H36DATA

Custom report and dashboard generation

Takes a request — formal ('weekly board report'), informal ('I need to see how this region is doing') — and produces a tailored report or dashboard: the right metrics, the right time periods, the right comparisons, the right visualizations, in the format the audience prefers. Different from H33 (one-off questions) and H34 (pushed insights) in that this pattern is for recurring or substantial information products: things that someone would otherwise spend hours constructing in a BI tool. The pattern produces drafts the analyst or report owner refines, then schedules and delivers them on cadence. The value is the difference between everyone reusing the same five generic dashboards and everyone getting reports actually tuned to what they need to see.

WHERE THIS FITS

BUSINESS SHAPES

B2B servicesProduct companyMarketplace / two-sided

VOLUME THRESHOLD

Below 10 active reports or dashboards a month, the payback rarely earns the build. Patterns this shape reliably pay back at 100+.

REQUIREMENTS · 5 REQUIRED, 2 OPTIONAL

Requirements describe capabilities the pattern needs in your environment, not the vendors you must buy. Any system that fills a requirement satisfies it — that’s what makes the catalog portable across the long tail of SMB tooling.

report_request_intake
REQUIREDREADhuman
Where requests for new reports or dashboards originate.
DATA SHAPE
Request: audience, purpose, expected metrics, cadence, preferred format, level of interactivity needed.
COMMONLY FILLED BY
- request form for the data team
- conversation with the pattern that captures the requirements
- structured intake in the BI tool
queryable_data_store
REQUIREDREADrequest
The data the report draws from.
DATA SHAPE
Tables, views, and metrics from the firm's data warehouse or BI database.
COMMONLY FILLED BY
- data warehouse with curated marts
- BI platform with metric layer
- operational reporting database
semantic_layer_documentation
REQUIREDREADcorpus
Definitions and meanings that ground the report in correct interpretations.
DATA SHAPE
Per-metric and per-dimension business definitions.
COMMONLY FILLED BY
- semantic layer in the BI tool
- structured data dictionary
- metric definitions library
existing_report_library
RECOMMENDEDREADcorpus
Existing reports and dashboards the pattern reads to learn the firm's conventions and avoid duplicating what exists.
DATA SHAPE
Existing reports with audience, structure, components, performance.
IF MISSING
New reports start from scratch rather than building on conventions. Recommend at least passing knowledge of existing assets.
COMMONLY FILLED BY
- dashboard catalog in the BI tool
- shared library of reports
- structured inventory maintained by the data team
draft_review_destination
REQUIREDWRITErequest
Where the drafted report goes for analyst review and refinement before becoming production.
DATA SHAPE
Draft report with structure, queries, visualizations, narrative; reviewer can edit and approve.
COMMONLY FILLED BY
- draft view in the BI tool with edit capability
- shared document with structured proposal
- review workflow for the analyst team
publication_and_distribution_destination
REQUIREDWRITEbatch
Where approved reports get published and distributed on their cadence.
DATA SHAPE
Report distributed in the requested format to the configured audience on schedule.
COMMONLY FILLED BY
- BI tool dashboard published with permissions
- scheduled email distribution
- report archive accessible to the audience
usage_feedback_loop
RECOMMENDEDREADbatch
How report usage and audience feedback feed back to refine the report or retire it if unused.
DATA SHAPE
Per-report: views, drill-throughs, audience feedback, age, last refresh.
IF MISSING
Reports accumulate. Recommend periodic review of usage to retire dormant ones.
COMMONLY FILLED BY
- BI tool usage analytics
- structured audience feedback collection
- quarterly report inventory review

RUNTIME FLOW · 8 STEPS

01
Request comes in through intake
report_request_intake
02
Check existing report library for similar reports already in production
existing_report_library
DECISION If a similar report exists, surface it and ask if it covers the need before building new.
03
Identify the metrics, dimensions, and time periods needed
semantic_layer_documentation
04
Build the queries against the data store with semantic grounding
queryable_data_store
05
Design visualizations and structure appropriate to the audience and format
06
Draft and route to analyst for review
draft_review_destination
07
On approval, publish and schedule distribution
publication_and_distribution_destination
08
Monitor usage and feedback over time
usage_feedback_loop

EMISSIONS · 3

Structured outputs this pattern produces. Other patterns and client systems can subscribe to them, which is how the catalog composes over time.

report_inventory_signal
Living inventory of reports with usage and value signals.
CONSUMED BY
- data team capacity planning
- report retirement reviews
- executive view of analytical assets
audience_information_need_signal
What different teams and roles actually want to see, useful for data team prioritization.
CONSUMED BY
- data team roadmap
- semantic layer development
- BI strategy
redundancy_detection_signal
Reports covering the same ground, candidates for consolidation.
CONSUMED BY
- report inventory maintenance
- analytical hygiene workflows