Organizations often invest in reporting tools and still find that leadership meetings run on exported spreadsheets. The problem is rarely the tool. It is usually that dashboards were built around available data rather than around decisions.
Begin with decisions
Ask each leader which decisions they make weekly and monthly, and what information would make those decisions easier. KPIs should follow from those answers.
Agree on definitions
If finance and operations calculate margin differently, no dashboard will be trusted. A short, agreed data dictionary is one of the most valuable outputs of a BI project.
Keep the executive view simple
- A handful of KPIs on the first page
- Clear comparison to target and prior period
- Drill-down for detail, not clutter on the main view
- Consistent colours and layout across reports
Automate the data pipeline
Dashboards that depend on someone refreshing files eventually go stale. Scheduled, monitored pipelines from source systems into a governed data model keep reports current and reliable.
Discuss this with our team
Explore how these ideas apply to your organization.