Management reports straight from the system: no more assembling data by hand

The problem is not the report, it is the data

Manual reports are slow and error-prone because the data is scattered. When the whole company works in one system, a report stops being a separate task. It is simply a view of data that already exists.

What a management report should show

• a few key indicators instead of dozens of tables,
• a comparison with the previous period or the plan,
• areas that need attention: delays, overruns, bottlenecks,
• the ability to drill down from a number to the details when something raises questions.

How to choose indicators

Start with decisions, not data. Ask the board: what decisions do you make every week and every month? What information do you need to make them? An indicator that nobody bases any decision on only clutters the screen.

Sample indicators in a service or contracting company

• number of orders in progress and orders running late,
• order lead time from acceptance to completion,
• workload of teams and crews,
• documents awaiting approval,
• resource utilization, for example vehicles or equipment.

A report at every level

The board needs a picture of the whole company, a manager needs a picture of their department, and an employee needs a view of their own tasks. A well-designed system shows everyone a report at their level, calculated from the same data. That way everyone is talking about the same numbers.

What to watch out for

• Do not build reports on data nobody fills in. Process first, report second.
• Agree on definitions. “Completed order” must mean the same thing to every department.
• Start with a few reports and develop them based on what the board actually uses.

If you want the reports in your company to build themselves, book a consultation.