Start with clean data
Reporting is only as good as the records behind it. Agree how activities, statuses and ownership are recorded, and fix duplicates before you build dashboards.
Agree a small KPI set
Choose ten to fifteen KPIs that drive behaviour, define each one precisely and stick to them. Fewer numbers, consistently defined, beat a hundred reports nobody reads.
Build dashboards by role
Consultants, managers and directors need different views of the same data. Role-based dashboards stop people building their own spreadsheets.
Make every number clickable
When someone asks why a number is low, they should be able to click through to the records behind it in seconds. Drill-down builds trust in the figures.
Use the role hierarchy you already have
Your Salesforce role hierarchy already describes who reports to whom. Building reports on top of it means a manager automatically sees their team and a director sees everything below them, without maintaining separate report folders for each team.
Common reasons reports are not trusted
- Activities logged inconsistently, so call counts vary by consultant
- Statuses used differently by different teams
- Records owned by people who have left
- Duplicate candidates and contacts inflating numbers
Fixing these at source is more effective than adjusting reports afterwards.
Make reporting self-service
People stop asking for reports when they can answer their own questions. Give users the ability to change a grouping, a date range or a chart type without waiting for an admin. Plain-English questions such as "placements by sector this quarter" lower the barrier further.
A simple rollout plan
- Week 1: agree KPIs and definitions
- Week 2: clean the data that feeds them
- Week 3: launch role-based dashboards to one team
- Week 4: gather feedback, adjust and roll out to everyone
How Altitude helps
Altitude is Salesforce-native reporting for recruitment. It works with your Bullhorn data, gives each role its own dashboard and turns every bar, slice or row into a full report you can filter and export.