Best Practice Library: Reporting Periods and Update Cadence

The Envisio Updates Process

Once your plan has been input to Envisio, it’s time to bring it to life - this is where your end users and action owners come into the system and start inputting their updates to showcase all the hard work they’ve been doing to move the plan forward. 

What are reporting dates?

Envisio reporting dates determine the deadline for when you want all staff members to enter their progress updates for items they’re accountable for. Think of this as a period during which your staff are working on their plan items and the cadence on which they’ll share their progress via narrative updates.

Configuring reporting dates in Envisio allows you to set due dates and trigger automated notifications for users to provide an update and share the work they’ve done within that reporting period.

What should our update cadence look like?

Each organization will have different reporting needs that dictate the update cadence that will be required in the system. Some important considerations to keep in mind: 

• Your update cadence should be frequent enough that users can easily recall what they’ve worked on during the period and be comfortable entering their updates, but not so frequent that it becomes burdensome and overwhelming. While Envisio is very easy to use, you don’t want people feeling frustrated trying to re-learn how to log in and input their updates or experiencing update fatigue if they have to come into the system too frequently.
• What cadence do your stakeholders expect to be updated on? We typically recommend monthly or quarterly updates to show regular, ongoing progress. This makes it easy for invested parties to see the progress you’re making.
• Are there key dates your organization works around on a regular basis? Consider your fiscal year, major recurring events like budget season, or even a pre-defined reporting requirement for your elected officials!

How will users know to input updates?

Configuring your reporting periods in Envisio also sets up automated email notifications to plan owners and contributors to let them know an update is coming due. As part of configuring the reporting dates, you’ll also define how far in advance of the due dates the reminder notifications should be sent. Note that Envisio will only send one notification, so it’s important your staff take note - and action - when they receive the notice. For those organizations using Microsoft Teams, we can also have your plan element owners notified there! The update process from the notification is simple - just a click of a link will take your users to the Envisio Engagement Center where they can see everything they own or contribute to that’s waiting for an update!