Information gathered through self-assessment activities using business excellence models (BEMs), such as the
EFQM or the Baldrige models, show the overall performance of organizations against several model criteria.
This information is vital to managers and directors to support their decision making in core processes at the
operational and strategic levels. There is evidence that some organizations find it difficult to produce reliable
business information to support their business processes. Furthermore, there are few methodologies that
effectively translate business information into effective plans and actions after conducting self-assessments. In
this context, the effective deployment of BEMs when conducting self-assessments can significantly improve not
only the reliability of business information, but the entire decision making process at the operational and
strategic levels. Consequently, the appropriate integration of self-assessment outcomes into structured
frameworks that incorporate analysis of internal and external business information (business intelligence) is
essential.
This paper explores the integration of core model criteria with business intelligence into strategic planning and
overall business improvements. Based on emerging issues derived from an empirical study of sixty-six European
organizations that have used the EFQM model, the paper identifies the core criteria and additional elements to
accomplish this task. It then proposes a framework based on the EFQM model that incorporates business
intelligence. The conclusion of this work emphasizes the necessity to structure an information system based on
self-assessments to continuously support decision making in core business processes.