Management reporting
Project Description: Automate collection of approved reporting data, pack assembly and drafts of variance commentary. Finance staff check figures, add business context and approve the monthly management pack before distribution.
Implementation effort
80–288staff hours total
Current workload
—staff hours / month
Net time saved
—staff hours / month
Project difficulty
Moderate
Implementation work
Define the management pack and sign-off12–40h
- Agree the ten-page pack, ten variance narratives, audience and materiality rules.
- Set requirements for supporting explanations and assign numerical and narrative approval.
Prepare reporting data and historical packs16–64h
- Map two approved sources into the existing pack template and metric definitions.
- Prepare three historical reporting cycles and their supporting business explanations.
Configure commentary and pack export24–88h
- Configure variance drafts and source tracing using approved reporting inputs.
- Place commentary and visuals in the template and export an editable pack.
Test numbers, explanations and layout20–72h
- Review 30 historical variance drafts for accuracy, supported explanations and consistent materiality.
- Check layout and citations, correct failures and regenerate affected packs.
Pilot the reporting cycle8–24h
- Train the preparer and reviewer to edit, verify and approve the generated pack.
- Pilot one pack and document sign-off and support for subsequent cycles.
Ongoing work
Maintain management reporting24–96h / yr
- Check output quality and regression results, and maintain source mappings, templates and prompts.
- Update tests when reporting rules change; ordinary pack preparation, review and sign-off remain operating work.
Further projects
- Produce packs for additional audiences or business units.
- Add more detailed variance narratives or increase reporting frequency.