Franchise reporting without rebuilding every file

Franchise reporting: two columns with similar names

Head office collects the number of completed orders for each outlet for the month. One outlet sends an export with a completed_orders column, another with an orders column, which may also include cancelled ones. A head office employee cannot settle this by changing the header: they need an answer from someone at the second outlet about what that number covers. Without that answer, one outlet looks better in the ranking, although it has the same number of completed orders.

Once the meaning of the column is confirmed, head office records which field of the summary it goes to. The next file in that format goes through without a question. The data keeps a link to the file, the outlet and the month, so the person checking the summary can go back to the source.

What franchise data intake automation costs and when it pays back

The count covers the work around each case: searching, reading, writing and handing over. What remains is the time to check the result, 25% of today's work in the scenario. Before the quote we measure both times on 20 to 100 cases the team has already handled, in a free test that takes 5 working days.

More important than head office's hours is when the summary is ready. When data trickles in until the middle of the next month, the conversation with outlets is about the past. In the test we measure the day the summary is complete, before the rollout and after it.

When Power Query is enough

If outlets send uniform exports, start with the tool head office already uses. Microsoft describes combining files from a folder in Power Query. A shared template and agreed definitions are enough if the outlets can use them, and head office still watches for missing files. An automation makes sense when files arrive in different places and formats and the clarifications stay in correspondence. Sharing results with franchisees is a separate stage, described in the article on clarifications from branches.

Where to start

The first scope covers one monthly summary. Head office names the data it expects and the outlets, and the outlets name the people who explain their files. We build this kind of system as part of our AI automations. For the free process review, a description of one case from the last few weeks and the tools it went through is enough. You do not need to send confidential documents, and you receive a written plan within 2 working days.