{"id":"exec-board-kpi-table-points-vs-percent","audience":"executives","category":"leadership-work","track":"leadership","level":"intermediate","technique":"verification","title":"Build a board KPI table with correct changes and a concern line","free":false,"task":"Build a table for the board with the header Metric | Q3 | Last year | Change | Better or Worse and one row per metric. Show the change as a percent for dollars and counts (rounded to a whole number), and as points (pts) for metrics that are already percentages. Churn is better when lower. After the table write one line: Biggest concern: followed by the metric marked Worse with the largest move in points. Plain text, under 110 words.","materialLabel":"Quarter numbers (attached to your prompt automatically)","material":"Q3 close, final numbers from Finance (prepared Oct 22)\n\nRevenue: $4.2M this quarter, $3.5M in Q3 last year.\nCustomers: 910 now, 700 a year ago.\nGross margin: 61 percent now, 64 percent a year ago.\nMonthly churn: 3.0 percent now, 2.5 percent a year ago.\n\nEarlier flash numbers sent Oct 3 showed revenue of $4.4M and customers of 930. These were estimates before the final close.\nHeadcount is 63 (50 a year ago); not for the board table.\nThe CEO may mention the new Austin office in her remarks; it is not a KPI.","rules":[{"type":"maxWords","max":110},{"type":"plainText"}],"mistakes":[{"title":"Using flash numbers","why":"The AI picks up the earlier $4.4M estimate.","fix":"Say: \"Use the final Finance numbers only.\"","checks":["r1"]},{"title":"Percent of a percent","why":"The AI writes gross margin down 4.7 percent.","fix":"Say: \"For metrics already in percent, show the change in points (pts).\"","checks":["r1"]},{"title":"Churn judged backwards","why":"The AI marks rising churn as Better.","fix":"Say: \"Churn is better when lower.\"","checks":["r2"]},{"title":"Wrong table or extras","why":"The AI adds headcount and Austin.","fix":"Say: \"Four rows with this exact header; leave out headcount and the office.\"","checks":["r0"]},{"title":"Markdown","why":"The AI bolds the table header.","fix":"Say: \"Plain text, no bold.\"","checks":["plainText"]},{"title":"Trusting the AI to count words","why":"AI is bad at counting. Ask for a total word limit and it often lands over it.","fix":"Cap each part instead, for example: \"each line under 15 words.\"","checks":["maxWords"]}],"promptHints":[{"label":"Gives the header","patterns":["metric \\|","better or worse"]},{"label":"Says points for percentages","patterns":["pts","points"]},{"label":"Says churn lower is better","patterns":["churn","lower"]},{"label":"Says final numbers only","patterns":["final","not the flash","flash"]},{"label":"Gives the concern line","patterns":["biggest concern"]}],"hint":"Spell out the table header, how to show each kind of change, and how to pick the concern line.","rubricLabels":["Has the header Metric | Q3 | Last year | Change | Better or Worse and exactly four rows for Revenue, Customers, Gross margin and churn","Revenue is +20 percent and Customers +30 percent from the final numbers (not the flash figures), Gross margin is -3 pts and churn is +0.5 pts","Gross margin and churn are marked Worse, Revenue and Customers Better, and the last line is exactly \"Biggest concern: Gross margin\""]}