A management report is essential for any business that wants to generate new customers and sales. A well-crafted management report not only presents crucial information but also provides actionable insights to drive organizational growth.

In this article, we will explore the concept of management reports, their significance, their different types, and how to create comprehensive and visually appealing reports.

Management report
Management report


What is a management report?

Purpose of management report

Management reporting is available information to the company’s decision-makers to keep them informed of the business’s progress.

Management reports based on the specific management appeals of the business have a more comprehensive range of data sources than financial or accounting reports that only focus on financial data. In any case, creating them is always beneficial for figuring out where the company stands and what steps it should take next.



Importance of management report

Management reports play a vital role in the effective functioning of any function or industry, going beyond mere usefulness and becoming indispensable. In the realm of management, the significance of reporting is further amplified due to its higher stakes and its involvement in major, interdisciplinary decision-making processes. Management relies on reports for a variety of reasons, encompassing strategic metric evaluation and performance monitoring, the establishment of performance benchmarks, accumulation of historical records for organizational learning, and facilitation of communication. Here are the major benefits that management reporting offers:

  • Strategic metric assessment and performance monitoring: Businesses understand the need to measure their performance against competitors and their own past in order to foster growth.
  • Gaining insight into your position: A management-style report provides the relevant metrics to gain a comprehensive understanding of your business’s health and progression. This allows you to compare and focus on aligning your strategies with those of your competitors.
  • Establishing clear-cut performance benchmarks: Through the accumulation of a track record, you can regularly benchmark your operational and financial performance.
  • Learning and replicating (or avoiding): Benchmarks serve as a guide to identify best and worst practices, enabling you to learn from them and apply that knowledge.
  • Enhancing communication: Management reports promote visibility across departments and improve communication among partners, investors, customers, and colleagues.
  • Improving collaboration: Improved internal communication facilitated by senior-level reports fosters collaboration between departments. With cohesive teamwork towards common goals, departments can leverage management reporting insights to collaborate on specific projects or initiatives, thereby driving success in key areas.
  • Boosting engagement and motivation: Well-crafted reports at the managerial level make critical company data accessible to all, leading to improved individual performance. Recognizing and rewarding employees for their achievements enhances their engagement, inspiration, and motivation, ultimately increasing productivity across the organization.
  • Fostering continual business growth: Robust management reporting enhances productivity and decision-making, fostering consistency and enabling sustained business growth. Consistent growth over time ensures long-term success, which stands as the most powerful benefit of reporting in management.
Management Report Example by FineReport
Management Report Example by FineReport


Types & samples of management reports

Management reports can be classified into several types based on their intended use. Here are a few examples to help clarify what I’m trying to say.

Note: All the management report examples shown in this article are created by FineReport, a powerful reporting software that has been honorably mentioned by Gartner Magic Quadrant for ABI Platforms in 2023. You can download FineReport for free and have a try!

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Financial management report dashboard

The financial management dashboard focuses on financial performance, covering areas such as revenue, expenses, profitability, and cash flow. It includes metrics like gross margin, net profit, and return on investment (ROI).

Financial management dashboard by FineReport
Financial management dashboard by FineReport

Production management report dashboard

The production management dashboard concentrates on operational efficiency, tracking production output, quality metrics, and resource utilization. It includes key performance indicators (KPIs) such as production yield, cycle time, and overall equipment effectiveness (OEE).

Production management report by FineReport
Production management report by FineReport

Marketing management report dashboard

The marketing management dashboard assesses marketing initiatives, measuring campaign performance, customer acquisition, and retention metrics. It includes KPIs such as conversion rates, customer lifetime value (CLV), and return on ad spend (ROAS).

Marketing management report by FineReport
Marketing management report by FineReport


How do you write a management report?

The management reporting format varies from company to company, so it’s best to tailor it to your organization’s needs.

What should be included in a management report?

Practically speaking, management reporting typically includes information on budget, cash flow, employee productivity, and profitability of various projects. Because the key performance indicators (KPIs) of the various departments and employees can be reflected and tracked using these data. As a result, the manager or executives can make data-driven decisions about the overall state of various departments.

How to create a management report
How to create a management report

How to prepare a management report?

The dashboard’s effectiveness is measured according to a set of criteria. When creating a dashboard, keep these factors in mind.

  1. Is the data presented in a focused and clear manner?
  2. Is the graphic design appropriate for the situation?
  3. Is the dashboard’s overall visual style uniform?
  4. Is the data presented in a clear and understandable manner?
  5. Is the relationship between the data effectively displayed? Trends, comparisons, and other similar topics are examples.
  6. Is it possible to display the entire dashboard on a single screen?
  7. Is it possible for the dashboard to scale to different device sizes?
  8. The most important aspect of the dashboard, according to the above scoring criteria, is that it displays information comprehensively with appropriate icons, has a clear organization, and is easy to read.

The advantages of creating management reports with FineReport

FineReport offers a range of advantages for organizations seeking to create management reports that are versatile, highly customizable, and provide advanced data analysis capabilities. Let’s explore the key benefits in detail:

FineReport
FineReport
  • Versatility and Customization: FineReport provides organizations with a versatile platform to create management reports that cater to their specific needs. The software supports various data sources, including databases, spreadsheets, and web services, allowing users to integrate data from multiple systems seamlessly. This versatility enables organizations to consolidate data from different departments and systems into a unified report, providing a comprehensive view of their performance. Additionally, FineReport’s intuitive drag-and-drop interface empowers users to design and customize report templates according to their requirements. This level of customization ensures that management reports are tailored to address the unique needs and preferences of the organization.
  • Mobile Compatibility:

Reports created using FineReport are responsive and adaptive to different screen sizes and devices. Decision-makers can access management reports on their smartphones or tablets, allowing them to stay informed and make critical decisions anytime, anywhere. This mobile compatibility feature empowers organizations to be agile and responsive in their decision-making process, even when they are away from their desks.

  • Interactive Visualization: FineReport excels in providing interactive visualization options, making management reports engaging and easy to comprehend. Users can create dynamic charts, graphs, and dashboards that effectively communicate key metrics and trends. FineReport offers a wide range of visualization components, including bar charts, line charts, pie charts, heatmaps, and more. These visualizations can be customized to suit specific reporting needs, ensuring that data is presented in a visually appealing and meaningful manner. Interactive features such as data filtering, drill-down capabilities, and tooltips further enhance the user experience and enable stakeholders to explore and interact with the data directly within the reports.
  • Real-time Reporting: FineReport enables the generation of real-time reports, ensuring that decision-makers have access to the most up-to-date information. Organizations can connect FineReport to their data sources and set up automated data refreshes, allowing management reports to reflect the latest data in real-time. This real-time reporting capability empowers decision-makers to make timely and data-driven decisions, keeping them ahead in a fast-paced business environment.

  • Report Template Reusability: FineReport allows organizations to create report templates that can be reused multiple times. Once a report template is designed and customized, it can serve as a foundation for creating future reports with similar structures or layouts. This feature saves time and effort as users do not have to start from scratch each time they need to create a new report. By reusing report templates, organizations can maintain consistency in reporting formats, streamline report creation processes, and ensure efficiency in generating management reports.

Click here to access a free download version of FineReport.

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What is a management report system?

Management support systems concentrate on using information resources in the context of management. Using this technology, managers can gather data in strategic planning and decision-making. These systems use various data analysis tools to gather information from both internal and external sources.

They also give the user the option of not using these tools for data analysis purposes. However, management at the middle and top levels rely on these systems for information.

It’s important to know that there are three management support systems: decision support systems, executive information systems, and expert systems. We will introduce them in the following sections and tell you how to build these management support systems by using FineReport to streamline your work.



Decision Support System

De­cision support systems (DSS) help managers make better decisions, thus improving the enterprise’s efficiency. However, they assume that no computer-based solution can replace managerial judgment. 

DSS exists to support a manager’s decision-making process by providing tools and data under his direct control. Therefore, DSS neither presupposes specific information requirements nor predefined tools for the analysis of various decision types.

The manager can choose the input data, analysis tool, depth of analysis, and decision-making based on the analysis results. In addition, DSS allows managers to experiment with data and models to develop the best decision-making strategy for a given situation.

Managers can use data analysis models to solve unstructured problems using DSS. This is because DSS uses technologies as building blocks.

Decision support system
Decision support system from FineReport


Executive Information System

DSS is intended to meet the information needs of middle to upper-level managers. They are related to rule-based work that models and analyzes data for decision-making.

However, it is essential to package and deliver information at the executive level than to generate it. Therefore, the top manager needs a better information environment than DSS provides.

Top executives require quick access to current, concise information and exception reports with personalization and analysis. Therefore, chief executives’ information systems are called Executive Information Systems (EIS) or Executive Support Systems (ESS).

Electronic briefing systems have a wide range of applications. EIS uses internal and external data and provides an interactive and user-friendly interface.



Executive information system
Executive information system from FineReport


Expert System

The increasing complexity and dynamism of the business environment necessitate more interaction between functional managers and experts. These experts would not only sift through vast amounts of data but also provide advice.

Given the time constraints and complexities of the new environment, human experts may not be able to cope. Also, advice for a given decision may not be consistent over time.

This is because humans cannot continuously capture the impact of various decision variables. As a result, a growing number of businesses are turning to business expert systems due to information fatigue and human expert system limitations (BES).



Expert system from FineReport
Expert system from FineReport

Because these systems mimic human activity, they capture and systematize business knowledge, extending the decision-making capabilities of expensive and scarce human experts. In addition, they have the advantage of capturing and representing information in various forms.

A business expert system receives a user problem, identifies data requirements, and compares data to decision rules (contained in a knowledge system). Once the problem is solved, the system reports the solution to the user and explains its reasoning.

Managers can get advice from a business expert system, which helps improve efficiency. Its advice/solutions are always uniform, thorough, and systematic. In addition, the business expert system can explain its reasoning process.

Users can examine the logic and accept, modify, or reject the solution. Unlike other expert systems in medicine, engineering, etc., the goal of the business expert system is not to replace human expert(s).

Instead, the goal is to collect human expert knowledge and make it available to other experts and employees in a standardized format. Then, they devise ways to apply knowledge to solve problems.

Feel free to make an appointment for a live demo with our product experts. We will be more clear about your needs and see how FineReport can help you and your organization transform data into value.

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Conclusion

Management reporting is essential because it helps managers make better decisions by providing accurate and detailed information. Depending on the goals of the management report, the production and content may be slightly different. They must, however, adhere to a few basic guidelines.

We’ve outlined three steps for creating management reports. The most critical is identifying objectives and critical indicators. FineReport is also a valuable tool for enhancing your report output. Click here to download FineReport for free!

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Also, you can make an appointment for a live demo with our product experts. Tell us about your need and we can help you and your organization to better transform data into value.

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