Reporting & Communication Visualisation of Reports

CA-Seminar Program Stage III / Chapter III B 1 © PAPERS OF CA CONTROLLER AKADEMIE AG

� The 7 SUCCESS-Rules of Prof. Rolf Hichert are the basis of good and successful business communications. • SAY: Deliver Messages

Messages make the difference between statistics and reports. Messages inform the receivers of reports what is important. It is like a good headline in the newspaper.

• UNIFY: Standardize Content

Equal contents have to look the same. Which means: what is not equal, never looks the same! So sales development has to be visualized differently to a personnel development. Apples do not look like bananas and this is a great help when you are shopping in the market.

• CONDENSE: Concentrate Information

A picture tells more than 1000 words. Do our business charts tell us more than 1000 words or do the rather need 1000 words to be explained? Only with high information density we can understand complexity and find important correlations.

• CHECK: Ensure Quality

Data must be accurate and reports automized to avoid mistakes by past and copy. Using visualization we have to make sure that figures are still comparable and avoid scaling manipulations.

• ENABLE: Implement Concept

Put into practise the mentioned rules. This needs a good planning, because people do not like changes. Therefore provide managers with alternative prototypes.

• SIMPLIFY: Avoid complication

We want to increase readability by avoiding „noise – no information" and redundancy of information.

• STRUCTURE: Group content

Prof. Hichert observed that many reports have no logical structure, which makes it hard to understand.

The following pages show HI-Chart SUCCESS examples from the seminar Management Reports.

SUCCESS – Reporting rules

Reporting & Communication

Visualisation of Reports

2 CA-Seminar Program Stage III / Chapter III B

© PAPERS OF CA CONTROLLER AKADEMIE AG

Notes:

Reporting & Communication Visualisation of Reports

CA-Seminar Program Stage III / Chapter III B 3 © PAPERS OF CA CONTROLLER AKADEMIE AG

15,419,1

20,5

16,018,7 18,6

20,3

11,8

2009 2010 2011

6,29,9

19,2 19,9

2012

16,518,9

10,37,1

2009 2010 2011 2012

2009 2105 2011 2012 2009 2010 2011 2012

20

0

10

15

5

Mio €20

0

10

15

5

Mio €

20

0

10

15

5

Mio €20

0

10

15

5

Mio €

Remarks: None

Report Page 27

Graphical display of the development of net sales (in mill. EUR)

Food DivisionNet Sales Sweden (mill. €)

Food DivisionNet Sales USA (mill. €)

Food DivisionNet Sales Switzerland (mill. €)

Food DivisionNet Sales Belgium (mill. €)

Belgium

Switzerl.

Sweden

USA

15,419,1

20,5

16,018,7 18,6

20,3

11,8

2009 2010 2011

6,29,9

19,2 19,9

2012

16,518,9

10,37,1

2009 2010 2011 2012

2009 2010 2011 2012 2009 2010 2011 2012

20

0

10

15

5

Mio €20

0

10

15

5

Mio €

20

0

10

15

5

Mio €20

0

10

15

5

Mio €

Remarks: None

Report Page 27

Graphical display of the development of net sales (in mill. EUR)

Food DivisionNet Sales Sweden (mill. €)

Food DivisionNet Sales USA (mill. €)

Food DivisionNet Sales Switzerland (mill. €)

Food DivisionNet Sales Belgium (mill. €)

Belgium

Switzerl.

Sweden

USA

Omitdecoration

Avoidlegends

Omit pseudo -3D

Omit framesand borders

No framesarround values

Omitgrid lines

Omit colors

"Mio. €" is titleinformation

"Food Division" istitle information

OmitY axes

„Net Sales“ istitle information

Dietmar Pascher Source: Hi-Charts

Seminar Management- Reports H+P

Reporting & Communication

Visualisation of Reports

4 CA-Seminar Program Stage III / Chapter III B

© PAPERS OF CA CONTROLLER AKADEMIE AG

2009 2010 2011 2012

Belgium Switzerland

Sweden USA

2009 2010 2011 2012

2009 2010 2011 2012 2009 2010 2011 2012

15,419,1

20,5

16,018,7 18,6

20,3

11,8

6,29,9

19,2 19,916,5

18,9

10,37,1

Food DivisionNet Sales in mill. EUR

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

307 309333

402

305327

366

330

8 Budget

388

3 Chart

2 Title

4 Foot Note

5 Accentuation

+6%

In year 9 (Budget) we plan a budget increaseof six percent

AFG DivisionNet Sales in mill. EURYear 1 – Year 9 (Budget)

Source: Published Yearly Reports year 1 to year 8 (nominal) and Budget

1 Message

Avoid complication Deliver messages

Reporting & Communication Visualisation of Reports

CA-Seminar Program Stage III / Chapter III B 5 © PAPERS OF CA CONTROLLER AKADEMIE AG

Prices, Costsin Euro/Unit

Productionin units

Headcountin FTE

Percentagesas Rentabilities

Salesin Euro/Period

ACT

ACT -BUD

Conceptual

Managers can only understand the shown information quickly (like road maps) if we use a consistent notation

Source: T56 vom 23.4.

Essen

Nürnberg

Zürich

A1B1B2C1

DA

S

C2

DB

A1B1B2C1

DA

S

C2

DB

A1B1B2C1

DA

S

C2

DB

1341

1240

109

322

A1

BX

C1

C2

DL

DM

GA

GB

-4-1

1210

3-8

312

A1

BX

C1

C2

DL

DM

GA

GB

3-1

3-5-3

3-3

6

A1

BX

C1

C2

DL

DM

GA

GB

12-6

8-8

1214

18-23

A1

BX

C1

C2

DL

DM

GA

GB

52-12

113

449

322

A1

BX

C1

C2

DL

DM

GA

GB

45-6

-1237

2934

-3-10

A1

BX

C1

C2

DL

DM

GA

GB

-5-6

-12-4

-712

-6-3

A1

BX

C1

C2

DL

DM

GA

GB

3423

512

425

3212

8910

710

-113

-3

A1

BX

C1

C2

DL

DM

GA

GB

67

113

449

322

A1

BX

C1

C2

DL

DM

GA

GB

-23-4

-95

-512

-6-3

A1

BX

C1

C2

DL

DM

GA

GB

-4-5-6

7-5

5-5

-9

A1

BX

C1

C2

DL

DM

GA

GB

Bern DüsseldorfBerlin

St. Gallen WienSalzburg

Innsbruck MünchenFrankfurt

Profit by Divisions in mill. EUROffices Europe Q1

Business charts with high information density give a better overviewby allowing comparisons

Standardize content Concentrate information Ensure quality, avoid incorrect scaling

Reporting & Communication

Visualisation of Reports

6 CA-Seminar Program Stage III / Chapter III B

© PAPERS OF CA CONTROLLER AKADEMIE AG

Company: ALPHA AG Type of report: Variances LY-ACT-BUD Date: 6th of May

Unit: Total Net Sales Actual month: AprilDevelopment of branches in D-A-CH

Act Last Year Budget Act Act/Act Last year Act/Budget

Region Variance Var. in % Variance Var. in %

EUR EUR EUR EUR EUR

Total 17277057 13623362 13330151 -3946907 -22,84% -293212 16.60%Subsidary Hamburg 5857553 3038115 4493907 -1363646 -23,28% 1455792 47.92%Subsidary München 3351702 3821627 2002859 -1348843 -40,24% -1818768 -47,59%Subsidary München 1653830 1957888 1238448 -415382 -25,12% -719440 -36.75Subsidary Dresden 1588177 1084500 1294517 -293660 -18,49% 210017 19.37%Subtotal Germany 12451262 9902129 9029731 -3421531 -27,48% -872398 -9.66Subsidary Wien 1581124 1032335 1215568 -365556 -23,12% 183233 17.75%Subsidary Bregenz 616595 663252 675341 58745 9,53% 12088 1.82%Subtotal Austria 2197719 1695587 1890908 -306811 -13,96% 195321 10.33%Subsidary Zürich 1655555 1430615 1997509 341954 20,65% 566894 39.63%Subsidary Lausanne 972521 595031 412003 -560518 -57,64% -183028 -30,76Subtotal Switzerland 2628077 2025646 2409512 -218565 -8,32% 383866 15.93%Responsible: Peter Maier, CFN, Tel. 0956, peter.maier@alpha.com KR-01 Page: 56

negative example

Company: ALPHA AG Type of report: Variances LY-ACT-BUD Date: 6th of May

Unit: Total Net Sales Actual month: AprilDevelopment of branches in D-A-CH

Act Last Year Budget Act Act/Act Last year Act/Budget

Region Variance Var. in % Variance Var. in %

EUR EUR EUR EUR EUR

Total 17277057 13623362 13330151 -3946907 -22,84% -293212 16.60%Subsidary Hamburg 5857553 3038115 4493907 -1363646 -23,28% 1455792 47.92%Subsidary München 3351702 3821627 2002859 -1348843 -40,24% -1818768 -47,59%Subsidary München 1653830 1957888 1238448 -415382 -25,12% -719440 -36.75Subsidary Dresden 1588177 1084500 1294517 -293660 -18,49% 210017 19.37%Subtotal Germany 12451262 9902129 9029731 -3421531 -27,48% -872398 -9.66Subsidary Wien 1581124 1032335 1215568 -365556 -23,12% 183233 17.75%Subsidary Bregenz 616595 663252 675341 58745 9,53% 12088 1.82%Subtotal Austria 2197719 1695587 1890908 -306811 -13,96% 195321 10.33%Subsidary Zürich 1655555 1430615 1997509 341954 20,65% 566894 39.63%Subsidary Lausanne 972521 595031 412003 -560518 -57,64% -183028 -30,76Subtotal Switzerland 2628077 2025646 2409512 -218565 -8,32% 383866 15.93%Responsible: Peter Maier, CFN, Tel. 0956, peter.maier@alpha.com KR-01 Page: 56

Negative example

We rarely need twodigits after the point

Do not underline if there is no meaning

Try to avoid frames, shadowsand pattern

Omt terms like unit, value, date, structure, developmentetc..

No fonds like serifs

Presentation in thousandEURO should be good enough for a managementreport

Clear columnconcept: Last year, Act, Budget

EUR is title information

Consistent notation forregions, subidaries, branches

Using right justified columnheadings we can avoid thegrid lines

Extra lines increasereadablity

Avoid „(Sub)total“

SUCCESSHI for tables

Reporting & Communication Visualisation of Reports

CA-Seminar Program Stage III / Chapter III B 7 © PAPERS OF CA CONTROLLER AKADEMIE AG

In long listings an additional accentuation at the outsideborder is very helpful

ALPHA AG Varaiance report LY-ACT-BUD 6th of May

Net Sales in Mill. EUR January ─ AprilRegions in D-A-CH

LY ACT - LY ACT ACT - BUD BUDRegion var of LY var of BUD

Hamburg 5.9 -1.4 -23% 4.5 1.5 48% 3.0█ München 3.4 -1.3 -40% 2.0 -1.8 █ -48% 3.8█ Düsseldorf 1.7 -0.4 -25% 1.2 -0.7 █ -37% 2.0

Dresden 1.6 -0.3 -18% 1.3 0.2 19% 1.1Germany 12.5 -3.4 -27% 9.0 -0.9 -10% 9.9

Wien 1.6 -0.4 -23% 1.2 0.2 18% 1.0Bregenz 0.6 0.1 10% 0.7 0.0 2% 0.7Austria 2.2 -0.3 -14% 1.9 0.2 10% 1.7

Zürich 1.7 0.3 21% 2.0 0.6 40% 1.4Lausanne 1.0 -0.6 -58% 0.4 -0.2 -31% 0.6Switzerland 2.7 -0.2 -8% 2.4 0.4 16% 2.0

D-A-CH 17.3 -3.9 -23% 13.3 -0.3 2% 13.6

Responsible: Peter Maier, CFN, Tel. 0956, peter.maier@alpha.com KR-01 Page: 56