Why building your Business Dashboard is like cooking a meal?

What if your mother in law demand you to cook a 3 course meal last minutes?

Imagine your mother in law suddenly called you on a Saturday afternoon and inform you that she is coming over for dinner. And she would like you to cook a 3 course dinner.

And imagine you are just newly married and you really wants to impress her that you are really a good man of the house and really knows how to take care of her daughter.

What is going through your head right now?

That’s right. You’ll probably start thinking about what are you going to cook, what are you going to prepare and do you have enough ingredients or is it too rush to do last minutes shopping….etc..etc…and last but not least, how are you going to Impress her !?

Cooking is very much like a building a Business Dashboard

Your boss suddenly wants to see the numbers and asked you to prepare a consolidated report to update on Sales progress this Quarter on a Saturday afternoon. He wants you to present first thing next Monday ! (at least you have more than 24 hours)

Don’t panic. Just like cooking., first thing first identify what your bosses WANT.

Once you know roughly what he wants to see, half the battle is already won.

Without knowing what to cook, you can’t go around gathering ingredients

Without knowing what your bosses want to see, there is no way you can start preparing anything. Therefore, it is our duty to find out before jumping into preparing any forms of reports.

So let’s say he told you that he want to see past 3 months trend, growth compare to same period last year and highlight what’s the reasons for the result you are getting.

So, that’s a good start ! Now, you know what he expects to see, you can start to go about planning your “Menu” for the meal.

So, what are the key elements a Business Dashboard must have?

1. You will need an appetizer.
Similar to the Executive Summary based on his requirement of what your bosses want to see. Just like an appetizer, executive summary set the mood and induce your appetite to go for more.

2. Next follow by your main course.
Your main course in your business report refers to the details break down of what contributes to the summarize numbers in the executive summary. Your main course needs to be align and synchronize with your appetizer in order to maintain the flow.

3. Lastly, it is time for you to serve your dessert.
Dessert in your business report is the findings or insights that form the basis for call for action or conclusion your bosses need to make. Without the dessert, you will not have the chance to share your perspective and looks good infront of them ! This is the time when you can really impress them.

Why are they important?

They are important, because it follows a fundamental structure where most business reports are presented. Based on the initial requirements of what the audience wanted to see, most likely they expect you to serve them the information in this sequence. If they expect this approach, then chances is that you can communicate much more effectively with them.

You won’t serve the dessert first before the appetizer right?

However, following this sequence of serving, you need to ensure there are connectivity when you ends your appetizer and goes into your main course.

How to ensure these elements compliment each other?

If you are talking about some high level Sales numbers in your executive summary, ensure you also use the underlying details to support your numbers.

Otherwise, there will be a missing gap.

Example,

One of my client was reporting on their Sales performance. It was suppose to be all about sales numbers.

After presenting the executive summary, the main dashboard charts has nothing do with Sales numbers that support the executive summary. As $10,000 sales was reported earlier on, the audience expects to learn which products or clients contribute to the sales figure isn’t?

But won’t it be too much information?
Possible, therefore, you need to be very careful, balancing between not giving enough information and giving too much information that will clutter the entire presentation.

As a rule of thumb, we recommend you drill down 3 level deep. Example,

If we want to know which customer bought the most sellable products….

Total sales is $10,000,
> Level 1 detail : 50% from Region A, 20% from Region B, 30% from Region C.

> Level 2 detail : Out of Region A, 90% sales from Product A, 10% sales from Product B.

> Level 3 detail : 60% of the sales from Product A, comes from Customer A, 30% from Customer B and the balance 10% from the rest of the customers.

That’s it. Normally you may not need to prepare your presentation up to which day they buy most and what payment method is most popular…etc..these are too details.

Knowing what to cook, you should have no problem in getting your ingredients

Your wife should be able to tell you what her mother likes to eat. Arm with that information, you will be able to plan out your 3 course menu and start gathering the raw ingredients just enough to prepare a great meal.

Remember, to ensure a complete great dining experience, I recommend you to serve your appetizer first, follow by the main course and then the dessert.