It is a concept created by the professionals of Harvard, Robert Skaplan and David P. Norton, at the beginning of the 90 like strategic tool of management that must be understood like a panel in which there appear the Home indicators of functioning of any organization and his targets so that, of only one glance, we could exercise the opportune control systems.

In the integral control panel or balance score card there appear the signs of functioning of any company, what helps to manage it of the most suitable form.

As written document will serve at all times like tool of work and of reference to make sure that, really, it is advanced towards the established targets, doing what had been foreseen and reaching, like result, the established goals, helping us to take decisions of action when deviations take place.

It will serve also to detect the appearance of risks (activities, projects, requests, etc.) not foreseen initially and them to help us to fit inside the targets, taking decisions about his utility and expediency of being rejected or moved or, on the contrary, of being integrated to the plan, awarding his corresponding priority to them inside the performance plan.

9.1. How is it structured?

The structure of the plan framed by the picture of control, it will be different according to the level in which it is framed inside the organization. If we depart from a plan on a global scale we will have to answer to the following scheme:

We see therefore that the governing plan, on the one hand, subdivides in the strategic plans of the different areas in which the company is structured. Without intention of being exhaustive, these areas can be, for example, the following ones:

• Staff areas:

– Organization and systems.

– Juridical.

– Communication.

– Corporate responsibility.

– Etc.

• Line areas or operative:

– Marketing.

– TV/radio commercial.

– Financier.

– Human resources.

– I+D.

– Production.

– Etc.

It must be said here that, in case of a big company a structure can exist divisional to attend on different markets or, even, different units of business. In this case, the structure can be more complex, with areas of staff, operative areas and divisions, etc.

Centring on the simplest case, every basic area will be able to have, in turn, subareas, this way, a marketing area can have the subareas of communication, publicity, markets investigation … A commercial area can have areas, etc.

In any case, from the governing plan there comes the annual operative plan (POA) composed by the operative plans of the different areas.

The operative plan of every area will have to contain the following points:

• Targets, that is to say, what is what we want to obtain.
• Performance plan, that is to say:

– What are we going to do to obtain it.

– How are we going to do it.

– How are we going to control that we go for the good way.

• I budget, that is to say, for the all kinds resources that we reckon to use to execute the plan.

9.2. How does one work with the plan?

According to the targets to be reached, the plan must go being detached and materializing up to reaching the plan of performance of each of the members of the team in the area, subarea or department; for it, the person in charge:

• It will mark priorities.
• He will analyze the available information.
• It will take decisions.
• It will establish a plan or work calendar.

From these individual plans of work in which every member of the team is contributed:

• General information necessary for the development of his activities.
• General targets, up to the level that should know.
• Particular targets detached up to the level that is considered to be operative.
• General activities to realize to reach these targets.
• Available resources.
• Basic work plan with the control.
• Other general, common activities or of coordination.

From here the systematical one is established of work based on meetings in which, in a general way, it will be checked:

• Targets.
• Revision of the activities realized and results reached.
• Deviations analysis (if they were).
• Goals to be reached up to the next meeting.
• Work plan (activities to realize) up to the next meeting.
• Necessary resources.
• In his case, specific formation.

9.3. Starting point

The starting point for any plan is always the current situation. The more one knows about the same one, not only as for results, but as for the performances that have led the same one, the quality of the plan will be the better, it is for it that there is always suitable the achievement of a preaudit of management realized with objective and professional criteria.

Independently of the strategic targets and plans of action, in the long term it will be essential to contemplate all the matters and tasks that, at present, claim more or less immediate attention, analyzing them carefully, seeing his implications, prioritizing them and including them finally in the operative plans, so that the short term is made compatible with the way and the length from a strategic perspective.

9.4. Areas of control and progress in his fulfillment

For well structured that the plans are, these will not serve as anything if:

• We lose of sight the targets (that is to say, we submerge in the "task" without reflecting in why and why we realize it).
• We forget to come often to the plan to insure ourselves of that we continue it.
• We do not analyze the results and reconstruct based on the same ones.
• We fall down in the achievement of «comfortable activities» of low or void priority but of apparent utility.

To avoid these dangers, the only "preventive medicine" is a rigorous discipline as for the meetings of pursuit at all the levels, so that systematically it is stated that it is advanced where it was foreseen and there are corrected the deviations and, especially, «the comfortable activities» that contribute nothing to the targets and brake vital resources.

We allow by the end the worst of the threats that is, once realized, to see to the proper plan as such, like a pressure, burden … The person has naturally a certain tendency to the lawlessness and any plan commits an outrage against her. Any plan will suffer this threat in major or minor measurement: from the manager or I am in charge, that will tend «to forget it» up to the members of the team who will tend to look to him for snags and disadvantages, more or less unconsciously, «to torpedo it».

The only remedy against this threat is the absolute commitment with the plan of the responsible maxima and a rigorous discipline in his pursuit.