Reporting is to a business what fresh water is to survival: non-negotiable.
But you still need to get your reporting set up right to tap into fresh, actionable data.
CFOs, CEOs and finance professionals with questions about reporting: this article is for you.
Together, we will cover:
Let's start at the very beginning: what reporting is and what it is used for.
"Reporting" refers to communicating data. It includes:
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The terms "reporting" and "dashboards" are often used interchangeably, even if loosely. That's because the concept behind both terms is the concise, visual representation of the performance of a company, a department, a communication channel, a project...
Reporting in the sense of a "dashboard" is therefore a tool. It compiles verified and verifiable data. It lets you visualize a company's performance indicators. Given the solution we have built around performance management, in this article we will use the term "reporting" to mean the visual representation of data in dashboard form.
It is also important to note that reporting centralizes data. The data it contains is first collected, then processed, before being formatted. Depending on the company's reporting maturity, this data may be:
In this article, we will approach reporting from an analytical perspective, as dashboards rather than as activity reports.
Reporting has two main purposes:
Reporting structures data in a clear, accessible way. It presents information in various formats to make it more actionable.
Its format and frequency are set in advance. They vary according to the needs of your organization and your users.
Overall, reporting makes it possible to:
Every organization has its own reporting, and every company its own needs. To help you choose yours, here is a selection of the most common types of reporting:
Strategic dashboards are useful to executive committees as well as to board members. Both groups need an overview rather than a detailed view.
This type of dashboard therefore gives C-levels an overview of company performance through indicators that cover the entire business.
You'll agree the name says it all. This type of reporting is used to monitor a project's progress. Inspired by agile development, it is useful both:
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In other words, analytical reporting is reporting focused on the analyses it makes possible. Often associated with software solutions, it is closely related to business intelligence or Enterprise Performance Management (also called EPM).
We often talk about analytical reporting when a dashboard brings together a large amount of data and allows advanced analysis. This analytical approach to reporting is made possible in particular by cross-referencing source data or categorizing data into groups.
Within a company, analytical reporting includes indicators such as profitability by client or by project, or cost analysis.
Quite rightly, those of you most familiar with finance will associate analytical reporting with reporting based on cost accounting. Although this is a loose use of the term, it is completely understandable.
To track progress toward its goals, each department may need to build its own operational reporting. These include:
Financial reporting is one of the most iconic types of reporting. It comes in several forms. These include, for example, accounting reporting, cash management reporting, financial planning reporting and consolidation reporting.
Accounting reporting focuses on indicators related to the company's accounting health, such as DPO (days payable outstanding), average DSO (days sales outstanding) or EBITDA trends... Automated reporting software such as EMASPHERE can also generate balance sheets and income statements as part of this type of reporting.
Consolidation reporting, on the other hand, is built around reconciling accounts and intercompany transactions to obtain a consolidated view of a group that may be made up of dozens or even hundreds of entities.
Ideally, you should use specialized software that can drill down to the transaction itself and offer:
Reporting and sales are a well-known pair for any company that pays attention to its commercial performance. This type of reporting focuses on indicators such as:
More recent than the types of reporting mentioned above, this newcomer is also known as ESG reporting (Environmental, Social and Governance).
It focuses on the non-financial aspects of the company. It includes assessment criteria related to social, societal and environmental issues, with KPIs such as:
The three essential elements of a successful reporting dashboard are:
The menu is made up of the pages you consult as needed. The menu lets you:
Focus on what matters. We recommend limiting the amount of information shown per page. It makes it easier for readers to understand! In EMASPHERE, for example, the menu is fully customizable to the needs, rights and responsibilities of each user or user group.
The "data visualization" area brings together your KPIs, charts and tables.
This information usually comes with a comparison range. This comparison can be:
Well-built reporting also lets you apply an individual filter to relevant charts. Take a chart showing the number of quotes issued each month over the last 12 months. Filtering this chart lets you display the number of signed quotes in a single click, for example. In EMASPHERE, you have a range of 50+ preconfigured KPIs, tables and charts for your indicators. The choice is yours!
The context bar lets you apply the filters you need and access the necessary settings.
It is essential to be able to apply global filters to your entire page rather than to individual charts. One of the most common filters, for example, is selecting a date range.
Let's review two of the most common categories of reporting tools: spreadsheets and EPM solutions.
As we discussed in our article on Excel reporting, spreadsheets are one of the
great classics of business management. Google Sheets or Excel, for example, are good tools to start your reporting, especially if you are not afraid of:
EPM solutions (Enterprise Performance Management) offer a 360° view of the business. They give you visibility on all of the following at once:
As we explained in our guide to choosing the right EPM, these solutions are powerful allies for finance departments and top management in general. When they truly meet your company's needs, they contribute to performance management.
In the case of EMASPHERE, an EPM solution:
Reporting is generally built in three simple steps:
The three steps to setting up reporting
This step is about taking into account the needs of:
When you build reporting, design it with your company's strategy in mind. Ask yourself: "What is my organization's strategic vision?" You can then define one or more appropriate goals using the SMART method (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound). Each goal can then be broken down into key performance indicators.
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Reporting relies on data. It can come from manual entries by teams or be fed from business tools. Either way, ask yourself about the quality of this data. To do so, consider these 4 points:
For reporting to be fully actionable, it must:
To achieve reporting that meets these criteria, an iterative process is usually needed. It involves a period of fine-tuning the KPIs used and the models adopted.
After reading this article, the fundamentals of reporting should hold no more secrets for you. Put your new knowledge into practice right now: create your reporting dashboard in three steps.