There are two new features in CSIA Pulse (CSIA’s members-only financial benchmarking program) to make submitting your data and comparing your results quicker and easier.
1. Single-Period Data Entry Form
Previously, submitting quarterly metrics meant downloading the Pulse Submission Survey Workbook (Excel), filling it in, and uploading it back to the Pulse portal. That workbook is still available and remains a great option for entering multiple periods at once.
If you only need to enter your latest quarter, you can now skip the workbook entirely. The new Single-Period Data Entry Form is a simple webpage where you key in your metrics directly, with nothing to download or upload.
Each metric also has a notes field so you can record where you found the data, giving you a handy reminder for next quarter. (You’ll find it in the portal menu under Pulse: Single Quarter Data Entry.)
2. Pulse Quartile Analysis
For subscribers, the Pulse Report shows your company’s metrics alongside the median, upper, and lower quartile values for each metric over the past five quarters. Generating it requires requesting the report and waiting for an emailed download link.
The new Pulse Quartile Analysis puts this comparison right on a webpage. It generates faster than the Pulse Report and requires no download. You’ll find it in the portal menu under Pulse: Quartile Analysis.
It also goes further back. Instead of a fixed five quarters, it trends your metrics across as many consecutive quarters as you’ve submitted.
That longer view makes it easier to see whether a change in utilization, labor cost or revenue per employee is a one-quarter blip or a real trend, and whether you’re moving toward or away from your peers over time.
About Pulse
CSIA Pulse is a members-only benchmarking program that helps you track your business metrics. Every CSIA member is automatically enrolled and can start uploading data right away at no cost.
If you want to benchmark your key operating metrics (such as labor hours, labor costs, billable headcount and revenue) against other system integrator companies, you can subscribe to the aggregate data for $350 per year (available to CSIA members only).
Pulse is developed and administered by iLumen, a third-party provider committed to keeping your data private and secure. Individual data is never shared, only aggregate figures are reported.