The balanced scorecard is a strategic planning and management system that is used extensively in business and industry, government, and nonprofit organizations worldwide to align business activities to the vision and strategy of the organization, improve internal and external communications, and monitor organization performance against strategic goals. It was originated by Dr. Robert Kaplan and David Norton as a performance measurement framework that added strategic non-financial performance measures to traditional financial metrics to give managers and executives a more 'balanced' view of organizational performance.

Why we use a balanced scorecard? Because we can use it to improve organizational performance by measuring what matters/increase focus on strategy and results/align organization strategy with workers on a day-to-day basis/focus on the drivers key to future performance/improve communication of the organization’s vision and strategy/prioritize projects or initiatives.

The balanced scorecard model suggests that we view the organization from4 perspectives:
Financial - Value to shareholders
Customer - Customer satisfaction and market growth
Innovation and learning - People and infrastructure
Internal - Processes that drive the business
Then develop metrics,collect data and analyze it relative to each of these perspectives.

The advantages of balanced scorecard is Balanced Scorecards can provide a visual means of demonstrating how different goals are related. Increased sales improve the profit or sales goals under the financial section. Improved customer service meets the “voice of the customer” goal.Balanced Scorecard allows companies to bridge the gap between mission statement or over-arching goals and how day to day activities support the company's mission or objectives. A BSC goal of pleasing the customer can be tied to improving technical