Environmental Objective, Target, and Performance Indicator - Differences?

S

saint77

How to say/explain in simple words the difference bw ENV. objective, plan, programme, target, perform.indicator.

As per standard we have to have those but actually we might end up with having only one. compare: Reduce daily air emission by 10%. (which could be all of the above: objective, plan, program, target and perform. indicator). Then why having so many names?

Check:
My (objective, plan, program, target and perform. indicator) is to reduce daily air emission by 10%!

((or what is the (co)-relation among objective, target and perform. indicator))
 
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somashekar

Leader
Admin
On a very broad view, its agreeable ~~~
Your objective will normally have a measureable target and so :
To reduce daily emission (object) by 10% (target) and to be achieved within next 12 months (a period)
A Plan is to decide in advance how who when where and what is to be done, and while you walk you plan you will take up several Programs each such having an indicator for effective completion, thereby able to meet the objective within 12 months.
If the indicators are not trending towards the target, then your system must effectively be able to review and change the plan in order to meet the set objective.
Like other systems the ISO14001 is also a systamatic approach and this is for environmental management and so an environmental objective has to be systamatically met to be effective and be sustained.
Hope you could see some things in this ...
Good luck
 
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S

saint77

ok
i see your point
but the problem is not solved and the question is not unswered ^-)

the problem is that:
i can go along with the word target (of that 10%) and basically don't need all other terms!!! ... well,... it's supposed to be a methodological question. Since, you see, I can follow your chain of explanation but replacing the terms and nothing changes. Certainly, we can see that the order is 1) Objective 2) target 3) indicator (although not STRICT!!!) -->
therefore we can reverse the order and have 1) Indicator (emissions) 2) Target (daily performance) 3) objective 10% decrease of air emissions....

maybe it's difficult to understand my point, well... ok
 

somashekar

Leader
Admin
One of the method to address a significant aspect in your environmental management is by a management program which will directly help bringing about a favourable change in the resulting impact which could be one of the environmental objectives. Would understanding these words be more beneficial than knowing about differences ... ?
 
S

saint77

One of the method to address a significant aspect in your environmental management is by a management program which will directly help bringing about a favourable change in the resulting impact which could be one of the environmental objectives. Would understanding these words be more beneficial than knowing about differences ... ?

Nope, I am sorry but not.
Probably we are talking about different things....

as to your comment (if you let me go off-topic) knowing one thing can never be better for the sake (at the sacrifice) of not knowing the other. I am here to learn something and giving me something INSTEAD can never be better, unfortunately ^-)
 

Marc

Fully vaccinated are you?
Leader
How to say/explain in simple words the difference bw ENV. objective, plan, programme, target, perform.indicator.

As per standard we have to have those but actually we might end up with having only one. compare: Reduce daily air emission by 10%. (which could be all of the above: objective, plan, program, target and perform. indicator). Then why having so many names?

Check:
My (objective, plan, program, target and perform. indicator) is to reduce daily air emission by 10%!

((or what is the (co)-relation among objective, target and perform. indicator))
I think you're over complicating this. Part of it may have to do with a language issue.

Programme: All of the following:

The identified environmental aspect you want to track and act upon. There may be multiple programs (and typically there are more than one). You have chosen: "Reduce daily air emission by 10%".

What you have failed to do so far is to identify what specific emission you want to track. There are many. Your manufacturing processes will determine which are applicable to you.

Objective: What you want your program to achieve. Also referred to as a "goal". Defined in the Program. You have defined your Objective as: "Reduce daily air emission".

Performance Indicator: A specific numerical measurable you want to track (not to mention a method to do so).

Target: A measurable value you want to achieve. Your Target is defined in your Program and your Objective. You have chosen: "Reduce daily air emission by 10%" so you have to determine what your current emission level is and subtract 10% from it. That is your numerical target.

<snip> Then why having so many names? <snip>
I think this is essentially an language issue. In addition, there is some over lap. Nothing to get excited about.
 

Ajit Basrur

Leader
Admin
Nope, I am sorry but not.
Probably we are talking about different things....

as to your comment (if you let me go off-topic) knowing one thing can never be better for the sake (at the sacrifice) of not knowing the other. I am here to learn something and giving me something INSTEAD can never be better, unfortunately ^-)

Are you trained on ISO 14001 ?
 
S

saint77

It might look silly but.. i still want to insist that there should be some difference in those terms.
1. I don't want to believe that desginers of standards have some language problems and instead of using only one of those terms they used all 3(4 and even 5) synonims.
2. I also refuse to believe that they are stupid and don't see the difference.
3. I don't want to believe that this is not important (as per the 1st comment in the thread)
4. I don't want to bellieve that this is a subjective matter (as per the 2nd comment this comment in the threat).

the standards primarily (in the body of Policy) talks about objectives (that should be basically SMART). Why not to call all those terms as objectives? Why having so many terms? I think there should be a reason to that. TO find the reason I asked the question.

I understand the general concept being

1. Policy
should contain
2. Obbjectives
set in the
3. Program
containing or describing achievement of periodic plans towards reaching
4. Targets (a smaller / devided objective)
monitored for convenience through
5. Performance indicator

But once again, this is a voluntary MY interpretation and understanding. The question is about the STANDARD or ACCEPTED itnerpretation of those concepts. So, that I think that there order and sequence should be like that (and in my company i do it like that) and none of the auditors (or even collegues for that matter) can claim it is not-correct. The fact is that the standard doesn't say anything about their co-relation.

With regard to objective (at least it should be measurable) that's why i put this 10%. Not the target, not the indicator, but the objective itself should be measurable. So, if a put a meausure with regard to an objective that will not be a mistake! THat's why i wrote this 10% emission reduction. If we agree that this COULD be an objective (as per ISO req) why should i have those targets and indicators? Maybe i need them but so far I don't know why since i don't see the difference among them (another eggagaration/approximation is that some companies call their objectives as programs. Compare: program for 10% daily reduction of air emission). Others call them plans (compare: the same). The standard never requires to follow the same terminology as in the standard. It's up to an auditor to check whether those terms (particularly concepts) are being followed. Here comes a different question of translation since our system operates in 3 languages there are some problems of translation....

ok...

i am sorry for dumping all this information on the participants of this forum (but who knows mayeb someone else finds this as a problem in the future)...

so the basic question is

Can anyone give an expert opinion on the difference/relation between

objective/target/indicator (and for program and plan if used synonamosly to those ^-)
 
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