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Business Intelligence*Catch up with our series by reading Part 1 and Part 2. 

Short List – I don’t know what is important to you, but here are a few things that others have told me are important to them.

Inventory

  • Age – what products am I holding that are getting old; close to expiry dates
  • Too much – what products am I holding that I have more than ** weeks (you supply the number based on the product, lead-time, minimum order, etc.) supply when comparing on-hand to regular sales
  • Too little – what products am I holding that I have less than ** weeks (you supply the number based on the product, lead time, minimum order, etc.) supply when comparing on-hand to regular sales; or I promised a customer X quantity on hand at all times
  • Total valuation – too high or low
  • Category valuation – too high or low

Sales

  • Margin – too low (or high – yes, margin can be too high – you might be losing sales)
  • On-time shipments – shipping too soon (delayed cash flow), shipping too late (customer dissatisfaction)
  • What’s selling – what categories or products are headed up in dollars, units or both
  • What’s not selling – what categories or products are decreasing in dollars, units or both
  • Who is buying – whose sales are headed up; which categories are headed up (down)
  • Who is not buying – whose sales are headed down; what categories are headed down (or up)

Purchasing

  • Cost changes – too high or low (too low – is quality deteriorating, buying aged product, buying something else that will sit on the shelf)
  • On-time shipments – shipping too soon (impaired cash flow), shipping too late (customer dissatisfaction)
  • Order size – too big or too small
  • Vendor purchase changes – category, items or total – what is the impact on vendor contracts or relationships? Is there a problem with a buyer, a salesperson, a customer or the vendor
  • Whose inventory matches targets – training for purchasing, more visibility of “right level” of inventory, too many products or relationships to manage well
  • What do I need to buy

Sales & Marketing Staff

  • Activity level by salesperson – too little, not properly balanced
  • Pipeline – too small, too big (not properly qualified or big surge in business coming), too far out
  • Prospects – not enough, not balanced, too many (can’t follow up on all of them)
  • Lead analysis – status of leads

Read parts one, two, and four in this series

To learn more: Business Intelligence, Reporting, & Dashboards Are NOT the Same Thing