23 June 2026
Friday, 5 pm. Sales announces €1.24M of monthly revenue, finance sees €1.18M, and the management dashboard shows a third figure. Then comes the ritual every SME knows: an hour spent finding out who is right, only to conclude that "it depends how you count".
It is almost never a software problem. It is a problem of definitions, timing and manual rework. And it can be fixed.
Cause #1: the same word for different realities
"Revenue", for sales, is often the order intake. For finance, what has been invoiced. For management, sometimes what has been collected. Three legitimate definitions, three correct figures. And no possible decision while the word stays ambiguous. The same goes for "active client", "margin" or "headcount".
Cause #2: snapshots taken at different moments
One person extracts data on Monday morning, another on Wednesday evening. In between: invoices issued, credit notes, cancelled orders. Both figures were true at extraction time, and false at meeting time.
Cause #3: individual Excel rework
Each department has its consolidation workbook, its "historical" filters and its manual corrections inherited from a problem fixed two years ago. The file is called consolidation_v12_FINAL_ok.xlsx, one person knows how to run it, and nobody remembers why row 847 is excluded.
Cause #4: diverging reference data
Client "Dupont SA" exists twice in the CRM, under two different codes in invoicing, and one of them is attached to the wrong region. Multiply by a few hundred clients: the gap between two reports is no longer surprising.
The method for aligning figures durably
- Write an indicator dictionary. For every figure that matters: its exact definition, its source, its calculation rule, its exclusions. A shared twenty-line table settles half the debates.
- Name one reference source per data item. Revenue comes out of invoicing, full stop. Other tools may display it, never recalculate it.
- Automate the flow. As long as a human copies and pastes between two tools, the gap will come back. An automated flow produces the same figure for everyone, at the same time.
- Add visible controls. Totals compared between source and output, gaps flagged, anomalies dated. Trust comes from verifiability, not promises.
- Assign an owner per indicator. When the figure raises questions, someone is responsible for answering. Otherwise the debate returns to the meeting room.
Where to start
Not with a big data programme. Take the indicator that generates the most debate, usually revenue or margin, and treat it end to end: definition, source, flow, control. Within a few weeks you have one uncontested figure. Then you widen the circle, indicator by indicator.
The day the management meeting starts with decisions instead of "where does this figure come from?", you have won.