A report starts with a decision and its audience. Define measures and the grain of the available data before choosing visuals.

Worked example

Question: Which categories explain the change in monthly net sales? Audience: sales operations manager.

Put it into practice

Write a report brief with three decisions, their measures, and the data needed to support them.

Check your understanding

• Explain the main idea in your own words.
• Compare your result with the worked example and identify any assumptions you made.
• Record one question or edge case to discuss with your instructor.

Connect this to your project

Create a retail performance report with a star schema, reusable measures, accessible visuals, and a data dictionary.

Keep the output of this activity in your project folder. You will use it when you review and present your final work.