Executives are on the go 24/7. They need to know the pulse of their companies on a daily basis. Executives don’t have the time for meetings, phone calls, emails or hunting around on their computers to find out how sales orders, manufacturing quantities, shipments, accounts receivable and other key performance indicators (KPIs) are doing. They want information that is:
- Easy to access
- Concise
- Easy to understand
- A real time snap-shot
Executives want to know if everything is going to plan or if they need to focus some of their valuable time on potential problem areas. An effective dashboard can provide the information executives need when and where they want it.
Here are some suggestions on how to make an effective accounts receivable executive dashboard.
Get Input
Find out what accounts receivable and collections KPIs executives want to see. Make recommendations but don’t try to second guess what they want. Remember DSOs can be problematic so you may want to try to steer the users to more representative AR KPIs.
Area of Focus
Suggest KPIs that cover not just AR but also include collections, cash flow, AR bank covenants and other key requirements which may be vital to your business.
Real Time
Dashboards should be real time to be effective. Stale information can be misleading. It can result in incorrect conclusions being drawn and time wasted on follow up that was not needed.
Avoid Clutter
A dashboard that executives check daily should only include important information which needs to be checked daily to get a reading on the pulse of your company. Monthly, quarterly or year-end data should be available on other reports.
Visual Display
Find out how the executives want the KPIs to be displayed. Some people like numbers, while others prefer charts, graphs, gauges or other visual aids.
Drill Down
Include drill down capability. Many executives would prefer to initially investigate a shortfall with drill down than spend the time contacting subordinates for answers. To be effective, drill down needs to be easy to navigate and intuitive, otherwise executives will not use it and you will need to fix it.
Easy Access
Don’t spread information across multiple dashboard locations. Have one dashboard location that is easy to access, preferably cloud-based, so executives can easily access the dashboard when and where they want.
An effective accounts receivable dashboard can help executives to know the pulse of their company 24/7, when they want and regardless of where they are located.
The key to successful development of effective accounts receivable executive dashboards is to work with an experienced software partner.
Lockstep Collect is a market leader in cloud-based credit and collection platforms. Lockstep Collect can help you to develop the dashboards your executives need.
If you would like to learn more about how you can benefit from accounts receivable executive dashboards, please contact Lockstep Collect at www.lockstep.io.
