Reporting

What reporting should deliver

Reporting is the regular preparation of figures for decisions. The difference from a data collection lies in the intent: a report from which no decision follows is not information but effort. Good reporting therefore does not start with the question of which data exists but with the question of which decision is due.

How a report is structured

An effective report has three parts. At the top is the result in a few figures with the comparison to the target and the previous period. In the middle are the deviations and their presumed cause. At the bottom are the open decisions with an owner.

The order matters. Anyone starting with the analysis of causes loses the audience before they know the result. Anyone starting with decisions has no shared picture of the situation yet.

Who needs which figures

• Management: revenue, contribution margin, liquidity and the deviation from plan. Few values, but reliable and current.
• Marketing: cost per order, contribution margin after advertising and the development per channel.
• Assortment: sales, margin and return rate per product group, plus the development of inventory turnover.
• Service: number and type of enquiries, handling time and the most common reasons.
• Technology: loading times, error rate and the course of outages.

Why a dashboard without a target costs money

A dashboard that shows everything leads to two problems. First it stops being looked at after a few weeks, because the figures carry no meaning. Second it ties up working time for maintenance and adjustment that is missing elsewhere.

The way out is restriction. A report with four to six values, each with a target and a responsible person, brings more than a complete picture of the operation. Every additional figure should justify which decision it enables. Anyone who cannot answer that question leaves it out.

How it stays reliable

Three rules hold reliability. First fixed definitions: when two reports calculate the conversion rate differently they contradict each other without anything having changed. The definition belongs documented. Second a fixed cut off date: anyone calculating on the first and on the last of the month compares different things. Third the separation of measurement and interpretation: the figure comes from the system, the explanation from people. Anyone mixing the two treats assumptions as measurements.

Frequent questions

• How often should it be reported? Monthly for decisions, weekly for the trend.
• Spreadsheet or tool? The content decides, not the tool. A spreadsheet with clear rules is often enough.
• Who checks the figures? One named person, otherwise calculation errors creep in.