A dashboard can be generated quickly and still answer the wrong business question. A valid query and a convincing chart establish neither the intended definition nor whether the result is suitable for a particular decision. The review needs to begin before the visual design.
Ask what the number means, not just whether the query runs
Revenue might mean booked contract value, invoiced revenue or recognised revenue. Each interpretation can be internally consistent. The problem begins when two reports use the same label for different meanings. Record the intended business definition and the situations in which it applies.
- Which event causes the value to count: an order, a closed deal, an invoice or a recognition entry?
- Are credits, cancellations and manual adjustments included?
- Which currency, business units and date boundary are used?
- Is the report at transaction, account, contract or reporting-period grain?
Compare it with the reporting people already rely on
Find the existing definition and compare the logic. Do not require the generated version to reproduce an existing mistake, but do not let a new interpretation silently replace an approved one. A deliberate change should have a rationale, an owner and an effective date.
Treat incomplete evidence as incomplete
A missing source, an unresolved join or an undocumented spreadsheet adjustment is not a passed check. Separate what was inspected, what was inferred and what is still unknown. This is especially important when the explanation is more polished than the evidence behind it.
Keep approval separate from generation
- A technical reviewer checks the logic and supported dependencies.
- A business owner agrees the definition and its scope.
- The delivery team tests actual results using an appropriate validation method.
- The change record preserves what changed, why and who approved it.