FORMWEFTApplicable issues
For teams building marketing or operations dashboards across ads, website, CRM, orders, and finance sources.
FIELD GUIDE / METRICS
Marketing dashboards first need a metric contract, then connect the data.
Without unified definitions for time, currency, order, and refund, the same dashboard will create more disputes. First write clear calculation boundaries.
Six metric definitions
Every metric must trace back to source fields and a recalculable formula.
What to prepare
Source fields, data owner, timezone, currency and exchange rate, order status, discounts, taxes, refunds, costs, and refresh frequency.
Verification method
For each metric, keep its name, formula, dimensions, exclusions, source, delay, and example orders; manually recalculate with a fixed sample and compare with the dashboard.
Common misconceptions
Mixing tax-inclusive and tax-exclusive revenue; ignoring partial refunds and cancellations; joining tables by different time fields; continuing to show normal status with data from the last failed refresh.
Reference sources
Follow the order and refund field definitions, finance confirmation rules, ad export notes, and the data dictionary confirmed by the responsible person.
Last review
2026-09-03. When source fields, exchange rates, or business rules change, update the version and recalculate affected periods.
Dashboards also need operating rules
Metric correctness is only the starting point; you also need to know when data updates and who handles failures.
Version and effective time
Create a new version when definitions change and record the effective date; do not rewrite historical numbers without explanation.
Freshness and anomalies
Show the last successful data pull time, missing sources, and anomaly ranges; on failure, do not disguise old data as real-time.
Responsibility and review
Assign responsible persons for business definitions, data connections, and business interpretation, and perform periodic sample recalculations on a fixed schedule.
Start with the most disputed metric
Explain the dashboard source, update frequency, and the numbers the team currently cannot align on.