Delignes, a major telephonic equipment installation company, operates in a telephonic sector which has gone through enormous changes. Delignes has 40 agencies dealing with companies. Delignes acts as a distributor and installer. The agencies are managed by the Agency Director, who is supported by Heads of Sales and Technical Director.
Its products range from telephone handsets to switchboards and Automatic Call distributors. The company needs to carefully lead its activities in order not to burden the accounts.
However, in an ever changing environment, driving without ‘tableau de bord' becomes more risky.
A ‘tableau de bord' is a management system (not only a measurement system) that enables organizations to clarify their vision and strategy and translate them into action. It would be suitable for Delignes to implement such a tool to pilot its business.
We will see how to make right decisions based on relevant information. According to Delignes' activity, we will first build three adapted ‘tableau de bord', for the Agency Director, the Head of Sales and the Technical Director. Then it will be necessary to explain the role of this new tool and the way to introduce it in the Delignes management system
[...] Then, the question is: if Delignes agencies have X contracts which are almost over, how many will be renewed? This indicator should tend to 100%. - Controlling the product mix: o Number of maintenance contracts / Number of installations realized We will come back to this objective later in the next section. MAXIMIZE THE CONTRIBUTION: Before finding indicators related to the action variables defined earlier, there are two indicators of results: o The agency's contribution in Euros o The agency's contribution rate: agency contribution/Agency revenue In the same way, we have defined indicators in relation with the action variables: - Working within estimates/schedules: o Difference between predicted amounts on the projects and amounts spent on the projects o Number of working days on projects / Number of working days estimated When an estimate is accepted by a client, it becomes a contract for the agency. [...]
[...] Finally, the ‘tableau de bord' enhances team spirit within the company around common objectives, but Delignes will have to be careful with the introduction and management of its ‘tableau de bord'. Indeed, the top management will have to present the ‘tableau de bord' as a management tool and not as a control tool. Then, they will have to set up an information system to facilitate the gathering of data and the filling of the ‘tableau de bord' without any pressure. [...]
[...] In case of bad indicators, they will have to identify the real cause during the meeting. For instance, if the reaction time in case of failure is too long the reasons could be: insufficient staff, wrong process or lack of efficiency of the staff. Thanks to these analyses, they would be able to find corrective actions. Once the information is added, the ‘tableau de bord' will be send to the agency director. The ‘tableau de bord' can be an appropriate tool for a manager to lead his/her department's activities. [...]
[...] After interviewing several directors and analyzing the Organizational Chart and the typical agency organization (Appendix 1 and the following representation allows a better understanding of each manager's role in Delignes company: Action variables Objectives Manager concerned Revenue Contribut Controlli Agency Head of Technical ion ng the Director Sales Director WCN Commercial ( ( ( dynamism Customer ( ( ( ( ( ( satisfaction Working within ( ( ( ( estimate/schedule Controlling the ( ( ( ( product mix Controlling the ( ( activity rate Controlling the ( ( ( agency costs Controlling ( ( ( customers payment schedules Each Director needs a ‘tableau de bord' adapted to his missions and objectives. [...]
[...] The second indicator allows the manager to check the operational effectiveness of training, thanks to the rate of new sales representatives' success in obtaining contracts. - Up-dating competences: o Average number of training days followed / sales representative. It is the company's duty to train its sales representatives for them to be kept up-to-date with the agency's products and their specificities. The quality of their professionalism will help them in making the suitable offers to the different customers' needs. The above indicator will help the Head of Sales in planning training and controlling the level of competences of his/her staff. [...]
APA Style reference
For your bibliographyOnline reading
with our online readerContent validated
by our reading committee
