Making the Academic Practical Institute workshops, taught by highly-experienced consultants, are short on dry lecture & academic theory and long on hands-on team exercises and interactive discussion for maximum adult learning, engagement, retention and fun. Rather than reviewing frustrating case studies that don't explain how an organization accomplished their results, participants walk through a simple methodology and master the practical steps in applying strategic planning and balanced scorecard concepts to meet the challenges facing a real-world organization. In short, Institute instructors work to ensure that students can build a strategic management system themselves!

Other differentiators between the Institute (BSI) and other training providers include: Participants learn a simple, "do-it-yourself" methodology that can be applied in any organization - large or small, and in any business, government, or nonprofit organization Participants learn a wholly integrated balanced scorecard-based strategic planning and management framework, the Nine Steps to SuccessTM, first developed in 1997 and continually refined in practical application at hundreds of organizations worldwide Separate frameworks, exercises and examples for business, government, non-profit and defense sectors to address unique needs of different organizations BSI was first to integrate balanced scorecard into the Association for Strategic Planning's planning and management certification and framework Certifications issued jointly by The George Washington University College of Professional Studies and BSI and also include CEU credit Participants learn advanced techniques in performance measurement development and initiative prioritization BSI created the first balanced scorecard certification standards and was the first organization to certify balanced scorecard practitioners, offering dozens of programs per year since the first course in January 2006 BSI was the first to offer a "Boot Camp" certification curriculum and the first to offer two levels of certification - Balanced Scorecard Professional (BSP) and Balanced Scorecard Master Professional (BSMP) BSI does not offer "quick and easy" certification online; brief self-study certifications will not prepare participants for the rigors of strategic thinking and analysis required to build a world-class management system. The value from certification comes from learning a thoughtful, deliberate strategic thinking process and from learning from expert instructors and other practitioners from across the globe. BSI offers a full range of training, facilitation, software and consulting services both in the U.S. and internationally, and is the only organization that trains and certifies in the Nine Steps to SuccessTM scorecard framework BSI certified professionals from organizations all over the world share their experiences with each other in class and then continue learning through a free community of practice on LinkedIn