Method and computer-readable medium for providing spreadsheet-driven key performance indicators

• US 7,587,665 B2
• Filed: 03/15/2005
• Issued: 09/08/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Wong, Alfred Fai Hang, Datars, Andrew E., Megiddo, Eran, Crow, Howard M.
• Primary Examiner(s): HUYNH, CONG LAC T
• Application Number:
  US11/080,165
• Publication Number:
  US 20060212791A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,638 Days
• Field of Search: 715/212, 715/219, 715/220
• US Class Current: 715/212
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/18 of spreadsheets form-filling G06F40/174
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting

Abstract

A method, system, apparatus, and computer-readable medium for providing spreadsheet-driven key performance indicators are disclosed. According to the method, a spreadsheet-driven key performance indicator is created that includes a location of a spreadsheet, a location of a cell within the spreadsheet to be utilized as an indicator value, and a goal value. The key performance indicator may be evaluated by retrieving the indicator value from cell of the spreadsheet, comparing the indicator value to the goal value, and providing a visual indication based on the result of the comparison. The goal value may also be expressed as a location within a spreadsheet. The spreadsheet locations may contain references to databases containing the data that should be utilized as the indicator and goal values. A warning value may also be specified, compared to the indicator, and a visual indication may be provided based upon the result of the comparison.

Claims

1. A method for providing a spreadsheet-driven key performance indicator, the method comprising:

creating the spreadsheet-driven key performance indicator, wherein creating the spreadsheet-driven key performance indictor comprises;

providing a location of a spreadsheet,

providing a location of a first cell within the spreadsheet containing an indicator value, and

providing data for obtaining a goal value, wherein providing the data for obtaining the goal value comprises providing a location of a second cell within the spreadsheet; and

evaluating the spreadsheet-driven key performance indicator, wherein evaluating the spreadsheet-driven key performance indicator comprises;

retrieving the indicator value from the first cell within the spreadsheet containing the indicator value,

retrieving the goal value from the second cell at the provided location of the second cell within the spreadsheet containing the goal value

comparing the indicator value to the goal value, and

providing a visual indication based upon the comparison.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the visual indication based upon the comparison comprises at least one of the following:

displaying a first visual indication if the indicator value is less than the goal value, providing a second visual indication if the indicator value is greater than the goal value, and providing a third visual indication if the indicator value is equal to the goal value.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first cell within the spreadsheet comprises a reference to a database and wherein retrieving the indicator value comprises retrieving the indicator value from the database.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the second cell within the spreadsheet comprises a reference to a database and wherein retrieving the goal value comprises retrieving the goal value from the database.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the key performance indicator further comprises a warning value and wherein evaluating the key performance indicator further comprises comparing the indicator value to the warning value and providing a visual indication at least based upon an indicator-to-warning value comparison.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the warning value is expressed as a location of a third cell within the spreadsheet, and wherein evaluating the key performance indicator further comprises retrieving a warning value from the location of the third cell within the spreadsheet.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the third cell comprises a reference to a database and wherein retrieving the warning value comprises retrieving the warning value from the database.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein providing the visual indication based upon the indicator-to-warning value comparison comprises at least one of the following:

displaying a first visual indication if the indicator value is less than the warning value, providing a second visual indication if the indicator value is greater than the warning value, and providing a third visual indication if the indicator value is equal to the warning value.

9. A computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a computer, perform a method for providing a spreadsheet-driven key performance indicator, the method executed by the computer-executable instructions comprising:

receiving a request to create the spreadsheet-driven key performance indicator, wherein receiving the request to create a spreadsheet-driven key performance indicator comprises;

receiving a location of a spreadsheet,

receiving a location of a first cell within the spreadsheet containing an indicator value, and

receiving data for obtaining a goal value;

in response to receiving the request, saving a key performance indicator definition including the location of the spreadsheet, the location of the first cell within the spreadsheet containing the indicator value, and the data for obtaining the goal value;

receiving a request to evaluate the spreadsheet-driven key performance indicator; and

in response to receiving the request to evaluate the spreadsheet-driven key performance indicator, retrieving the indicator value from the first cell within the spreadsheet, obtaining the goal value based on the received data for obtaining the goal value comparing the goal value to the indicator value, and displaying a visual indication based upon results of the comparison.

10. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the data for obtaining the goal value comprises a number to be utilized as the goal value.

11. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein of the first cell comprises a reference to a database and wherein retrieving the indicator value comprises retrieving the indicator value from the database.

12. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the data for obtaining the goal value comprises a location of a second cell within a spreadsheet from which data can be retrieved and utilized as the goal value.

13. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the second cell comprises a reference to a database and wherein retrieving the goal value comprises retrieving the goal value from the database.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein displaying the visual indication based upon the results of the comparison comprises at least one of the following:

displaying a first visual indication if the indicator value is less than the goal value, displaying a second visual indication if the indicator value is greater than the goal value, and displaying a third visual indication if the indicator value is equal to the goal value.

15. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the request to create the spreadsheet-driven key performance indicator further comprises data for obtaining a warning value, and wherein the computer-readable storage medium further comprises instructions for saving the data for obtaining the warning value in the spreadsheet-driven key performance indicator definition, comparing the warning value to the indicator value in response to the request to evaluate the spreadsheet-driven key performance indicator, and displaying an additional visual indication at least based upon the results of the comparison between the indicator value and the warning value.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the data for obtaining the warning value comprises a number to be utilized as the warning value.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the data for obtaining the warning value comprises a location of a third cell within the spreadsheet from which data can be retrieved and utilized as the warning value.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein displaying the additional visual indication based upon the results of the comparison comprises at least one of the following:

displaying a first visual indication if the indicator value is less than the warning value, displaying a second visual indication if the indicator value is greater than the warning value, and displaying a third visual indication if the indicator value is equal to the warning value.

19. A method for providing a spreadsheet-driven key performance indicator, the method comprising:

creating the spreadsheet-driven key performance indicator, wherein creating the spreadsheet-driven key performance indicator comprises;

receiving a location of a spreadsheet,

receiving a location of a first cell within the spreadsheet containing an indicator value,

receiving an indication of a goal value, wherein the indication of the goal value comprises one of the following;

a numerical value and a location of a second cell within the spreadsheet utilized for the goal value, and

receiving, from a user, an indication specifying when the spreadsheet-driven key performance indicator can be calculated; and

evaluating the spreadsheet-driven key performance indicator, wherein evaluating the spreadsheet-driven key performance indicator comprises;

retrieving the indicator value from the location of the first cell within the spreadsheet containing the indicator value,

determining whether the goal value the goal value is a cell reference, if the indication of the goal value is a cell reference, retrieving the goal value from the second cell within the spreadsheet at the received location of the second cell, otherwise utilizing the received numerical value as the goal value,

comparing the indicator value to the goal value, and

providing a visual indication based upon the comparison.