Targets, progress and status
KPI card with period comparison
Shows a metric and its change from a prior period or reference.
- Indicator
- Performance against target
- Change between points
What it answers
How did the metric change versus the reference?
- Shape
- Number with delta and direction symbol
- What it shows
- Magnitude and direction of change.
Example: Nord Signal AB
The question
Is Nord Signal meeting its pass success target?
Nord Signal pass success rate, 2025
Nord Signal AB is a fictional company created for Insyt.
The misleading version
Same question, drawn badly
A bare number with no target or period
What goes wrong. 99.6% sounds excellent, yet it misses the 99.7% target. Without the target, period and status, the card hides the one thing it should say.
When to use it
Use it when
Compact period comparison.
Avoid it when
Zero reference for relative change or mismatched periods.
How to read it
Read current value, reference and delta, then favourable-direction meaning.
Note
An increase is not automatically favourable.
The data you need
- Layout
- Single-record summary
- Fields
- Metric: text; Current: number; Comparison: number; Unit and Period: text/date
- One row is
- One named metric for a defined period. What is the grain?
- Rules
- Align units and comparable periods. Define absolute or relative change. Relative change needs a nonzero comparison.
- Optional
- Optional source and refresh time.
- Preparation
- Align current and comparison periods; calculate absolute change and relative change using the comparison as denominator.
- Units
- Absolute delta uses native units; relative delta =(Current-Comparison)/Comparison, requiring a nonzero comparison.
Worked example
Current 120, prior 100 gives+20 and+20%. Label the reference period explicitly.
| Metric | Current | Comparison | Unit | Period |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | 120 | 100 | SEK thousands | 2026-01 |