How can you effectively use reporting automation to improve your organization's decision-making process?

One thing I've found helpful in reporting automation is defining thresholds which trigger an alert event. So when certain conditions are met in the business analytics platform, key stakeholders related to that business process can be automatically informed that there may be a decision or action required. It is a collaborative effort to identify the initial thresholds. There are also options to leverage AI to continually identify situations which are out of the ordinary and should be analyzed and potentially acted upon.

One thing I have found helpful is choosing appropriate software. Software plays a pivotal role in automating reporting. While I can agree on criteria such as types of reports, the level of customization, and the budget, the data source is not as important these days due to the professionalism of software that can connect to the majority of data sources.

Integrate Six Sigma and Kaizen methodologies. These can optimise reporting automation's impact on your overall decision-making. Six Sigma ensures data accuracy and reliability by reducing errors and variability, while Kaizen fosters continuous improvement, streamlining data analysis and process efficiency. Some further process changes can such as customisation options can also tailor reports to specific needs, while data visualisation will simplify complex information. Automated alerts and notifications can ensure timely updates on critical developments and integration with other systems which leads to the centralisation of data. When combined, you can deliver maximum efficiency through automation.

The most important thing in building a dashboard or report is placing the 'why' before the elicited needs. By answering this question, we can determine our metrics. Be cautious about the differences between KPI, PI, KRI, and RI, which are often mistakenly referred to as KPIs.

To effectively implement automation in decision-making processes, two key ideas are crucial: 1. Involve stakeholders and those accountable for outcomes in the development of reports. This ensures that the reports meet their needs and are aligned with business objectives. 2. Be consistent and demanding in using these automated reports as the basis for corporate discussions. This establishes and maintains a culture of trust in the data, essential for informed decision-making.

These decisions can be based on factual data, as well as on digitally created profiles or inferred data. Examples of this include: an online decision to award a loan; and.

Creating a dashboard that captures user attention is crucial. Even with excellent metrics, a great dashboard becomes ineffective without attention to the user interface. Therefore, it's advisable to incorporate colors from your company's brand book to enhance user engagement.

Proper decisions need the latest numbers. If your ERP does not provide the required reports, RPA tools like Power Automate, and AutoIt can be used to do the download of data systematically. The data can be collected in a SharePoint site, market data can be pulled using Power Automate API connector, transformed & presented using Power BI.