This process uses the data dictionary, the flat file, and the annual report template.
What you’ll end up with
- Correct full-year totals: raw numbers summed from the year’s four quarters, every ratio recalculated from those totals.
- A full-year review, filed in the annual report archive, covering performance against plan, seasonality, channel evolution, what was learned, and next year’s plan.
Before you start
- All four quarters of the year have been produced through the quarterly reporting process.
- Next year’s planning cycle hasn’t started yet. This review is meant to inform that plan, not follow it.
The process at a glance
1
Roll up the year
Sum the raw flat file inputs across the year’s four quarters, then recalculate every ratio.
2
Build the seasonality index
Index each month against the annual average for revenue, spend, and efficiency separately.
3
Pull channel evolution and lessons learned
Compare channel spend and efficiency year over year, and gather what was learned with evidence behind each lesson.
4
Write the review
Fill in the annual report template.
5
Deliver before planning starts
Send the review in time for it to actually inform next year’s plan.
6
File it
Log the report in the annual report archive.
1. Roll up the year
Sum the raw inputs across the year’s four quarterly totals, then recalculate every ratio from the full-year totals. The same rule holds at every level of this framework: sum the inputs, recalculate the ratios, never average the ratios from the level below. See data quality and rollup concepts for why this is the only version that produces a correct number.2. Build the seasonality index
Index each month’s revenue, spend, and efficiency separately against the annual average, where 100 represents the average month. Calculating efficiency as its own index, rather than assuming it tracks revenue, is what usually surfaces the review’s most useful finding: the highest-revenue month is often not the most efficient one, since peak-demand periods draw the most competing bids for the same inventory. This single table frequently justifies a budget reallocation worth more than the rest of the review combined.3. Pull channel evolution and lessons learned
Compare each channel’s spend and efficiency this year against last year to see where budget shifted and whether that shift paid off. For lessons learned, require evidence behind every entry: a lesson backed by a specific number from a specific set of tests is something next year’s plan can act on; an unsupported impression is just an opinion with a bullet point in front of it.4. Write the review
Fill in the annual report template. Cover the full year against plan, the quarterly shape, seasonality, channel evolution, what was learned, the testing program’s overall record, including tests that failed or came back inconclusive, and next year’s priorities, targets, and budget phasing.5. Deliver before planning starts
Send the review before next year’s planning begins, not after. A review delivered after the plan is already set can only critique a decision that’s already made; delivered before, it can actually shape the plan, particularly the seasonality index’s implications for how budget gets phased across months.6. File it
Log the report in the annual report archive, including the headline result and the plan it set in motion.Related resources
- Data quality and rollup concepts The rollup mechanics this process depends on.
- Quarterly reporting process The process that produces the quarters this report rolls up.
- Annual report template The fill-in template this process produces.
- Annual report archive Where the finished report gets filed.
- Data dictionary Reviewed and, if needed, updated as part of the quarterly cycle this year fed into.