Start with a defined monthly service
Write down what the practice will deliver and when. Agree the source system, the entity in scope, which reports the client sees and who reviews the data before it is available. Include the length of the review call and how the practice will handle a request for a new metric.
A first version might include a monthly P&L, comparison with the corresponding prior-year period, overdue receivables and a short commentary on movements. Include a balance-sheet or stock view when the records support it and it answers a client question. If the prior period is missing, show the gap rather than presenting the comparison as zero.
Make the handover easy to repeat
Pick one client and one closed month. Save the source report that establishes the accounting total and use it to check the dashboard before sharing. Record the reporting basis, period and data timestamp. Make the timestamp visible in the dashboard so the client can tell whether a newly posted transaction should be included yet.
If the client uses a browser viewer over files shared through OneDrive or SharePoint, test the actual invited identity. Check that the client can open their folder and that an uninvited identity is denied. Assign an owner who can grant and revoke access. With Datplan’s browser dashboard workflow, the connection key identifies the reporting location. Microsoft folder permissions determine whether the viewer can read the files. Datplan client dashboard instructions
Work out the fee from a pilot
Measure four separate items over several reporting cycles. Record time spent on data preparation, reconciliation and commentary, the client meeting, and any follow-up or access support. Add the client’s share of software and storage costs. Recover one-off setup separately or spread it over an agreed term.
For illustration, a £150 monthly fee less £35 of allocated software and one hour of work at £40 leaves £75 before overhead, support surprises and tax. If setup took four hours at £40, that adds £160 of one-off time cost. These are example inputs. Replace them with the practice’s own costs and the actual time recorded in the pilot before quoting.
Give every report an owner
Put a short operating note beside the dashboard. Identify who can run the source pull, who signs off the numbers and who handles access requests. Decide what the client should see when an extraction fails. Showing the date of the last completed report is more useful than silently presenting old figures as current.
Review the service after three cycles. Ask which pages the client used and what decisions they took. Remove views the client ignores and add a new measure only when its meaning, source and review owner are clear. Datplan reporting workflows for accountants