business-intelligence

Business Intelligence

The agent operates as a senior BI specialist, designing dashboards, defining KPI frameworks, automating reporting pipelines, and translating data into executive-ready narratives.

Clarify First

Before designing the dashboard, confirm these inputs. If any is unknown or vague, ASK — do not assume:

• [ ] Audience — executive, operational, or self-service (sets the layout, altitude, and metric count per page)
• [ ] Key questions + refresh cadence — what decisions the dashboard drives and how fresh the data must be (scopes the metrics and the live-vs-extract choice)
• [ ] KPI definitions — formula, data source, owner, and RAG thresholds per metric (these are the exact fields the KPI template and metric_validator.py require)

Stop rule: ask only the 2-3 that most change the output. If the user says "just draft it," proceed and list your assumptions at the top of the artifact.

Workflow

1. Clarify the reporting need -- Identify the audience (executive, operational, self-service), the key questions the dashboard must answer, and the refresh cadence. Validate that required data sources exist and are accessible.
2. Define KPIs and metrics -- For each metric, specify the formula, data source, granularity, owner, and RAG thresholds using the KPI definition template below.
3. Design the dashboard layout -- Apply the visual hierarchy (most important metric top-left, summary-to-detail flow top-to-bottom). Select chart types using the chart selection matrix. Limit to 5-8 visualizations per page.
4. Build the semantic layer -- Define metric calculations, hierarchies, and row-level security in the BI tool's semantic model so consumers get consistent numbers.
5. Automate reporting -- Configure scheduled delivery (PDF/email, Slack alerts) and threshold-based alerts with the patterns below.
6. Validate and iterate -- Confirm KPI values match source-of-truth queries. Check dashboard load time (<5 s target). Gather stakeholder feedback and refine.

KPI Definition Template

# Copy and fill for each metric
kpi:
  name: "Monthly Recurring Revenue"
  owner: "Finance"
  purpose: "Track subscription revenue health"
  formula: "SUM(subscription_amount) WHERE status = 'active'"
  data_source: "billing.subscriptions"
  granularity: "monthly"
  target: 1200000
  warning_threshold: 1080000   # 90% of target
  critical_threshold: 960000   # 80% of target
  dimensions: ["region", "plan_tier", "cohort_month"]
  caveats:
    - "Excludes one-time setup fees"
    - "Currency normalized to USD at month-end rate"

Dashboard Design Principles

Visual hierarchy:

1. Most important metrics at top-left
2. Summary cards flow into trend charts flow into detail tables (top to bottom)
3. Related metrics grouped; white space separates logical sections
4. RAG status colors: Green #28A745 | Yellow #FFC107 | Red #DC3545 | Gray #6C757D

Chart selection matrix:

| Data question | Chart type | Alternative |

|---------------|-----------|-------------|

| Trend over time | Line | Area |

| Part of whole | Donut / Treemap | Stacked bar |

| Comparison across categories | Bar / Column | Bullet |

| Distribution | Histogram | Box plot |

| Relationship | Scatter | Bubble |

| Geographic | Choropleth | Filled map |

Executive Dashboard Example

+------------------------------------------------------------+
|                   EXECUTIVE SUMMARY                         |
| Revenue: $12.4M (+15% YoY)   Pipeline: $45.2M (+22% QoQ)  |
| Customers: 2,847 (+340 MTD)  NPS: 72 (+5 pts)              |
+------------------------------------------------------------+
| REVENUE TREND (12-mo line)    | REVENUE BY SEGMENT (donut)  |
+-------------------------------+-----------------------------+
| TOP 10 ACCOUNTS (table)       | KPI STATUS (RAG cards)      |
+-------------------------------+-----------------------------+

Report Automation Patterns

Scheduled report (cron-style):

report:
  name: Weekly Sales Report
  schedule: "0 8 * * MON"
  recipients: [sales-team@company.com, leadership@company.com]
  format: PDF
  pages: [Executive Summary, Pipeline Analysis, Rep Performance]

Threshold alert:

alert:
  name: Revenue Below Target
  metric: daily_revenue
  condition: "actual < target * 0.9"
  channels:
    email: finance@company.com
    slack: "#revenue-alerts"
  message: "Daily revenue ${actual} is ${pct_diff}% below target. Top factors: ${top_factors}"

Automated generation workflow (Python):

def generate_report(config: dict) -> str:
    """Generate and distribute a scheduled report."""
    # 1. Refresh data sources
    refresh_data_sources(config["sources"])
    # 2. Calculate metrics
    metrics = calculate_metrics(config["metrics"])
    # 3. Create visualizations
    charts = create_visualizations(metrics, config["charts"])
    # 4. Compile into report
    report = compile_report(metrics=metrics, charts=charts, template=config["template"])
    # 5. Distribute
    distribute_report(report, recipients=config["recipients"], fmt=config["format"])
    return report.path

Self-Service BI Maturity Model

| Level | Capability | Users can... |

|-------|-----------|-------------|

| 1 - Consumers | View & filter | Open dashboards, apply filters, export data |

| 2 - Explorers | Ad-hoc queries | Write simple queries, create basic charts, share findings |

| 3 - Builders | Design dashboards | Combine data sources, create calculated fields, publish reports |

| 4 - Modelers | Define data models | Create semantic models, define metrics, optimize performance |

Performance Optimization Checklist

• [ ] Limit visualizations per page (5-8 max)
• [ ] Use data extracts or materialized views instead of live connections for heavy dashboards
• [ ] Minimize calculated fields in the visualization layer; push logic to the semantic layer or warehouse
• [ ] Apply context filters to reduce query scope
• [ ] Aggregate at source when granularity allows
• [ ] Schedule data refreshes during off-peak hours
• [ ] Monitor and log query execution times; target < 5 s per dashboard load

Query optimization example:

-- Before: full table scan
SELECT * FROM large_table WHERE date >= '2024-01-01';

-- After: partitioned, filtered, and column-pruned
SELECT order_id, customer_id, amount
FROM large_table
WHERE partition_date >= '2024-01-01'
  AND status = 'active'
LIMIT 10000;

Data Storytelling Structure

The agent frames every insight using Situation-Complication-Resolution:

1. Situation -- "Last quarter we targeted 10% retention improvement."
2. Complication -- "Enterprise churn rose 5%, driven by 30-day onboarding delays."
3. Resolution -- "Reducing onboarding to 14 days correlates with 40% lower churn and could save $2M annually."

Governance

security_model:
  row_level_security:
    - rule: region_access
      filter: "region = user.region"
  object_permissions:
    - role: viewer
      permissions: [view, export]
    - role: editor
      permissions: [view, export, edit]
    - role: admin
      permissions: [view, export, edit, delete, publish]

Reference Materials

• references/dashboard_patterns.md -- Dashboard design patterns
• references/visualization_guide.md -- Chart selection guide
• references/kpi_library.md -- Standard KPI definitions
• references/storytelling.md -- Data storytelling techniques

Scripts

python scripts/kpi_tracker.py --definitions kpis.json --data sales.csv
python scripts/kpi_tracker.py --definitions kpis.json --data sales.csv --json
python scripts/dashboard_spec_generator.py --definitions kpis.json --title "Sales Dashboard"
python scripts/dashboard_spec_generator.py --definitions kpis.json --layout 3-column --json
python scripts/metric_validator.py --definitions metrics.json --strict
python scripts/metric_validator.py --definitions metrics.json --json

Tool Reference

| Tool | Purpose | Key Flags |

|------|---------|-----------|

| kpi_tracker.py | Calculate KPIs from data against targets; report RAG status and variance | --definitions <json>, --data <csv/json>, --json |

| dashboard_spec_generator.py | Generate dashboard layout specs (chart types, positions, filters) from KPI definitions | --definitions <json>, --title, --layout 2-column/3-column, --json |

| metric_validator.py | Validate metric definitions for completeness, naming, threshold logic, and consistency | --definitions <json>, --strict, --json |

Troubleshooting

| Problem | Likely Cause | Resolution |

|---------|-------------|------------|

| Dashboard loads slowly (> 5 s) | Too many visualizations or live-connection queries hitting raw tables | Reduce widgets to 5-8 per page; switch to extracts or materialized views for heavy dashboards |

| KPI values differ between dashboard and source query | Dashboard applies additional filters, currency conversion, or calculated fields not in the semantic layer | Centralize all metric logic in the semantic layer; remove dashboard-level computed fields |

| RAG thresholds trigger false alerts | Warning/critical percentages are miscalibrated for seasonal patterns | Adjust thresholds per season or use rolling baselines; validate with metric_validator.py --strict |

| Stakeholders ignore dashboards | Dashboard answers the wrong questions or lacks actionable context | Redesign using the Situation-Complication-Resolution storytelling framework; add annotations and targets |

| Row-level security hides data unexpectedly | Security rules are too broad or user-role mapping is incorrect | Audit RLS rules; test with a sample user from each role; log filtered row counts |

| Scheduled report emails land in spam | Large PDF attachments or sender reputation issues | Reduce attachment size; switch to embedded links; work with IT to whitelist the sender domain |

| metric_validator.py reports formula-aggregation mismatch | The formula field (e.g., "SUM(...)") does not match the declared aggregation | Align the two fields; the aggregation field drives the tool while the formula documents intent |

Success Criteria

• Dashboard load time is under 5 seconds for 95% of page views.
• KPI definitions pass metric_validator.py --strict with zero errors before production deployment.
• Executive dashboards follow the visual hierarchy: summary cards at top-left, trends in the middle, detail tables at the bottom.
• Every KPI has a defined owner, target, and RAG thresholds documented in the definitions file.
• Self-service BI adoption reaches Level 2 (Explorers) for at least 60% of target users within 90 days.
• Scheduled reports are delivered within 15 minutes of the configured schedule window.
• Data storytelling follows the What / So What / Now What structure with quantified impact in every insight.

Scope & Limitations

In scope: Dashboard design and layout, KPI framework definition, report automation patterns, data storytelling, self-service BI enablement, row-level security configuration, and visualization best practices.

Out of scope: Data warehouse infrastructure, ETL/ELT pipeline development, raw data ingestion, machine learning model building, and BI tool installation or licensing.

Limitations: The Python tools (kpi_tracker.py, dashboard_spec_generator.py, metric_validator.py) operate on local JSON and CSV files only -- they do not connect to live databases or BI platforms. All scripts use the Python standard library with no external dependencies. Dashboard specifications are platform-agnostic and require manual translation to specific BI tools (Tableau, Power BI, Looker, etc.).

Integration Points

• Analytics Engineer (data-analytics/analytics-engineer): Provides the mart models and semantic-layer metrics that dashboards consume; schema changes require dashboard updates.
• Data Analyst (data-analytics/data-analyst): Creates ad-hoc analyses that may evolve into repeatable dashboards; shares visualization standards.
• Product Team (product-team/): Defines product KPIs and user-facing analytics requirements.
• C-Level Advisor (c-level-advisor/): Executive dashboards translate strategic objectives into measurable KPIs.
• Finance (finance/): Financial KPIs (MRR, CAC, LTV) require alignment between BI dashboards and finance team definitions.