A number of organisations tell us that they have too many metrics and measurements. This is almost as bad as having too few. But how do you address the problem? Not all the data is relevant today but it probably was useful to someone some time ago. Therein lies the clue.

Create an inventory of all your metric and measurements. Find (or if it isn't documented, define) the scale of measurement for each metric and make a note of the measurement process (the means by which you get a number on the scale) and the frequency with which you measure. Make an estimate of the cost (in terms of peoples time) that it takes to produce a single measurement. Then go to your stakeholders (probably senior managers) and ask who wants to own each metric. For those metrics you can't easily get an owner for, stop producing data. If no one complains, that confirms it wasn't providing value to anyone. You will also be helping the whole organisation by reducing the information people have to handle without getting any value. With a set of "owned metrics" and knowing the staff time cost for producing data, you can have a sensible discussions about the benefit/cost ratio of the required performance information.  

Remember to check back regularly with your metric stakeholders as to whether the defined metrics need changing. Business priorities will change so metrics should change to keep in step.