A board pack that stopped taking a week
A monthly board pack assembled by hand from four sources, finished the night before the meeting.
The situation
Every month the pack was rebuilt from scratch — trial balance into a template, budget pasted alongside, prior year looked up, variances recalculated, then commentary written against whatever the numbers happened to say.
What it was costing
Close to a week, and the commentary was always the part that got squeezed. The board received accurate numbers with thin explanation.
What changed
Reporting now runs off a structured monthly upload, with the summary and detailed P&L, variances and prior-year comparatives derived rather than rekeyed. Commentary is captured against each section as the review happens.
Where it landed
The pack is ready in half a day. The time that used to go on assembly now goes on the narrative — which is the part the board actually reads.