Fix data quality before you build dashboards
A dashboard gives numbers an air of authority. If the underlying data is wrong, the dashboard spreads the error to everyone who looks at it, and it becomes harder to question.
A short checklist
- Write down definitions. What counts as an order, a customer, a return? Get sign-off from the people who use the numbers.
- Reconcile with finance. Revenue in your reports should match the books within an agreed tolerance.
- Check for gaps. Missing days, duplicated records and test transactions are more common than most teams expect.
- Assign owners. Every key table needs a person who is notified when something looks wrong.
None of this is glamorous, but in our experience it accounts for most of the value in the first months of an analytics program.