Use cases by role
What to check monthly if you run the company
Four things, fifteen minutes, and none of them is a dashboard.
Most documentary problems reach management once they are already an incident: a penalty, a client withholding payment, a site stopped. Almost all were visible in advance, in four figures that need looking at no more than monthly.
The four
- 1
What percentage is current
And above all, which way it moves. 92% falling worries more than 85% rising.
- 2
What has been stuck longest
Not how many cases are open: which is the oldest. That is where the problems are.
- 3
How many exceptions were approved
The times someone let something incomplete through. If they rise, the process does not match reality.
- 4
And what expires in the next ninety days
The only thing that lets you decide with margin rather than react.
Important
The third is barely ever looked at and carries the most information. A rise in exceptions does not mean people comply worse: it almost always means the process asks for something operations cannot give, and that is fixed by changing the process.
What you do NOT need to look at
| This | Why not |
|---|---|
| Case-by-case detail | If you have to look at it, the problem is delegation, not data |
| Fifteen indicators | None of them will produce a decision |
| What is fine and unchanged | One line is enough |
Watch out
If answering the four questions costs someone a morning of assembling, that is the month's finding. A figure that costs a morning gets calculated differently each time and stops being comparable, which was the only thing making it useful.
The question worth asking in the meeting
"What decision do you need from me this month?" If the answer is "none" two months running, either everything is going very well or the report is not describing what happens. Both possibilities deserve a conversation.
Worth knowing
If you work with large clients, add a fifth: how many client audits or formal requests there were and how they were answered. It is the best leading indicator of whether the system holds.
›Are fifteen minutes enough?
To look, yes. To decide what comes out of it, it depends.
›Should I look myself or delegate?
Look at the four, yes. The detail, no.
›What if the numbers are wrong?
That is as valid a finding as any, and it usually points at the process.
A real case
The situation
A managing director receives a fifteen-indicator report and does not read it.
What you do
- Asks for four figures with their trend
- Adds the question of what decision is needed this month
What you get
Spots a rise in exceptions three months before it would have become a process problem.
The situation
The monthly review happens by asking the team.
What you do
- Checks the status already calculated
What you get
The meeting starts with data.
The situation
Everything is looked at and nothing is decided.
What you do
- Looks at what has been stalled too long
What you get
The review produces decisions.
The situation
The indicator rises and nobody knows why.
What you do
- Compares with the previous period
What you get
The change is located.
The situation
Each department presents its own version.
What you do
- Checks the same source for all
What you get
The picture is shared.
The situation
A month is skipped and the thread is lost.
What you do
- Schedules the review in the calendar
What you get
The cadence keeps itself.
This article answers
- what a manager should review monthly
- documentary risk indicators for management
- monthly compliance review
- what to check as a managing director