Balanced Scorecard Flexibility One of the characteristics of the balanced scorecard model is that it is largely flexible and easy to customize to fit a wide range of different applications in a variety of different industries. The Tesco 'Steering Wheel', for example, includes the four main components but then adds a fifth perspectives -- capturing their commitment to the community in addition to their tradition balanced scorecard metrics along the lines of financial, customer, operations and people aspects in their operations. The model has also been adapted to meet some of the unique challenges that lie with the non-profit industry as well as the service industry. Another unique application has been within the field of project management. Project management requires a significant amount of customization since projects are unique by nature and only occur once. Despite the challenges of adapting the balanced scorecard model to fit the project format, many project managers have been able to use the balanced scorecard principles to develop metrics and indicators that can help guide complex projects. This analysis will discuss how the balanced scorecard can be used in a variety of ways in project management.

Discussion

The Balance Scorecard provides a means to clarify, articulate and communicate strategy and it can be used as a shorthand way of putting all key measures into a 'dashboard' that can be used to monitor results; furthermore, by including non-financial measures,...

In different industries and different management perspectives, the non-financial factors that are important to the organization can be substantially different. However, being able to identify important links between financial performance and the underlying customer, internal processes and organizational metric can create a mechanism for translating the strategic vision into concrete actions necessary to achieve success in a wide variety of situations.
Heathrow Terminal 5 was a major project management initiative that began was completed in March of 2008 that represented a major step in the transformation of Heathrow airport. The project had to utilize a different design and create new metrics given the size, proximity, and the complexity of the project. It also had to find an optimal balance point between difficult management concepts such as short-term and long-term objectives as well as financial measures vs. non-financial measures. For example, the project was the one of Europe's largest construction project and was expected to carry roughly thirty million passengers per year as well as add terminal and aircraft parking capabilities (Basu, LIttle, & Millard, 2009). However, many of the benefits of such a project are entirely intangible. For example, having a well-designed and functional airport would support growth of all businesses…