Jagged Peak Offers ACES to Measure Performance

Jagged Peak, Tampa, FL, a supplier of eCommerce, fulfillment, and supply chain software and services, has developed a program called "ACES" that allows organizations to review their performance the way customers experience it so they can implement the kinds of improvements that earn customer loyalty.

ACES views performance through three lenses:

• The Customer lens - measures performance of the business processes customer use up to the point where an order is placed. It also measures performance when orders go wrong and customers require additional services, such as a product return.

• The Fulfillment lens - measures business processes from the instant an order is placed until it is delivered to the location the customer designates. It measures the total time customers wait to receive products ordered and your total fulfillment costs.

• The IT lens - measures how effectively enterprise applications support your order taking and fulfillment objectives. Information latency and visibility are huge contributors to business performance and customer experiences and require ongoing measurement.











Figure 1. The ACES Performance Lenses and Component Measurements

Quantified measurements for each of these ACES lenses come from combining the results of subordinate metrics. For each organization, market dynamics, competitive positioning, process benchmarks, and any other factors relevant to success will define which subordinate measurements to use and their relative weights. Each ACES measurement considers the multiple dimensions of cost, failures, and customer wait time.

Experience shows that when you shift focus to better customer experience you will find that drives down costs and improves quality, as well.

Once it is in place, the ACES model compares actual performance to goals, highlighting strengths and shortfalls. The key reporting tool is a spider diagram like the one below can help summarize and communicate fulfillment performance to the entire organization.