Have you ever had a project that required multiple reports in short order?
Think…
- One report per region;
- One report per unit or division;
- One report per store;
- One report per wave – tracking studies.
If you only have a few regions, units or stores to report on, chances are you can probably have it done pretty easily.
However, things escalate very quickly if you need to generate one report per store, and you have 100 stores. Even if you only have just a few reports to generate, how many favours will you need to call in if they each exceed 150 pages?
Fear not, there are good software solutions out there – including some that we like to use here at Ad Hoc Research.
These types of solutions allow you to automate the reporting process, when necessary. How it works is simple, all you need is a single template for all your reports. You can then produce however many reports you need by having the software automatically replace one data file by another.
There are many advantages to this:
- Time: Drastically reduce the time needed for copying and pasting data into the reports and instead focus on providing top-notch analysis and insights;
- Accuracy: If there are no mistakes in the first report, there will be no mistakes in all other reports;
- Customization: Adjust the look and feel of the reports to each client;
- MS Office Compatible: Generate tables and graphics directly in PowerPoint or Excel;
- Fully Editable: Allows you to edit every table and graphic generated.
That being said, there are also things to keep in mind:
- Initial Time Investment: Do not forget to account for the time needed to set-up and validate your template;
- Lack of Flexibility: These solutions work best when your reports do not require many changes. Whenever there are changes, you will need to adjust and revalidate your template;
- Static, Not Live: These are not “online dashboard” solutions where the results are available for clients to access and filter (by division, store, etc.) in real-time. They are static reports.