Measurement / framework / Free to use
Weekly Report Readiness: A Checklist for Missing and Stale Data
Decide what you can share when a marketing report has missing exports, older values or figures still awaiting review.
Growthcraft Editorial · 2026-11-01. AI-assisted research and implementation. Examples are synthetic; Akshay's personal review is not claimed.
Copyable template
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WEEKLY REPORT READINESS — original decision worksheet Report owner / reviewer (roles only): Decision the report should support: Exact reporting dates, source timezone, export time and review time: Fixed inventory: one row per required measure, source and scope combination. Define each measure, units, filters, attribution and baseline before reviewing values. INVENTORY COLUMNS Measure | Source report | Period | Timezone | Value | Status | Baseline status | Evidence reference | Owner | Next check | Decision dependency Status must be one of: current-reviewed / stale / missing / unchecked. Current-reviewed means the correct complete period is available, its definition matches, applicable processing limits were considered and a person checked it. Stale means only an older usable value exists. Preserve its original dates in a separate comparison column, never in this week's value. Missing means there is no usable value for the agreed scope, including an unresolved access, processing or definition problem. Unchecked means a current export exists but its figures or processing state still need review. A source-confirmed zero is a value. An empty cell is not zero. REVIEW 1. Freeze the inventory and decision dependencies. Do not remove unavailable measures to make coverage look better. 2. Record provenance and assign one status per measure. Keep explanatory reasons beside statuses. 3. Count current, stale, missing and unchecked once. Comparable measures are a subset of current-reviewed with an equivalent complete baseline. 4. Count unready measures needed for the decision as a subset of stale + missing + unchecked. Any such item holds that decision; a high coverage percentage cannot override it. 5. Review the narrative against the evidence. Share only supported observations with dates and caveats. Set an owner and a specific follow-up time for every gap. 6. Save a dated version. On correction, record what changed, why and whether an earlier decision needs revisiting. SYNTHETIC CASE Ten required measures: 6 current-reviewed, 2 stale, 1 missing, 1 unchecked. Of the six ready measures, 4 have a comparable baseline. One unready measure is required for a spend decision. Ready coverage=6/10=60%. Comparison coverage=4/10=40%. Four measures are unready. Hold the affected spend decision; share a clearly labelled partial operational update if useful. Example note: Orders are available for the agreed week. Acquisition spend is unavailable, so return on ad spend is withheld. The analytics owner will check the export at the next agreed review time. Last week's spend remains in a separate, dated reference column. SIGN-OFF Can the intended decision be supported? yes / no / narrower decision only. Narrative reviewer and completion criterion: Unresolved gaps, named role, next check and escalation: Version date, correction note and recipient notification if material: No model can authorize a budget change or replace this review.
A partial report can still be useful
Use this original framework when a marketing operations owner has to prepare a weekly update before every source is ready. It separates what can be reported from what can support a decision. It is especially useful for a spreadsheet combining store, advertising and web-analytics data. It is not an accounting close, an automated data-quality service or a claim that the sources agree.
Bring the report owner, a reviewer with access to the evidence, a fixed measure list and the decision the reader needs to make. If nobody can say which measures that decision needs, resolve that first. Do not pick a coverage target simply because it produces a green badge.
Six steps before sharing
- Define the question. “What happened to orders?” and “Can we increase spend?” need different evidence. Mark the measures required for each decision.
- Freeze the inventory. One item is a measure, source and scope combination. Keep unavailable items on the list.
- Keep the provenance. Record dates, timezone, export time, filters, definition and review status beside every value.
- Assign one status. Current-reviewed, stale, missing or unchecked. A reviewed zero belongs with current data; absence does not.
- Limit the claim. Share supported observations; withhold calculations whose inputs are unavailable. Keep older figures clearly dated and separate.
- Close the gap visibly. Give each exception an owner role, a next check and a completion condition. Version the correction if the report changes.
Ten measures, one blocked decision
A synthetic weekly report needs ten measures. Six are current and reviewed, two exist only for an older period, one is missing and one awaits review. Four of the six reviewed measures also have a comparable baseline. Coverage is 60%; comparison coverage is 40%. The missing item is acquisition spend, which is required for a proposed spend increase.
The decision is held even though most measures are ready. The report can still describe reviewed orders and explain what remains unknown. Use the readiness calculator to reproduce the counts. “No spend data” does not mean “no spend,” and last week's figure cannot repair this week's gap.
Make the handoff concrete
The data owner reopens the original report and records the export's scope. The reviewer checks that each narrative sentence uses eligible evidence. The decision owner either waits or narrows the decision explicitly. Completion means the missing measure is available for the correct period, reviewed and reflected in a dated report version—not merely that a connector returned a file.
Use the editing prompt only after that inventory exists. AI can draft a four-sentence update; it cannot establish account access, fix source processing or approve a budget. Writing the update manually remains a complete fallback.
Where this method stops
Equal counts do not imply equal business importance. A ten-row report can be more useful than a hundred-row one, and a single missing input can block the main decision. Current-reviewed does not mean permanently final: later revisions may require another review. Keep this method separate from statistical uncertainty, causal measurement and revenue reconciliation.
Sources and limits
Checked 1 November 2026: Google Analytics data freshness explains processing delays and changing figures. Shopify Analytics documentation distinguishes dashboard summaries, detailed reports and access permissions. Neither source endorses this original inventory method. Examples are synthetic; no customer results, statistical confidence or automatic report approval are claimed.