BuildBuild: Quarterly review…
The sources
Callum builds the report from the systems that own each number: progress from the programme, cost from the commercial system, risk from the register. No desktop spreadsheets.
Stage 5 · Build it · Stop 9 of 13 · The right way
The monthly report
The back alley's bill so far: 122 weeks · See the bill
The right way
Dated and owned
Every figure has a date and a name. Forecasts are labelled as forecasts. When Helen asks where the numbers came from, Callum shows her in a minute.
Callum: If I can't say where it came from, it doesn't go in.
BuildBuild: Two weeks later…
No surprises
No overnight colour changes. The bar is amber, because the basement got deeper, and everyone already knows why. The CEO doesn't ring. Helen finds this slightly unnerving.
The lovely green barFour spreadsheets, an unforwarded email, and a call from the CEO.
The source of recordEvery number dated and owned, and an amber bar everyone understood.
Now there is: A monthly report built from the source of record, every number dated and owned.
What's going on here
A report is information about information. If every number comes from the system that owns it, with a date and an owner, the board can trust it, and bad news arrives as a trend, not a surprise. A dashboard built from copies looks the same until the day it doesn't.
In the town See it in the town: A lovely green bar. Where did the green come from?
The monthly report is information about information, made in the lead firm's Records Office and carried up to the board. A good one draws each number from the building that owns it: the programme, the commercial system, the warning signs on the risk register. A dashboard built from desktop copies is a pretty picture of last month, so Callum gives every figure a date and an owner, much like the label on a drawing. Then bad news arrives as a slow amber, not a phone call.
Fix it Report built from spreadsheets? Trace one number back.
- Pick three numbers in this month's report and find their source.
- Give each number a date, an owner, and a forecast flag where needed.
- Replace any figure that comes from a desktop copy.
A note for the information manager: Offer to map where each report number comes from, because nobody else on the job is likely to.
Try it on your job
Pick one number in your last monthly report. Who owns it, and when was it last true?
ISO 19650 From the systems to the board
| ISO 19650 says | Means | In the town |
|---|---|---|
| Organisational information requirements (OIR) | The information an organisation needs for its own high-level decisions | What Helen and the board need to know |
| Metadata | Details carried by a piece of information about itself, such as who made it, when, and what it is for | A number with its date and owner, like a label |
| Not from ISO 19650: the source of record | The one system trusted to hold a given figure, which every report should draw from | The building that owns each number |
Based on the ISO 19650 series: the ideas come from the standard; the plain-English wording, examples and advice are InfoTown's. ISO 19650 and its UK National Annex are © ISO and BSI. You'll hear the same language across the industry. Read more for free in the Information Management Initiative (IMI) Framework guidance from BSI and nima. For the full requirements, use the standard itself.