Understanding your numbers
When a figure can be trusted, when the system hides it, and why that is in your favour.
A dashboard that always shows you a number is not an honest dashboard. Snap Shop is built the other way round: a figure appears when it is worth building a decision on.
Coverage — the most important idea on this page
"Coverage" means: how much of the data the calculation needs is actually present.
For example, if half the products you sold have no cost entered, the profit calculation is seeing half the picture.
Reliability indicators
On the analytics screens you will find indicators describing the state of the data behind a figure — what is covered and what is missing. Read those before you read the figure itself.
Analytics need data
This is a fact rather than a fault: in the first week after launch the analytics screens are empty or nearly empty, because there are not enough orders.
And across the first twenty orders, percentages swing enormously — one return out of ten is 10%, out of a hundred it is 1%.
Read the trend, not the point.
The basis a figure was computed on
The same word "revenue" can mean three different things: everything sold, everything delivered, or everything collected.
That is why every figure in the system states which basis it is computed on. When you compare two numbers, make sure they are on the same basis — this is where confusion most often starts.
Questions the system answers
- which product actually makes me money after shipping and returns?
- where is my money sitting right now — stock, shipments, or collection?
- which governorate returns the most?
- did this campaign bring orders that were delivered, or orders that came back?
The practical rule
If a figure is hidden, that is not a fault — it is the system telling you the data is not yet enough. Fix the data and the figure appears.
And the fastest route to better coverage: enter your product costs, and set your shipping rates.