When a reporting engagement should stop
Signs that the pack is ready for handoff—and when extending the work would only add unused charts.
An engagement earns its ending when three conditions hold: the flow definitions are stable for two reporting cycles, the people who read the pack can explain the exceptions without calling the analyst first, and the refresh guide has been used successfully at least once by someone on your team.
Keep going if definitions still change every week, if reports contradict the floor’s experience, or if ownership of key events is still disputed. Those are delivery problems, not reasons to add more visuals. Extending for “just one more dashboard view” often means the audience never agreed what decision the report supports.
Handoff is not abandonment. A cadence retainer can continue production after the mapping work ends. The distinction matters: mapping and definition work should finish; production can remain as long as it stays useful. If nobody opens the pack for a month, stop producing it—do not automate neglect.