Quite often I find people asking for reports and generating reports without a clear purpose for the report. They just have an idea about something they want to find and ask someone else to generate the data.  Then it gets generated over and over without a reason why and with no ability to interpret the information, they just do what they have always done whether it’s right, wrong or even what the requestor needed. What can happen is chaos. If you don’t have a clear vision of the reason you are reporting something, you could end up with garbage data, wasted time and a frustrated reporting team.  The team should first ask the question… ‘why, what are you trying to find out?’ With a clear understanding of the purpose and vision, they can navigate the data like a tour guide through dark forest and find the “jewel of information” that the ‘data visitor’ is looking for.  In addition, the report creator can interpret any ’strange markings’ within the data to help the requester understand what they are looking at. This is essential for helping drive business improvements and help the requestor understand the impact of the information.  The main ingredient for success is having the report generator KNOW THE FOREST… er business.  Otherwise, they can arrive at the wrong destination with the information and mislead the person requesting the information. Doing this often can destroy the credibility of the report generator. If you took a tour of a forest and wanted to see the a waterfall filled with diamonds, but the driver got lost often and freqently took you to the wrong place… you’d lose confidence. Same concept. Double check the goal/destination, double check the route, double check the findings to understand it’s impact to the passenger and then ensure they have what they need to be successful.  When you deliver diamonds, you gain credibility and increase business value for your peers.