Report Your KPIs
What Are Terms of Reference? (Free Terms of Reference Template)
We answer what are terms of reference, why they matter for meetings, and how they connect to reports & dashboards. Free download: terms of reference template.
Dashboard Design Checklist for Better BI (54 check points!)
Make your reports easier to read, nicer to look at, and more useful. Let’s be honest-most KPI reports are either a hot mess or just plain dull. If you’ve ever looked at your own report and thought, “Why isn’t this working?”… this is for you. What Is the Dashboard Design Checklist? It’s a comprehensive list…
Ultimate XmR SmartChart Guide
Contents Are Your KPIs Lying to You? Discover the Truth with SmartCharts As managers, we rely on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to tell us how our business is performing. We chart them over time, watch for trends, and compare them against targets or previous periods. Yet, despite these efforts, making informed decisions based on our…
5 Common Dashboard Design Mistakes (and How to Fix Them)
How many of us have been here: you’ve spent hours building a dashboard. You’ve pulled in all the latest numbers, added data visualisation, polished it up, and shared it with your team. And then… chaos. Stakeholders are firing questions left, right, and centre: “Wait, what does this chart mean?” “Why is this important?” “Are we…
How to avoid this common Excel disaster…
On 4 January 2010, in the Marriott hotel in Atlanta, two giants in the world of economics, Prof Carmen Reinhart and former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, Ken Rogoff, were presenting their research paper, ‘Growth in a Time of Debt’. Their message from their research turned the heads of global leaders and pushed…
The worst Excel user ever?
At the start of my career, I worked with someone who used to moan ALL the time about how terrible Excel was. After weeks of complaints, I decided to see if I could help, just to stop the complaining. I sat down next to him and quickly discovered he was using the ‘shapes and lines’…
Choosing the best reporting tool for your KPIs
The chances are your preferred tool for managing your KPIs will be a spreadsheet. Whilst spreadsheets are a good solution for many, it’s worth remembering that there are alternative options for recording, displaying and managing performance data. For certain situations, one of these alternatives may be the best reporting tool for your organisation. Here’s a…
Report Engagement, 10 essential lessons from spam email
I hate spam, so I am reading a book on marketing emails (Email Marketing Rules: A Step by Step Guide to the Best Practices that Power Marketing Success by Chad White) to figure out how to create engaging emails that people actually want to read and open. Reading the list I realised these rules hold…
Explaining complex things simply: Wise words from Silvanus P Thompson
A good friend of mine showed me his treasured copy of ‘Calculus Made Easy’ by Silvanus P Thompson, first published in 1910. Here’s the front cover… First published in 1910, here are some wise words on explaining complex things simply from Silvanus… CONSIDERING how many fools can calculate, it is surprising that it should…
Assessing Report Design Objectively – Avoiding Fights
There are three situations where it can be a good idea to have a structured review of your reports and dashboards… If some of your team are in denial about the need to change existing reports You want some clear ideas on what needs to be included in improved dashboards or reports You have an…