Cascading

Cascading is the process of driving the Balanced Scorecard through your organization. Typically organizations have a BSC at the Enterprise level, and then at divisions and departments. Organizations will also create Balanced Scorecards for their shared service organizations like Finance, HR, Legal, etc.

If someone asks the question, Have you cascaded the BSC throughout your organization? They are wondering if you have scorecards in all parts of your company or organization.

The real benefit of cascading comes when you link these cascaded scorecards together. If they are linked, then members of the organization can see the value that divisions and departments are providing in driving the organizations strategy.

Some organizations also drive the BSC down to the individual level. These are called Personal Scorecards. Personal scorecards may not have a strategy map or initiatives, but they do help force alignment throughout the organization.