Understand Your Data
Understanding the dynamic relationship between customers, products, salespeople, production, delivery etc. is vital to understanding your business.
Because of the multidimensional nature of these relationships your managers think in a multidimensional way. Traditionally, reporting in an organisation has been one dimensional.
A one dimensional report may indicate your sales have risen last month but hide the fact that your profitability has declined.
Multidimensional thinking focuses on the questions of Who, What, When and Where.
- Who: could be a customer or a salesperson.
- What: could be product or a service.
- When: could be when the product was sold or the time it takes to restock
- Where: could be a geographical area or a market sector.
Multidimensional reporting answers the three levels of reporting
- ‘What is happening in my business now? - The top level summary will give us the answers.
- ‘Why is this happening’ - Drilling down to detail will give us the answer.
- ‘What is likely to happen in the future’ - Forecasting and trend analysis will give us the answer.
Management information requirements are not finite they are infinite and are constantly being changed and refined as your business evolves.
Multidimensional reporting can provide robust reporting and analysis to your organisation. Data can be explored from every angle and it means managers attention can be focused on what’s driving the business.
Take our Business Data Quiz and see how well you understand your business Information