Let’s face it, we’ve all created a dashboard or report that we no longer use. This can occur due to changes in data, new KPIs, UI updates, or the discovery of more effective dashboards created by others. While self-service BI empowers users to connect and visualize datasets independently, it can also lead to inefficiencies if not properly managed.
What is Report Rationalization?
Report rationalization refers to the systematic process of analysing, consolidating and optimizing the reports within an organization’s BI landscape to eliminate redundancy, improve efficiency and reduce costs. According to industry definitions, it involves assessing the utility of existing reports, identifying overlaps, and streamlining them to align with current business needs and decision-making priorities. This process not only reduces Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) by cutting down on the maintenance of obsolete or low-value reports but also enhances data governance and clarity.
According to McKinsey, 30-40% of the reports that businesses generate daily have little to no value. Industry estimates suggest that building and maintaining a single report within a BI system can cost between $4,000 and $5,000 over its lifecycle. This number may not seem significant, but these numbers add up quickly and can hit your ROI and increase your TCO. Now, imagine the financial impact when your organization has hundreds, or even thousands, of redundant reports cluttering your BI ecosystem. That’s money being wasted—on storage, processing power, maintenance, and governance—with little to no return.
Businesses often undermine the number of redundant reports in their system. A notable example is a major beverage company that had over 8,100 reports in its BI landscape. Considering that number of active users was over 5500, this number seems alright, doesn’t it? However, when Bristlecone dug deeper into the surface, we found that:
1
Nearly 3400 of these reports had no last access date or refresh date, meaning users had not used these reports in a long time. These can be removed from the BI landscape right away (~42% of the total reports)
2
1400 of the reports had not been accessed or refreshed since last 90 days, meaning no user has used these reports in the last 3 months and it’s safe to assume that they would not in future either. These can be considered for removal based on user review (~17% of the total reports).
Key Takeaway: So almost 60% of the reports can go away without impacting the users or their decision-making ability.
But what about the remaining 40%?
- 1500 of the total reports were duplicate (same report names, KPIs) or versioned (users may have added more data points in their report and created a new copy). These reports need to be reviewed further and can then be categorized for retention or removal
- 1000 of the reports can be consolidated. These reports share more than 6 same tables and 10 same formulas.
- Only 800 of the reports can be retained as-is. That’s just 10% of the total reports in the ecosystem.
This overwhelming report overload was not only increasing operational complexity but also slowing down decision-making and driving up costs unnecessarily. Once the company realized the financial and efficiency drain, they kickstarted their BI transformation journey—beginning with Report Rationalization.
Why Report Rationalization is a Game-Changer?
Report rationalization is NOT just about deleting old reports—it’s about optimizing your entire BI ecosystem. The process involves:
- Assessing the utility of existing reports—Which reports are truly needed?
- Eliminating redundancy—Identifying and removing duplicate, obsolete, or unused reports.
- Optimizing and consolidating data—Streamlining multiple reports into meaningful, high-value dashboards.
- Enhancing data governance and compliance—Improving security, transparency, and access control.
- Reducing Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)—Minimizing maintenance costs, improving server efficiency, and cutting unnecessary overhead.
The result? A lean, efficient, and future-ready BI system that empowers business users without the clutter.
Do you want to know how many redundant reports do you have in your BI landscape? Let’s connect!
Sachin Sharma
Associate Project Manager (B&E – Partnerships & Alliances)
Bristlecone
