Reporting, alerts and dashboards / KPIs (Key Performance Indicators)

It is important to review the applications reporting tools to ensure your data is properly presented. The key to having accurate reports is having the correct data in your database. When  tools are cumbersome and difficult for and end user or require special programming or knowledge of specialty tools, you may find yourself depending on third parties to develop or modify your reports, based on your needs.

Dashboards and KPIs are a visual representation of the data contained in the software solution. There are a number of applications that can extract information and produce charts that quickly convey meaning. This is one of the latest trends of information generation and it is widely accepted because of ease of use. Dashboards should update real time basis as the underlying data changes. This is imperative as many key business decisions are made based on the information.

And touching base on the concept of real time data, another great tool in many software applications are alerts based on specific conditions. The alert can be an email or a report indicating that something just happened that requires attention. There are many examples on why this is important for your business: entering orders for customers that have overdue balances, late receipts from vendors in the inventory, entries to closed projects or cost centers, etc. All of these conditions have a cost to the company and should be resolved in a timely manner.