“Measurement is the first step that leads to control and eventually to improvement.” – H. James Harrington, CEO of the Harrington Institute.
Across the years, companies have traditionally and exclusively measured their success in terms of financial achievements. In the rapidly emerging business world it appeared the need for a much broader range of measures, in order to keep companies and organizations on track into achieving their goals. This is how the fulminating interest in dashboards, scorecards and KPIs can be explained, and Procurement and Supply Management is no different.
Performance reporting is no longer just a legal regulation for companies, as it has become an instrument to improve brand image through transparency and by showing interest not only in the financial area, but also towards employees, environment and community.
Data visualization is an important part in reporting performance, as it can enhance a fast and clear understanding of the situation. However, poorly designed graphs can create confusion. The best way to reflect results is to keep the graphic representations as simple as possible and to provide the most relevant information for the reader.
Butterfly Labs is one of the companies that sell ASIC-based Bitcoin miners, machines that compute SHA-256 very quickly. The smallest, ‘Jalapeño’, computes 5 GH/s which is about 5 billion hashes per second, its price being $274. The prices for larger ones (500 GH/s) can even go as high as $22, 484.