecard step, but doing it during the meeting slows everyone down.
Values belong to a period. Entering a value for a week you’ve already recorded replaces it rather than adding a second one, so correcting a mistake is just entering the right number. See record metric values.
As you enter each value, check the weekly table: this week, last week and the trend line. A number that’s on target but has fallen three weeks running deserves a mention, even though it’s still green.
When a number is off target
In the meeting, you say “off target.” You don’t need to explain unless the team needs to discuss it.
If it does need discussing, because you need help, a decision, or another team’s input, open the metric’s history and use Flag as challenge. That creates a challenge with the current value and target already written in, assigned to you, so it’s on the list for the team’s challenge discussion. Do it before the meeting, so people can vote on it.
Stop typing numbers that live somewhere else
If the number already exists in another system, such as your CRM, accounting software, a support desk or a spreadsheet, typing it into Clarion every week is a chore you’ll eventually forget. There are two ways to automate it:
- Push URL. In the metric’s edit form, under Push URL, create a URL for that metric. Anything that can send a web request, like a Zapier zap, a Make scenario, or a Google Sheets script, can post a number to it, and it lands on the current period. The URL is shown once and works only for that one metric. Treat it like a password. See metric push URLs.
- Fetch from URL. Clarion calls a web address on a schedule (hourly, every six hours or daily) and reads one number from the response. An Owner or Admin sets this up, because it can store a credential. See pull metrics from a URL.
You don’t need to be technical to start. Ask whoever handles your company’s systems; pushing metrics from your systems is the guide to hand them. Once a metric is automated, check it for the first couple of weeks to make sure the number matches what you’d have entered by hand.
A weekly routine
- Same time each week: enter your values.
- Check each one: on target? Trending the right way?
- Anything that needs help: flag it as a challenge before the meeting.
- In the meeting: “on target” or “off target.” Nothing more unless asked.
- Once a month: is any metric still entered by hand that could be automated?
Common mistakes
Entering numbers late. If the number isn’t in before the meeting, the meeting runs without it.
Guessing. An estimate presented as a measurement misleads everyone. If you don’t have the real number yet, say so.
Changing the target to turn it green. Targets are set deliberately, usually once a quarter. If you think one is wrong, raise it, but don’t quietly edit it.
Explaining every red number in the meeting. Save the conversation for the challenge step.
Owning numbers you can’t influence. If you can’t affect a metric, you can still report it, but someone who can should probably own it. Raise it at the next scorecard review, using building a weekly scorecard as the reference.
For the rest of your weekly prep, see preparing for your sync.