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Solution example 05

Reporting & KPI Dashboard

Live dashboards that pull figures from your sales, finance and operations systems automatically, so nobody assembles the weekly numbers by hand.

Discuss a system like this How it's delivered
Type
Custom system
Delivered in
4 phases
Main services
API & Integration

What it is

If every Monday starts with someone exporting five spreadsheets and pasting them into slides, reporting has become a part-time job. A KPI dashboard gives everyone the same numbers, defined once and refreshed automatically.

A reporting and KPI dashboard collects data from the systems where work happens (CRM, accounting, operations, e-commerce, support), combines it in one place and presents the measures your leadership actually manages by. Every metric has a written definition, a known source and a refresh schedule.

It replaces the manual reporting cycle: exports from several tools, a spreadsheet full of lookups that break when a column moves, and a slide deck that's out of date before the meeting ends. It also ends the familiar debate over whose revenue figure is the right one.

Once it's running, managers check the numbers when they need them instead of waiting for the weekly report. Teams see their own targets and trends. The person who used to build the report gets those hours back and can spend them asking why a number moved, not just what it was.

Why organizations reach for this

Signs you might need one

If several of these sound familiar, a system of this type is probably worth a conversation.

  • Someone spends hours every week exporting, pasting and reformatting figures for the same report.
  • Two departments bring different numbers for the same metric to the same meeting.
  • A lookup breaks when someone renames a column, and nobody notices until the totals look wrong.
  • Managers ask for a figure and wait a day or two for someone to pull it.
  • You pay for BI tool licenses, but the dashboards inside them were never finished.
  • Leadership can see last month's results but not whether this month is on track.

What's usually included

The building blocks

A typical system of this type includes most of the following. Your version keeps what you need and leaves out what you don't.

  • 01

    Agreed metric definitions

    Each KPI documented with its formula, source system, owner and refresh timing, so a number means the same thing to everyone.

  • 02

    Automated data pipelines

    Scheduled extraction from your source systems through their APIs or database connections, with no manual exports in the loop.

  • 03

    Central reporting database

    Cleaned, joined and historical data in a warehouse you own, structured for fast queries and for questions nobody has asked yet.

  • 04

    Role-based dashboards

    Separate views for leadership, department heads and teams, each showing the measures that person is responsible for.

  • 05

    Targets and trend lines

    Actuals shown against budget, forecast or last year, with a clear signal when a measure drifts off track.

  • 06

    Drill-down to the detail

    Click from a headline figure to the regions, customers or transactions behind it, so questions get answered during the meeting.

  • 07

    Data quality checks

    Automatic tests for missed loads, duplicate records and out-of-range values, with an alert before bad data reaches a dashboard.

  • 08

    Scheduled reports and alerts

    PDF or email summaries delivered on a schedule, plus alerts when a metric crosses a threshold you set.

Visual model

From source systems to a trusted number

From source systems to a trusted numberLayer 1: CRM (Pipeline and deals), Accounting (Revenue and costs), Operations (Jobs and orders), Spreadsheets (Targets and budgets). Layer 2: Scheduled pipelines (Extract, clean and reconcile), Quality checks (Alerts before bad data spreads). Layer 3: Reporting database (Agreed metric definitions and history). Layer 4: Leadership view (Company-wide KPIs), Team dashboards (Targets and trends), Scheduled reports (Email and PDF)CRMPipeline and dealsAccountingRevenue and costsOperationsJobs and ordersSpreadsheetsTargets and budgetsScheduled pipelinesExtract, clean and reconcileQuality checksAlerts before bad data spreadsReporting databaseAgreed metric definitions and historyLeadership viewCompany-wide KPIsTeam dashboardsTargets and trendsScheduled reportsEmail and PDF
CRMPipeline and deals
AccountingRevenue and costs
OperationsJobs and orders
SpreadsheetsTargets and budgets
Scheduled pipelinesExtract, clean and reconcile
Quality checksAlerts before bad data spreads
Reporting databaseAgreed metric definitions and history
Leadership viewCompany-wide KPIs
Team dashboardsTargets and trends
Scheduled reportsEmail and PDF
Data is pulled, checked and modeled automatically, so every dashboard reads from the same definitions.

Systems it typically connects to

  • Accounting and ERP (QuickBooks, Xero, NetSuite, Sage Intacct)
  • CRM (Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive)
  • E-commerce (Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce)
  • Marketing and web analytics (Google Analytics, Google Ads, Meta Ads)
  • Support and help desk (Zendesk, Freshdesk, Intercom)
  • Data warehouses (Snowflake, BigQuery, PostgreSQL)
  • BI and visualization (Power BI, Looker Studio, Metabase)
  • Targets and budgets in spreadsheets (Excel, Google Sheets)

Who it tends to suit

  • Leadership teams that want one weekly view of the whole business
  • Multi-location businesses comparing performance across sites or regions
  • E-commerce and subscription companies tracking sales, retention and margin daily
  • Nonprofits reporting outcomes and spending to boards and funders
  • Finance teams rebuilding the same month-end report by hand

How it would be delivered

Four phases, each one usable

Durations are indicative for a typical scope. Your proposal will include a dated schedule.

  1. 01

    Define the metrics

    Workshops with each department to choose the KPIs that matter, write the formula for each one and name the system that owns the source data.

    1–2 weeks
  2. 02

    Build the data pipeline

    Connections to each source system, a reporting database and automated checks, reconciled against figures you already trust.

    3–5 weeks
  3. 03

    Design the dashboards

    Views for each audience, built iteratively with the people who will use them and tested against real questions from recent meetings.

    3–4 weeks
  4. 04

    Validate and roll out

    A parallel run alongside your existing reports until the numbers match, then training and a handover of the metric definitions.

    2–3 weeks

Services involved

How we'd build it

The services most often combined to deliver a system like this.

04 Development

API & Systems Integration

Connect your CRM, ERP, accounting, store and payment systems so data moves on its own, mapped in writing, retried safely and monitored.

From$2,500
01 Development

Custom Software Development

Purpose-built applications that model your real operation (your data, your rules, your terminology), owned outright by you.

From$3,200

Related examples

Often built together

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Systems Integration Hub

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01 Solution

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One system for the orders, jobs, people and assets that run your business, replacing the spreadsheets and inboxes that hold it together today.

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Field Service Management App

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