Post-acquisition, PE sponsor American Securities worked with Trace3 to define 53 OKRs across 7 value creation initiatives. The company faced several critical challenges in managing and reporting on these strategic objectives:
Manual OKR Tracking After manually tracking and updating metrics, Trace3 wanted to automate reporting to better align the executive team, board, and sponsor to the Value Creation Plan (VCP).
Lack of Alignment Manual processes made it difficult to maintain consistent alignment between the executive team, board of directors, and PE sponsor on progress against strategic initiatives.
Inconsistent Regional Metrics Each region independently managed their disparate metrics via spreadsheet, leading to inconsistent definitions and tracking of key performance indicators across 12 regions.
Overwhelming Report Backlog The company had accumulated a backlog of over 200 internal report requests that needed to be prioritized and addressed.
No Single Source of Truth According to Tania DiCostanzo, VP of IT, Strategic Initiatives and Data Analytics, “You can’t measure that which lacks a consistent framework. You need process, definition, data source & visualization.”
Trace3 engaged Blue Margin (BMI) to build comprehensive dashboard solutions that would transform their OKR tracking and regional reporting capabilities.
OKR Dashboard Development BMI built an OKR dashboard that streamlined manual entries and visualized OKR progress MTD/QTD/YTD, allowing Trace3 to track essential value-creation initiatives at the highest level with drill-through reporting to analyze progress on tactics.
Automated and Manual Entry Flexibility Through Power BI, dashboards automated tracking for 5 OKRs and provided the flexibility of manual entry for metrics not yet populated in the company’s transactional systems.
Regional Reporting Package (RRP) In a follow-on project, BMI collaborated with the Trace3 team to develop a Regional Reporting Package to establish consistent reporting and key performance metrics across 12 regions.
Comprehensive Scorecard Development BMI and Trace3’s c-suite defined key sales metrics and reports for the regional managers. The project team delivered a master scorecard and 5 detail pages to better drive and track progress against objectives.
Culture of Accountability The dashboard solutions established a culture of accountability to the growth plan across all levels of the organization.
The implementation of Blue Margin’s dashboard solutions delivered significant improvements across strategic and operational reporting:
Executive and Board Alignment The OKR dashboard is used monthly by the Trace3 team (quarterly by their board) to manage risks and ensure progress against goals. Centralized reporting has provided alignment, consistency, and transparency for all involved.
Regional Performance Visibility The RRP has been instrumental in improving efficiency and insights into sales performance across 12 regions. Before, teams relied on shared spreadsheets which required manual updates and were prone to errors.
Single Source of Truth According to a Trace3 General Manager, the RRP “provides a single source of truth and real-time monitoring. With a high deal volume, it’s essential to see what’s working and what needs to be addressed. The faster we can pivot, the faster we can maintain and accelerate a positive sales trajectory.”
Report Backlog Resolution The OKR and RRP projects prioritized and consolidated what had been a backlog of over 200 internal report requests, significantly reducing the burden on IT and data analytics teams.
Data-Driven Decision Making Real-time monitoring capabilities enable faster pivots and better decision-making, helping Trace3 maintain and accelerate positive sales trajectories across all regions.
By partnering with Blue Margin, Trace3 transformed their approach to OKR tracking and regional performance management, creating alignment across their executive team, board, and PE sponsor. The success of this project demonstrates:
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