JTBD Framework Reporting & insights All frameworks
Persona (applies to most sections below)

Cross-cutting priority themes

Synthesised from reportinggranola-insights.pdf (Granola). These apply across personas — use them when prioritising roadmap and IA.

1. Money clarity & trust

  • Understand what I really earned after Easol fees.
  • Align statements, payouts, and in-platform numbers.
  • Reconciliation views: expected vs collected vs fees vs net.
  • Clear metric definitions and fee taxonomy everywhere (UI, exports, AI).

2. Flexible, task-based reporting

  • Replace many flat one-off reports with configurable, saveable views.
  • Group / break down / filter by variant, event, date, country, modality, etc.
  • Reduce dependence on exports and manual pivots.

3. Information architecture & discoverability

  • Too many overlapping reports — hard to know which to use.
  • Themed groups: Sales, Payments, Financial summaries, Ops, Support, Pipeline.
  • Pins, defaults, “use this for…” guidance on entry points.

4. Drill-down, traceability & investigation

  • Tiles → report → bookings/payments → statement (clickable, not static aggregates).
  • Investigate discrepancies, spikes, drops, and specific charges.

5. Payment behaviour & fee impact

  • Modalities (plans vs pay-in-full) and methods (card brands, domestic/intl, premium).
  • How they affect fees, conversion, margins — central payment analytics.

6. AI-ready semantic layer & UX

  • Standardise entities & metrics so “why did my fees spike?” can be answered reliably.
  • UX supports ask a question and explain this number on tiles and tables.

North star jobs

One sentence per persona: the job reporting is hired to do.

Creator / owner / GM

When I’m running the business, I want to see true net after all fees and how it ties to payouts and statements, so I can decide what to promote or cut — without building spreadsheets or reconciling manually.

Finance / accountant / bookkeeper

When I’m closing the books, I want one reconciled picture (sales, fees, taxes, payouts, off-platform where relevant) with ledger-ready exports and drilldown to line items, so I can close accurately with an audit trail.

Ops / production / experience manager

When I’m preparing events, I want to see who has paid, who is on a plan, and what is overdue by variant and date, so I can run operations and chase the right people without data wrangling.

Marketing / growth

When I’m optimising spend and checkout, I want sales and net broken down by channel, country, modality, and method, so I can allocate budget and tune plans knowing fee and conversion impact.

Customer support / CX

When a creator asks about charges or payouts, I want the same reconciled view they should see — from booking to fees to statement — so I can answer accurately in one place without CSV archaeology.

Easol sales / onboarding / success

When I’m onboarding or reviewing a creator, I want simple, trustworthy views of revenue, fees, and payouts I can show live, so expectations are clear and QBRs are data-backed without embarrassment.

Product, design & data

When we ship reporting, I want a shared semantic layer and JTBD-aligned IA so every surface (tables, dashboards, exports, AI) says the same thing — and we can measure task success, not just report usage.

Functional jobs

From Granola reporting research. Priority themes = product themes called out in source.

1

Know true profitability over time

When: I review business performance weekly or monthly
I want to: See how much I actually earned on Easol after all fees, by experience / variant / date
So I can: Decide what to promote, change, or cut
Fee transparencyNet revenueHigh-level dashboards
2

Trust payouts match what I see in-app

When: I receive a payout or read my statement
I want to: Match payouts and statements to in-platform reports (sales, fees, refunds)
So I can: Trust Easol payouts are correct and avoid manual reconciliation
Statement ↔ report alignmentPayout-cycle filtersReconciliation views
3

Price and configure payment options with fee awareness

When: I adjust ticket prices or introduce payment plans
I want to: See how payment modalities and methods impact total fees and net
So I can: Price correctly and choose modalities that maximise margin and conversion
Payment analyticsFee impact analysis
4

Answer investors and partners confidently

When: I get questions about performance
I want to: Pull a clean summary of revenue, fees, and net per experience or timeframe
So I can: Communicate confidently without custom spreadsheets every time
Financial summariesExportable views
1

Close month / quarter to the accounting system

When: I’m closing the month or quarter
I want to: Reconcile Easol sales, fees, taxes, payouts (and off-platform payments) to my accounting system
So I can: Close the books accurately with minimal manual work and an audit trail
Detailed reconciliationLedger-ready exportsLine-item balances
2

Map fee lines to the GL

When: I need to code fees to accounts
I want to: See a clear breakdown of transaction fees, processing fees, taxes, and discounts
So I can: Map each component to the right GL accounts without guesswork
Fee taxonomyClear columns & definitions
3

Build management accounts and P&L views

When: I prepare management accounts or reports
I want to: Aggregate revenue, fees, and net by product/experience, date, and channel
So I can: Provide clean P&L and margin analysis
Grouped summariesConfigurable group-bys
4

Resolve discrepancies fast

When: Something doesn’t tie out
I want to: Drill from a payout or statement line to individual orders, payments, and fees
So I can: Identify and resolve mismatches or missing items quickly
DrilldownsTraceability between surfaces
1

See payment health before the event

When: I’m preparing for upcoming events/dates
I want to: See per event/variant who paid in full, who’s on a plan, who’s overdue, and expected remaining cash
So I can: Plan operations with confidence and chase payments where needed
Payment healthReceivablesExpected vs collected
2

Align capacity to committed revenue

When: I manage capacity and resources
I want to: View bookings/sales by variant and date with payment status
So I can: Align staffing, inventory, and logistics to actual committed revenue
Sales by event/variantPayment modality
3

Chase the right balances

When: I follow up with customers on balances
I want to: Filter and export customers with outstanding or overdue balances by event/experience
So I can: Contact the right people without data wrangling
Receivables by variant/eventCustomer lists
1

Allocate spend to what works

When: I review campaign or channel performance
I want to: See sales and net revenue by product/variant, date, country, and payment modality
So I can: Allocate spend to the highest-ROI products and audiences
Sales analyticsBreakdowns by dimension
2

Optimise payment plans vs pay-in-full

When: I consider enabling or adjusting payment plans
I want to: Understand how plans vs pay-in-full affect conversion, refunds, and fees
So I can: Optimise for both conversion and margin
Payment modalities analyticsFee impact
3

Tune checkout and messaging

When: I want to understand customer payment preferences
I want to: See which card brands, countries, and methods succeed or fail
So I can: Optimise checkout experience and messaging
Payment methods analyticsFailure/decline patterns
1

Explain “how much did Easol charge me?”

When: I handle fee confusion tickets
I want to: Quickly see for a booking all fees, taxes, and net (creator vs customer perspective)
So I can: Explain charges accurately and reduce back-and-forth
Fee breakdown per bookingClear terminology
2

Resolve payout and statement questions

When: I troubleshoot payout or statement issues
I want to: View the same reconciled picture as the creator (sales, fees, net, payouts)
So I can: Resolve tickets fast and build trust
Shared reconciliation viewsSimple explanations
3

Investigate a specific booking or payment

When: I need deep detail on one case
I want to: Jump from customer, booking, or payment ID to all related financial info
So I can: Answer complex queries without CSV exports
Cross-linkingDrillthrough
1

Onboard a new creator with clarity

When: I onboard a new creator
I want to: Show a simple view of how they’ll see revenue, fees, and payouts
So I can: Reduce confusion upfront and set accurate expectations
Demo dashboardsSimple fee narratives
2

Advise on growth and configuration

When: I support a creator planning growth
I want to: Illustrate revenue, fees, and net across products and payment modalities
So I can: Advise on product mix and payment configuration
Comparative viewsScenario-ready exports
3

Run a structured business review

When: I prep for a review or health check
I want to: Pull a compact view of performance, fees, and payment health by experience
So I can: Have a structured, data-backed conversation
Themed dashboardsSales + financial + payment health
1

Prioritise by real jobs and pain

When: I design or iterate on reporting
I want to: Understand which jobs and pain points recur across creators and roles
So I can: Prioritise features that alleviate frequent, costly problems
JTBD cataloguePain frequencyRole mapping
2

Validate reporting UX by task

When: I validate a reporting experience
I want to: Test whether users can accomplish their reporting jobs without exports
So I can: Reduce spreadsheet reliance and support tickets
Task-based usabilitySaved views usage
3

Define metrics and data contracts

When: I define the analytics model
I want to: Standardise definitions of revenue, net, fees, taxes, payouts
So I can: Ensure consistency across dashboards, exports, and AI answers
Canonical semantic layerMetric dictionary
4

Prepare for AI / NLQ

When: I prepare for natural-language reporting
I want to: Map user questions to well-defined metrics, dimensions, and entities
So I can: Enable reliable answers and “explain this number”
AI-ready schemaQuestion → metric mapping

Emotional jobs

Inferred from reporting pain themes — edit to match research.

Trust & control

  • I trust the number — net means net; fees aren’t a black box.
  • I’m in control — I can slice the business how I think about it (experience, variant, time).

States to avoid

  • Anxiety that payouts don’t match what I see
  • Shame exporting messy CSVs for investors
  • Frustration choosing between 10 similar reports

Audit-ready calm

  • Defensible — every line traces to source
  • Efficient — close without heroic spreadsheet work

States to avoid

  • Dread when GL doesn’t tie
  • Embarrassment explaining gaps to auditors

Operational confidence

  • Prepared — know who still owes money before the date
  • Focused — chase the right guests, not everyone

States to avoid

  • Surprise shortfalls on the day
  • Guilt from manual list-building in Excel

Evidence-backed creativity

  • Smart spend — net after fees informs true ROI
  • Clear levers — modality and method visible

States to avoid

  • Arguing from gross when fees change the story
  • Blind spots on decline rates by country

Competent & fast

  • One source of truth with the creator
  • Confident replies without escalating to finance

States to avoid

  • Back-and-forth because numbers don’t match
  • Looking uninformed on fee structure

Credible partner

  • Trusted advisor — screens match creator reality
  • Smooth onboarding — no “we’ll get back to you on that number”

States to avoid

  • Apologising for confusing reporting
  • Losing credibility in QBRs

Clarity of mission

  • Aligned team — metrics mean one thing everywhere
  • Pride when task success improves

States to avoid

  • Shipping another flat report that overlaps three others
  • AI answers that contradict the UI

Social jobs

How they want to be seen — draft for stress-testing.

Cold start / revisit moment

Granola: new creators don’t know which report to use; veterans still export for pivots. Framed as the moment they open Insights.

Design implications

Derived from Granola pain/feature lists — tie to north star IA.

Statement-aligned tiles

Job: Trust payouts.

Surface: Total value, Easol fees, net — filter by payout cycle.

→ Match to statement lines in one drill path

Saved “my views”

Job: Stop re-pivoting in Excel.

Surface: Column sets + grouping + export this view.

→ Pin to home / Insights agent uses same definitions

Reconciliation object

Expected → collected (on/off platform) → outstanding/overdue → deductions → net → payout timing.

→ Drill to line items from any aggregate

Pre-event payment health

Variant + date filters on receivables; export respects view.

Payment analytics hub

Methods + modalities + fee impact + declines in one themed area.

Cross-links

Booking ↔ payments ↔ statement cohort — shared definitions with creator UI.

Default dashboards by theme

Sales, financial summary, payment health — with “use this for…” copy.

Semantic layer first

Single metric dictionary powering tables, tiles, exports, and NLQ.

→ Task-based success metrics in analytics

What should never be shown first

Noise vs signal (reporting-specific).

  • ✕ Alphabetical flat report list with no job or theme
  • ✕ Gross-only metrics when the job is what I earned after fees
  • ✕ Forcing export to answer a simple net or payout question
  • ✕ Aggregates with no path to line-level proof
  • ✕ Inconsistent fee column names vs statement
  • ✕ Bookings list without payment status context for the date I care about
  • ✕ Channel reports that ignore fee impact on net
  • ✕ A different definition of “net” than the creator app shows
  • ✕ Internal-only jargon on first screens for new creators
  • ✕ Another one-off report that overlaps an existing one without deprecation plan

Contextual variations

How emphasis shifts — edit with calendar and payout reality.

Month-end vs weekly pulse (finance & owner)

Month-end: Reconciliation, GL mapping, payout tie-out — errors are costly; drilldown and exports dominate.

Weekly: Directional net, modality trends, campaign performance — exploration and saved views beat static reports.

Pre-event window (ops)

As event date approaches, overdue and expected remaining cash outweigh long-range revenue charts.

After fee or pricing change (marketing & owner)

Need fee impact and modality mix before/after — agent-style narratives useful if grounded in semantic layer.