KPI

This is management shorthand for a metric, financial or not, that tracks how an organization is moving toward its goals. Because it is spoken as letters (kay-pee-eye), it takes the article a, as in a KPI, and its plural is KPIs, with no apostrophe. In reports and on dashboards it usually comes in sets, and spelling out key performance indicator at its first mention helps readers outside the field.

Mechanics use it for a measurement of steering geometry: the inward tilt of the steering axis, seen from the front of the vehicle, and it is read letter by letter. The kingpin here is the pivot, or kingbolt, that a steered wheel turns on. It has nothing to do with the informal kingpin who runs a criminal operation. The same three letters also stand for the business metric, so spell the term out when the context could mislead.