Balanced Scorecard: University of Oberhausen (fictional example)

Due to the increasing national and international competitive pressure that characterizes the University landscape in Germany, the University of Oberhausen wanted to further develop its organization in order to provide the best possible conditions for teaching and research. Therefore it was decided that a controlling system would be developed with the aid of the balanced scorecard, which would enable the modernization of management and the impact of the University of Oberhausen.

The University therefore determined the perspectives to be considered first. The specific task, or completion of the task, thus comprised research and teaching. The financial perspective is determined by the students, investors (private persons or companies) as well as third-party funds (region, Federation, EU). The customer group comprises students and teachers. The fifth perspective, the employee and development perspective, comprises academic employees, professors and administrative employees.

Subgoals then had to be defined from the named perspectives and key figures and target values had to be determined. Furthermore measures that would ensure success had to be considered.

As an improvement in all the named perspectives firstly only represents an ideal state, and as financial budgets are limited at universities, the University of Oberhausen wanted to focus on key areas and first concentrate on the core functions of the teaching institution. When determining and calculating the key figures, the University management requested the support of all affected parties in order to find a collective agreement on the choice and implementation of all the measures. The result of the considerations was summarized on the balanced scorecard below.

Thanks to the successful implementation of balanced scorecards, decision-makers at the University of Oberhausen and are now provided with the information that they require via a developed report system. On the one hand, this makes a logical organizational planning process possible and, on the other hand, strategic success criteria are included in the decision-making process besides operational measurement categories.

BALANCED SCORECARD

Goals Key figures Current value Target value Measures

Task completion

Promote students -Registrations per semester-Dropout rate - Develop lecture offerings

Customer/citizen perspective

Use lectures to capacity Students/% of university places 80% 100%

- Reduce capacities (if applicable)-Conduct advertising events at schools

Economy

Process the concerns of students quickly

- Average number of cases- Average waiting time

- Increase personnel- Train administrative employees

Balanced Scorecard: University of Oberhausen (fictional example)