What Are Cause & Effect Maps?

A cause & effect map lets you illustrate the cause and effect relationships of an objective or KPI that is listed in the "Strategy pane." (Note that cause & effect maps are diagrams that are used in scorecard and are not related to map views that are described in Chapter 3, "Adding Views for Display in Dashboards.")

Figure 12-17 shows an example of a cause & effect map for the Improve Financial Results objective.

You create cause and effect relationships for:

• An objective when you create or edit the objective and identify:

  • Other objectives or KPIs that impact or support the objective (causes)

  • Other objectives or KPIs that this objective impacts or supports (effects)

  See "Creating Objectives" for additional information.

• A KPI when you work with KPI details.

  • Other objectives or KPIs that impact or support the KPI (causes)

  • Other objectives or KPIs that this KPI impacts or supports (effects)

  (See "Working with KPI Details" for additional information.

A cause and effect map also indicates the proportionality (that is, whether changes in performance or value in the cause and effect relationship are directly proportional (direct) or inversely proportional (inverse) and strength (strong, moderate, or weak) of cause & effect relationships using symbols.

A cause & effect map helps you to better understand the implications of future strategic changes.

You can create a cause & effect map in either Edit or View mode:

• In Edit mode, you can create and save a cause & effect map.

• In View mode, you can create a temporary, read-only cause & effect map. You cannot save it.

  See "Using the Edit and View Modes in the Scorecard Editor" for additional information about the Edit and View modes.

See "Creating Cause & Effect Maps" for additional information on creating cause & effect maps.