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If you’re a project manager or a business owner, then we can both agree just how important efficient reporting is when it comes to tracking business growth and progress.
But did you know about the 3 key steps to creating better and more efficient reporting inside ClickUp? Well, buckle up because I’m going to share 3 ways to bulletproof your visual reports in ClickUp, as well as what to avoid in order to use this feature to its full capacity.
ClickUp dashboards is where the magic happens
So, when it comes to reporting in ClickUp the dashboard feature is mainly where the magic happens, but what you may or may not know is that this feature was released to enhance the native reporting features ClickUp already had.
In Version 1, as well as the early stages of version 2, this presented people with so many options that made it so easy to play around that users ended up neglecting the fundamentals of proper project management reporting.
So, let’s jump straight into the three ways to create meaningful reports in ClickUp! Hopefully, this makes it a lot easier for you to identify bottlenecks in your system, push the needle forward, and provide data in a way that even non-ClickUp savvy users can appreciate.
1. Identify Your KPIs
Your key performance indicators are the metrics that are valuable to you, your team, and/or your business.
Focus on the kind of information that helps you track how close you are to achieving your goals.
Examples of KPIs are: time-tracking things like urgent tasks, tasks that are at risk workload, and budget.
As you can see on this screenshot of a text box on my dashboard, it says, “Monthly Business Report.” Now, I’ve written in key details that people can follow every time this report is run. The cool thing about ClickUp dashboards is that they refresh on their own considering you have set this to recur. This report runs every month and gets automatically updated as long as everybody is taking part in doing the things they need to within their tasks.
2. Proper Data Gathering
You want to make sure that you’re gathering the right data inside your ClickUp to populate these metrics – which is what your KPIs will be generated from.
Examples of data gathering metrics are: custom fields, statuses, actual time tracking, the structure of your folders, lists, and other proper naming conventions. Now, one thing you have to remember is that organization is key. You would do well to avoid bunching together unnecessary data inside the task description.
In this example, I have it aptly named as the Jane Doe coffee chat. There’s a bunch of data that auto-populates in here when it comes into ClickUp. If I want it to track metrics such as what industry they’re in, what ClickUp platform they’re using, their name, their email, and how they found me, that would best be mapped out into custom fields. This helps in breaking out the information in a way that it will populate when you start pulling reports.
Another example of what not to do when it comes to organizing your reports in dashboards is don’t give it an obscure name in the top of the dashboard. When you label things on your dashboard vaguely, it will only end up with you forgetting what it was meant to do… so pleaaaaase do not do it!
Again, focus on the data you need, name it properly, and you’ll be fine (more or less).
3. Keep Consistent Metrics
Aside from gathering the necessary data, you also need to ensure that your metrics are consistent all throughout. Keep the locations, timeframes, and reporting sequence the same on all applicable areas in your ClickUp.
Remember: reports are meant to provide you and everyone involved with an overview of what is happening with the project, so it should be upfront and skip the crazy mental gymnastics!
Pro Tips
Conclusion:
To recap, the 3 key steps to better and more efficient reporting are:
- Identify your KPIs
- Proper data gathering
- Keep consistent metrics
These 3 steps will, not only keep your ClickUp streamlined, but it will also make sure that you are only keeping relevant data in your midst.
So, what do you think? Are you going to start using ClickUp dashboards for reporting? Why or why not? Let me know in the comments. You can also leave a note and let me know about the kind of topics you’d like to see in my next video.
Anyway, that’s all for me this week. Ambitious wishes and I’ll see you around!!
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