Services
Five ways to make reporting useful again
Each service starts with a business problem, not a piece of software. The goal is to improve how information is produced, understood, and used. If the right solution is not obvious, the Data Assessment is designed to establish it.
Dashboard Development
The numbers exist, but getting to them still requires someone to assemble a report. By the time the answer arrives, the decision may already have been made.
Dashboard Development creates a clear view of the metrics the business actually uses. The reporting is built around existing systems and every figure can be traced back to its source.
What this covers
- Executive dashboards covering overall business performance
- Sales dashboards for pipeline, activity, and conversion
- Financial dashboards for revenue, margin, and cash position
- Job-cost dashboards for committed cost, forecast, and cost to complete
- Inventory dashboards for stock levels and reorder timing
- Operational dashboards for throughput and capacity
Common problems it solves
- Reporting is already stale when it reaches decision-makers
- Routine questions require a new report each time
- Different reports produce different answers
- There is no reliable view across departments, jobs, or systems
Typical deliverables
- A working dashboard built around agreed metrics
- Documented calculation logic
- A repeatable refresh process
- Written handover documentation
- A walkthrough of how the reporting works
Example scope
Reporting Automation
The same report is rebuilt every week or month. The process is predictable, but it still consumes hours of manual work.
Reporting Automation turns that recurring process into a repeatable system. Reports refresh, validate, and deliver with far less manual involvement.
What this covers
- Daily, weekly, and monthly recurring reports
- Excel and CSV processing
- Scheduled data refreshes
- Automated PDF reporting
- Email distribution
- Removal of repetitive copy-and-paste work
- Validation checks before reports are issued
Common problems it solves
- Hours are lost rebuilding the same report
- Reporting stops when one person is unavailable
- Manual errors are found after the report is sent
- The process depends on undocumented steps
- Deadlines are missed when the team gets busy
Typical deliverables
- The existing report rebuilt as a repeatable process
- Scheduled refresh and delivery
- Validation checks for missing or unusual data
- Documentation explaining how the process works
- Instructions for routine changes
Example scope
Data Cleanup and Integration
The same customer, project, or transaction is recorded differently across multiple systems. Totals no longer reconcile cleanly, so confidence in the reporting starts to disappear.
Data Cleanup and Integration establishes a dependable structure across those sources. Conflicting records are reconciled and the rules used to resolve them are documented.
What this covers
- Combining exports from disconnected systems
- Standardizing categories, names, and cost codes
- Finding and removing duplicate records
- Validating records against defined business rules
- Connecting systems where practical
- Creating a reliable reporting dataset
Common problems it solves
- The same customer or job exists under several names
- Categories have been entered inconsistently over time
- Two systems report different totals
- Data has to be re-keyed between systems
- Reporting cannot be trusted because the underlying records are inconsistent
Typical deliverables
- A documented review of data conflicts
- A cleaned and reconciled dataset
- Defined naming and entry standards
- A repeatable process for combining sources
- Validation rules that identify future issues
Example scope
Business Analysis
Sometimes the problem is not reporting. There is simply a question the business needs answered and the existing data does not make the answer obvious.
Business Analysis is a focused piece of work built around one decision or question. The analysis is documented so the conclusion can be examined rather than simply accepted.
What this covers
- Profitability by job, product, service line, or customer
- Customer retention and revenue concentration
- Sales performance over time and by segment
- Cost and margin analysis
- Forecasting from historical performance
- KPI development
- Evaluation of operational or pricing changes
Common problems it solves
- Profitability is known overall but not by customer or job
- Leadership cannot tell whether a recent change worked
- Forecasts are based primarily on judgment
- The business measures what is available rather than what is useful
- A decision needs evidence before capital or resources are committed
Typical deliverables
- A written analysis answering the agreed question
- Supporting data and calculations
- Assumptions and limitations
- Visual summaries where useful
- A walkthrough of the findings
Example scope
Ongoing Analytics Support
Some businesses need regular analytical support but do not yet need a full-time analyst.
Ongoing Analytics Support gives you regular access to someone who already knows your reporting and data. The work can shift as questions and priorities change.
What this covers
- Maintenance of existing dashboards and reports
- Monthly reporting and KPI review
- New analysis as questions arise
- Leadership reporting support
- Continuous improvement of existing reporting
- Recurring data validation
- Analytical support for operational decisions
Common problems it solves
- Reporting slowly falls out of date after it is built
- New questions arise with nobody available to answer them
- Leadership meetings rely on stale or incomplete information
- The business needs analytical capability but cannot justify a full-time hire
Typical deliverables
- An agreed number of support hours each month
- Maintenance of existing reporting
- New analysis within the available scope
- A recurring review session
- Documentation as reporting evolves
Example scope
Not sure which of these applies?
That is a common starting point, and it is what the Data Assessment is for. It is a structured review of the current reporting environment, and the written recommendations are yours either way.
Prefer to browse by problem instead of by service? Start from what you are trying to fix.