Decisions can have a short- or long-term impact; they can be strategic or operational. Measuring strategic or operational performance might require a different set of key performance indicators (KPIs). You need both: Operational KPIs help to measure the short term performance of an organization, strategic KPIs help to measure the implementation of a long term strategy.
This new podcast episode #13 explains the differences, using the picture of driving a car.
A dashboard is the panel of instruments and controls facing the driver of a vehicle. Driving a companies business, a dashboard should give you a condensed summary, which allows you to recognize critical areas and take actions to keep the business moving in the right direction – provided you know your destination.