#5 – Dodge City, 1939

Director: Michael Curtiz
Cast: Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Ann Sheridan
[ IMDB Link ]
Dad’s Comments: I chose this movie for the interesting plot, stirring musical score, and great action sequences. The barroom brawl is considered one of the best.

#4 – The Iron Horse 1924

Director: John Ford
Cast: George O’Brien, Madge Bellamy, Charles Edward Bull
[ IMDB Link ]
Dad’s Comments: I chose this movie for the plot, the wonderful locations, and great action sequences such as the Indian attack on the train.

#3 – The Searchers, 1956

Director: John Ford
Cast: John Wayne, Jeffrey Hunter, Vera Miles, Natalie Wood
[ IMDB Link ]
Dad’s Comments: I picked this movie for great musical score, beautiful scenes of canyons and plains, intriguing plot, and acting of Wayne and Hunter
My Comments: I found this western fascinating because John Wayne’s character Ethan is so much more complex than some of his more fun but superficial roles. As a child I found Ethan scary; I was confused as to why he was searching for Debbie as he seemed to both love and hate her at the same time.

#2 – Stagecoach, 1939

Director: John Ford
Cast: John Wayne, Claire Trevor, Andy Devine
[ IMDB Link ]
Dad’s Comments: Film features excellent cinematography and score. I picked this movie because it made Wayne a star and had a very interesting group of characters.

Claire Trevor & John Wayne

#1 – High Noon, 1952

Director: Fred Zinnemann
Cast: Gary Cooper, Grace Kelly, Thomas Mitchell
[ IMDB Link ]
Dad’s Comments: This western has the western triple threat: cinematography, score and plot. I picked this movie because of Cooper’s wonderful acting and exciting editing. One example: continuous shots of the clock, emphasizing how little time Cooper has before outlaws arrive. Finally, it’s important to note that the non-stereotype role of Helen Ramirez, a strong and competent Hispanic businesswoman (well played by Katy Jurado) was a rarity in 1950s Hollywood!

[ Check our Part 1 – Top 10 – 6 Westerns ]

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Dad, thank you for sharing your love of history and films with me, and thank you for showing me that there are two sides to every story, and then there’s the truth.

#10 – Tombstone, 1993

Director: George P. Cosmatos, Kevin Jarre (uncredited)

Cast: Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer, Sam Elliott, Bill Paxton, Dana Delaney, Powers Boothe

[ IMDB Link ] 

Dad’s Comments: I chose this movie for:  an interesting plot, great musical score, exciting action sequences. Look for the tense and fast moving gunfight at OK Corral and Wyatt’s Earp’s blazing guns showdown in middle of a river with Curly Bill (Powers Boothe). Great acting by Russell, Kilmer, and the villains (Boothe, Stephen Lang, and Michael Biehn).

My Comments: This is one of my all time favorite westerns. It’s over the top, I love all the actors in their own right and love them even more together in this flick. The score is dramatic, there’s the epic walking scene (below), and Val Kilmer’s Doc Holliday is wonderfully eccentric and charming. I asked for this for Christmas in high school and when I opened it on Christmas day, I asked if we could watch it that night. My mom was horrified at the violence but even more so on Jesus’s birthday. I explained to her that everyone celebrates the holidays differently and that she should go back to mooning over Kurt Russell and his amazing mustache.

#9 – Warlock, 1959

Director: Edward Dmytryk

Cast: Richard Widmark, Henry Fonda, Anthony Quinn

[ IMDB Link ]

Dad’s Comments: I chose this movie for the intriguing plot. The town hired a gunfighter (Fonda) as unofficial marshal but then a legally appointed sheriff appoints a former outlaw as Warlock’s deputy sheriff (Widmark). Result? Conflict!  Look for exciting action sequences (see any of the gunfights) and riveting performances by Widmark, Fonda, Quinn, and Dorothy Malone.

#8 – Ride the High Country

Director: Sam Peckinpah

Cast: Joel McCrea, Randolph Scott, Mariette Hartley
[ IMDB Link ]

Dad’s Comments: I chose this movie for the interesting plot and honest performances by McCrea and Scott in his final movie role. A highlight would be the dialogue between Scott and McCrea as Scott tries to justify stealing the gold shipment that both men are guarding. Another highlight is the final showdown – the two groups marching slowly, relentlessly toward each other, guns blazing.

[ Source: True West Magazine ]

#7 – Shane, 1953

Director: George Stevens

Cast: Alan Ladd, Jean Arthur, Van Heflin
[ IMDB Link ]

Dad’s Comments: I chose this movie for beautiful scenery, a scene stealing villain (Jack Palance), exciting editing (see tension-packed final gunfight between Ladd and Palance as camera leaps back and forth between the two adversaries), explosive action scenes (see brutal barroom brawl, Ladd and Van Heflin versus the cattle baron’s henchmen) and great ensemble acting of Ladd, Arthur, Van Heflin, and Brandon DeWilde (farmer’s son).

#6 – Gunfight at the OK Corral, 1957

Director: John Sturges

Cast: Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Rhonda Fleming
[ IMDB Link ]

Dad’s Comments: I chose this movie for its rousing musical score (great theme song sung by wonderful Frankie Laine!) and exciting action scenes, like the final gunfight as the four lawmen, including Lancaster and Douglas, march slowly and relentlessly down the main street to the OK corral. Dimitri Tiomkin’s score adds energy and menace to this showdown.

[ Source: Southern Arizona Guide ]

[ Check out the top 5 Westerns – Part 2 ]

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Data Analysis [ The Plot Thickens ]

What are the trends?

Now that you have the data, what is it saying? Frequently the data can be surprising; metrics that should be show stoppers don’t say much at all and metrics that seem innocuous can unlock a tidal wave of questions. The key is to quantify how the data has changed and investigate why these changes have occurred. This investigation will help you truly uncover which metrics are your stars, or Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), which metrics play supporting roles, and which metrics end up on the editing room floor. [ Analysis paralysis? ]

Call the SWOT Team

The final piece to your analysis is translating the trend into something meaningful for your organization. Performing a SWOT (Strengths/Weaknesses/Opportunities/Threats) Analysis based on the trends you’ve uncovered will take your data off the page and into action. What does the data say about the success of current initiatives? Did you identify any opportunities for improved efficiency? Did the data unearth any concerns?

You Do the Math

Assemble any meaningful statistics from your data. Can you determine any rates of completion, percentages of goals achieved, or ratio of return? Identifying compelling insights will help you write attention getting headlines. You should also consider benchmarking data because it can help create a compelling storyline. How well are you performing compared to your peers and what percentage ahead/behind are you?

Reporting [ Tell Your Story ]

Be Compelling

When you have your data and analysis assembled, it’s time to create your story. It’s important to set up your analysis effectively. Consider the objective of your story as well as the perspective of your audience. Lay your story out in a way that is logical and also builds towards your story’s objective. Be sure to include any background or historical information that clarifies your outcomes and leverage visuals and charts that drive your points home.

Who Are the Stars?

Make sure your stars shine. You may need to define some of your metrics or explain how they’re obtained. It’s important to include enough information to support your story without distracting your listeners by introducing information that may derail the plot. Only include what is essential to supporting your objective.

Be Ready for Questions/Criticism

There will always be questions and critics. Anticipating questions and having supporting data nearby will put you in the best position to respond. Having well informed responses on standby will give confidence to the story and support whatever next steps you suggest.

Learn more about storytelling with data.

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The granularity of data is the very thing that makes it both powerful and terrifying. When you have too much of it, your spreadsheets and reports seem to close in on you and making heads or tails of it all seems impossible. Take a step back, take a deep breath, and then take this approach to overcoming analysis paralysis.

A Good Look in the Mirror

Having metrics makes your ability to do your job and to show that you’re doing your job easier. Don’t be afraid of what the data says about your job performance or the performance of your department. Understanding the history of your metrics and the current trends will enable you to be more proactive and present opportunities to your team and organization. You need to have a solid understanding of your starting point if you’re going to decide where to go from there.

Cast a Wide Net to Start

Whether you’re new to a company, new to a role or new to reporting, starting or restarting should always involve casting a wide net. You don’t know for sure which data will prove significant so it’s best to start with more than less. It’s also important to analyze different time periods. Some changes to data may not seem significant month to month but maybe quarter to quarter or year to year there is a telling change. There may also be seasonality to your data; try comparing your data to the data of the same period of the prior year to get a different perspective.

Go Down that Rabbit Hole

Anomalies in the data or unexpected trends can throw you. Sometimes you should get lost in the weeds to answer a specific question. The key is not to do it every time you run your data or you’ll never have time for your day job. When data perplexes you, determine what secondary or supporting data might help explain your confusion and systematically rule in/out theories this way. Proceed through this process until you have resolved the issue. This will lead to a better understanding of your data set as a whole and also your ability to vet and explain data.

Narrow the Field

Once you’ve gotten comfortable with your data and you’re on a first name basis, you should start honing in on your KPIs (Key Performance Indicators.) What data do you need to track your success? What data shows your department’s success? What data do other stakeholders care about? By deciding what’s important, you can create measurable goals and a path to achieving them. This will also help you fine tune and optimize your reporting program so that wide net may not be necessary for monthly reporting and your rabbit holes have all been explored and explained. Focusing on your KPIs will make maintaining the reporting program you’ve established more manageable and meaningful. Gain consensus from your peers, management and other stakeholders as to what you will be tracking and reporting so that you create both accountability and visibility for your goals and ultimately, your success.

The post Analysis Paralysis: How I Stopped Worrying & Learned to Love the Data appeared first on Alison Hession dot Com.

Once upon a time, in a land far away…

Fairy tales and nursery rhymes are an excellent example of how to make a point. These stories take a lesson that a parent would like to convey to a child and then puts it in a context that a child can understand and enjoy. This same approach can be used to share ideas and make a business case in a professional setting. It’s not just about having an idea and the data that supports it. You have to tell a successful story. What is the lesson you want people to learn and what context will be conducive to that learning?

Story Structure

Typically when you’re tasked with telling a story, it is because you already have the desired outcome in hand. In other words, you have an idea that you want to move forward and need to sway a group of decision-makers. For your idea to be successful, you must introduce the idea, support it with relevant information, and lead your audience to the same conclusion. Make sure that when you take a high level view of your story, the points you wish to make are introduced clearly, supported by relevant information, and lead to your conclusion.

Know Your Audience

Consider the perspectives and backgrounds of different audience members. Be sure to define and discuss any terms or acronyms that are specific to your department. Also consider any ongoing programs in the respective departments of your audience members and be prepared to address how your initiative interacts with and/or supports these programs.

Know your history. Consider feedback and objections raised by departments or individuals in the past, and be prepared to address them. If your prospective audience is comprised of several departments, you may find it easier to have multiple smaller meetings with your audience segmented into narrower groups. This will allow you to tailor your story to each group and will minimize any interdepartmental conflict or office politics.

Hit Them with the Numbers

Numbers can convey a point directly and dramatically. The key is to select the right numbers. Don’t just show a statistic that quantifies how well your organization is doing; show a statistic that demonstrates how well your organization is doing in relation to similar organizations. Benchmarking is a compelling way to motivate and give context. Showing how your organization is either leading or lagging is a way to put your story in the context of the organization’s overarching goals.

You should also be able to put your numbers in context by explaining what they mean and once again, keep your audience in mind.

• If you’re throwing out an annual figure, let people know the previous few years’ numbers for context and explain the changes. Use those rates of change to help your audience understand what that could mean for the future.
• If you’re talking dollars, say how many things those dollars would buy. You could say an initiative saved the company $25,000 or you could say you saved the equivalent of your annual office supplies bill.
• If you’re talking square feet, give a known structure as an example. Instead of saying something is 76,000 square feet, say it is about the size of a soccer field.
• If you’re talking number of people or clients, use a familiar visual. For example, you could say you have 17, 000 clients or you could say your clients would fill Madison Square Garden.

Picture Perfect

Visuals can really help your story take flight, and if a picture is worth a thousand words, you want to make sure it’s saying the right thing. Use pictures, graphs and charts that simplify complex ideas. If you are presenting a lot of data, make sure it is neatly organized and lean on color coding that may help clarify the message. For example, a number that is unfavorable or decreasing, you may color red and a number that is favorable or increasing, you may color green. Don’t go overboard with colors and visuals and definitely do your best to minimize distracting clipart.

Anchors Aweigh!

Finally, it’s always good to end your story with what’s next. This is where you can provide your recommendations for further reading, additional topics for consideration, and specific action items that you believe should be a result of your business case. This will show your audience that you’ve considered the real world application of your case and you are prepared to take steps to put it into action. In essence, you’ve lifted your audience up with your narrative, and you close the story by bringing them back down to earth with the practical application of what you’ve presented.

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A Sixth Sense for Data?

Much of management and strategic thinking was and still is ‘gut based.’ In other words, years of experience and familiarity with a certain area of expertise would lead one to have the ability to make informed decisions. This has not changed but organizational expectations have. Consider data as ‘back up’ to your gut or intuition. It allows you to put numbers to your hunches.

Don’t Fear the Data

Many people fear data because of the ‘what ifs.’ What if the data makes you or your department look bad? What if it creates more work or opens you up to more questions? The truth is this: you can’t measure growth without a starting point and you can’t measure success without assessing the status quo. You may discover a lot about how your department can improve the way it spends its time and money. So whatever the starting point, you must establish it in order to start down the path towards success.

Quantify Successes

Making your successes quantifiable makes them easier to communicate to stakeholders and in a sense, makes them more ‘real.’ Metric goals also help unify your department in terms of their mission and objectives. When you are all working towards a recognized metric goal, it’s easier to understand how you can contribute to the success of achieving that goal and that the success can be numerically verified.

My goal? World Peace.

Data enables you to turn nebulous goals like ‘growth’ and ‘improved ROI’ into numerical targets and success metrics. Having real and measurable goals to determine your success allows you to very practically layout a strategy for achieving them. Large goals can be overwhelming. Specific and measurable goals are more approachable and realistic.

Keep up with the Joneses

Other departments within your company and your peers at other companies are already relying on metrics. Start speaking the ‘new lingo’ and introduce your success metrics to the company.

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It’s important for marketers to consider the visual aspect of their strategy. So often, the visual piece is an afterthought. Your team has spent time developing a blog post that positions your brand as a thought leader while supporting your SEO program, and what is the last step before hitting publish? Locate a generic stock photo that conveys success or data or [insert buzzword], and you’re off to the races, right?

Wrong. In the B2B space, our feeds are full of these generic representations. We all know the handshake means team work, the dashboard with charts and graphs means analytics, and the lightbulb means ideas and innovation. Like so many trends and changes, B2B typically lags behind B2C in adoption. It’s time for B2B to get visual, visual (sung to the tune of Olivia Newton-John’s 80’s classic “Physical.”)

Visual Content Marketing Stats

In case your personal experience online hasn’t already convinced you that the visual content game is where it’s at, Hubspot published a robust set of visual content marketing statistics and I selected a few compelling stats below:

• When people hear information, they’re likely to remember only 10% of that information three days later. However, if a relevant image is paired with that same information, people retained 65% of the information three days later.
• 51% of B2B marketers prioritize creating visual assets as part of their content marketing strategy.
• Facebook posts with images see 2.3X more engagement than those without images.
• Using the word “video” in an email subject line boosts open rates by 19% and clickthrough rates by 65%.
• 70% of YouTube viewers watch videos for “help with a problem” they’re having in their hobby, studies, or job.

Energizing Your Visual Content Marketing Strategy

Whether you need to breathe life into an existing visual strategy or you’re looking to start fresh, here are a few suggestions to help you chart a course. If you’re working in a B2B department like the ones I’ve been a part of, there’s no Hollywood budget waiting to support a new video series or a Vogue photo shoot. That’s ok. Use these low budget tactics to get the metrics you need to get more budget for visual content next year.

Reconsider your blog and social post imagery. Are they eye catching and do they convey meaning? Are they branded? I recommend a free app called Canva. I prefer the desktop version for working on graphics but for those of you who like to design on the fly, it’s just as robust as a phone app. What I like about this software is that it makes creating engaging visual content easy as it offers a multitude of free layouts and templates, and it also makes it easy to stay on brand. You can upload your own logos and photos, you can create your brand colors, and you can create images in batches that feature the same logos or design elements.

Incorporate more video. There are so many ways to start making video a real part of your visual marketing strategy. Why not ask a member of your team to live stream from a tradeshow or industry event? Give a visual tour of your booth or ask your booth staff to say a quick hello. All this is possible with a single smartphone. Too spontaneous for your brand? You can also shoot and edit professional looking videos with a smartphone and a video editing app or software. Have your in-house thought leaders sit down and answer some FAQs or demonstrate a product solution. Hubspot offers these tips for making a video with your iPhone and I use a software product by Techsmith (Camtasia) to edit interview footage.

Check the data and do your research. Use your social media and blog analytics to discover what has worked in the past? Did a blog post with the author’s photo do better than one with an illustration? Look to your history to find insights while also tracking the impact of your new strategy. You also have a great research group at your disposal – your coworkers. Put some of your graphics in the kitchen or by the printer and ask your coworkers to weigh in on what they mean and how the visuals make them feel. Have fun with it!

Visual Content Fun

While I do not promote myself as a graphic artist and I’m almost entirely self taught, it has always been important for me to feel self sufficient when it comes to the tools in my marketing tool belt. I’m a doodler and sketcher; I have no problem drawing something when words aren’t enough. Here are a few fun graphics projects I worked on for a friend who directs the drama program at the high school where he also teaches English.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Poster

Wizard of Oz Poster

Elf Jr. Poster

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Define Your Digital Marketing Project’s Purpose & Scope

Breaking new ground…

It’s important at the start of a project to be clear on whether this is new territory for your marketing team or an improvement on past tactics. For example, if your marketing project involves creating and launching the company’s Instagram channel, it will be important to understand where this new channel fits with the existing marketing programs. You should consider questions like:

• Why is your brand/organization moving into this new channel?
• What kinds of metrics can you expect?
• Does the channel integrate with your existing CRM/CMS/reporting program?
• What are the best practices for the channel?
• What are your competitors doing on the channel?

…or reinventing the past?

If your digital marketing project involves reinventing an existing property, like the company website, it will be important to determine how your team can create both newness and continuity. You should consider questions like:

• What are the objectives of the relaunch?
• What do your KPIs say about the existing property and where are the opportunities for improvement?
• Does the existing technology (CRM/CMS/web platform) limit or enhance your ability to achieve success?

Document & Communicate Your Digital Marketing Project

Put it in writing…

Once you and your team have worked through identifying the marketing project’s scope and purpose, it’s important to put it in writing. Formally documenting your project creates a shared understanding amongst the team and within the organization about what the expectations are for the project. Documenting all your marketing projects also makes quarterly and year-end reporting much less time consuming since your project plans clearly outline your strategies and tactics, and your goals have already been established.

…and then shout it from the rooftops.

Communicating your project internally is the final step prior to project launch. Whatever the scope of your digital marketing project, it is always beneficial to be ready to communicate its purpose. Whether you’re seeking project approval or simply accounting for your marketing team’s time, it’s important to clearly define vocabulary and KPIs in your project documentation. It’s also important to consider which internal departments may be affected by your project. For example, if you’re adding an Instagram channel, you may want to work with customer support in the event a customer uses Instagram to get in touch. If you’re updating your company website, you may want to notify sales that important webpages in the lead nurturing funnel are changing.

Once your digital marketing project has launched, you can start providing updates within your team and within your organization. This allows your team to establish a presence for the marketing department within company culture while creating rapport with departments that marketing interacts with and impacts. It also allows your marketing team to put a stake in the ground and say to the rest of the company, ‘this is how we’re spending our time and here’s what you can expect from us.’ This creates accountability for the team and hopefully internal support for the project.

[ Check out other pre-project launch considerations. ]

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Hone in on the right digital marketing data for your reporting program.

Identifying your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) is crucial to setting up your reporting program. The abundance and depth of digital marketing data available can make it difficult to focus on which metrics actually provide valuable and usable insight. You don’t want to build a report just for reporting’s sake. You do want to provide digital marketing data that both relates to company initiatives and resonates with different stakeholders.

Draw a Direct Line from Your Digital Marketing Data to the Company’s Success

What marketing data is important? Back up and take a high level view. Why do you need marketing data? Consider both departmental and organizational initiatives. How can their successes be measured? What data will help you show this? Most departments and organizations make regular and annual presentations related to their ongoing goals. Check out your company’s annual report or your department head’s presentation to upper management. What are the themes? How can you speak to them through digital marketing data? Use this line of thinking to help you select the data you track and organize your report into meaningful KPIs.

Choose Digital Marketing Data Based on Your Stakeholders

Who will be reading your digital marketing reports? Who will your digital marketing efforts impact? You should determine who your stakeholders are and what data is important to them. If you’re a digital marketer, you want to know that website visitors are accessing a company site that functions well and is easy to use. Your marketing team members want to know the success of collaborative initiatives. Your executive team wants to know the return on investments made in marketing programs. Try to put yourself in their respective roles and anticipate their questions. For example, when I’ve managed analytics for a company website, the pr manager wanted to know about awareness for the company’s name. The sales director wanted to know more about the sources of website leads. The executive team wanted to know if the time and money invested in updating the website paid off. Different audiences have different interests. Your digital marketing data can tell a story that’s compelling to all stakeholder groups.

Three Tips for Confidence in Your Digital Marketing Data

Once you’ve identified the right KPIs, how can you double check them? Confidence in your data is key, especially if you or your management are using your reports to make budgetary or strategic choices at a high level. Establishing checks and balances in your reporting program gives you a solid base on which to make informed decisions and recommendations.

• Double check your data. You can corroborate your reports by identifying additional sources of data. Web traffic is typically reported in several places like Google Analytics, web hosting platforms and CMS systems. The data may not be apples to apples, but is it close? Does it show the same trends?
• Cross check your data. If you’re part of a marketing team, find out what types of data your team members can access. What data can their tools provide to support your reporting program?
• Benchmark your data. Benchmark your company’s digital marketing performance by doing some online research and compare what you’re reporting to what your peers and industry analysts are saying. You can also tap into your LinkedIn network to see if your connections in similar roles are wrestling with similar digital marketing questions.

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Analytics Everywhere

Analytics are in everything we do. What we buy, what we watch and how we spend our time are all recorded in one way or another, and it’s someone’s job to use that data as a decision making tool. The availability of reporting software has brought analytics to all job sectors, creating new job fields and adding reporting as a formalized task in existing roles. It requires an understanding of data retrieval, data storage, and reporting software, as well as the ability to communicate this information to other departments and stakeholders.

What is a reporting program?

A reporting program is systematic tracking and analysis of data with measurable objectives. It typically involves three basic steps – get data, analyze data and communicate information gained from the data analysis. A reporting program can be developed to answer a simple question, like ‘do we have enough bandwidth in the office to serve our needs?’ as well as to solve bigger organizational riddles, like ‘should we expand our business into new markets?’

My experience with reporting programs relates to digital marketing, so I have worked with data related to website performance, email campaigns, pay per click advertising and so on. I use data to show that web resources like a company website and social channels benefited by changes I made to them. I can use analytics to show that as a marketing team, we increased brand awareness through events, email campaigns and advertisements. I can show that as an organization, we need to invest in mobile friendly business strategies like mobile optimized website or a customer feedback app.

Why build a reporting program?

The abundance of data available to us can be overwhelming. So why should you be interested in adding or enhancing reporting in your current role? Having access to reporting software related to your organization helps you know more about projects you manage, your department’s success and your organization as a whole. Knowing where you stand can tell you how to better spend your time and can help you communicate your need for resources within the organization.

Getting into reporting can also benefit you professionally. Most companies employ an annual review process and these typically feature some discussion of progress and goals. Having more information about your productivity allows you to create realistic and measurable professional goals. By providing more data on the performance of initiatives you manage, you can find ways to show your contribution to your organization.

Before Launching a Reporting Program

Reporting programs span months, quarters and years so you are in it for the long haul once you launch a program. Consider the following points prior to beginning.

What data do I currently have access to?
Depending on the type of reporting program you are building, your data could come from anywhere. A lot of what you need likely already exists within your organization. Phone calls made per month, bandwidth used per quarter, staples orders placed per year. What data do you need to achieve the objectives of your reporting program and if it already exists, how can you get access to it?

What data do I need access to?
After considering what data is already available to you, where are the holes? What data do you still need and where can you get it? This data may be publicly available, like Google Analytics, or you may need to pay a subscription fee to access it. Have an understanding of any costs your reporting program may incur at the outset so that financial roadblocks to building your program can be overcome with a business case stating that the organization is missing out on opportunities that your reporting program can identify.

How much time can I commit to maintaining this program?
It’s important to consider the amount of time it will take to build and maintain a program and where this program falls in your priorities. The complexity of the data retrieval and analysis will determine how much time you will spend monthly, quarterly and annually on this program. If you are expected to report on your program, how often and how formally? It’s always helpful to consider any optimization that may help you stay on top of your program. Many reporting systems allow you to set up monthly automated reports so your data is delivered to your inbox in a more meaningful fashion.

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