In the previous article, I wrote about how asking the right business questions can help uncover what the data does not reveal at first glance.
The next challenge, however, was about much more than building another report.
An organization needed to ensure that every employee recorded the work they had completed during the week accurately and on time.
The expectation was clear:
Weekly time records had to be complete before the end of the working week.
This was not simply an administrative matter. Missing or late entries could affect financial processes and billing.
At first, it might have seemed that all we needed was a control report.
In reality, we needed to build a sustainable operating model that could identify, every week and in time, where management action was required.
We did not want to review the past
The necessary data was available in a time-recording system.
However, managers did not have an overview that showed them in time:
- who had recorded their weekly hours correctly;
- where information was still missing;
- where intervention was needed;
- which previous weeks still contained discrepancies that could be corrected.
A traditional report could have shown us afterwards who had failed to complete the task.
But by then, it would already have been too late.
The real question was:
How can we identify the problem while there is still time to correct it?
That is why I started designing not just a report, but an early-warning system.
The report also needed a reliable data process
The required information could not be retrieved fully automatically from the new system.
We therefore assigned an owner who, at defined times, generated the latest data file and placed it in a designated location using an agreed format.
Organizational structure data was provided through a separate, continuously maintained source. This made it possible to connect every employee to the correct manager and team.
I integrated these new data sources into the existing Golden Dataset.
As a result, there was no need to build a new data platform or start again from scratch. The existing architecture could simply be extended with the information required to answer the new business question.
That is one of the greatest advantages of a reusable data platform:
We do not need to know every future question in advance in order to be prepared for them.
A KPI everyone could understand immediately
The main KPI was simple:
The number of working hours recorded for the given week.
However, managers needed to understand at a glance where everything was on track and where action was required.
So, together, we created a visual status system:
- green: the expected weekly number of hours had been recorded;
- yellow: some hours had been recorded, but the total was still significantly below the expected level;
- red: no time had yet been recorded for that week;
- dark green: the recorded value exceeded the normal weekly number of hours and might therefore require further review.
The thresholds and visual indicators were agreed with the team leaders.
This was essential.
A KPI only becomes a genuine management tool when the people who need to work with it understand and accept it.
Once we had agreed on the logic together, the report no longer felt like an external control mechanism.
It became the organization’s own solution.
Visibility with the necessary level of privacy
The report handled employee-level information, so visibility had to be carefully balanced with strict access rules.
Each manager could see only the employees for whom they were genuinely responsible.
For larger teams, additional filters helped managers focus immediately on the cases that required attention.
The report also displayed several consecutive weeks, making it possible to identify not only the current status, but also earlier discrepancies that could still be corrected.
In this case, privacy was not simply a technical requirement.
It was a prerequisite for trust.
The process grew around the dashboard
The technical solution alone would not have been enough.
We also had to define:
- who would provide the latest data;
- when the first weekly status report would be produced;
- when managers would be notified;
- when the follow-up review would take place;
- who would provide technical support.
Before the end of the week, the first status report was generated.
At that point, several employees still had yellow or red indicators. Managers could contact them in time and ask them to complete or correct their records.
By the next review, most discrepancies had already disappeared.
By the end of the week, only the cases requiring urgent attention remained visible.
The purpose was not to make managers control people more strictly.
It was to give them the opportunity to act while there was still time.
The result
The solution quickly became part of the organization’s regular operating rhythm.
Everyone knew their role:
- the data owner provided the latest information;
- managers handled the discrepancies within their teams;
- I provided technical support;
- employees could correct missing entries before the deadline.
The organization achieved a significant improvement in a short period of time and was removed from the areas requiring increased senior-management attention.
Later, other organizational units approached me to create similar solutions for them.
For me, this was one of the strongest forms of validation.
They did not simply want the same report.
They wanted to build the same operational capability within their own areas.
What did I learn?
A sustainable reporting solution is not made up of a single dashboard.
It requires:
- reliable data;
- a clearly understood KPI;
- clear responsibilities;
- appropriate access rights;
- a regular operating rhythm;
- and timely intervention.
The report can show what is happening.
The KPI helps explain what it means.
The process ensures that someone actually takes action.
The best reporting solution does not simply identify problems.
The best reporting solutions don’t simply reveal problems. They quietly help prevent them before they become business issues.
What about you?
Is there a recurring problem in your organization that everyone knows about, but that is always discovered too late?
Perhaps what is missing is not another report.
Perhaps the existing data needs to be supported by:
- the right KPI;
- an early-warning mechanism;
- clear responsibilities;
- and a sustainable operating rhythm.
Because real change does not begin when we finally see the problem.
It begins when there is still time to do something about it.
Key Takeaways
📦 Behind the Solution
What This Project Demonstrates
- Early-warning system design
- KPI and threshold definition
- Sustainable process development
- Privacy-conscious reporting
- Role-based information access
- Process ownership
- Stakeholder alignment
- Proactive decision support
- Turning reporting into behavioural change
Coming Next…
Data can do more than reveal missing information or prevent operational problems.
It can also become one of the strongest foundations for an honest customer relationship.
In the next article, I will share how stronger reporting transformed the investigation and handling of disputed items.
Because sometimes the greatest business value of data is not found in a dashboard.
It is found in the trust we are able to build with it.