.svg){kind=icon}
%2070%20KPI%20Examples%20by%20Department.jpg)
Explore 70+ key performance indicators in the Financial, Customer, Process and People categories.
When I explain key performance indicators (KPIs) to our customers, I tell them to think of them as the compass guiding your ship. Choose the right ones, and you'll stay on course towards your desired destination. But choose poorly, and you might find yourself adrift, measuring things that don't truly matter for your success.
Ready to accelerate your time to results? Book a demo of ClearPoint today.
No one wants to be adrift at sea, so I wrote this list of the most common KPI examples for each department to help shape your own strategy. It includes a variety of established metrics that have proven effective across different industries, giving you a reference point to tailor your own KPIs to your organization's specific goals and needs. Each KPI example includes a definition and formula (how to measure the KPI).
Download KPI Lists
Don't want to spend time copying and pasting from the below? No worries, we hate wasting time too. So just click on the links below to request an Excel spreadsheet with all the KPIs below (and much more!)
- 68 Important Financial KPIs
- 53 Important Customer KPIs
- 48 Important HR KPIs and Measures
- 143 Local Government KPIs
40+ KPIs by Department
In my experience, the most effective leadership teams track fewer than 25 measures that align with the four categories of the Balanced Scorecard: Financial, Customer, Process and People. I've broken down my list of KPIs into these categories—make sure you select a few from each category so your strategy is well-balanced across the organization.
Note that the right KPIs for you might not be the right KPIs for another organization. KPIs should match your strategy, not just your industry.
Financial KPIs
The point of these KPIs is to be able to talk about and understand the fiscal health of your organization. Of course, you're going to see different signs of health depending on your industry. Tech companies should be looking at growth, whereas companies in a regulated industry should be looking at steady performance.
To get a list of financial KPIs that are suited for your organization, I’d advise that you do some light benchmarking using industry standards. Then, I would focus on your strategy to expand your list. So, if you want to grow faster at a lower margin, that may change your targets (and sometimes your measures).
But don’t overthink it. This should be your easiest category of KPIs in the sense that you should already have most of them in your back pocket. Talk to your CFO, look at your strategy, and then make sure your finance department can track whatever you want to measure. By monitoring key metrics like revenue, expenses, and profit margins, your organization can make informed decisions, identify trends, and spot potential issues before they become problems.
Claim your FREE eBook on 68 essential financial KPIs
Customer KPIs
This area is where you’ll get valuable insights into customer satisfaction, retention, and loyalty, so your organization can identify what’s working well and where improvements are needed.
What I think these KPIs boil down to is measuring what customers say and do. This can happen via polls, surveys, or even in-person interviews—and large B2C organizations often use social media platforms to gauge customer engagement and sentiment as well. People may say that they like your features or services, but are they actually buying them? Are they willing to pay more for them? It’s customer sentiment versus customer action, and you need to measure both.
I would focus mainly on self-benchmarking or comparing your numbers to last year. Also, don’t change your questions each year or comparing data will be impossible. Revisit your questions and how you collect data every three to five years, depending on how frequently people interact with what your organization offers.
Claim your FREE eBook on 53 important customer KPIs
Process KPIs
Tracking process KPIs is vital for organizations to ensure operations run smoothly and efficiently. These metrics help monitor the effectiveness of various processes, from production to service delivery, allowing organizations to identify bottlenecks, reduce waste, and optimize performance. Many of these can overlap with the customer KPIs above, but for the purposes of this article, I kept the below Process KPI list unique.
The goal for these measures is to help organizations continuously improve their workflows, enhance productivity, and deliver consistent quality. Process measures tend to have a unique formula, depending on the organization.
Learning and Growth KPI Examples For Employees
After having worked with Drs. Norton and Kaplan for a decade, I was trained to call the traditional human resources KPIs “Learning and Growth” because they captured the skills, culture, and tools needed for employees to do their jobs well.
Tracking human resources KPIs is crucial for organizations to effectively manage and develop their workforce. I would look at some common benchmarks to develop your HR KPIs, like turnover rate, salary norms, and employee satisfaction (culture). You should also think about productivity. There has obviously been a big shift in all industries with the increase in remote work and the advent of artificial intelligence (AI). Trying to measure remote work has become a distraction, but trying to measure overall productivity of staff is critically important…and hard to do.
By monitoring these Learning and Growth KPIs, organizations can identify areas for improvement, enhance employee engagement, and ensure they are attracting and retaining top talent.
Claim your FREE 48 Human Capital KPIs library
BONUS: 28 Local Government KPIs
Metrics are important in local government because they help track the effectiveness of public services and ensure resources are being used wisely. By measuring key indicators, local governments can see what’s working well and what needs improvement, making it easier to deliver better services to the community. Metrics also provide a way to stay accountable to citizens, showing that their tax dollars are being spent efficiently and effectively.
Download your FREE eBook on 143 Local Government KPIs
<div class="index-cards"><div class="index-card"><div class="index-card-title">Are You Tracking Too Many KPIs?</div><div class="index-card-content"><p>We provide lots of KPI options in this article, but choose wisely! The median strategic plan in our 2026 benchmark study includes just <strong>nine key performance indicators.</strong> That number might surprise you — especially if you’re managing a bloated dashboard with dozens of metrics.</p><p>Here’s the problem: That bloated dashboard could be tanking your performance.</p><p>Our data shows that:</p><ul><li>Strategic plans with fewer than 20 total elements — goals, measures, and projects combined — succeed 68% of the time.</li><li>Plans with 60 or more elements have just an 8% success rate.</li></ul><p>Fewer KPIs isn’t a sign of underperformance; it’s a hallmark of strategic clarity. Focus on what truly moves your strategy forward and let go of what doesn’t.</p><p>🔗 <strong>Want to know if your dashboard is working for or against you? </strong><a href="https://www.clearpointstrategy.com/go/strategic-planning-report"><strong>Download the full 2026 Strategic Planning Report</strong></a></p><p><strong><img src="https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/637e14518f6e3b2a5c392294/695e430f8d6877f05763339b_kpis-what-a-typical-plan-contains.webp" alt="KPIs - What a "typical" plan contains" width="550" height="309" /></strong></p></div><div></div>
Effective KPI tracking involves more than just choosing the right metrics. KPI dashboards provide visual summaries of your data, making it easier to spot trends and communicate progress. Specialized software, such as ClearPoint, can streamline data collection, analysis, and reporting, saving you valuable time and resources.
By implementing performance management software, you can streamline the process of tracking and reporting KPIs. You can keep common data in one system (such as number of employees, number of customers, and revenue), so that calculations remain accurate. ClearPoint leverages calculations and aggregations and automatic evaluations to quickly show the progress you are making with your KPIs. AI is built into ClearPoint to quickly analyze data and drive your results forward.
None of this is to say you can’t use spreadsheets to view your KPI data, but with ClearPoint, you save time and improve the information available for decision-making.
![How To Do Strategy Execution Like The Top 1% [DATA]](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/637e14518f6e3b2a5c392294/6943dc61ad7ba3aa1e7a00ae_how-to-do-strategy-execution-like-the-top-data-blog-header.webp)
![How Often Are Strategic Initiatives Completed? [DATA]](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/637e14518f6e3b2a5c392294/694081943dbced2358f47d83_how-often-are-strategic-initiatives-completed-data-blog-header.webp)