Executive management is concerned that IT has not achieved its performance targets. At the end of the fiscal year, it was noted the reason was largely due to insufficient spending on key IT…

Key risk indicators (KRIs) help monitor risks, but they are not primarily designed to track spending sufficiency against performance targets directly.

Stage gate reviews are project management controls to ensure projects meet criteria before moving to the next phase, which helps manage project progression but not necessarily predict or alleviate broad insufficient spending across initiatives.

Lag indicators measure past performance and tell what has happened (like missed targets due to insufficient spending), but they don't provide the proactive insight needed to alleviate the issue for the coming year.

Lead indicators are forward-looking metrics that provide insight into future performance and potential issues, enabling proactive adjustments. In this scenario, lead indicators related to spending on key IT initiatives (e.g., budget allocation rates, project initiation progress, resource commitments) would provide early warnings of potential under-spending or resource shortfalls, allowing executive management to intervene and ensure sufficient funding before performance targets are missed.