CHSCM 3.0 - Unit 1 - SCM in the Humanitarian World

aseline reading must be taken to determine current performance, a target must be set for future
performance, and then periodic readings must be taken to monitor progress toward the target.
Sometimes it can help to have more than one measurement linked with an objective.
There are three common ways of setting targets for objectives:
• Percentage improvement over current performance
• Benchmarking against other organizations
• Using formal models to discover opportunities for improvement.
The first is the most commonly used method, because it is easy to apply. There can be merits in
also using the others. The last requires access to such models.
Information systems need to be in place to enable performance to be tracked compared against the
target, and provide notification where progress is not on track. Usually it is useful for the
information to be presented in graphical format. Many performance management systems will
provide information on an exception basis, reporting only when a shortfall appears likely.
The presentation of the information also needs to recognize the different uses of performance
information, and that recipients may require it in different formats.
Performance information is frequently used in:
• Organization reports to seek agreement to new projects or to justify current actions
• Organization statistics to enable longer-term tracking of progress
• Donor reports to provide donors with information about how their donation is being
managed
• Benchmarking to allow processes to compared with other organizations to identify
improvement opportunities
• Measuring performance to allow improvement
• Monitoring performance to ensure operations are on track
• Coordination of supply chain activity to synchronize the activities of several participants
Supply chain performance information will be useful to supply chain managers, but there are other
groups who will also be interested. They include:
• Suppliers, so that they are prepared for replenishment orders
• Donors, so that they know what is required and to enable them to see that their donation is
being appropriately handled
• Head office, to ensure that governance is being maintained and policies are being followed
• Finance, to monitor funding requirements and to check budget compliance
• Statistics, to inform the organization and others on historic performance
• Program, who will need to know that the appropriate support is being provided