![\"Chris](\"https:\/\/www.quantiv.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Chris.png\")
Chris Conway
\nChief Architect, Quantiv<\/p>\n<\/div>
There\u2019s an old business management adage: \u2018You can\u2019t control what you can\u2019t measure.\u2019 And while the phrase might sound obvious, it isn\u2019t just management speak. There\u2019s some science to it, too:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Control theory is based on the principle of adjusting the operation of a system based on its inputs and outputs. And that only works if those inputs and outputs can be valued as operational metrics.<\/li>\n
- Machine learning works on the same principle.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
But <\/i>to be truly meaningful, the phrase could be followed by: \u2018You can\u2019t measure what you can\u2019t describe.\u2019<\/p>\n
At first glance, my addition to the saying might seem less precise. Words<\/a> are notoriously flexible, and disputes about their meaning can become heated.<\/p>\n
But what\u2019s useful here isn\u2019t the flexibility of the words themselves but the formality of the grammar that governs their use.<\/p>\n
This only requires a basic awareness of grammatical concepts, not a detailed understanding. And that\u2019s just as well because I\u2019m no grammar pedant or expert. In fact, much of my grammar knowledge stems from learning foreign languages and later studying computer science. I\u2019ve only retrospectively applied these learnings to my native tongue.<\/p>\n
An analytical starting point<\/h3>\n
A grammar, in whatever language \u2013 English, French, Latin, C++, SQL \u2013 offers a set of rules that define how \u2018tokens\u2019 (words) can be arranged into groups (sentences) to communicate information<\/a> or instructions.<\/p>\n
In the context of an organisation\u2019s operation, those grammatical rules can be applied to a series of well-structured sentences to identify good operational metrics. In other words, to help provide a description of what to measure.<\/p>\n
Operational events<\/h3>\n
Dynamic verbs are perhaps the most important component in describing an organisation\u2019s operations:<\/p>\n
- \n
- In their continuous forms, they describe the processes and activities that are (or were) happening, such as: \u2018Orders are\/were being sent [verb] to customers.\u2019<\/li>\n
- In their completed forms, they describe the events that happened because of those processes and activities, for example: \u2018The order was sent [verb] to the customer.\u2019<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Seen in this way, the verbs associated with describing critical business processes and activities serve as the foundation for defining relevant metrics.<\/p>\n
Process dimensions<\/h3>\n
But while verbs might indicate what is happening or has happened, and so suggest overall metrics, they only really become informative when the surrounding context is known.<\/p>\n
In a sentence, the subject and object give that context.<\/p>\n
For a sentence describing an organisation\u2019s operations, the subjects and objects often represent the participants or roles associated with the activity:<\/p>\n
- \n
- The customer [subject] ordered from the supplier [object].<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
However, it can also be useful to reference one or more of the instructions that triggered or resulted from the event:<\/p>\n
- \n
- The customer [subject] placed an order [object].<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
And distinguishing the direct and indirect objects can add more detail:<\/p>\n
- \n
- The customer [subject] placed an order [direct object]\u00a0with the supplier [indirect object].<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Characteristic dimensions<\/h3>\n
But sentences aren\u2019t just about actions and participants \u2013 they can add colour to a description using adverbs and adjectives.<\/p>\n
And these extra elements can also be useful in helping to add information to operational metrics<\/a>:<\/p>\n
- \n
- The new<\/i> customer easily<\/i> placed an online<\/i> order with the preferred<\/i> supplier.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Including adverbs and adjectives in business descriptions can capture the qualitative aspects of performance, such as efficiency, accuracy and reliability.<\/p>\n
These qualities can then be included in operational metrics as extra \u2018characteristic\u2019 dimensions. And this then allows basic operational information to be viewed from different perspectives \u2013 but without the overhead of building a full-scale business analytics solution.<\/p>\n
NumberWorks<\/h3>\n
Taken together, these grammatical concepts can be used as the basis of a method to identify operational metrics from organisational descriptions.<\/p>\n
Quantiv\u2019s<\/a> NumberWorks method is based on these principles. Its simple grammar defines and evaluates operational metrics based on the insights derived from natural language analysis.<\/p>\n
NumberWorks establishes parameters and measurement criteria for each identified metric. And it aligns metric definitions with specific business goals and objectives to ensure relevance and applicability.<\/p>\n
So, while a method might not write the sentences describing your organisation\u2019s operation, it does provide hints as to how to write those descriptions.<\/p>\n
To learn more<\/a>, call us on 0161 927 4000 or\u00a0email:\u00a0info@quantiv.com<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There\u2019s an old business management adage: \u2018You can\u2019t control what you can\u2019t measure.\u2019 And while the phrase might sound obvious, it isn\u2019t just management speak.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1715,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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- The new<\/i> customer easily<\/i> placed an online<\/i> order with the preferred<\/i> supplier.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- The customer [subject] placed an order [direct object]\u00a0with the supplier [indirect object].<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- The customer [subject] placed an order [object].<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- The customer [subject] ordered from the supplier [object].<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n