ThreadWare User Guide

Business KPIs

KPI stands for Key Performance Indicator - a number your company has decided to measure and improve. This module holds those numbers, their targets, and how you are tracking against them.

You only see what you have been given access to

ThreadWare is built from modules - Sales, Production, Quality and so on. An administrator gives you a role in each module, for each company you work in. The menu is built from those roles. So if something in this guide is not in your menu, it has not been given to you yet. Ask your administrator, or log a support ticket. To see what you currently hold, click your initials in the top right and choose My Access & Roles.

Can I use it?

RoleWhat you can do
KPI ViewerView KPIs and analytics.
KPI UpdaterCapture progress against a KPI.
KPI ApproverApprove progress updates other people captured.
KPI AdminCreate KPIs, set targets, assign owners and manage groups.

Where to find it

Menu ▸ Business KPIs ▸ My KPIs

Menu ▸ Business KPIs ▸ KPI Analytics

Your Home page also shows a "My KPIs" table with progress bars, and a count of how many are due an update.

How a KPI works

A KPI has four parts:

  1. The KPI itself - what is being measured, who owns it, and how often it must be updated.
  2. A target - the number you are aiming at, for a period.
  3. Progress - what actually happened, entered as you go.
  4. Approval - somebody with the Approver role confirms a progress entry.
KPI results are typed in by a person, on purpose

ThreadWare does not pull KPI results automatically out of another system. That is a deliberate decision, not a missing feature. Somebody who understands the number should look at it and enter it, because that is the moment problems get noticed.

Everyday jobs

See everything at a glance — KPI Overview

Menu ▸ Business KPIs ▸ KPI Overview shows every KPI you can see as a wall of tiles. Each tile has the KPI's name, its latest figure, a small graph of the last twelve updates against target, and a coloured status: green on track (95 % of target or better), amber attention (70–95 %), red behind, grey update due. The chips along the top filter by status; the box next to them filters by group; type to search. The list icon switches to a tight, sortable table with the same information. Click a tile or row to open the KPI. Mine only shows the KPIs you own.

Sign off a figure

A KPI Approver or Admin sees a tick on each tile and row. Pressing it signs off the latest figure: your name, the time and an optional comment are kept, the figure is locked (nobody can edit it until the sign-off is removed by pressing the green tick), and the KPI's progress list shows a green badge on that line. Sign-off is what tells everyone "this number has been checked".

Update your progress

  1. Open My KPIs.
  2. Find the KPI. Ones that are overdue an update are flagged.
  3. Open it and add a progress entry for the period, with the actual value and a short comment.
  4. Save. If your company uses approvals, it now waits for an Approver.

Needs the KPI Updater role.

Add a KPI or a target

Needs the KPI Admin role. When creating a KPI you set the owner and the frequency of update - that frequency is what makes a KPI show as due or overdue later, so set it honestly.

Approve an update

Approvers see the pending list and can accept or send an entry back. Needs KPI Approver.

See the trend

Open KPI Analytics for charts of targets against actuals over time, and comparisons across KPI groups.

Ask instead of hunting

The AI Assistant answers KPI questions for any signed-in user, filtered to your own sites and access level - no special role needed. Try "which KPIs have not been updated in 3 months?".

KPI groups

KPIs can be grouped so related ones report together. Groups are maintained by an administrator under Administration ▸ Users & Organisation ▸ KPI Groups.

Notifications

The bell in the top bar tells you when a KPI you own is due, or when an update you captured has been approved or returned. ThreadWare can also alert on an unusual jump in a KPI value.

When something looks wrong

What you seeWhat it means
My KPIs is emptyNone are assigned to you. Ask a KPI Admin to set the owner.
You cannot enter progressYou hold KPI Viewer, not KPI Updater.
A KPI keeps showing as overdueIts frequency of update expects an entry more often than you are making one. Either update it or ask an admin to change the frequency.
Your update is not countedIt may be waiting for an Approver.
Analytics shows nothingWiden the date range, and check the KPI actually has targets set.