# Reporting & dashboards — North Star (2027+)

**Prototype vision:** Easol Insights — **money clarity first**, then **flexible task-based views**, **discoverable IA**, **traceable drill-downs**, **payment behaviour insight**, all on an **AI-ready semantic layer** — with **proactive AI** where it shines and **always-on manual + transparency** for cautious users.

**Entry:** [index.html](index.html) (open locally in a browser).

**JTBD framework (Granola → structured jobs):** [../jtbd-frameworks/jtbd-framework-reporting.html](../jtbd-frameworks/jtbd-framework-reporting.html) · [Index of all JTBD frameworks](../jtbd-frameworks/index.html)

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## Why this exists

| Source | Location |
|--------|----------|
| Current product context | [references/reports-dashboards-current-state.md](references/reports-dashboards-current-state.md) |
| JTBD by role (Granola) | `../reporting/reportinggranolaresearch.pdf` |
| **Priority themes & pain (Granola, revised)** | [`references/reportinggranola-insights.pdf`](references/reportinggranola-insights.pdf) |
| PM improvements | `../reporting/reportingimprovements.pdf` |
| Current UI baseline | Screenshots in `../reporting/` |

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## Granola priority themes → built into this prototype

| Theme | What creators need | In the prototype |
|-------|-------------------|------------------|
| **1. Money clarity & trust** | True net after fees; statement ↔ in-app; reconciliation; metric + fee taxonomy | Brief card (payout alignment), reconciliation panel, **Net revenue** dictionary, fee rows |
| **2. Flexible, task-based reporting** | Saved views; group/break down by variant, event, date, country, modality… | **Explore** pivot (metric × dimensions); “Views by job” = saveable slices |
| **3. IA & discoverability** | Themed groups; pins; defaults; “use this for…” | Sidebar **themed library** (Sales, Payments, Financial summaries, Ops, Support, Pipeline) + guidance copy |
| **4. Drill-down & traceability** | Tiles → report → booking → statement | **Trace ladder** + **Drill to orders** drawer |
| **5. Payment behaviour & fees** | Modalities, methods, domestic/intl, premium, margin impact | **Payment analytics** strip + pivot “then by” modality/method |
| **6. AI-ready semantic layer** | Same definitions in UI, exports, AI; explainability | Dictionary drawer; Ask shows **reasoning steps** before answer |

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## Working backwards from the north star

Use this to slice delivery: each row is the **end state**; bullets are **earlier shippable layers**.

| North star capability | Work backwards (example sequencing) |
|----------------------|-------------------------------------|
| **Trusted net & reconciliation** | Fee taxonomy in one place → statement-aligned tiles & filters → full reconciliation object → drill to line items |
| **One flexible exploration flow** | Column hide/reorder + export → saved views → pivot explorer → NLQ on same semantic layer |
| **Discoverable IA** | Pin favourites → themed report groups → default dashboards per job → “use this for” on every entry point |
| **Full traceability** | Deep links booking ↔ report → ladder UI (tile → table → booking → statement) → discrepancy helpers |
| **Payment insights hub** | New payment-method / modality reports → central “Payments” theme → agent surfaces anomalies |
| **AI on top** | Metric dictionary API → Ask with citations → proactive agent briefings → optional “tables only” mode |

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## Where AI agents do the heavy lifting — vs transparency fallback

| Job | **Agent-first (proactive / fast path)** | **Fallback (cautious / audit)** |
|-----|----------------------------------------|----------------------------------|
| **Fee / payout questions** | “Fees spiked because…” with drivers + period | Same answer as **expandable steps** + link to **Transactions** + **metric definitions** |
| **Reconciliation** | “Payout matches in-app within £X” + flag outliers | **Trace ladder** + **Drill to orders** + CSV with same column defs |
| **Exploration** | Natural language → pre-built pivot + narrative | **Manual Explore** dropdowns + saved views (no chat) |
| **Payment mix** | “Plans grew on X; net still up after fees” | **Payment analytics** tables + modality breakdown |
| **Investigation** | “Here are the 6 bookings driving overdue” | Filtered report URL + sortable table + booking IDs |
| **Discovery** | “For month close, start here” based on role | **Themed library** + pinned reports + static “use this for” |

**Principle:** Agent **surfaces** and **narrates**; semantic layer **grounds** every number; **manual paths stay one click away** (toggle in prototype: *Prefer tables & definitions only*).

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## Design principles (spectrum) → product moves

| Principle | How this prototype expresses it |
|-----------|----------------------------------|
| **Jobs, not features** | Job chips + themed IA + views by job — not a flat report list. |
| **Alive & show working** | Ask streams steps; agent can be muted in favour of explicit tables/defs. |
| **Progressive intelligence** | Brief → explore → drill; complexity on demand. |
| **Visual calm, purposeful density** | Dense recon + tables where needed; calm elsewhere. |

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## Files

| File | Role |
|------|------|
| `index.html` | Shell: agent strip, IA, trace ladder, payment analytics, recon, explore |
| `north-star.css` | Layout + agent / trace / payment strip styles |
| `north-star.js` | Pivot, Ask, drill drawer, **manual-mode toggle** for agent strip |

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## Next steps (product/engineering)

1. **Semantic layer + fee taxonomy** (blocks trust + AI).
2. **Statement-aligned transactions** + payout-cycle filter.
3. **Themed IA + pins + default dashboards** per job.
4. **Reconciliation + drill** data model.
5. **Payment analytics** central surface.
6. **Agent** on validated metrics only; **always** expose definition + table path.