Working with Scorecards
Set your targets. Track your actuals. Review every week. Get better over time.
This page covers the practical work of using your Scorecard: setting up targets, entering actuals, and building a review rhythm that drives improvement.
Setting Targets
Targets are where you want to be. They create the benchmark for measuring performance.
Annual Targets
Start with annual targets for each metric you're tracking. Ask: where do we want to be by the end of the year?
Tips for setting good targets:
Be ambitious but realistic. Stretch goals motivate. Impossible ones demoralize.
Use last year's data if you have it. Improvement over baseline is a solid starting point.
Round numbers are fine. $5M revenue is easier to track than $4,872,500.
Adjust as you learn. Targets aren't set in stone. Update them when circumstances change.
Monthly Targets
Once you set annual targets, the system auto-prorates monthly targets. A $1.2M annual revenue target becomes $100K per month.
You can override monthly targets if your business is seasonal. Landscape companies often earn more in spring and summer than winter. Adjust monthly targets to reflect reality.
Updating Actuals
Actuals are what actually happened. Enter them regularly to see how you're tracking against targets.
Update Cadence
Most metrics should be updated weekly. Some make more sense monthly or quarterly.
Weekly
Revenue, margins, job efficiency, labor ratios
Monthly
Training hours, absenteeism, quality acceptance
Quarterly
Employee retention, eNPS, customer satisfaction, NPS
Build the habit of entering actuals at the same time each week. Many teams do it Monday morning as part of their leadership meeting prep.
Where to Find the Data
Different metrics come from different sources. Here's the typical breakdown:
Accounting software (QuickBooks, Sage, Xero)
Revenue, margins, overhead, AR/AP
LMN
Job costs, estimated vs. actual hours, crew efficiency
Payroll system
Labor hours, labor costs, absenteeism
CRM (LMN CRM, HubSpot)
Leads, conversions, estimates
Manual tracking
Quality checks, safety incidents, training, surveys
If you're not using software for something, track it in a spreadsheet. The data doesn't have to be automated to be useful.
Manual Tracking Spreadsheet Structure
Use a workbook with tabs for different data types:
Job Summary Log
Per-job performance
Job Name, Dates, Est/Act Cost, Est/Act Hours, Margins, On-Time
Employee Time Log
Daily crew time
Date, Employee, Job, Task, Scheduled Hours, Actual Hours
Financial Summary
Monthly finance snapshot
Month, Revenue, Labor Cost, Equipment Cost, Material Cost
Quality Log
Post-job QA
Job Name, Date, Quality Pass (Yes/No)
Scorecard Output
Final calculations
Month-Year plus all metric values
This structure supports calculating most metrics without specialized software.
The Weekly Review
The Scorecard only works if you look at it. Build a weekly review into your rhythm.
What to Cover
Compare actuals to targets. Are you on track? Behind? Ahead?
Look for trends. A single bad week isn't a crisis. Three in a row is a pattern.
Identify the biggest gap. Focus on one or two metrics that need attention.
Decide on action. What will you do this week to improve?
Who Should Be There
Include the people who can actually affect the numbers:
Owners and leadership
Operations managers
Anyone accountable for specific metrics
Keep the meeting focused. 15-30 minutes is enough if you're looking at the right things.
LeanScaper OS: The weekly scorecard review is your numbers meeting. Pair it with your operations meeting and your people check-in to cover all three legs of the leadership rhythm.
How the Software Works
A few behaviors to understand:
Auto-Propagation
When you enter data at one level, it flows appropriately. Monthly actuals roll up to annual totals automatically.
Period Freeze
Once a month closes, that period's data is locked. You can still view it, but you can't change historical actuals. This keeps your records accurate and prevents accidental overwrites.
Integrations
QuickBooks integration is available in limited beta. When connected, certain financial metrics pull directly from your accounting data.
Tips for Success
Start small. Don't try to track 40 metrics on day one. Pick 8-12 that matter most.
Be consistent. Irregular updates make trends impossible to see. Weekly is the rhythm.
Don't chase perfection. Rough numbers you review every week beat perfect numbers you never look at.
Act on what you see. The Scorecard isn't for admiring. It's for improving. When a metric is off, do something about it.
Celebrate wins. When you hit a target or see improvement, acknowledge it. Progress matters.
Related Pages
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