Your Data Is a Depreciating Asset. Use It At Peak Value.

Your business data is a depreciating asset. It is most valuable the moment it’s created.

The latest data point drives immediate actions. The last few data points establish a trendline. Last month, quarter, and year’s numbers are necessary for comparison, and Period-To-Date totals. Older data, in aggregate, make context for benchmarking.

Let’s say the electricians’ PF dropped for the last two days. You can talk to the superintendent to find out why, then do something about it that day:

• It’s something you can address right away (e.g. crane in the way, pipefitters working overhead).

• You need to re-assign the crews because it’ll take a while (e.g. late material, RFI caused a design change).

• Give notice with the contractual notification period (e.g. permit delay, city road closure).

• Hold the critical path (e.g. weekend overtime, prepare to start nightshift).

Whatever your action, the point is you had the chance to do something about it.

What if you didn't find out right away? A few weeks pass. All your options are gone, other dominos have already fallen, and more are falling. That’s your data depreciating in value.

The older the data, the less it's worth. Yet, many businesses routinely operate on stale information. How old is the data in your latest report?

Depreciation in Manual Reporting

I had a client whose analyst spent over 80 hours every month compiling sales and utilization reports in Excel. The process involved exporting last month’s data from multiple sources, copying, pasting, and running endless lookups, all before the actual analysis could even begin.

After a lengthy review cycle, the monthly report would finally be emailed to the team late into the next month. If there was a critical spike or dip in the data at the start of a month, management wouldn't see it in a report for seven weeks.

There are two factors to that delay:

• Report period lag – There is a gap between when an event happens and the reporting period cutoff. For a monthly report, this gap can be up to 30 days.

• Report preparation lag – After the cutoff, time is needed to collect, aggregate, and analyze the data, plus some allowance for review and distribution. In our example, this added another 21 days.

That data depreciated for more than seven weeks before the audience even sees it, much less acts on it. It’s like pouring an ice-cold drink, then watching its value literally melt away. It’s not worthless, but it is worth less. That is the reality of manual reporting.

The Transformation: Peak Value

I worked with the client to move their entire reporting process to Power BI. Automating the manual labor meant they could get a full report as often as they want, reducing both report period lag and preparation lag to near-zero. Instead of waiting seven weeks, they had the latest analytics every morning.

It was transformational.

Their report went from being a sports almanac to a scoreboard. One shows last season's stats. The other shows the current inning, bases loaded, and full count. They were no longer looking at numbers printed in ink - the score changes based on actions they take today.

Team members can easily see their decisions and actions move the needle:

• A signed change order shows up in the budget.

• Last night’s overtime got a few packages across the finish line and boosted PF for the week.

• Building a key scaffold early opened up multiple workfronts.

Fresh Data Changes the Game

Once you view your report as a scoreboard, it fundamentally changes the metrics you care about. Analyzing performance against prior periods becomes more dynamic and immediate. You begin to identify the key metrics that matter for smaller, more actionable timeframes. For my client, the focus shifted throughout the testing period:

• The monthly total became the trailing 28-day average.

• That became the trailing 7-day average.

• Then it became a graph of the last 7 daily totals.

These tighter metrics allowed them to spot new patterns, such as around holiday long weekends, and plan accordingly. They could not imagine going back. It would be like playing a baseball game without a scoreboard. It’s much easier to adjust your tactics knowing the inning, the number of outs, strikes, balls, and the score during the game.

In industrial construction, where projects shift daily, stale data means missed opportunities. So put away the sports almanac, and let your players have that ice cold drink – before it melts.

Ready to check your scoreboard?

Are you running projects on monthly Excel reports? Do you need the latest data to make game-day decisions? Let's talk.

I build custom Power BI solutions that provide project teams with up-to-date analytics. Contact me today to see how you can keep your data fresh.