Measures are the building blocks for metrics and KPIs. They are numbers, such as sales figures or profitability indicators.

Nothing inherent in nature dictates that an inch has to be a certain length, or that a mile is a better unit of measurement than a kilometer. But the choice of units reflects a number of practical considerations.

Units of Measurement

A unit of measurement is a standardized quantity used to express a physical property. Units are grouped together to make up a system of measurement, which is the collection of standards and rules relating those standards to each other. There are several systems in common use today, including the metric system and United States customary units.

Units are named for specific objects or quantities, such as a foot (ft), a millimetre, or a ton. They are standardized, meaning that there is a well-known and commonly accepted way to measure 1 of these units. For example, scientists from multiple countries agreed that a meter was equal to the distance light travels in 1/299,792,458 of a second. These standards are often called SI, or the International System of Units (abbreviated from the French term Système d’unités).

The first measures were related to objects that could be easily identified, like the height of a person’s head. This made it easy to compare measurements and develop tools, such as rulers. However, measuring things that were not easily identifiable required more work and a lot of experimentation.

As science progressed, a need developed to relate the different systems of measurement, and the resulting efforts produced the metric system. The metric system is the standard for most scientific publications, and is regulated through meetings of the CGPM, or General Conference on Weights and Measures.

The metric system is used all over the world, and there are a number of ways that its standard units can be converted to imperial measurements. In most cases, the metric system and the imperial systems can be used interchangeably. In other cases, it may make more sense to use a particular unit for a specific purpose. For example, it might be more useful to describe the capacity of a container in gallons than in fluid ounces, especially when the container will be sold in many countries.

Measures and Metrics

A measure is a classification unit of raw data, such as a number or value. These measures can include business-specific values, such as calls received, goods returned or website visits. Measures can also track specific processes such as operating temperatures, speed or cycles in manufacturing. Metrics combine measures and other data points to create a holistic view of your business performance. They tell a story about your business’s current and past successes, challenges and opportunities for future success.

A key difference between metrics and measures is scope. A metric looks at the bigger picture and offers contextual information that enhances the effectiveness of your data. For example, if you know that twenty conversions came from a thousand impressions, that gives you context to understand the positive impact of those numbers on your company’s profitability.

Metrics can also be used to predict future business performance based on your inputs. This type of metric is more valuable to a business than a measure, which only provides the data you have already collected.

Having an effective measurement and evaluation system in place is essential for any business. This includes having the right tools to track your metrics, such as dashboards and automated reporting systems. The right metric tracking tools can help you improve your processes, make better decisions and achieve your business goals.

To achieve the most out of your metrics, they should be aligned with your strategic goals and provide actionable insights. Leading companies limit the number of their KPIs to a critical few and use metrics to add context to these high-level objectives. By linking measures, metrics and KPIs, you can build an efficient performance monitoring framework that enables you to gain the visibility needed to drive change. It’s also important to remember that the importance of a metric can shift over time, so it is necessary to regularly evaluate your KPIs and metrics.