The American economist Robert S. Kaplan developed the concept of the balanced scorecard (BSC) as part of a study. The aim was to create an approach for performance measurement, whose focus was not placed solely on financial indicators and that would enable more than just a backward-looking, historical evaluation.
Different areas of a business, so-called perspectives, are considered from a holistic perspective in order to assess their performance. The strategic alignment of a company can be modelled and defined more precisely through the assignment of suitable targets and metrics to these perspectives.
At the same time, the BSC indicates the correlation between visions, objectives, control parameters and measures. For instance, it shows a connection between strategy and the definition of measures, hence permitting clear visualization of strategies and therefore increasing the probability of their implementation.
The balanced scorecard system uses both short and long-term objectives, monetary and non-monetary metrics, late and early indicators, as well as external and internal perspectives. It is therefore an outstanding controlling instrument within software asset management as well.