Hard threshold

One of the few measures where the level, not the trend, is the finding: SLA attainment against a contracted target, a credit limit, an asset's capacity, a control's testing window. Everywhere else the level is read against the company's own history and the trend is the signal.

DefinitionOne of the few measures where the level, not the trend, is the finding: SLA attainment against a contracted target, a credit limit, an asset's capacity, a control's testing window. Everywhere else the level is read against the company's own history and the trend is the signal.

Why these four

Each has a number written down by someone else: a contract, a limit, a capacity, a frequency. Below or past it is a fact, whatever the direction.

Everything else

A level with no context is a debate. Its trend is a finding.

How it is used

A short list of measures where the level itself triggers action whatever the trend: a contracted service level, a covenant ratio, a regulatory limit. They are shown with the limit beside them.

Example

SLA attainment for one account is 91 percent against a contracted 95. It has improved for three months and is still a breach with a service credit due.

Where it goes wrong

Treated like other measures and read on trend. Improving is not the same as compliant.

Articles that use this term

Board and management reporting

Level and trend: why the direction outranks the number on almost every desk

Why the level of a measure, 52 percent concentration, 74 percent OTIF, 88 percent lock-up, is the least informative thing about it and the trend against the measure's own history is the finding, the four exceptions where a level is a hard threshold, the window a trend needs, the consecutive-period rule that separates a bad month from a deterioration, the trend of the reference itself, and the rule that every level on a report carries its trend beside it.

16 Sept 20263 min read