Data and Reporting
From Data to Decisions
Your business already generates data. Whether it tells you anything useful is a different question.
The work here ranges from a one-time analysis answering a specific question, to building the operational dashboards a team checks every morning, to centralizing numbers from a dozen systems so there's finally one version everyone agrees on. It depends on where you are and what you need to see.
The kind of work this usually is.
One source everyone agrees on.
When many systems display their own numbers and nobody's sure which one is right, the fix is building a central layer where everything flows together. One set of trusted numbers eliminates the debate chatter.
A specific question that needs a real answer.
Which products are actually profitable? Which customers cost more to serve than they're worth? Which channel is driving margin and which is driving volume? A focused engagement that produces an answer, not an ongoing system.
What's happening across your operations, right now.
These are the operational metrics that tell you whether things are working. Daily operational dashboards, performance tracking, progress against plan, what's behind and what's on track. Reports and views the team uses to run the day.
Numbers that don't match, traced to the source.
After a migration, a new integration, or years of inconsistent entry - sometimes the numbers just don't agree. This is finding where the divergence started and fixing it so both sides land on the same answer.
If any of these sound familiar, this is where to start.
Reports that contradict each other
Accounting says one number, the system says another. Both pull from real data - they just don't agree, and nobody's sure whose answer to trust.
No clear picture of what's profitable
You know what you sold. You don't know which products, customers, or channels actually made money - or which ones quietly lost it.
Reporting that lives in one person's spreadsheet
Someone built a spreadsheet the business depends on. Only they can fix it when something breaks. Nobody else fully understands it.
No visibility into daily operations
Leadership knows the monthly numbers but nobody can see what's happening on the floor today - what's moving, what's behind, where the bottleneck is.
Numbers that don't match after a change
Systems were connected or data was moved, and now the totals don't agree. Something got lost or doubled in the process.
Reporting that made sense when the business was smaller
What worked at one size doesn't work at the next. The visibility you need now is different from what got you here.
Problems I've worked on.
- A business ran on 25+ systems that each had their own numbers. Now there's one set everyone uses to run the business - no more debating whose report is right.
- A business couldn't tell which products or customers were actually profitable. Now they can see it by product, customer, and channel - including which ones quietly lose money.
- Financial and operational reporting the business actually runs on - built from scratch and kept current as the business changed.
- Numbers that didn't match across systems - tracked to the source and fixed so everyone was working from the same answer.
If you don't trust your own numbers, that's the problem to solve first.
- Businesses who want to see the accounting and operations numbers match.
- Operations teams who want a real-time view into what's happening by their teams - throughput, line status, what's behind.
- Mid-sized companies where critical reporting lives in a complex spreadsheet.
- Mid-sized companies building toward AI-driven insights - AI is only as good as the data underneath it, and centralizing that foundation is where the work starts.
- Anyone preparing for a sale, an audit, or a major decision who needs the numbers to be clean and reliable before they get there.
Where this connects.
Listen, understand, recommend, and act.
Before recommending anything, I want to understand what's actually happening. I want to see how the process works today, and I want to understand how it is supposed to work. I will ask follow up questions, keep asking past the first answer, and provide you a timely and actionable recommendation.
More on how I work →Schedule a 30-minute conversation.
Call or book a free 30-minute conversation, in person or online. Tell me what's not working, and I'll let you know if I can help.