--- title: 5 Reasons a Datawarehouse is Critical to a Solid Balanced Scorecard description: Learn why a solid SAP BW datawarehouse is critical to achieving outstanding Balanced Scorecard results. Learn how your Business Strategy depends on it. image: https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/hubfs/Balanced%20Scorecard/Balanced%20Scorecard%20Certified%20Graduate.jpg --- ![Balanced Scorecard Consulting](https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/hubfs/Balanced%20Scorecard/Balanced%20Scorecard%20Certified%20Graduate.jpg) # 5 Reasons a Datawarehouse is Critical to a Solid Balanced Scorecard Table of Contents ## Balanced Scorecard Bootcamp   Recently completed the Kaplan-Norton [**Balanced Scorecard**](https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/developing-balanced-scorecards) bootcamp given by the palladium group and was very impressed by how mature the concept had become.   Of course, as a [SAP BW practitioner](https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/understanding-sap-bw-in-5-minutes), and [Strategy Management](https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/balanced-scorecard-based-strategy-development) [consultant](https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/consulting-rate-calculator-whats-your-rate) (I am a [Balanced Scorecard Consultant](https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/blog/unleashing-business-success-balanced-scorecard-strategy)),   I was interested in the impact of today’s datawarehouse technology on the concept of [Balanced Scorecard](https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/sap-sem-cpm-risk-register-design-template). ## Impact of Bad Data on Business   It is currently estimated that bad data [cost](https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/blog/what-is-the-tco-of-that-shinny-new-system-youre-about-to-buy) the U.S. economy more than **$600,000,000,000.00** a year, roughly equivalent to the government stimulus program.    ![Balanced Scorecard Certified Graduate.jpg](https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Balanced%20Scorecard/Balanced%20Scorecard%20Certified%20Graduate.jpg?width=100&height=100&name=Balanced%20Scorecard%20Certified%20Graduate.jpg)   ## What does this little tidbit have to do with the [Balanced Scorecard](https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/blog/senior-executives-use-michael-porters-five-forces-model)? ![Strategy Management](https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Stock%20images/High%20angle%20view%20of%20a%20group%20of%20young%20successful%20businesspeople%20in%20a%20meeting%20analyzing%20and%20planning%20a%20new%20strategy.jpeg?width=600&name=High%20angle%20view%20of%20a%20group%20of%20young%20successful%20businesspeople%20in%20a%20meeting%20analyzing%20and%20planning%20a%20new%20strategy.jpeg)Developing a Successful Strategy Takes Teamwork and Good Data ## Five Key Takeaways:   - Our old friends, **bad data**, as previously noted, can render attempts at making [analytical decisions](https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/sap-training-courses) in support of your strategy ineffective.  With the ability to rapidly perform [analytics](https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/free-website-seo-audit-grader-serp-sem-amp), and drill down to the root cause, you may be able to discover the ‘truth’ of what part of your [business strategy](https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/blog/inbound-marketing/how-to-create-a-successful-blog-strategy-a-step-by-step-guide) actually works and what doesn’t, even when it appears that none of it does.  In other words,  bad data may hide the fact that a new hotel promotion is actually just cannibalizing your existing customer base. - The necessity of a solid [datawarehouse](https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/blog/understanding-the-most-common-sap-data-warehousing-concepts), such as SAP BW, is now recognized as part of the required infrastructure to enable the effective development of strategy. - The ability to **execute the strategy**, the whole point of the balanced scorecard approach, is greatly enhanced by the use of both a solid BSC tool, such as [SAP SSM (SAP Strategy Management)](https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/blog/9-epm-sap-strategy-management-how-to-best-practices-to-implement-now) and of course, it needs a solid data warehouse to work effectively. - With a robust datawarehouse, you will have the data to formulate more advanced, **fact based strategies**, and to sense and respond to them as new data comes in. - You also benefit greatly when **formulating a strategy** when you have data available from a datawarehouse, such as SAP BW.  It really can you help explore what is possible, quickly, versus putting it together from all the spreadsheets you have around.   ## **Our Recommendation:**    Get you datawarehouse up and running sooner, rather than later, and leverage that work to enhance your strategy development and execution process.  Get it right, and you are almost guaranteed to blow away your competitors.   [![New Call-to-action](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/118735/5ae9e100-7650-40bf-b6a5-3f2a6b940a32.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/118735/5ae9e100-7650-40bf-b6a5-3f2a6b940a32)   People Who Read This Also Read: [SAP Reporting Strategy Development](https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/sap-reporting-strategy-development) [SAP CPM-BSC Risk Register Template](https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/sap-sem-cpm-risk-register-design-template-archived-0) [Discover What a CEO Need to Know About SAP](https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/blog/discover-what-a-ceo-needs-to-know-about-sap)      Topics from this blog: [Best Practices](https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/blog/topic/best-practices) [SSM](https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/blog/topic/ssm) [Strategy Management](https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/blog/topic/strategy-management) [Balanced Scorecard](https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/blog/topic/balanced-scorecard) [Data Warehousing](https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/blog/topic/data-warehousing) ### Download SAP BW Mindmap Learn what SAP Business Warehouse is and what it does in under five minutes [![Get this Mindmap](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/118735/8db2ad37-8211-47a3-86ae-09b6b2bb297b.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/118735/8db2ad37-8211-47a3-86ae-09b6b2bb297b) [mailto:someone@yoursite.com](mailto:someone@yoursite.com) ### Lonnie D. Ayers, PMP About the Author: Lonnie Ayers is a Hubspot Certified Inbound Marketing consultant, with additional certifications in Hubspot Content Optimization, Hubspot Contextual Marketing, and is a Hubspot Certified Partner. Specialized in demand generation and sales execution, especially in the SAP, Oracle and Microsoft Partner space, he has unique insight into the tough challenges Service Providers face with generating leads and closing sales using the latest digital tools. With 15 years of SAP Program Management experience, and dozens of complex sales engagements under his belt, he helps partners develop and communicate their unique sales proposition. Frequently sought as a public speaker in various events, he is available for both inhouse engagements and ** remote coaching. ** ![Balanced Scorecard Consultant](https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/hubfs/social-suggested-images/Balanced%20Scorecard%20Certified%20Graduate.jpg) He also recently released a book **"How to Dominate Any Market - Turbocharging Your Digital Marketing and Sales Results",** which is available on [ Amazon.](https://www.amazon.com/Dominate-Turbocharging-Digital-Marketing-Results/dp/1728357950/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&qid=1589182458&refinements=p_27%3ALonnie+D.+Ayers&s=books&sr=1-1&text=Lonnie+D.+Ayers)**** [View All Articles by Lonnie D. Ayers, PMP](https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/blog/author/lonnie-d-ayers-pmp) ## The SAP Blog Subscribe to our blog and receive SAP BW Updates, demand generation, inbound marketing, sales enablement, technology and revenue generation insights and ideas delivered right to your email. [mailto:someone@yoursite.com](mailto:someone@yoursite.com) ![SAP](https://googleads.g.doubleclick.net/pagead/viewthroughconversion/960101754/?value=0&guid=ON&script=0) ![](https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=199270410761059&ev=PageView&noscript=1) ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@id" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/blog/5-reasons-a-datawarehouse-is-critical-to-a-solid-balanced-scorecard#blogposting", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@id" : "/#", "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Lonnie D. Ayers, PMP" }, "dateModified" : "February 10, 2026, 4:25:15 PM", "datePublished" : "2012-03-26 03:21:00", "description" : "Learn why a solid SAP BW datawarehouse is critical to achieving outstanding Balanced Scorecard results. Learn how your Business Strategy depends on it.", "headline" : "5 Reasons a Datawarehouse is Critical to a Solid Balanced Scorecard", "image" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "contentUrl" : "https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/118735/Balanced%20Scorecard/Balanced%20Scorecard%20Certified%20Graduate.jpg", "height" : 630, "url" : "https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/118735/Balanced%20Scorecard/Balanced%20Scorecard%20Certified%20Graduate.jpg", "width" : 1200 }, "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/blog/5-reasons-a-datawarehouse-is-critical-to-a-solid-balanced-scorecard#webpage", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "http://cdn1.hubspot.com/hub/118735/sapbwconsulting_logo.jpg" }, "name" : "SAP BW Consulting, Inc." }, "url" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/blog/5-reasons-a-datawarehouse-is-critical-to-a-solid-balanced-scorecard" } ``` ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@id" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/blog/5-reasons-a-datawarehouse-is-critical-to-a-solid-balanced-scorecard", "@type" : "WebPage", "about" : [ { "@type" : "Thing", "name" : "Data Warehouse", "sameAs" : "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_warehouse" }, { "@type" : "Thing", "name" : "Balanced Scorecard", "sameAs" : "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balanced_scorecard" }, { "@type" : "Thing", "name" : "Business Intelligence", "sameAs" : "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_intelligence" }, { "@type" : "Thing", "name" : "Business Strategy", "sameAs" : "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_strategy" } ], "author" : { "@id" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/about-lonnie-ayers#person" }, "breadcrumb" : { "@id" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/blog/5-reasons-a-datawarehouse-is-critical-to-a-solid-balanced-scorecard#breadcrumbs" }, "description" : "Why a modern data warehouse underpins an effective Balanced Scorecard—integrating data, ensuring trust, enabling analytics, and speeding decisions.", "headline" : "5 Reasons a Data Warehouse is Critical to a Solid Balanced Scorecard", "inLanguage" : "en", "isPartOf" : { "@id" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com#website" }, "mainEntity" : [ { "@id" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/blog/5-reasons-a-datawarehouse-is-critical-to-a-solid-balanced-scorecard#blogposting" }, { "@id" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/blog/5-reasons-a-datawarehouse-is-critical-to-a-solid-balanced-scorecard#itemlist" }, { "@id" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/blog/5-reasons-a-datawarehouse-is-critical-to-a-solid-balanced-scorecard#howto" }, { "@id" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/blog/5-reasons-a-datawarehouse-is-critical-to-a-solid-balanced-scorecard#faqpage" }, { "@id" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/blog/5-reasons-a-datawarehouse-is-critical-to-a-solid-balanced-scorecard#hero-image" } ], "mentions" : [ { "@type" : "Thing", "name" : "Data Integration", "sameAs" : "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_integration" }, { "@type" : "Thing", "name" : "Performance Management", "sameAs" : "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Performance_management" }, { "@type" : "Thing", "name" : "Analytics", "sameAs" : "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analytics" }, { "@type" : "Thing", "name" : "Decision Making", "sameAs" : "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decision-making" } ], "name" : "5 Reasons a Data Warehouse is Critical to a Solid Balanced Scorecard", "potentialAction" : { "@type" : "ViewAction", "name" : "Learn More", "target" : { "@type" : "EntryPoint", "actionPlatform" : [ "https://schema.org/DesktopWebPlatform", "https://schema.org/MobileWebPlatform" ], "inLanguage" : "en", "urlTemplate" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/balanced-scorecard-based-strategy-development" } }, "publisher" : { "@id" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com#organization" }, "subjectOf" : { "@id" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/about-lonnie-ayers#offercatalog" }, "url" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/blog/5-reasons-a-datawarehouse-is-critical-to-a-solid-balanced-scorecard" } ``` ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@id" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/blog/5-reasons-a-datawarehouse-is-critical-to-a-solid-balanced-scorecard#breadcrumbs", "@type" : "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement" : [ { "@type" : "ListItem", "item" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com", "name" : "Home", "position" : 1 }, { "@type" : "ListItem", "item" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/blog", "name" : "Blog", "position" : 2 }, { "@type" : "ListItem", "item" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/blog/5-reasons-a-datawarehouse-is-critical-to-a-solid-balanced-scorecard", "name" : "5 Reasons a Data Warehouse is Critical to a Solid Balanced Scorecard", "position" : 3 } ] } ``` ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@id" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/blog/5-reasons-a-datawarehouse-is-critical-to-a-solid-balanced-scorecard#itemlist", "@type" : "ItemList", "description" : "Five reasons a data warehouse enables trustworthy, actionable Balanced Scorecard reporting.", "itemListElement" : [ { "@type" : "ListItem", "name" : "Single source of truth across financial, customer, process, and learning KPIs.", "position" : 1 }, { "@type" : "ListItem", "name" : "Historical snapshots for trends, cohorts, and time-series analysis.", "position" : 2 }, { "@type" : "ListItem", "name" : "Data quality & governance (conformed dimensions, lineage, stewardship).", "position" : 3 }, { "@type" : "ListItem", "name" : "Performance & scale for near-real-time dashboards and alerts.", "position" : 4 }, { "@type" : "ListItem", "name" : "Advanced analytics—segmentation, forecasting, and next best actions.", "position" : 5 } ], "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/blog/5-reasons-a-datawarehouse-is-critical-to-a-solid-balanced-scorecard" }, "name" : "Why Your Balanced Scorecard Needs a Data Warehouse" } ``` ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@id" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/blog/5-reasons-a-datawarehouse-is-critical-to-a-solid-balanced-scorecard#howto", "@type" : "HowTo", "description" : "A practical sequence to map data to BSC perspectives and KPIs.", "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/blog/5-reasons-a-datawarehouse-is-critical-to-a-solid-balanced-scorecard" }, "name" : "How to Align Your Data Warehouse with the Balanced Scorecard", "step" : [ { "@type" : "HowToStep", "name" : "Map perspectives to data", "position" : 1, "text" : "List BSC perspectives and required KPIs; map each to sources and grain." }, { "@type" : "HowToStep", "name" : "Model conformed dims", "position" : 2, "text" : "Create shared dimensions (time, customer, product) to unify metrics." }, { "@type" : "HowToStep", "name" : "Build fact tables", "position" : 3, "text" : "Design facts for revenue, satisfaction, process cycle times, learning KPIs." }, { "@type" : "HowToStep", "name" : "Govern & monitor", "position" : 4, "text" : "Implement data quality checks, lineage, and SLA alerts for pipelines." }, { "@type" : "HowToStep", "name" : "Publish dashboards", "position" : 5, "text" : "Expose executive and team views; automate alerts on threshold breaches." } ] } ``` ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@id" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/blog/5-reasons-a-datawarehouse-is-critical-to-a-solid-balanced-scorecard#faqpage", "@type" : "FAQPage", "mainEntity" : [ { "@type" : "Question", "acceptedAnswer" : { "@type" : "Answer", "text" : "You can, but expect inconsistent definitions and manual reporting. A warehouse standardizes data and speeds decisions." }, "name" : "Can we run a Balanced Scorecard without a data warehouse?" }, { "@type" : "Question", "acceptedAnswer" : { "@type" : "Answer", "text" : "A dimensional model with conformed dimensions (time, customer, product) and perspective-aligned fact tables simplifies KPI alignment." }, "name" : "What data model works best for BSC?" }, { "@type" : "Question", "acceptedAnswer" : { "@type" : "Answer", "text" : "Match cadence to decisions—daily for operational KPIs and weekly/monthly for strategic reviews, with alerts for threshold breaches." }, "name" : "How often should BSC dashboards refresh?" } ], "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/blog/5-reasons-a-datawarehouse-is-critical-to-a-solid-balanced-scorecard" } } ``` ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@id" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/blog/5-reasons-a-datawarehouse-is-critical-to-a-solid-balanced-scorecard#hero-image", "@type" : "ImageObject", "caption" : "Concept image illustrating a data warehouse powering Balanced Scorecard KPIs.", "contentUrl" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/path/to/image.jpg", "encodingFormat" : "image/jpeg", "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/blog/5-reasons-a-datawarehouse-is-critical-to-a-solid-balanced-scorecard" }, "name" : "Data Warehouse for Balanced Scorecard" } ``` ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@id" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com#website", "@type" : "WebSite", "inLanguage" : [ "en", "es" ], "name" : "SAP BW Consulting, Inc.", "publisher" : { "@id" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com#organization" }, "url" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com" } ``` ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@id" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com#organization", "@type" : "Organization", "contactPoint" : { "@type" : "ContactPoint", "areaServed" : "US", "availableLanguage" : [ "en", "es" ], "contactType" : "sales", "telephone" : "+1-888-241-7121" }, "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "caption" : "SAP BW Consulting, Inc. Logo", "url" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/hubfs/sapbwconsulting_logo.png" }, "name" : "SAP BW Consulting, Inc.", "sameAs" : [ "https://www.linkedin.com/company/543163/admin/", "https://www.youtube.com/user/SAPBWConsulting/", "https://twitter.com/Lonniea39", "https://www.facebook.com/SAPBWConsulting" ], "url" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com" } ``` ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@id" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/about-lonnie-ayers#person", "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Lonnie D. Ayers, PMP", "url" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com/about-lonnie-ayers", "worksFor" : { "@id" : "https://www.sapbwconsulting.com#organization" } } ```