Order intake
How does future revenue develop? Green sits above the revenue target. Leading indicator for growth and buffer.
Business steering: how do we lead on current data?
Above the six operational processes sits a steering layer. teamspace compresses their data into eight KPIs in one cockpit for leadership, with its own traffic-light logic and a clear maturity model.
Three layers, one data set
Six processes, eight KPIs, one view.
The operational processes run day to day. teamspace compresses their data into eight KPIs and joins them into a single management view. Each layer reads the same situation at its own altitude, and one click leads from the KPI back to the individual transaction.
Cockpit Management
one view · today
Eight metrics with status logic
Order intake
Pipeline
Revenue
Forecast
Margin
Utilisation
Revenue / head
Liquidity
Six operational processes one data set
Sales
Projects
Billing
Costs
Service
People
Bottom to top, the data condenses; top to bottom, one click drills back to the single opportunity.
Eight KPIs
Eight KPIs for the top view.
Deliberately reduced to eight. More dilutes attention, fewer leaves a crucial question open. Each KPI has a leading question and belongs to a process. The green ranges are industry-typical guidance, freely configurable.
Pipeline value
How much potential sits in sales? As guidance, two to four times monthly revenue, for stable utilisation.
Revenue (actual)
How is the business doing right now? Green means on plan or slightly above. The core performance KPI.
Revenue forecast
Where is revenue heading? Projected from open orders and contracts. Basis for decisions that look ahead.
Project profitability
Are we earning on our projects? From contribution margin and earned value. As guidance, 15 to 30 percent margin, industry dependent.
Staff utilisation
Are we using resources well? Billable hours against working time, as guidance 70 to 85 percent. Key balance between efficiency and room for acquisition.
Revenue per employee
How productive is the firm? Annual revenue per head, industry-typical 100 to 250 thousand euros. A measure of scalability.
Liquidity
Are we financially stable? From open items and expected income. As guidance, two to six months of fixed costs covered.
KPIs in concert
A single KPI sometimes lies.
The eight KPIs are not read in isolation. Only the combination reveals the true picture. High utilisation looks good, until a thin margin sits next to it. Then the team works a lot and earns little, a sign of rates set too low or projects running out of hand.
The same holds for several pairs. High revenue without liquidity means the invoices are sent but not paid. A large pipeline without closes is false comfort. Whoever places the KPIs side by side sees the story behind the single number.
- High utilisation, low margin: much work, little return.
- High revenue, tight liquidity: sent, but not paid.
- Full pipeline, few closes: false comfort.
Where you stand
Which of your KPIs is red today?
In a 15 to 30 minute requirements call we look together at your management reporting and place it on a maturity level.
The steering rhythm
KPIs become decisions.
Steering is not a monthly report but a rhythm. The measured situation becomes an action, whose effect is visible again in the next cycle.
- 1
Measure
Compress the situation
The data from the operational processes converges into eight KPIs, current to the day and defined consistently.
8 KPIscurrent to the day - 2
Assess
Check the traffic light
Each KPI has thresholds for green, amber and red. The eye goes first to what is tipping.
GreenAmberRed - 3
Decide
Prioritise the deviation
Red values are often connected. Instead of acting everywhere at once, management sets an order.
OrderRoot cause - 4
Act
Action in the process
Each KPI belongs to a process with an owner. The action lands where it works, not in a list.
OwnerProcess - 5
Follow up
Effect in the review
In the next cycle the same KPI shows whether the action is taking hold. Reporting becomes lived steering.
weeklymonthly
Typical mistakes
When no one looks at the dashboards any more.
Many management dashboards are full and yet useless. They show too many KPIs without structure, without a link to the processes and without current data. The answer is a deliberately lean cockpit that forms a real steering layer instead of a wall of numbers.
Eight clearly defined figures with a traffic light beat forty without order. Whoever shows less sees more in the end.
- Too many KPIs: showing 40 numbers signals helplessness.
- No structure: a sensible order follows the value chain.
- No process link: a KPI without an owner is decoration.
- Not current: what is a week old does not carry a decision.
Maturity
From gut feel to a live cockpit.
No firm jumps straight to the highest level. We assess steering on a six-stage model that makes the realistic path visible.
Level 0: unplanned
Steering runs on gut feel and a few spreadsheets. No consistent KPIs.
Level 1: manual
Monthly reports from spreadsheets, often weeks late. Definitions vary across areas.
Level 2: structured
A defined KPI set, consolidated manually across several tools. The quarter works, the month is shaky.
Level 3: assisted
An analysis tool pulls data from the operational systems. The sources still need care.
Level 4: largely automated
An integrated cockpit with live data. Traffic-light logic per KPI, forecast across several months.
Level 5: fully automated
Live cockpit with early warning, drill-down from KPI to the single transaction and trend projection.
Individual targets
Industry, size and strategy define the green.
The green values named are guidance, not dogma. What counts as healthy utilisation or a good margin depends on industry, business model, size and the question of whether a firm tends to work to fixed price or to effort. teamspace lets you set the thresholds for green, amber and red freely per KPI and adjust them over time.
That is more than cosmetics. Accepted targets are used for decisions, ignored ones are not. A realistic traffic light that reflects your own firm beats an ambitious one that no one takes seriously.
- Thresholds for green, amber and red per KPI, individual per firm.
- Adjustable over time, when growth or the market shifts the targets.
- Realistic rather than blindly ambitious, so the values hold.
Classic reporting against teamspace steering.
| Feature | Classic reporting | teamspace steering |
|---|---|---|
| Data sources | Collected from several tools by export | One shared data set, numbers live in the processes |
| Currency | Monthly report mid next month | Current to the day, from the running day-to-day work |
| Definition | Different per area, debate over the meaning of revenue | Eight uniformly defined KPIs, across processes |
| Ownership | KPI without a clear owner | Every KPI has a process and an owner |
| Drill-down | Ends at the chart in the presentation | From the KPI to the individual transaction |
| Traffic-light logic | Not present or hard coded | Thresholds per KPI, freely configurable |
The target picture
Steering, not reporting.
Business steering is leading the firm on the basis of a few central KPIs that are compressed from the operational processes and measured continuously against targets. A good cockpit, also called a management cockpit or KPI cockpit, is more than the sum of pretty charts: it reduces the situation to a few KPIs that support a decision. Hindsight becomes early warning, diffuse responsibility becomes clear ownership per process.
The decisive step is the connection. When leadership clicks on a red pipeline, a few clicks land at the sales opportunities causing the problem. Because teamspace is at the same time the operational system in which sales, projects, invoicing and people live, the number is current without an export and is maintained at its origin, not reconstructed afterwards. That is the difference between a firm that lives by chance and one that is led predictably.
- Early warning instead of hindsight: the KPI shows what is coming.
- Ownership per process instead of diffuse responsibility.
- Discussion about actions instead of about where the numbers come from.
Modules involved
Where the eight KPIs come from.
Each KPI draws its data from an operational area. Six teamspace modules feed the steering layer.
Sales controlling
Pipeline, forecast, conversion and order intake from sales.
Learn moreProject controlling
Margin, plan/actual, earned value and early warning per project.
Learn moreInvoicing software
Revenue and forecast from open orders and contracts.
Learn moreCapacity planning
Utilisation and outlook across all staff and skills.
Learn moreHR software
Revenue per employee, sickness rate and skill profiles.
Learn moreService desk
SLA attainment and service cost as part of profitability.
Learn moreFrequently asked questions about business steering
Why exactly eight KPIs?
Because eight strikes the balance between overview and detail. Four are too few to cover sales, delivery, finance and people. More than ten overwhelm the view of a weekly review. The eight KPIs cover the value chain and each is tied to one process.
Do we have to adopt the target values named?
No. The guidance values, for example two to four times monthly revenue for the pipeline, are a starting point for many B2B service providers. Optimal values depend on industry, business model, size and strategy. teamspace lets you define the traffic-light thresholds freely per KPI and adjust them over time.
What is the difference from a classic analysis tool?
A pure analysis tool pulls data from the operational systems and displays it. teamspace is at the same time the operational system: sales, projects, invoicing and people live here. The cockpit is therefore current without an export, and a KPI's definition is maintained at its origin, not reconstructed afterwards.
How often should leadership look at the cockpit?
At least weekly for the top view, monthly for the reviews with business unit leads. When first building a steering system, daily looks help to build trust in data quality. Once the cockpit is established, a deliberate rhythm is enough.
How do we control who sees which KPIs?
Through the teamspace permission system. It governs who may view and edit which information. So leadership sees the full cockpit, while other roles receive only the KPIs and transactions relevant to them.
What do we do when three KPIs are red?
That is exactly what the traffic-light logic is for. It forces you to set an order rather than acting everywhere at once. The red values are often connected. A red pipeline, a red forecast and a weak utilisation outlook usually belong together and are solved through the sales process, not in three separate actions.
Other processes
Business steering is just one of seven core processes. Here are the other six:
Sales process
How do we consistently win the right work?
Project delivery process
How do we deliver projects reliably and profitably?
Billing process
How do we convert work into revenue quickly and in full?
Cost control process
How do we keep costs and liquidity under control at all times?
Customer care process
How do we serve clients by value and with high quality?
Workforce process
How do we steer capacity, skills and motivation optimally?
Which of the eight KPIs is red for you today?
In a 15 to 30 minute requirements call we place your management reporting on a maturity level and show how the cockpit becomes a reliable standard in a few weeks.