Oak Enterprises Business Reporting
Just as you wouldnt drive a car without key performance gauges displayed on your dashboard, you shouldnt drive your business without a dashboard displaying key performance metrics.
Jack Welch, former CEO of GE, equates it to a cockpit, containing real-time information that a manager needs to run a business and spot the trends requiring immediate action.
The key word is information -- not to be confused with data. Most businesses have plenty of data from myriad applications including sales/marketing/CRM systems, financial software, ERP systems, data warehouses, HR systems and so on. But data is not what you want. You want information and knowledge.
Good, easy-to-use business reports are the answer. Reports geared specifically for your business -- with key performance metrics that you want to see, in a format that is most comfortable and meaningful for you.
What's on a typical business report?
A business report will consist of essential business fundamental metrics -- all those things a manager must know about the company (or an operational function) in order to manage it effectively and profitably. It can be text/spreadsheets, graphs or both. A CEO often wants a simple graphical snapshot of the big picture. Departmental VPs/managers routinely want more detailed, drill-down reports. For example:
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In the area of: |
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a CEO may want to see... |
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a Business VP/Manager
may want to see... |
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Sales |
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totals and trends |
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who and what regions are performing best |
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Marketing |
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market share |
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which segment responded best to campaign |
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Finance |
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gross margins and cash flow |
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cash flow details such as A/R and A/P |
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HR |
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headcount and turnover |
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how are individual departments doing in retention |
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Operations |
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operating expense and inventory |
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just-in-time inventory & direct vs. indirect labor |
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click for a sample CEO dashboard |
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click for a sample Business Manager dashboard. |
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"We can't expect to defend our markets if we aren't
paying attention to the fundamentals." - Dr. Thomas
W. Butler [from foreward to Getting Out of Trouble and Staying
Out by Bill W. Sorenson]
How can Oak Enterprises help?
Oak will work with your management team to build reports that will give you the key metrics and knowledge to run your business better and gain competitive advantage.
Contact us today for for more information or a quote on this service.
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