What Are Cause & Effect Maps?

A cause & effect map lets you illustrate the cause and effect relationships of an objective or KPI that is listed in the Strategy pane. Cause & effect maps are diagrams that are used in scorecard and are not related to map views.

The illustration shows an example of a cause & effect map for the Improve Financial Results objective.

You create cause and effect relationships for:

  • An objective when you create or edit the objective and identify:

    • Other objectives or KPIs that impact or support the objective (causes)

    • Other objectives or KPIs that this objective impacts or supports (effects)

    See Create Objectives.

  • A KPI when you work with KPI details.

    • Other objectives or KPIs that impact or support the KPI (causes)

    • Other objectives or KPIs that this KPI impacts or supports (effects)

    See Work with KPI Details.

A cause and effect map also indicates the proportionality (that is, whether changes in performance or value in the cause and effect relationship are directly proportional (direct) or inversely proportional (inverse) and strength (strong, moderate, or weak) of cause & effect relationships using symbols.

A cause & effect map helps you to better understand the implications of future strategic changes.

Create cause and effect linkages to automatically show operational metrics and dependencies.

You can create a cause & effect map in either Edit or View mode:

See Create Cause & Effect Maps.