01
Define the decision
Choose the recurring leadership question and the evidence needed to answer it.
Accountable team: Executive sponsor
USE-CASE PLAYBOOK
Build executive visibility
Turn an operating signal into an accountable decision.
Explore the workflow
THE OPERATING QUESTION
When the next decision cannot wait.
Leaders see conflicting totals or need several spreadsheets to explain a material operating change.
Start with the decisions leadership needs to make: resolving capacity conflicts, protecting delivery or clearing financial exceptions. Keep definitions shared while tailoring the first view to each role. More charts do not compensate for missing context.
For CEOs, COOs, CFOs and functional leaders.
WORKED EXAMPLE
Put the decision in context.
Illustrative scenario: blocked billing increases. The executive view shows the change and reporting period, then separates acceptance, approval and purchase-order issues. Each item has an owner and next action, allowing leadership to focus on the commercial decisions that actually require escalation.
A PRACTICAL WAY FORWARD
Four steps. An owner at every handoff.
02
Agree the measure
Document source, reporting period, calculation and refresh time. Distinguish actuals, forecasts and estimates.
Accountable team: Finance and data owners
03
Connect summary to exceptions
Show the records explaining the movement, their owners and unresolved conditions. Apply appropriate access controls.
Accountable team: Functional owners
04
Track the decision through
Record the action, accountable person and review date. Revisit the result before closing the item.
Accountable team: Operating review owner
HANDLE THE EXCEPTION
The path is rarely a straight line.
A stale or incomplete source should be flagged. A confident-looking headline must not conceal a forecast assumption or an unreconciled total.
WHAT SHOULD CHANGE
A decision people can act on.
A leadership view that explains what changed, why it matters and who can act, with traceable evidence beneath the headline.
Explore the Clousys capabilities →EVIDENCE, NOT ACTIVITY
Know what you will measure.
Unresolved material exceptions
Items exceeding an agreed threshold with a pending decision.
Data freshness
Age and completeness of the sources supporting the view.
Action follow-through
Agreed actions completed or escalated by the review date.
PUT IT INTO PRACTICE
Make the next operating review more useful.
Take the framework to your team. Bring one live workflow, its owners and the evidence behind the next decision.
