---
id: KB-IC-011
url: https://app.codecontract.io/help/reports-and-quality/the-monthly-report-in-ten-minutes
idioma: en
categoria: informes-y-calidad
subcategoria: informes
audiencia: usuario
nivel: basico
actualizado: 2026-08-13
tambienEn: [es]
relacionados: [KB-IC-008, KB-IC-001]
citadoPor: [KB-CR-013, KB-IC-017, KB-IC-020]
---

# The monthly report in ten minutes

_Three figures, one comparison and one sentence. The rest is padding._

**Responde a:** monthly compliance report · what to put in the monthly quality report · reporting document status to management · quick monthly report

The monthly report eats a whole morning and almost nobody reads it. Usually because it tries to tell everything, when the reader only needs three things: whether we are doing well, whether anything is getting worse, and whether something needs deciding.

## The structure that works

1. **Three figures, always the same ones** — Changing metrics every month makes comparison impossible, which is the point.
2. **The comparison with last month** — A lone number says nothing. "84%" does not inform; "84%, three points down" does.
3. **One sentence of why** — The explanation of what moved. It is the only part no dashboard can produce.
4. **And what you need from the reader** — Ask for nothing and the report is decorative. Ask for something and it becomes a useful meeting.

> [!IMPORTANT]
> The fourth point separates a report that gets read from one that gets filed. "Two suppliers have gone sixty days without supplying; I need purchasing to decide whether to hold their orders" is a report that produces a decision.

## Which three figures to choose

| Figure | What it says | Why that one |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Percentage current | The general state | Everyone understands it without explanation |
| Average time taken | Whether the process is improving | It moves before the percentage falls |
| Open cases and their age | Where it hurts now | It points at this month's actual work |

> [!WARNING]
> Do not add fifteen indicators because they are available. Each one reduces the chance anyone looks at the three that matter, and none of the fifteen will produce a decision.

## What does not need explaining

**En corto**

- What is fine and unchanged: one line is enough.
- Case-by-case detail: in an annex or nowhere.
- And what was already decided last month, unless it was not done.

> [!NOTE]
> If the report comes from what is already recorded, it takes minutes and always uses the same criteria. If it has to be assembled by hand, besides being slow, each month is calculated slightly differently and comparisons stop meaning anything.

**What if management wants more detail?**

Send the detail they asked about, not everything just in case.

**Does the same report work for a client?**

The format yes; the content no: a client wants theirs, not your overall.

**Monthly or weekly?**

Monthly for management, weekly only if something needs correcting as you go.

## Ejemplos

**A quality manager spends a morning on the report and nobody ever comments.**

- Cuts it to three fixed figures, the comparison and one concrete request

→ The report gets read, and for the first time produces a purchasing decision.

**The monthly report takes a whole afternoon of copying and pasting.**

- Checks the period's already-calculated status
- Saves the format as a template
- Schedules it to generate itself

→ The report goes from an afternoon to ten minutes and goes out even on a busy day.

**The report arrives on the 15th and is no longer useful.**

- Schedules it for the first working day

→ The figure arrives while action is still possible.

**The format changes every month and comparison is impossible.**

- Keeps the same format

→ Month-to-month comparison makes sense.

**The report includes everything and nobody reads it all.**

- Keeps the indicators that change decisions

→ The report gets read.

**A figure in the report is queried and it has to be rebuilt.**

- Keeps the breakdown with the report

→ The question is answered in minutes.