Producing numbers without assembling them.
WHAT THIS REPLACES
Manually gathering figures from several places each period.
WHY IT MATTERS
Manual reporting is slow, error-prone, and it means reports arrive too late to act on.
WHAT TO ESTABLISH FIRST
What decisions the report informs.
WHY
Reports that change no decision should not exist, automated or otherwise.
WHAT TO AUTOMATE
Data collection from source systems Calculation Presentation Distribution
WHAT TO ESTABLISH ABOUT SOURCES
Where each figure comes from, definitively.
WHY
The same measure calculated from different sources produces different answers and destroys confidence.
WHAT TO DOCUMENT
The definition of every measure.
WHY
Disagreement about numbers is usually disagreement about definitions.
WHAT TO AUTOMATE FIRST
The figures reviewed most frequently.
WHAT FREQUENCY TO USE
Matching the decision cycle.
WHY
Daily reports on a monthly decision produce noise.
WHAT TO INCLUDE
Comparison: against previous period, target or expectation.
WHY
A number alone means nothing.
WHAT TO AVOID
Reports with many measures Reports sent to people who do not use them
WHAT TO REVIEW PERIODICALLY
Whether anyone reads it.
HOW TO TEST
Stop sending it and see who asks.
WHAT TO ESTABLISH
That automated figures are checked occasionally against source.
WHY
Automated reports continue producing numbers after something breaks.
