The Only Balanced Scorecard Software You’ll Ever Need (2023) (2023)

Would you fly a plane using only your gut or a single instrument? Surely not, as it probably wouldn't end well. Instead, you'd use all the navigation, dials, and indicators available in the airplane cockpit, right? They'll give you the information you need to reach your destination.

The balanced scorecard is the business equivalent of a well-equipped cockpit. It shows you the company’s performance in several areas simultaneously and guides you toward your key strategic objectives.

Companies who turn to balanced scorecard software often do so because they struggle with having a holistic overview of their performance. They use outdated tools, such as spreadsheets, or disconnected business tools. And when leaders don’t have clear visibility into the company’s status, they waste time and resources on dead-end strategies.

Neither in an organization nor on an airplane would you want to operate with blind spots. In order to make fast decisions and adapt your strategy, you need software that gives you real-time insights and a balanced view of your business.

In this article, we’ll show you how Cascade can help you effortlessly implement a balanced scorecard methodology in your organization, monitor progress, and stay on top of your company’s performance.

Use Cascade As Your Balanced Scorecard (BSC) Software

Cascade is the world’s #1 strategy execution platform for companies that prioritize profitability, growth, and fast adaptability. While this claim might sound biased, customer reviews back it up with 4.8-star ratings.

This all-in-one platform combines the most powerful elements of a performance management system, strategic planning, and reporting. Cascade is a highly customizable strategy execution platform that can be tailored to support teams of all sizes. Our customer success team is made up of strategy experts who used to work at top international consulting firms and are dedicated to helping you execute your strategy.

You can customize Cascade to fit your current strategy management system—whether you use a balanced scorecard, or a combination of strategic planning models, we’ve got you covered. Bring your existing strategic plan and we will help you import it so you can start using the platform straight away.

Since our launch in 2014, we have been on a mission to help organizations close the strategy execution gap and create high-performing organizations that deliver business results faster.

Today, teams of all sizes and industries around the world rely on Cascade, including Johnson & Johnson, McClaren, and American Express.

So if you're looking for a tool to help you get started with balanced scorecards in your organization, Cascade is a perfect choice.

Want to try it out right away for free? Play around with Cascade's Balanced Scorecard Template in your free account (no credit card required).

How To Set Up Balanced Scorecards With Cascade

If you're using spreadsheets or several project management systems, implementing balanced scorecards can be time-consuming, error-prone, and frustrating. But, with Cascade, it’s simple. Let us show you Cascade’s core features and how to use them:

1. Build your strategic plan using the balanced scorecard framework

A. Add perspectives to your strategic plan

The balanced scorecard (BSC) methodology looks at business activities from four perspectives. You will divide all activities, initiatives, and goals into the following areas:

Financial perspective
Customer perspective
Internal business process perspective
Learning and growth perspective

In Cascade, you can easily add your four perspectives as "Focus Areas" and set the foundation stones of your strategic plan.

An example of a strategic plan using the Balanced Scorecard methodology in Cascade

B. Add Objectives, Projects, and KPIs to each perspective

Next, add all of your strategic goals, projects, and key performance indicators (KPIs) to the right perspective.

Adding objectives in Cascade is intuitive, straightforward, and is accessible from almost anywhere in your workspace.

You can also add key initiatives or KPIs (measures) in the same step or add them later on in the process.

Within Cascade, you can also build custom templates where you can set which data and metrics you want to track. For example, you can track specific data points like the budget spent, the budget allocated, hours worked, weight, and priority. These data can then be visualized and reported on to assess the performance (for example, funding resource allocations, operating cash flows, etc.) of your strategy and improve the decision-making process.

C. Assign owners to drive accountability

As you can see in the screenshots above, you can assign owners to each objective, project, KPI, or other initiatives. No matter the methodology you use, this element is crucial to every strategic plan. Your team members need to have a clear understanding of what is expected of them and take full ownership of progress. This is important for accountability and greater efficiency.

In Cascade, each owner is able to edit, update, and report on the progress he or she is making toward assigned goals. And most importantly, everyone within the team knows who is working on what, which prevents confusion, duplicated efforts, and siloed information.

D. Streamline risk management with Cascade

Cascade helps you monitor risks by giving you the option to add risk to each relevant objective, KPI, or initiative. You can do this on the platform by clicking on a specific objective and following the prompts:

In the next step, you can even add the type of risk, the owner responsible for the risk, and collaborators.

There's more. You can make an action plan for each risk to prevent it from occurring or minimize its effects.

This will help your team be proactive and mitigate risks before they become a serious problem.

E. Cascade your balanced scorecard

It’s difficult to align multiple balanced scorecard documents for each business division or department. Even small companies need multiple balanced scorecard documents, and linkages between them can be hard to identify and track.

Using Cascade, you can build sub-plans for business units and departments and link them back to your top-level strategy. Your teams can track and report their progress, while you have a complete overview of what’s happening with your plan in one place.

An example of a top-level plan linked with multiple sub-plans in Cascade. You get a birds'-eye view of what’s happening across your organization.

2. Use live dashboards to track performance

Once you’ve defined your objectives, you’ll need to monitor how your organization is reaching its goals. With Cascade, you can instantly visualize your real-time performance and progress using interactive dashboards.

3. Build customizable reports

Reporting on progress and holding review meetings are crucial elements of effective performance management. But, spending hours finding and reviewing performance metrics can steal time and resources. Cascade has a better way.

Cascade’s Report feature helps you create customized reports with up-to-date information on progress. There is no need to copy/paste data from multiple spreadsheets, work in multiple tools, or shift through files to find the correct figures for this quarter. You have all the data in one place.

An example of a progress report in Cascade.

4. Review and update your balanced scorecard in one place

Plans change, and you'll need a tool that makes adapting easier, faster, and better. Fast adaptability is one of Cascade's key advantages. If you make a change in one place, it will be reflected in all linked sub-plans and throughout the organization. You can stop wasting time in meetings to keep everyone informed and aligned.

Teams can easily update their strategic initiatives, performance measures, and revised metrics by using Cascade as a central data source. Less time spent updating multiple files and typing update notifications means more time to execute what needs to be done.

5. Connect it with your favorite business tools

Siloed data and strategic plans result in minimal impact on business performance. That's why Cascade integrates with hundreds of popular business tools. You can pick between multiple collaboration tools like Teams or Slack, project management tools such as Smartsheet and Airtable, or other business tools such as Excel, Google Sheets, Salesforce, and Microsoft Dynamics.

A central source of information will help you act faster, plan better, and keep your business running well so that you can make more profit over time.

What Users Love About Cascade 💜

Ok, enough talking from our side. Let’s see what Cascade’s users love about this strategy execution platform:

1. Cascade is easy to use

Cascade doesn't do clunky, laggy, or confusing. From automation to reporting, the platform is designed with users in mind. Every tool, feature, and ability is easy to use and quick to learn, and it will improve the way you do strategic management.

G2 review from Jon K.

2. Customer success is Cascade's top priority

If your business wants a strategy execution partner and not just another tool, Cascade is what you’ve been waiting for. Besides a comprehensive library of onboarding videos, tools, and guides, our customer success agents are ready to help you make the most of the platform, no matter your business size.

G2 review from Natalie W.

3. Cascade helps you drive strategy execution across the organization

Siloed efficiencies won’t take your teams where you need them to be. With Cascade, you’ll be able to bring your entire organization into the fold and enhance business intelligence. It has powerful reporting features that allow strategic thinkers, managers, and team leaders to keep an eye on key metrics and ensure performance.

In comparison to non-Cascade users, 90% of Cascade users report that their strategy is on track.

Here’s what our clients love about Cascade:

4. Cascade helps you view business performance at a glance

Expand to a high-level view of strategic initiatives or drill down to see how team activities are aligned with broader strategic goals. With Cascade’s powerful reporting functionality, you’ll get better insights into what’s going right and wrong at different levels.

G2 review

5. Cascade scales with you

When we say Cascade is flexible, we mean it. Cascade is great for small, medium, and large businesses. It’s even better for companies that are growing. Why?

Cascade offers an all-in-one platform that scales with your organization. When you grow, you don’t need to add extra tools. It’s a single solution with no hidden fees.

Pricing:

You can try Cascade’s free forever plan before you fully commit to a new tool.
Pick Cascade’s premium plan for small-to-medium teams. Plan starts at $24 USD / user per month (start with a minimum of 5 users)
Large enterprises get a tailored quote based on their organization's needs.

As you scale, so does Cascade.

What Cascade’s customers say:

“With just 50% growth in sales this year, we grew profitability by 800% through continuous improvements to operational efficiency. With Cascade, we are creating visibility, alignment, and accountability and that’s why we think it is a perfect match.” - Marius Turbatu, Corporate Development Director, eSky Group

Is Cascade The Right Choice For You? 👀

Cascade is the number one choice of 15,000+ teams that focus on growth, efficiency, and profitability.

If you want to use balance scorecards or build your own custom strategic methodologies, Cascade is the perfect platform to help you master strategic execution.

Want to find out if it’s the right balanced scorecard software solution for your business?

Set up a call with a Cascade expert to get a one-on-one walkthrough of the platform’s features. Or, try it for free, and see for yourself.

FAQs About Balanced Scorecard Software

What is a balanced scorecard tool?

A balanced scorecard tool is used in the balanced scorecard methodology to help businesses with strategy planning, tracking, and managing performance. With it, businesses can find performance gaps, make changes, and make sure that their day-to-day operations are in line with their business strategy as a whole.

How do you create a balanced scorecard?

You can make a balanced scorecard for your business by putting all of its KPIs, goals, and objectives into one of four categories: financial, customer, internal business processes, and learning and growth. Then look at each initiative's risks and progress to understand how your organization is performing.

What are the 4 elements of the scorecard?

The four elements of a balanced scorecard divide business projects, initiatives, and activities into four perspectives. These are financial, customer, internal business processes, learning, and growth.

What is a strategy map?

A strategy map is a visualization tool that shows you how balanced scorecard perspectives layer on top of each other. This helps you to visualize and assess the cause-and-effect relationship between strategic objectives.