You don't have to clean anything up before we talk.
Most owners assume their numbers are too messy to be useful. They almost never are. Here's what actually happens to your data, and the short answer is: we handle it during setup.
Why data has to be standardized
An engine can only compare things it can recognize. If revenue is called "Sales" one month and "Total Income" the next, or one location logs a job type three different ways, the numbers can't be lined up, and a report built on top of that is worse than no report, because it looks authoritative while being wrong.
“You can't automate a mess.”
Standardizing means agreeing on one name, one format, and one definition for each number that matters. Do it once and every month after it is fast.
What actually happens to your numbers.
We look at what you already have
On the setup call we go through your accounting software, your point of sale, and any spreadsheets you keep. We're looking for which numbers exist and where they live, not judging how tidy they are.
We map it, not you
We work out which of your fields correspond to the KPIs your Path tracks, and write that mapping down. This is the part people expect to be painful. It isn't. It's a conversation, and we do the writing down.
We agree on one monthly export
You end up with a single, repeatable way to send your numbers each month, usually an export you already know how to run, or a simple sheet with fixed columns.
After that it's a habit, not a project
Once the mapping exists, sending your numbers takes a few minutes a month. The engine reads them the same way every time because the shape never changes.
What we'll look at
- Whatever your accounting software exports: QuickBooks, Xero, or similar
- Point-of-sale reports, if you run one
- Any spreadsheet you already keep by hand
- Payroll summaries, if labor cost matters on your Path
- Your CRM export, for the Sales Brief
What you don't need to fix first
- Inconsistent category names
- Numbers living in several places
- Gaps in older months
- Not knowing which numbers matter yet. That's the advisory part
If your data is genuinely tangled, that's what the Cleanup Path is for, and we'll tell you honestly if you need it.
Templates and export directions.
Downloadable templates and step-by-step export directions are being written and will be published on this page. Until then, your setup call covers all of it. There's nothing to prepare in advance.