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DORA Metrics Scorecard

The DORA framework is a set of metrics that help teams measure software delivery performance. The four key metrics are lead time for changes, deployment frequency, mean time to resolution (MTTR), and change failure rate.

In Cortex, use Scorecards to measure progress against DORA benchmarks at your organization, and use the Eng Intelligence DORA Dashboard to see your metrics improve in realtime. Learn more about using Cortex to improve DORA metrics in Solutions: DORA Metrics.

DORA Metrics Scorecard example

In this example, assume that you have launched a DORA Metrics Scorecard based on the out-of-the-box template provided in Cortex.

To launch this Scorecard:

  1. Click Scorecards from the main nav in Cortex.

  2. In the upper right corner, click Create Scorecard. In the DORA Operational Readiness template tile, click Use.

Click Create Scorecard, then select DORA Metrics.

DORA performance levels

Cortex's DORA Scorecard template is based on the established DORA standards of performance. Learn more in Solutions: DORA metric improvements.

Scorecard rules

The Scorecard contains four levels: Minimum, Established, Accelerating, and Elite. Each level corresponds with increasingly higher performance against DORA standards.

Each level in the DORA Scorecard contains rules that show success against DORA metric benchmarks.

Expand the tile below to learn about how the rules in each level give you insight into your team's performance.

DORA Scorecard rules

The progress your team makes against these rules allows you to assess the agility, stability, and quality of your software delivery process.

Minimum

These rules help you establish a baseline of readiness to start measuring DORA metrics.

  • Logs are linked

  • Ownership is set

  • Version control (Git) is in place

  • Documentation is present

Established

These rules motivate your teams to achieve DORA's Medium-level benchmarks for key metrics.

  • MTTR is less than 12 hours

  • Deployment frequency is at least 2x/month

  • Lead time for changes less than 5 days

  • Change failure rate: <30% of deployments are rollbacks

  • Basic monitoring in place

  • CI/CD pipeline configured

Accelerating

These rules motivate your teams to achieve DORA's High-level benchmarks for key metrics.

  • MTTR less than 4 hours

  • Deployment frequency is at least 6x/month

  • Lead time for changes less than 3 days

  • Change failure rate: <20% of deployments are rollbacks

  • Metrics dashboard embedded

  • Pipeline success rate => 85%

Elite

These rules motivate your teams to achieve DORA's Elite-level benchmarks for key metrics.

  • MTTR less than 1 hour

  • Deploymeny frequency is 30+ per month

  • Lead time for changes is less than 1 day

  • Change failure rate: <10% of deployments are rollbacks

  • SLOs are defined

  • Pipeline success rate => 95%

Understanding Scorecard levels

Assume the following for an entity:

  • It's passing 3/4 rules in the Minimum level

    • It has logs linked, ownership set, and a version control integration configured (passing)

    • It does not have documentation linked (failing)

  • It's passing all rules in the Established level

In this case, the entity would have No Level.

  • It is failing the rule "Documentation is present" in the Minimum level. Because of this, it has not fully achieved the Minimum level, the first one that an entity can pass.

  • Once the entity has documentation linked, it will achieve all rules in the Minimum level. Because it is already passing all rules required for the Established level, this means it will automatically achieve the Established level.

This kind of gamification motivates developers to not only progress through the levels, but to maintain the quality of their entities over time.

Driving continuous improvement against DORA benchmarks

Measuring your performance against DORA standards does not start and stop with launching a Scorecard. We recommend taking the steps described below to understand your baseline, motivate change, and continuously improve:

1

Measure baseline metrics

Measure your metrics in the DORA Dashboard.

2

Investigate

Drill down into underlying data in Metrics Explorer.

3

Take action

Codify expectations by launching a Scorecard, allowing you to continuously evaluate entities against standards using live data from integrated tools.

4

Validate impact

Review your DORA Dashboard to see improved metrics, validating the impact of the DORA Metrics Scorecard.

DORA success best practices

Learn about the best practices for each DORA metric in Solutions: DORA Metrics.

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