Actionable Reporting

Making a report or report features actionable can mean different things:

• Setting up automated business alerts, to inform decision-makers of critical pieces of information so that immediate action can be taken
• Scheduling and delivering reports automatically, so that users can always be armed with critical information without having to run the report themselves
• Automated processes and integration with other business applications, so that, for instance, action taken within the BI application (e.g. placing an order) can be written directly into the database

In all cases, the goal of actionable reports is to set up processes to make information jump out to the user and to let the user act on it without leaving the application or having to record the action in another interface.

Benefits of Actionable Reporting

The main benefit of actionable reporting is to make information dynamically reach its purpose without additional action on the part of the user.

• When the purpose is knowledge of critical items, automated report scheduling lets data and information reach users effortlessly, so that they can focus on decision-making rather than on running reports
• When the purpose is acting on key information, automated business alerts let decision-makers know when a critical situation crosses a pre-defined threshold, so that action can be taken without need for any further analysis
• When the purpose is acting on the data, automated processes and integration with other business applications lets users take action from within the report, saving time and effort