What we actually build in the first two weeks

Most software vendors describe onboarding in abstract terms like discovery, kickoff and implementation. We would rather be specific about what the first fortnight actually involves, because "we'll build you a system" means very little until you can picture how it goes.

Week one begins with the reporting you already have

The first conversation is about the report you already produce. We look at what it currently contains, who reads it, and where it falls short. Most organisations come to us with years of reporting behind them, including a PDF archive, a set of recurring metrics, and a fair sense of which sections get read and which get skipped. All of that becomes the starting point for the build, so you are extending something you already have rather than starting from a blank page.

The bulk of week one goes into the audience work. We get specific about what a trustee needs to see that a funder does not, and what a frontline team needs that a board report would only bury. Most of the real thinking happens here, because getting the audience split right at the start is what keeps you from having to rebuild the structure later.

Week two turns that into design and structure

By the second week your report has a shape. We map out which sections exist, which audiences see which views, and how historic data sits alongside current data. The design is built to your actual brand rather than a reporting template with your logo dropped on top. This is also when we choose the interactive elements deliberately. A map earns its place only if geography matters to your story, and a timeline only if change over time is the point you are making.

By the end of the fortnight you have a working structure your team can see and respond to. It is not the finished system yet, since most builds run two to four weeks in total depending on scope, but it is enough to confirm the shape is right before we build out the detail.

Why we work at this pace

A living report is infrastructure your team will use for years, so getting the audience split and the structure right matters more than moving through setup quickly. When this stage gets rushed, the result is usually a system that technically works but does not match how the organisation operates, and that mismatch tends to surface as friction six months in.

What happens after the build

Once the structure is confirmed, your team gets access to publish into it directly. Updates need no further build from us. New data, new sections within the agreed scope, and future reports all run through the same system rather than starting over. Those first two weeks are the only part of the process that looks like a traditional project. After that, your reporting behaves like infrastructure your team owns and runs.

If you would like to see what those first two weeks would look like for your own reporting, book a call.