Operational reporting

Operational reporting is a reporting procedure that details the ins and outs of a company’s day-to-day deliverables, often concerning production. Typically, operational reports are short-term and use hourly, daily, weekly and monthly information. Operational reports use low-level data to paint a picture of the present, what will occur in the immediate future and identify immediate operational needs. Executives use operational reports as support for quick decision making.

In an operational report, you’ll find information like:

• Immediate deliverables
• The resources required to produce those deliverables
• The deliverables produced
• Production surplus or deficits
• Production records
• Cost structures
• Resource costs
• Detailed-processes
• Revenue

Managers use operational reports for detail-driven decision making in a fast-paced environment. Since operational reports contain real-time information, stakeholders can act quickly on the results to improve efficiency.

Different departments and industries use operational reports in different ways.

Finance: Operational reports aid Finance in identifying inefficiencies.

Finance uses operational reports to monitor specific financial data and process inefficiencies and make decisions for the present or immediate future. Thus, real-time, detailed information is necessary for thorough operational reporting and quick decision making.

Manufacturing: Operational reports help manufacturing companies improve production.

Manufacturing uses operational reports to monitor the production chain and make daily improvements to resource use, costs and efficiency.

Retail: Operational reports help retail conserve resources and improve margins.

Retail and other customer-facing businesses use operational reports to monitor store efficiency, improve inventory, measure employee productivity and sales.

How to improve operational reporting:

• Improve access to granular, real-time information.
• Automate data collection and tracking.
• Use dashboards to see performance and production data in real-time.
• Access pre-built reports that populate automatically with the latest operational data.