Many businesses have more data than they use. Sales in one system, inventory in a spreadsheet, collections in another, and a dashboard with forty charts that nobody opens after the first week.
The problem is rarely the tool. It is that nobody decided beforehand what those numbers were for.
Start with the decision, not the chart
The useful question is not “what can we measure?” but “which decision do we make every week, and with what information?” For example:
- Which products do I restock, and how much?
- Which customers need a collections call?
- Which salesperson needs support this month?
Each of those decisions needs two or three numbers, not forty.
One number, one definition
Ask around your business how much was sold last month. If you get three different answers, it is not a reporting problem: each person calculates “sales” differently. One counts returns, another does not. One uses the order date and another the invoice date.
Before building any dashboard, write down in one line how each metric is calculated and where it comes from. It sounds like red tape, but it is what stops the same number being argued about in every meeting.
Less updated by hand, more reliable
A report that someone builds by copying and pasting every Monday has two risks: it falls behind, and it carries an error nobody sees. If the data comes straight from the systems where it is recorded, the report updates itself and everyone sees the same thing.
You do not need to connect everything at once. Start with the source behind your most important decision.
A quick test
Pick a decision you make every week. Write down which number you look at, where you get it from and how long it takes to have it. If the answer includes “I ask someone to put it together for me”, that is a good place to start.
If you want to work out which of your numbers are worth sorting out first, write to us.
