The majority of people think Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are Key Result Indicators (KRIs). This is not the case!
What’s the difference?
Key Result Indicators (KRIs) record the result of a combination of activities a business undertakes, i.e. sales per month, gross profit margin, net profit margin.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are forward looking, they indicate whether the business is on track in a particular area or what action must be taken to bring the numerical result of the KPI back into a range that is acceptable for the business
Example:
KRI - sales $ per employee per month
This records the result of what the employee has done over the past 30 days in sales
KPI - # sales meetings in diary for next 30 days
This outlines that the employee is going to have for example 80 sales meetings over the next 30 days. If their conversion rate is 75% then they will have (80 x 75%) 60 sales for the 30 days.
See the difference?
If you report on the KRI you will find out the result of the employees work over the past 30 days. If you report on the KPI, you will find out whether the employee is on track for the next 30 days, if not, the employee knows exactly what they need to do to get back on track!