Apparatus and method for quantitatively measuring the balance within a balanced scorecard

1. A computer implemented method of processing data, comprising:

generating a hierarchical tree from a balanced scorecard;

classifying the parent to child relationships in the hierarchical tree, each parent to child relationship in the hierarchical tree being categorized quantitatively by its order in relation to a remaining portion of the hierarchical tree and by a number of children in such parent to child relationship;

identifying the quantitative associations among the parent to child relationships, wherein the quantitative associations include statistical measures characterizing the parent to child relationships;

assessing balance within the balanced scorecard by applying balance criteria to the quantitative associations, one of the applied balance criteria being lag and lead indicators less than a user defined percentage of a total number of indicators in the balanced scorecard, the lag indicators representing outcomes influencing a current performance, and the lead indicators representing outcomes influencing a future performance; and

informing a user of a mis-balance within the balanced scorecard.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying includes detecting an outlier pattern, a median, an upper quartile, and a lower quartile for a set of numbers.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein detecting includes applying a statistical test.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the statistical test is a Tukey Test.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein informing includes displaying a user interface specifying information characterizing the mis-balance in the balanced scorecard.

6. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium to direct a computer to function in a specified manner, comprising executable instructions to:

generate a hierarchical tree from a balanced scorecard;

classify the parent to child relationships in the hierarchical tree, each parent to child relationship in the hierarchical tree being categorized quantitatively by its order in relation to a remaining portion of the hierarchical tree and by a number of children in such parent to child relationship;

identify the quantitative associations among the parent to child relationships, wherein the quantitative associations include statistical measures characterizing the parent to child relationships;

assess balance within the balanced scorecard by applying balance criteria to the quantitative associations, one of the applied balance criteria being lag and lead indicators less than a user defined percentage of a total number of indicators in the balanced scorecard, the lag indicators representing outcomes influencing a current performance, and the lead indicators representing outcomes influencing a future performance; and

inform a user of a mis-balance within the balanced scorecard.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 6 , wherein the executable instructions to identify include executable instructions to detect at least one of an outlier pattern, a median, an upper quartile, and a lower quartile for a set of numbers.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 7 , wherein the executable instructions to detect include executable instructions to apply a statistical test.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein the statistical test is a Tukey Test.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 6 , wherein the executable instructions to inform include executable instructions to display a user interface specifying information characterizing the mis-balance in the balanced scorecard.

11. A computer system comprising:

a central processing unit;

memory coupled to the central processing unit storing executable programs to cause the central processing unit to perform operations comprising:

generating a hierarchical tree from a balanced scorecard;

classifying the parent to child relationships in the hierarchical tree, each parent to child relationship in the hierarchical tree being categorized quantitatively by its order in relation to a remaining portion of the hierarchical tree and by a number of children in such parent to child relationship;

identifying the quantitative associations among the parent to child relationships, wherein the quantitative associations include statistical measures characterizing the parent to child relationships;

assessing balance within the balanced scorecard by applying balance criteria to the quantitative associations, one of the applied balance criteria being lag and lead indicators less than a user defined percentage of a total number of indicators in the balanced scorecard, the lag indicators representing outcomes influencing a current performance, and the lead indicators representing outcomes influencing a future performance; and

informing a user of a mis-balance within the balanced scorecard.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein identifying includes detecting an outlier pattern, a median, an upper quartile, and a lower quartile for a set of numbers.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein detecting includes applying a statistical test to identify outliers among the children.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the statistical test is a Tukey Test.

15. The system of claim 11 , wherein informing includes displaying a user interface in a display specifying information characterizing the mis-balance in the balanced scorecard.