You can capture, extract, and report data metrics from your automation initiatives in a thousand or more ways. Metrics are the cornerstone of your program's success and something we've established time and again as fundamental in the Start phase of every automation program. Metrics are the manifestation of your intelligent automation work that allows leaders to understand overall business processes and make informed, strategic decisions. Determining your metrics from the outset is crucial to establishing how your work will illustrate and support business value.
Recently, Ryan Dennings (Manager of Intelligent Automation & ECM at Auto-Owners Insurance Company and Automation Anywhere MVP) presented his insights on metrics reporting to members of the Midwest User Group in their quarterly meeting. His advice:
- Set a metrics logging standard
- Determine what's important to whom
- Leverage existing resources to share your metrics
Setting Your Standards
Metrics logging standards enable automation leaders to present business owners with detailed information about automations, including policies and owners. They also build trust and transparency around your automation program, which is critical to the success of any automation program. Ryan recommends establishing good data collection by creating an automation to log the data and information you've determined is pertinent to your organization. By having an automation log your metrics, you can ensure specific data points are captured precisely how you need them every time, no matter how granular. The biggest “oopsie” an automator can make is to miss capturing the juicy metrics that are the hard evidence of the success of your automation program.
What's Important To Whom
Different data is important to different people. If you develop an automation that picks up the work load for a department, the most impactful data to that department head might be seeing how that automation helps save or postpone additional staffing needs. On the other hand, a C-suite executive may value seeing the revenue generated from that automation, or an IT manager may need the granular detail of that automation’s work for compliance and audits. Ryan urges you to keep these diverse needs in mind. Summarize data in a way that is meaningful for those who will be looking at it. A metrics dashboard can be uber useful to provide different people in your organization with different metrics. You can share quarterly results with specific lines of business, minute details with security and compliance teams, and a more visually appealing corporate roll-up for executives who may prefer higher-level summaries. In his own experience, Ryan found that a dashboard can also engage people and unleash a competitive spirit when teams start to compare how they measure up to other departments on the dashboard. Data creating excitement and spreading automation awareness? We bet that's a win-win you wouldn't have expected!
Leverage Existing Resources To Share Data
When it comes to distributing your automation results, Ryan recommends leveraging existing tools or systems. Many organizations already have reporting tools in use. If you can log your data and have it flow into existing and, more importantly, familiar reporting tools, end users and business leaders can easily see data about an automation's performance in a way consistent with how they view other operational data. You've probably heard the phrase, "You can't teach an old dog new tricks." Well, this eliminates a big learning curve!
Keep Evolving
We are so grateful to Ryan for sharing these helpful tips to make metrics meaningful. Of course, as your program grows—hopefully thanks to the powerful metrics you’re sharing across your organization—your data will likely need to evolve. These tips are not set-it-and-forget-it. Stay attuned to your people and your business needs. As goals change, adjust your metrics to continue to illustrate the value where it is being sought and the trajectory in which your program is heading. Keep your metrics meaningful!