In this article, the authors suggest that providing a report card enables an IT department to check its progress and overall performance; communicate the department's effectiveness to university leadership, IT membership, and customers; and make any necessary adjustments. A report card will not show how efficiently the IT department functions, but it will provide the insight needed for identifying areas for improvement. The report card takes the balanced scorecard approach a step further (by doing less) and simplifies the way an IT department looks at its data. Rather than grouping the metrics by type of data, the IT department looks at its services in light of the customers' view of its performance. The report card communicates the IT organization's overall GPA, including the grades for each key service or product, and allows drilling down into the rubric to see the graded components. This provides a simple, meaningful, and comprehensive picture of the health of the IT organization from the customers' viewpoint. It makes a good starting point for a metrics program. It also allows the IT organization to appreciate the value and benefits metrics can provide, especially as a means of communication, before embarking fully into more threatening data. (Contains 1 endnote.)