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Reporting Cadence Guide - Comprehensive Framework

Date: 2024
Version: 1.0
Category: Analytics & Business Intelligence

Executive Summary

This guide establishes a structured reporting rhythm that ensures stakeholders receive timely, accurate, and actionable insights. Our reporting cadence operates on daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual cycles, with each report serving specific decision-making needs.

Core Principles

  • Right Information: Relevant metrics for each audience
  • Right Time: Delivered when decisions are made
  • Right Format: Optimized for consumption and action
  • Right Frequency: Balanced between insight and overload

Daily Reports

Sales Activity Dashboard

Audience: Sales Team, Sales Management
Delivery: 8:00 AM local time
Format: Interactive dashboard with email summary
Owner: Sales Operations

Key Metrics: - Yesterday's activity summary - Pipeline changes (>$10K) - New leads assigned - Meetings scheduled - Deals closing this week - Rep performance vs. daily targets

Distribution: 

To: sales-team@company.com
Subject: [DATE] Daily Sales Snapshot
Automation: Salesforce scheduled report
Access: Dashboard always available

Lead Flow Report

Audience: Marketing, SDR Team
Delivery: 8:30 AM
Format: Email with Excel attachment
Owner: Marketing Operations

Metrics Included: | Source | Yesterday | WTD | MTD | Target | Status | |--------|-----------|-----|-----|--------|--------| | Website | 45 | 234 | 890 | 1000 | 🟡 | | Paid Search | 23 | 123 | 456 | 500 | 🟢 | | Social | 12 | 67 | 234 | 300 | 🔴 | | Events | 8 | 34 | 156 | 200 | 🟡 | | Partners | 5 | 28 | 98 | 150 | 🔴 |

Critical Metrics Alert

Audience: Executive Team
Delivery: 9:00 AM (only if thresholds breached)
Format: Slack notification + SMS for critical
Owner: Revenue Operations

Alert Thresholds: - Win rate drops >10% from average - Pipeline coverage <3x quarterly target - Lead volume <70% of target - Churn spike >2x monthly average - NPS drops >10 points

Weekly Reports

Monday: Pipeline Review

Audience: Sales Leadership
Delivery: Monday 7:00 AM
Format: Detailed PDF report
Owner: Sales Operations
Meeting: Monday 10:00 AM pipeline review

Report Sections: 1. Pipeline Summary - Total pipeline value - Stage distribution - Coverage ratios - Week-over-week changes

  1. Deal Movement
  2. Deals advanced
  3. Deals stalled (>30 days)
  4. Deals pushed

  5. Deals lost

  6. Forecast Analysis

  7. Current quarter forecast
  8. Commit vs. pipeline
  9. Risk assessment

  10. Required pipeline to hit target

  11. Rep Performance

  12. Individual pipeline coverage
  13. Activity metrics
  14. Win rate trending
  15. Deal velocity

Sample Pipeline Summary: 

Q4 2024 Pipeline Status (as of Monday, Week 43)

Commit:     $3.2M (89% to target)
Best Case:  $4.1M (114% to target)
Pipeline:   $12.3M (3.4x coverage)

Top 10 Deals: $2.8M (23% of pipeline)
At Risk:      $890K (7 deals)
Stalled:      $1.2M (12 deals >30 days)

Action Required:
- 3 deals need executive engagement
- 5 deals missing next steps
- 8 deals need technical validation

Tuesday: Marketing Performance

Audience: Marketing Team, CMO
Delivery: Tuesday 9:00 AM
Format: Interactive dashboard + insights email
Owner: Marketing Analytics

Core Components: - Lead generation by source - Campaign performance - Content engagement - Conversion funnel analysis - Budget pacing - Channel ROI

Weekly Marketing Scorecard: | Metric | Last Week | Goal | Variance | Trend | |--------|-----------|------|----------|-------| | MQLs Generated | 234 | 250 | -6.4% | ↓ | | Cost per MQL | $187 | <$200 | ✅ | ↑ | | MQL→SQL Rate | 42% | 40% | ✅ | → | | Campaign ROI | 4.2x | 3x | ✅ | ↑ | | Website Conversion | 2.8% | 3% | -6.7% | ↓ |

Wednesday: Customer Success Review

Audience: CS Team, Customer Success Leadership
Delivery: Wednesday 8:00 AM
Format: Health score dashboard + action list
Owner: Customer Success Operations

Report Contents: - Customer health score changes - Usage trends - At-risk account alerts - Expansion opportunities - Support ticket trends - NPS updates - Renewal forecast

Health Score Distribution: 

Green (Healthy):     234 accounts (67%)
Yellow (Attention):   98 accounts (28%)
Red (At Risk):        17 accounts (5%)

This Week's Changes:
↑ Improved: 12 accounts
↓ Declined: 8 accounts
⚠️ New Risks: 3 accounts

Immediate Actions:
1. Enterprise Corp - Executive meeting needed
2. TechCo - Usage dropped 40%
3. StartupXYZ - Champion left company

Thursday: Competitive Intelligence

Audience: Sales, Marketing, Product
Delivery: Thursday 2:00 PM
Format: Newsletter format with analysis
Owner: Product Marketing

Sections: - Competitive wins/losses - Market developments - Pricing changes observed - New competitor features - Customer feedback themes - Win/loss interview insights

Friday: Executive Weekly Summary

Audience: C-Suite, Board
Delivery: Friday 3:00 PM
Format: Executive dashboard + PDF summary
Owner: Revenue Operations

Executive Summary Template: 

Week Ending [DATE] - Executive Summary

Revenue Performance:
• New Bookings: $890K (112% to target) ✅
• Pipeline Created: $2.3M (95% to target) 🟡
• Win Rate: 24% (target 22%) ✅
• Churn: $45K (0.8% monthly) ✅

Key Wins:
• Closed Enterprise Corp - $234K
• Signed 3-year renewal with MegaCo
• Launched new product to 12 beta customers

Concerns:
• EMEA pipeline 23% below target
• Q4 coverage at 3.2x (need 4x)
• 2 enterprise deals pushed to Q1

Next Week:
• Board deck preparation
• Q4 planning sessions
• Major product launch

Monthly Reports

First Monday: Monthly Business Review (MBR)

Audience: All Managers and above
Delivery: First Monday, 12:00 PM
Format: Comprehensive slide deck (30-40 slides)
Owner: Revenue Operations
Meeting: First Tuesday, All-Hands MBR

MBR Structure: 1. Executive Summary (3 slides) - Month highlights - Key metrics dashboard - Critical issues

  1. Sales Performance (8 slides)
  2. Bookings analysis
  3. Pipeline analysis
  4. Rep/team performance
  5. Win/loss analysis

  6. Forecast accuracy

  7. Marketing Performance (6 slides)

  8. Lead generation
  9. Campaign ROI
  10. Channel performance
  11. Content metrics

  12. Budget utilization

  13. Customer Success (5 slides)

  14. Retention/churn
  15. Expansion revenue
  16. Health scores
  17. NPS trends

  18. Support metrics

  19. Product & Engineering (4 slides)

  20. Feature adoption
  21. Usage metrics
  22. Release performance

  23. Quality metrics

  24. Financial Summary (4 slides)

  25. P&L summary
  26. Cash flow
  27. Unit economics

  28. Budget variance

  29. Looking Forward (3 slides)

  30. Next month priorities
  31. Risk mitigation
  32. Resource needs

Mid-Month: Department Deep Dives

Sales Deep Dive (15th of month) - Individual rep reviews - Territory performance - Account planning - Skills assessment - Coaching priorities

Marketing Deep Dive (16th of month) - Campaign post-mortems - Content performance - Lead quality analysis - Attribution analysis - Budget reallocation

Customer Success Deep Dive (17th of month) - Account reviews - Expansion planning - Churn analysis - Product feedback synthesis - Success story development

Month-End: Financial Close Report

Audience: Finance, Executive Team
Delivery: 3rd business day of following month
Format: Financial dashboard + variance report
Owner: Finance

Key Components: - Revenue recognition - Deferred revenue - Commission calculations - Budget vs. actual - Cash position - Forecast updates

Quarterly Reports

Quarterly Business Review (QBR)

Audience: Board of Directors, Executive Team
Delivery: 2 weeks after quarter end
Format: Board deck (60-80 slides) + appendix
Owner: CEO with RevOps support
Meeting: Board meeting (3rd week after quarter end)

QBR Sections:

1. Executive Summary (5 slides)

Q3 2024 Performance Summary

Financial Highlights:
• Revenue: $8.2M (102% to plan)
• New ARR: $2.3M (94% to plan)
• NRR: 108% (target 110%)
• Burn: $1.2M (8% under budget)

Strategic Achievements:
• Launched Enterprise Edition
• Entered EMEA market
• Acquired 12 Fortune 500 logos
• Achieved SOC 2 certification

Challenges:
• SMB segment underperforming
• Sales cycle lengthening
• Technical debt accumulating

2. Financial Performance (10 slides)

  • P&L details
  • Revenue breakdown
  • Cost analysis
  • Cash flow
  • Unit economics
  • Cohort analysis

3. Go-to-Market Review (15 slides)

  • Sales performance
  • Marketing effectiveness
  • Customer success metrics
  • Channel performance
  • Competitive landscape

4. Product & Technology (10 slides)

  • Product roadmap progress
  • Feature adoption
  • Technical metrics
  • Engineering velocity
  • Quality metrics

5. People & Culture (5 slides)

  • Headcount changes
  • Key hires/departures
  • Culture survey results
  • Talent development
  • Organizational changes

6. Strategic Initiatives (8 slides)

  • Initiative scorecards
  • Progress vs. plan
  • Resource allocation
  • Risk assessment
  • Pivot decisions

7. Next Quarter Plan (7 slides)

  • Financial targets
  • Key initiatives
  • Resource requirements
  • Risk mitigation
  • Success metrics

Quarterly Sales Territory Review

Timing: Week 2 of new quarter
Content: - Territory performance rankings - Account redistribution - Quota adjustments - Territory potential analysis - Coverage optimization

Quarterly Marketing Attribution Report

Timing: Week 3 of new quarter
Content: - Multi-touch attribution analysis - Channel contribution - Campaign ROI rankings - Budget reallocation recommendations - Test results and learnings

Quarterly Customer Health Report

Timing: Week 2 of new quarter
Content: - Cohort retention analysis - Health score distribution - Churn prediction accuracy - Expansion opportunity pipeline - Product usage trends

Annual Reports

Annual Planning Deck

Timing: Q4 (October-November)
Audience: Board, Executive Team
Format: Strategic planning document (100+ slides)

Contents: 1. Year in Review 2. Market Analysis 3. Competitive Positioning 4. Financial Plan 5. Go-to-Market Strategy 6. Product Roadmap 7. Organizational Plan 8. Risk Assessment 9. Capital Requirements 10. Success Metrics

Annual Performance Review

Timing: January (for prior year)
Audience: All Hands
Format: Company presentation + department reports

Includes: - Company performance vs. goals - Department achievements - Individual recognition - Lessons learned - Cultural highlights - Customer success stories

Annual Compensation Review

Timing: Q1 (February-March)
Audience: HR, Finance, Management
Format: Confidential analysis

Analysis: - Performance ratings distribution - Compensation benchmarking - Equity refresh recommendations - Promotion pipeline - Retention risk assessment

Ad-Hoc Reporting

Trigger-Based Reports

Deal Alert (Real-time) - Triggers: Deal >$100K created/updated - Audience: VP Sales, CRO - Format: Slack notification - Action: Review and coaching

Churn Alert (Immediate) - Triggers: Customer cancellation notice - Audience: CS Leadership, Executive - Format: Email + Slack - Action: Save attempt

Budget Alert (Daily check) - Triggers: Spend >110% of pace - Audience: Department head, CFO - Format: Email alert - Action: Spending review

On-Demand Reports

Common Requests: | Report Type | Typical Requestor | Turnaround | Frequency | |-------------|-------------------|------------|-----------| | Win/Loss Analysis | Sales Leadership | 2 days | Monthly | | ROI Analysis | Marketing | 3 days | Quarterly | | Cohort Analysis | Product | 1 week | Quarterly | | Commission Validation | Finance | 1 day | Monthly | | Board Metrics | CEO | Same day | As needed |

Self-Service Options: - Tableau dashboards - Salesforce reports - Google Data Studio - Excel pivot tables - SQL query library

Report Design Standards

Visual Design Principles

Color Coding: - Green: Above target/positive - Yellow: Near target/caution - Red: Below target/negative - Blue: Neutral/informational - Gray: Historical/inactive

Chart Guidelines: | Data Type | Recommended Chart | Avoid | |-----------|-------------------|-------| | Trends | Line chart | Pie chart | | Comparisons | Bar chart | 3D charts | | Composition | Stacked bar | Donut chart | | Relationship | Scatter plot | Radar chart | | Distribution | Histogram | Area chart |

Layout Standards: - Title: Clear, descriptive - Date range: Always visible - Legend: When needed - Data labels: Key points only - Grid lines: Subtle - Annotations: For context

Data Quality Standards

Accuracy Requirements: - Financial data: 100% - Sales metrics: 99%+ - Marketing metrics: 95%+ - Usage metrics: 90%+

Validation Checks: 

-- Daily validation query example
SELECT 
  COUNT(*) as record_count,
  SUM(amount) as total_amount,
  COUNT(DISTINCT account_id) as unique_accounts
FROM opportunities
WHERE close_date = CURRENT_DATE - 1
HAVING COUNT(*) > 0;

Report Templates

Email Report Template: 

Subject: [Report Name] - [Date Range]

Hi Team,

Here's your [frequency] [report name] for [date range].

KEY HIGHLIGHTS:
• [Metric 1]: [Value] ([Change vs. prior])
• [Metric 2]: [Value] ([Change vs. prior])
• [Metric 3]: [Value] ([Change vs. prior])

ATTENTION NEEDED:
• [Issue 1 requiring action]
• [Issue 2 requiring action]

WINS TO CELEBRATE:
• [Success 1]
• [Success 2]

[Link to detailed dashboard]

Questions? Reply to this email or find me on Slack.

Best,
[Sender]

Automation & Tools

Reporting Stack

Data Sources: - Salesforce (CRM) - Pardot (Marketing) - Mixpanel (Product) - Stripe (Billing) - Google Analytics (Web)

ETL/Processing: - Fivetran (ETL) - dbt (Transform) - Airflow (Orchestrate)

Storage: - Snowflake (Warehouse) - S3 (Archive)

Visualization: - Tableau (Primary) - Google Data Studio (Marketing) - Salesforce Reports (Sales)

Distribution: - Email (Scheduled) - Slack (Alerts) - SharePoint (Archive)

Automation Rules

Scheduling Matrix: | Report | Trigger | Time | Time Zone | Platform | |--------|---------|------|-----------|----------| | Daily Sales | Schedule | 8:00 AM | Local | Salesforce | | Weekly Pipeline | Schedule | Mon 7:00 AM | EST | Tableau | | Monthly MBR | Calendar | 1st Monday | EST | Manual | | Alerts | Event | Real-time | N/A | Zapier |

Quality Controls: - Automated data validation - Anomaly detection - Missing data alerts - Distribution confirmation - Engagement tracking

Governance & Maintenance

Report Lifecycle Management

New Report Request Process: 1. Submit request form 2. Review for existing reports 3. Define requirements 4. Estimate effort 5. Prioritize in backlog 6. Develop and test 7. Train users 8. Deploy and monitor

Report Retirement Criteria: - No views for 90 days - Replaced by new report - Business process changed - Data source deprecated - Stakeholder departed

Performance Monitoring

Report Usage Metrics: | Report | Views/Month | Unique Users | Avg. Time | Actions | |--------|-------------|--------------|-----------|---------| | Sales Dashboard | 3,450 | 89 | 4.3 min | High | | Pipeline Report | 2,340 | 45 | 8.7 min | High | | Marketing Metrics | 1,234 | 34 | 3.2 min | Medium | | Financial Summary | 567 | 12 | 12.4 min | High |

SLA Monitoring: - On-time delivery: 98% target - Data accuracy: 99% target - Report load time: <5 seconds - User satisfaction: >4.0/5.0

Continuous Improvement

Monthly Review Meeting: - Usage statistics review - Feedback discussion - Enhancement requests - Prioritization - Timeline setting

Quarterly Audit: - Report inventory - Relevance assessment - Performance optimization - Technology updates - Training needs

Annual Planning: - Strategic alignment - Technology roadmap - Resource planning - Budget allocation - Skill development

Training & Documentation

User Training Program

New Employee Onboarding: - Day 1: Report access setup - Day 3: Basic report navigation - Week 1: Role-specific reports - Week 2: Self-service tools - Month 1: Advanced features

Ongoing Education: - Monthly tips & tricks - Quarterly deep dives - Annual certification - On-demand videos - Office hours

Documentation Library

Available Resources: - Report catalog - Metric definitions - Calculation methodology - Tool guides - Video tutorials - FAQ section - Change log

Support Model

Support Level Response Time Channel Hours
Critical 30 minutes Phone/Slack 24/7
High 2 hours Slack/Email Business
Medium 8 hours Email/Ticket Business
Low 24 hours Ticket Business

Appendices

A. Report Catalog

[Complete list of all reports with descriptions]

B. Metric Definitions

[Comprehensive metric dictionary]

C. Distribution Lists

[Current distribution list maintenance]

D. SQL Query Library

[Common queries for ad-hoc analysis]

E. Troubleshooting Guide

[Common issues and solutions]

Reporting Cadence Guide Version: 1.0
Last Updated: 2024
Next Review: Q1 2025
Owner: Revenue Operations