---
id: KB-IC-001
url: https://app.codecontract.io/help/reports-and-quality/getting-out-the-numbers-you-have-to-show
idioma: en
categoria: informes-y-calidad
subcategoria: informes
audiencia: usuario
nivel: basico
actualizado: 2026-08-13
tambienEn: [es]
relacionados: [KB-CF-003, KB-TL-009]
citadoPor: [KB-IC-003, KB-IC-006, KB-IC-008, KB-IC-011, KB-IC-020]
---

# Getting out the numbers you have to show

_What can be measured, for whom, and which number does not mean what it looks like._

**Responde a:** documentation reports · how many cases are complete · get statistics for management · measure documentary compliance

Sooner or later someone asks for numbers: how many suppliers are up to date, how long onboarding takes, how many cases are incomplete. The platform holds them all; the work is choosing the three that say something.

## The four that nearly always matter

| Number | What it answers | For whom |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Complete cases over the total | Whether the control works | Management |
| Average days to complete | Whether the process is reasonable | Whoever runs it |
| How many expire next quarter | What is coming | Operations |
| How many have been stuck over a month | Where the dead work is | Whoever runs it |

> [!IMPORTANT]
> "Complete cases" does not mean "compliant suppliers". A case can be complete with documents that expired last month if nobody set their expiry. Before showing that number to management, check the expiry dates are in place.

## The number that misleads

Total documents. It only ever rises, means nothing, and creates a sense of progress that corresponds to nothing. An archive with twenty thousand documents, half of them expired, is worse off than one with two thousand current.

> [!WARNING]
> Be careful comparing months without knowing what happened. A month with few onboardings may be good news (no new suppliers) or bad (nobody processed them). The number alone does not say.

> [!NOTE]
> If you have to show this monthly, produce it the same way on the same day. A comparable report is worth far more than an exhaustive one.

**Can it be exported to a spreadsheet?**

Yes, with its dates, which is what lets you cross it with your own data.

**Can it be filtered by site or client?**

Yes, and that is usually the view people actually use.

**Can a monthly report be automated?**

Ask about it; for recurring reporting it usually pays off.

## Ejemplos

**Management asks for a monthly documentary compliance indicator.**

- Picks complete cases and next-quarter expiries
- Checks first that expiry dates are set

→ The indicator reflects reality instead of counting expired documents as fine.

**Management asks for the quarter's numbers and they are built by hand from three spreadsheets.**

- Checks the status already calculated per period
- Compares with the previous quarter before presenting
- Saves the view so next quarter is not rebuilt

→ The report goes from an afternoon to ten minutes, and the next one costs the same.

**The number rises and nobody can explain why.**

- Compares the breakdown with the previous period

→ The change is located before the meeting.

**Each department presents its figure and they do not reconcile.**

- Checks the same source for all of them

→ The meeting starts from a common picture.

**A number is shown without saying where it comes from.**

- Brings the breakdown that backs it

→ The figure can be defended.

**Something nobody uses to decide is measured.**

- Keeps the indicators that change decisions

→ The report gets read in full.