Reporting across departments and locations

The challenge

Large organisations often combine spreadsheets with different column names, reporting periods, and metric definitions. Teams spend more time reconciling reports than investigating the issues those reports reveal.

The workflow

Departmental exports enter a standard reporting process. The workflow checks required fields, reporting dates, duplicate entries, and inconsistent totals before consolidating the data.

The output includes a management report, an exception list, and references back to the underlying records.

1. Collect and reconcile
2. Calculate metrics
3. Review and publish

Resolve conflicting totals before the management meeting

Suppose two branches submit weekly revenue reports, but one includes tax and the other excludes it. The workflow checks both against the agreed metric definition and reporting dates. It flags the incompatible figure for the branch owner rather than silently adding the totals.

Once corrected, calculations produce a consolidated report with links to the source rows. The commentary can describe a rise or fall, but an explanation such as “a promotion increased sales” needs evidence from the department. Unresolved figures remain marked as provisional.

Human review

Department owners resolve discrepancies and approve the final report.

How to measure improvement

Track preparation time, reconciliation effort, data freshness, and corrections made after publication.