A KPI report template is a table with six columns: the KPI's name, its one-sentence definition, the formula, the source system the data comes from, the person who owns it, and the target. Fill that in for each KPI before you design anything, and the report is most of the way to built, because the layout follows from the list and the arguments about "what does that number mean" have already been had. Most KPI reports fail for the opposite reason: twenty KPIs, none of them defined, half of them measures rather than indicators, pulled from a spreadsheet someone updates by hand, so the monthly meeting spends its time on what the numbers mean instead of what to do about them. Six to ten well-defined KPIs beat twenty vague ones every time.
What's the difference between a KPI, a metric and a measure?
Briefly, because it matters for what goes on the report (the longer version is at KPIs, Metrics and Measures: What's Actually the Difference?):
- A measure is a number: revenue this month, tickets closed.
- A metric is a measure with context: revenue this month versus last month, tickets closed per agent.
- A KPI is a metric with a target and an owner, chosen because it tells you whether the business is on track: revenue versus budget, owned by the sales director, target £X.
If it has no target and no owner, it's a metric, and it belongs on a detail page, not the KPI report.
The KPI report template
Here it is as a table, filled in with examples from the kinds of businesses I work with. Replace the rows with yours; keep the columns.
| KPI | Definition | Formula | Source system | Owner | Target / frequency |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue vs budget | Invoiced revenue for the month against the budgeted figure | Sum of sales invoices (net) ÷ budget for the month | Accounts (Xero, Sage, QuickBooks, Business Central) | Sales director | 100% of budget, monthly |
| Gross margin % | Profit after direct costs as a share of revenue | (Revenue minus cost of sales) ÷ revenue | Accounts | MD / FD | Set per business, monthly |
| Overdue debt | Sales ledger balances past due date | Sum of open invoices where due date < today | Accounts | Credit controller | Below £X, weekly |
| Debtor days | Average time customers take to pay | Debtors ÷ last 12 months' sales × 365 | Accounts | FD | Below N days, monthly |
| Cash runway | Months of cash at current net burn | Cash balance ÷ average monthly net cash outflow | Accounts + bank | FD | Above N months, weekly |
| Pipeline coverage | Weighted pipeline against remaining target | Weighted open pipeline ÷ (target minus closed-won) | CRM (HubSpot, Dynamics 365 Sales, Salesforce) | Sales director | Above 3×, weekly |
| Win rate | Share of closed deals won | Won ÷ (won + lost), trailing quarter | CRM | Sales director | Set per business, monthly |
| Utilisation | Billable hours as a share of available hours | Billable hours ÷ available hours | Timesheet / job system | Ops director | Set per business, weekly |
| On-time delivery | Orders shipped by the promised date | Orders shipped on or before promise date ÷ orders shipped | ERP / job system (Sage 200, Business Central) | Ops director | Above 95%, weekly |
| Ticket first response | Time to first reply on support tickets | Median hours from ticket created to first agent reply | Service desk (HubSpot Service, Dynamics Customer Service, Zendesk) | Support manager | Below N hours, weekly |
Source: my working template; the formulas are the standard ones and the systems named are those I see most in UK SMEs. Targets are yours.
Notice the source column. In a typical business the KPIs come from three or four systems. That's the reason the KPI report ends up in a spreadsheet: nobody has joined the systems, so someone types the numbers in. It's also the reason the numbers get argued with.
How do you pick which KPIs go on it?
Rules I apply:
Six to ten. Fewer than six and something important is missing. More than ten and the page is a metric dump nobody reads. If the leadership team can't name the KPIs from memory, there are too many.
Each one has an owner who can move it. A KPI nobody can influence is a weather report.
Each one has a written definition and formula. The definition is one sentence a new starter would understand. The formula is what the model calculates. Both are printed on the report (a tooltip or a definitions page), so the argument about what the number means happens once, at design time.
Leading and lagging. Revenue and margin are lagging: they tell you what happened. Pipeline coverage and utilisation are leading: they tell you what's about to happen. A report with only lagging KPIs is a history lesson. Aim for roughly half and half.
Same KPI, same formula, every month. Changing the definition to make the number look better is the fastest way to lose the board's trust. If a definition has to change, say so on the report and show both for three months.
What should the report look like?
One page. Each KPI as a tile: the value, the target, the arrow against last period, a small sparkline of the last twelve periods. Grouped by owner or by theme (money, customers, operations). Green, amber, red only where it means something (on or off target), not as decoration.
Below the tiles, or on a second page, the detail for each KPI: the trend chart, the breakdown by whatever it breaks down by (customer, rep, site), and the definition. The person who owns the KPI uses this page; the leadership team uses the tiles.
That's the whole design. Anything more elaborate is usually hiding the fact that the KPIs weren't chosen carefully.
Where does the data come from, and how hard is it?
From the source column in your template. The accounts system connects to Power BI through its connector, API or database (routes by system at How to Connect Your Accounting Software to Power BI). The CRM connects natively for Dynamics 365 Sales and Salesforce and through a connector for HubSpot. Timesheet, job and service desk systems vary; most have an API or an export.
The build order that works: start with the KPIs from one system. If five of your ten come from the accounts, build those first. That's a single-source job, it's what the First Report is for (one system, one report, the headline number reconciled to source, £1,950 fixed, ten working days, the First Report), and it proves the numbers can be trusted before the harder joins. Then add the second system, which is a Reporting Sprint.
Power BI Pro is £10.80 per user per month on Microsoft's UK page as of September 2026, for everyone who opens the report.
Common questions
What should a KPI report include?
Six to ten KPIs, each with a name, definition, formula, source system, owner and target. On the page: the value, target, arrow against last period and a twelve-period sparkline for each, grouped by owner or theme, with the definitions printed.
How many KPIs should a business have?
Six to ten for the leadership report. Each department can have its own six to ten underneath. If the leadership team can't recite them, there are too many.
What's the difference between a KPI and a metric?
A metric is a number with context (revenue versus last month). A KPI is a metric with a target and an owner, chosen because it shows whether the business is on track. Metrics go on detail pages; KPIs go on the KPI report.
Is there a KPI report template in Excel?
The template is the six-column table above and it works in Excel, Word or anything else. The report itself can be built in Excel if all the KPIs come from one system and it's read by a few people; once they come from several systems or need sharing with row-level access, it's a Power BI job.
What are leading and lagging KPIs?
Lagging KPIs report what happened (revenue, margin, overdue debt). Leading KPIs predict what's about to happen (pipeline coverage, utilisation, orders in hand). A good report has both.
Why do our KPI numbers get argued with?
Because they're not defined in writing, or the definition changed, or the source is a spreadsheet someone typed into. Print the definition and formula on the report, keep it the same every month, and connect the report to the source systems so the number is calculated, not entered.
How much does a KPI dashboard cost to build?
If the KPIs come from one system, it's a First Report: £1,950 fixed, ten working days, reconciled to source. Two systems is a Reporting Sprint at £9,500. Power BI Pro licences are £10.80 per viewer per month (Microsoft UK, September 2026).