Data reporting: outsource the build and the monthly refresh

Key takeaways

Data reporting outsourcing hands over the build and refresh of business reports: pulling data, cleaning it, updating spreadsheets or dashboards, checking totals and publishing on a set date. Managers keep the questions the reports answer and the decisions they inform. Write down each report's sources and definitions so it does not break when someone leaves.

• Outsource: data pulls, cleaning, refresh and checks.
• Keep: which questions to ask and what to do.
• Document sources and definitions for every report.
• Publish on a fixed date each period.

Which reporting work can be outsourced?

Pulling data from systems, cleaning and combining it, refreshing spreadsheets or dashboards, reconciling totals to source systems, adding factual notes on large changes, and publishing on schedule. Building new reports to a written specification can move too.

• Which business processes should you outsource?
• Time spent on manual reporting: what it costs

What should managers keep?

The questions and the decisions. Which measures matter, what targets to set, why numbers moved and what to do next. A provider can say that margin fell in one product line; only the manager knows whether that was planned.

• Operations dashboard: the few numbers a small firm needs
• Marketing reporting: one monthly view across channels

Why do business reports keep breaking?

Because they depend on one person's spreadsheet knowledge, on manual steps nobody wrote down, or on source systems that changed. Document each report: sources, steps, definitions and checks. Reconcile totals to the source every time, so errors show before the report goes out.

• List sources and refresh steps.
• Define every measure.
• Reconcile totals to source.
• Note changes to definitions.

• Key person dependency: when one person holds it all
• Running a business on spreadsheets: when it breaks

When should reporting stay in-house?

When the report is small and the manager who uses it can refresh it in minutes, or when it draws on highly sensitive data that cannot be shared. Automation within your tools may also replace the need for manual refresh altogether.

• Workflow automation for small businesses: where to start
• Processes with sensitive data: can they be outsourced?

What does this look like in practice?

A pattern we see: the monthly report arrives later each month because it grows a step at a time. Documenting and handing over the refresh usually brings it back to a fixed date.

• See client work
• BPO Solutions for UK businesses

Data reporting checklist

Prepare these for each report.

• Purpose and audience.
• Data sources and access.
• Measure definitions.
• Refresh steps and checks.
• Publication date.
• Owner who reviews it.

• The process selection score: outsource, split or keep?
• People reports: headcount, absence and turnover monthly

Next step

Tell us which reports take your team longest each month. We will tell you what handing over the refresh would involve.