Use cases
Start with a recurring question and a report you already trust.
A good first use case has a clear business owner, approved source data, a known result for comparison, and a decision the answer will support. The examples below show what that looks like for finance, commercial, and operations teams.
What makes a useful first use case
Tie the question to data, a trusted comparison, and a decision.
If one of these is missing, the assessment can identify the prerequisite before production work is proposed.
Question
A recurring question in the language used by the team responsible for the decision.
Data
Known ERP, CRM, finance, or operational records that are approved for the use case.
Trusted comparison
A report, source-system result, or worked example that can be used to check representative answers.
Decision
A named person or team knows what review or action the answer will inform.
Finance
Explain a change before the next finance review.
Move from a reconciled total to the customers, products, invoices, or periods that explain it.
Example question
What changed in gross margin, receivables, or forecast variance, and which customers, products, or periods explain it?
Data needed
ERP general ledger, invoices and credit notes, customer and product records, and approved budget or forecast data.
Trusted comparison
Month-end pack, aged receivables report, margin report, or a set of reconciled examples.
Decision supported
Where finance or commercial owners focus the next review and which variance needs explanation.
Commercial
Trace sales or pipeline movement to the accounts behind it.
Follow an agreed measure from region to representative, customer, product, order, or opportunity.
Example question
Which territories fell behind target, which customers explain the change, and what happened in the pipeline?
Data needed
ERP orders and invoices, CRM accounts and opportunities, targets, territories, and product hierarchies.
Trusted comparison
Sales performance pack, pipeline review, territory report, or agreed customer examples.
Decision supported
Where a commercial review should focus and which account or opportunity needs a closer look.
Bring one recurring question
A short brief is enough to begin.
Share the question, the team that owns it, the systems involved, and a report or known result that can be used to check the answer.