Having utilised both manual and scattered tools to manage its Balanced Scorecards, du identified the need to unify its approach in order to better align its business activities with the vision and strategy of the organisation. du collaborated with QPR Metrics to provide it with the required support and bring consistency to performance management, as well as automate the data collection to effectively track the progress of the large organisation
About du
du is an integrated telecommunications service provider in the UAE. The company is 39.5% owned by Emirates Investment Authority, 19.75% by Mubadala Development company PJSC, 19.5% by Emirates Communications and Technology LLC and the remaining 21.25% by public shareholders. du is listed on the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) and trades under the name du. du launched mobile services in February 2007 across the UAE. More information is available at www.du.ae
The challenge of scattered data
du resolved to expand the scope of its Balanced Scorecard implementation, while bringing the corporate aspect under the ERP system. Hence a need to automate data collection, information accessibility and presentation arose. Centralised performance management enables organisations to keep improved track of the progress of operations. Earlier, du had managed its individual performance vis-à-vis an ERP system where information regarding rewards and incentives was stored centrally, whereas the corporate and departmental Balanced Scorecards were maintained in MS Excel.
Collating performance management under one system enabled du to streamline the entire performance management and decision-making process across the company.
The prominent factors that du considered when looking for a viable solution were ease of use, scalability and support for good graphical presentation of data. A cross-departmental team of business and technical staff evaluated three different Balanced Scorecard tools before choosing QPR Metrics based on technical and commercial guidelines.

The QPR Metrics solution stood out with:

Easy implementation that did not require expensive hardware

Strong local support

Competitive pricing

Automated BSC to effectively track performance
du was committed to transforming its legacy solution and implementing a user friendly and automated system that tracks the monthly performance of all scorecard holders. As a result, du offered the implementation team a great degree of support so that they were able to independently define and fine-tune the details concerning architecture and implementation as early as possible.
The implementation was managed by QPR’s partner in the UAE, IYCON. The project was estimated to take approximately 90 days and it was executed in a phased manner with every milestone clearly described. The implementation team at IYCON ensured that the project remained on track, meeting the deadlines of each phase. Most importantly, the flexibility of the IYCON team ensured that all of du’s requirements were met. The flexibility of QPR Metrics allowed for extensive customisations to meet the high standards of visual guidelines and user experience.
As ease of use was paramount for the team at du, the automated Balanced Scorecards ensured with QPR Metrics were easy to adopt and also adapt to the organisation’s evolving requirements. In addition, the graphical interface was user friendly and did not require any specialised training for using the system.
Data driven decision making
Data aggregation and collation is experiencing steadfast growth throughout the region. Having recognised the mounting importance of data analysis, du chose the automated Balanced Scorecard solution powered by QPR Metrics, so that focus could remain on delivering relevant information and reports in order to attain a comprehensive picture of how the organisation’s performance was developed.
The new system enabled du to streamline data collection, quality control, distribution and presentation of monthly reports. QPR’s solution supports du, so that more time can be spent on data analysis, whereas previously a significant amount of time would be spent collecting data and ensuring its integrity.
About IYCON
IYCON is a transformational technology solutions company whose mission is to serve businesses and governments, by delivering high quality strategic execution services, through world class technology tools, expertise, best practice methodologies and continued quality support. IYCON is a leader in improvement and delivery of Strategy Management Execution, as well as a preferred Strategy Execution Partner for government and private corporations. Using its best practice methodology IYCON provides companies and governments a road map for Process and Risk Integrated Strategy Execution. IYCON delivers more than products, by adding value to these products through its best practice implementation methodology.
About QPR
QPR Software Plc is a publicly listed (NASDAQ OMX) software vendor providing world-class solutions for strategy execution, performance management and process excellence with over 20 years of experience. QPR’s comprehensive software offering is highly recognized by distinguished technology analysts such as Gartner. QPR’s products have over 2 000 customers from over 50 countries with more than a million licenses sold to date. www.qpr.com