Customer Cycles Report

Overview

The Customer Cycles Report is a specialized performance analytics tool within the Customer portal that provides clients with detailed visibility into how their creative projects move through production phases. Unlike simple project lists that show current status, this report measures the actual time spent in each workflow stage—from initial design work through client approval and final delivery—enabling clients to understand delivery timelines, track alterations, and analyze spend patterns across their project portfolio.

The report presents data organized by invoice group (division) and drills down to individual projects and artworks. For each project, clients can see how long each phase took, identify patterns in revision cycles, and understand the cost impact of alterations. The cycle time measurements use business hours, excluding weekends, holidays, and non-working hours, providing realistic metrics that reflect actual working time rather than calendar time.

This transparency serves clients who need to plan their own internal processes around creative services timelines, justify budgets based on project complexity, and identify opportunities to streamline their review and approval processes.

Location: Navigate to Cycles from the Customer portal main navigation menu. This option appears only for customers who have been granted access to the Cycles Report feature.

URL: /Customer/Cycles/Default.aspx

Access Level: Customer users with specific Cycles Report permission enabled on their account. The permission is set by agency administrators when configuring customer access.

Business Value

Why Does This Matter to Client Organizations?

The Customer Cycles Report transforms project delivery from a subjective experience into measurable data, enabling informed decision-making at multiple organizational levels.

For Procurement and Budget Planning

• Spend Visibility: See actual costs by project complexity, enabling accurate budget forecasting for upcoming product launches or packaging initiatives
• Alteration Cost Tracking: Distinguish between original work and alterations, with clear identification of which alterations incurred additional charges
• Division Comparison: Compare performance and costs across different business units or product lines within your organization

For Marketing and Brand Management

• Timeline Predictability: Historical cycle time data helps set realistic expectations for new projects
• Process Efficiency: Identify which phases of the workflow consistently take longer, informing decisions about internal review processes
• Portfolio Overview: See all projects across divisions in one comprehensive view

For Project Coordinators

• Detailed Project History: Drill into individual projects to understand the complete journey from request to delivery
• Notes and Communication History: Review client notes and status history to understand project context
• Artwork-Level Detail: See timing for each individual artwork, including how alterations affected overall timelines

For Executive Leadership

• Data-Driven Vendor Assessment: Objective metrics for evaluating creative services partnership performance
• Operational Insight: Understand where time is spent in the creative services workflow
• Cost Efficiency Analysis: Compare alteration rates and costs across different project types

Business Benefits

1. Demonstrates Value and Transparency - The report provides objective data about what you're paying for and how efficiently work progresses. This transparency builds trust in the client-agency relationship and supports informed discussions about scope, pricing, and process improvements.
2. Enables Informed Budget Planning - By showing average costs and cycle times by complexity level, the report helps procurement teams forecast spending for upcoming initiatives. Understanding that complex artwork typically requires more time and budget prevents surprises during product launch cycles.
3. Identifies Opportunities for Client-Side Improvement - The client approval phase timing reveals how long work waits for internal client review. If approval cycles consistently exceed design cycles, this suggests opportunities to streamline internal review processes.
4. Supports Accountability for Alteration Decisions - By distinguishing charged vs. non-charged alterations, the report helps clients understand the cost impact of revision requests. This visibility encourages more thoughtful change requests and supports internal discussions about revision policies.
5. Provides Portfolio-Level Performance Insight - Rather than managing projects individually, clients can see patterns across their entire project portfolio. This aggregate view reveals whether certain divisions, product lines, or project types consistently experience longer cycles or higher costs.
6. Facilitates Vendor Performance Reviews - Objective cycle time metrics support quarterly business reviews and vendor scorecards. Historical data demonstrates trends over time, supporting both recognition of improvements and identification of issues requiring attention.
7. Improves Internal Planning Accuracy - Marketing teams can use historical cycle times to plan backwards from launch dates, ensuring adequate lead time for creative services. Understanding typical timelines for design, proofing, and approval enables more realistic project scheduling.
8. Reduces Information Requests - Self-service access to detailed project and cost information reduces the volume of status inquiries and cost breakdown requests that would otherwise require agency staff attention.

Usage Scenarios

Scenario 1: Quarterly Budget Review

Role: Procurement Manager

A procurement manager needs to review creative services spending for the past quarter and prepare forecasts for upcoming product launches. They navigate to the Cycles report, set the date range to the previous three months, and review the summary data. The report shows:

• 45 original artworks completed across three invoice groups
• Average costs ranging from $X to $Y depending on packaging complexity
• 12 alterations, of which 8 were charged

Using this data, they can estimate budget requirements for the upcoming quarter based on planned project volume and complexity mix.

Scenario 2: Investigating a Delayed Project

Role: Brand Manager

A brand manager notices that a packaging redesign took significantly longer than expected. They open the Cycles report, locate the project, and click to expand the project details. The cycle breakdown reveals:

• Design phase: 2 days (typical)
• PM Review: 1 day (typical)
• Client Approval: 8 days (extended)
• Multiple alteration cycles following initial approval

The data shows that the extended timeline resulted primarily from internal client review time and multiple revision requests, not production delays. This insight informs conversations with internal stakeholders about approval process efficiency.

Scenario 3: Comparing Division Performance

Role: Marketing Director

A marketing director oversees creative needs for multiple product divisions and wants to understand if different teams have different working patterns with the agency. They run the Cycles report and compare metrics across invoice groups:

• Division A: Average total cycle 12 days, 0.3 alterations per original
• Division B: Average total cycle 18 days, 1.2 alterations per original
• Division C: Average total cycle 10 days, 0.2 alterations per original

The data suggests Division B may benefit from clearer initial briefs or more decisive approval processes. The director schedules a meeting with Division B's marketing team to discuss.

Scenario 4: Understanding Alteration Costs

Role: Finance Analyst

A finance analyst is preparing a cost analysis of creative services expenses and needs to understand the alteration component. They export data from the Cycles report showing:

• Total original artwork count
• Charged alterations (with costs)
• Non-charged alterations (covered under project scope)

This breakdown helps categorize expenses between planned project costs and additional revision charges, supporting more granular budget tracking.

Scenario 5: Setting Expectations for New Initiative

Role: Product Manager

A product manager is planning a major product line extension requiring 30 new artwork designs. They need to set timeline expectations with manufacturing partners. They review historical Cycles data for similar projects:

• Typical design phase: 2-3 business days
• Typical PM review: 0.5-1 business day
• Typical client approval: 3-5 business days
• Typical finalization: 1-2 business days

Based on this data, they plan for approximately 8-12 business days per artwork through the approval process, plus buffer for potential alterations. This informs realistic commitments to downstream partners.

Scenario 6: Year-End Performance Review

Role: Category Manager

During annual vendor performance reviews, a category manager needs to assess creative services delivery metrics. They generate Cycles reports spanning the past year and compile:

• Total projects and artworks delivered
• Average cycle times by quarter (looking for trends)
• Alteration rates and associated costs
• Division-by-division performance comparison

This data becomes part of the vendor scorecard presentation, supporting objective evaluation of the creative services partnership.

Scenario 7: Drilling Into Artwork-Level Details

Role: Packaging Coordinator

A packaging coordinator needs to understand why a specific project had unusually high costs. They navigate to the project in the Cycles report and expand to see individual artwork entries. They discover:

• Original artwork completed efficiently
• Two alterations requested after initial approval
• Both alterations were charged due to scope changes

The detailed view shows the artwork descriptions, packaging levels, and timestamps for each piece, helping the coordinator explain the cost breakdown to internal stakeholders.

Industry Context

What is Cycle Time in Creative Services?

Cycle time—the duration from work initiation to completion—is a fundamental operational metric in manufacturing, professional services, and creative industries. For packaging design and creative services, cycle time measurement serves several purposes:

Capacity Planning

Understanding typical cycle times enables accurate project scheduling. If design typically requires 2 days and approval cycles average 4 days, project managers can plan appropriately for launch timelines.

Process Improvement

By measuring time spent in each workflow phase, organizations identify bottlenecks. Extended approval phases suggest client-side process improvements; extended design phases may indicate complexity or resource constraints.

Client Expectation Management

Data-backed delivery estimates build client confidence. Rather than promising "as soon as possible," specific timeline ranges based on historical data set realistic expectations.

Cost Correlation

Longer cycles typically correlate with higher costs due to increased touch points, revision cycles, and coordination overhead. Understanding this relationship supports pricing discussions and scope management.

How Organizations Use This Data

Consumer Packaged Goods Companies

CPG companies managing hundreds of SKUs across multiple product lines use cycle time data to:

• Plan packaging redesigns around product launch calendars
• Budget for creative services based on project complexity
• Identify process inefficiencies across different brand teams
• Support vendor management and selection decisions

Marketing Organizations

Marketing teams responsible for brand consistency use cycle time data to:

• Schedule creative work alongside advertising campaigns
• Allocate internal review resources appropriately
• Understand the full cost of brand refresh initiatives
• Justify resource requests for design approval acceleration

Procurement and Finance Teams

Financial stakeholders use cycle time and cost data to:

• Forecast creative services budgets by quarter and year
• Analyze spend by business unit and project type
• Identify cost drivers (alterations, complexity, volume)
• Support vendor negotiations with performance data

Industry Best Practices

Business Hour Measurement

Professional cycle time reporting uses business hours rather than calendar time. A project that sits over a weekend doesn't accumulate waiting time—only active working periods count. The Cycles Report implements this standard, measuring time within 8 AM - 5 PM business hours, excluding lunch periods, weekends, and holidays.

Phase Decomposition

Rather than measuring only total cycle time, best-practice reporting breaks down the workflow into distinct phases. This enables root cause analysis—understanding whether delays stem from design work, internal review, client approval, or finalization activities.

Alteration Tracking

Distinguishing between original work and alterations is essential for cost management. Alterations resulting from client change requests represent different budget categories than original project scope. Clear tracking supports both accurate cost allocation and process improvement.

Multi-Level Hierarchy

Enterprise clients organize projects by division, brand, or product line. Effective reporting allows analysis at multiple levels—from individual artworks through projects to organizational divisions—enabling both tactical investigation and strategic portfolio analysis.

Business Logic Details

Cycle Time Phases

The report tracks six distinct workflow phases, each measuring time between specific status transitions:

Design Phase (Status 2 → 3)

• Begins: When artwork enters "In Process" status (design work starts)
• Ends: When artwork reaches "Complete" status (design finished)
• Measures: Time for creative team to complete initial design work

Client Alteration Phase (Status 2.6 → 3)

• Begins: When an alteration request is submitted
• Ends: When the alteration work is completed
• Measures: Time to process client-requested changes after initial delivery

PM Review Phase (Status 3 → 3.5)

• Begins: When design is complete
• Ends: When work is sent to client for approval
• Measures: Internal quality review and preparation time

Client Approval Phase (Status 3.5 → 2.6/4)

• Begins: When artwork is sent to client for approval
• Ends: When client either requests alterations (2.6) or approves (4)
• Measures: Time waiting for client review and decision

Finalization Phase (Status 4 → 4.5)

• Begins: When client approves artwork
• Ends: When final files are attached and delivered
• Measures: Time for final production file preparation

Total Cycle (Status 2 → 4.5)

• Measures: Complete end-to-end duration from design start to final delivery
• Provides: Overall project duration perspective

Time Calculation Method

All cycle times are calculated in business minutes, converted to display as days, hours, and minutes:

• Business hours: 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM
• Lunch exclusion: 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM
• Weekend exclusion: Saturdays and Sundays
• Holiday exclusion: Major U.S. holidays (New Year's Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas)

Example: An artwork that transitions from design to complete spanning a weekend shows only the actual working hours, not 48+ additional hours of weekend time.

Data Organization

Division Level

• Groups projects by invoice group (client's organizational unit)
• Shows aggregate metrics: original artwork count, average cost, total alterations
• Provides rolled-up cycle time averages across all division projects

Project Level

• Individual projects with names and reference numbers
• Project-level metrics: artwork count, total spend, alteration counts
• Cycle times for each phase (may show multiple values if phases repeated)
• Current project status and most recent status timestamp

Artwork Level

• Individual artwork entries within projects
• Packaging level and complexity indicators
• Original vs. alteration designation
• Charged vs. non-charged alteration status
• Individual artwork timing for each cycle phase

Customer Access Control

The Cycles Report is not available to all customer users:

1. Customer account must have "Can View Cycles Report" permission enabled
2. Permission is set by agency administrators in user management
3. Users without permission do not see the Cycles menu option
4. Permission may be granted based on client role, contract terms, or relationship tier

Invoice Group Association

Data visibility is controlled by invoice group membership:

• Customers see only projects associated with their assigned invoice groups
• Projects inherit invoice group from client assignment
• Multi-division clients see data organized by their divisions
• Report cannot access projects outside the customer's organizational scope

Key Features

Date Range Selection

Default values: Current month (first day of month to today).

Division Summary Table

Project Detail View

Expanding a division reveals individual projects:

Artwork Detail View

Expanding a project reveals individual artworks:

Project List Details

Clicking project ID expands to show:

Time Display Format

Cycle times display as combined days, hours, and minutes:

• Days (d): Based on 8-hour work days
• Hours (h): Remaining hours after days
• Minutes (m): Remaining minutes

Example: "3d 2h 15m" means 3 business days + 2 hours + 15 minutes

Functional Components

Report Generation

When "Build" is clicked:

1. Date range parameters are captured
2. Request sent to server with customer identity and date range
3. Projects filtered by customer's invoice group membership
4. Cycle calculations performed for each project and artwork
5. Results aggregated at division, project, and artwork levels
6. Report data returned and displayed in hierarchical table

Expandable Hierarchy

The report uses a three-level expandable structure:

Level 1: Division Summary

• Shows aggregate metrics for each invoice group
• Click project rows to expand project details

Level 2: Project Details

• Shows individual project metrics
• Click project ID for project list details (notes, artwork specs)
• Click project name to expand artwork details

Level 3: Artwork Details

• Shows individual artwork entries
• Displays timing for each piece including alterations

Navigation Integration

Project List Details Popup

• Displays client notes history with timestamps
• Shows status changes with associated notes
• Lists artwork specifications in tabular format

Artwork Details Popup

• Shows complete artwork specifications
• Includes part number, packaging level, structure information

Data Display

Currency Formatting

• Dollar amounts formatted with currency symbol and decimals
• Average costs calculated per original artwork

Time Formatting

• Minutes converted to days/hours/minutes display
• Empty/zero times display as blank
• NaN values (no data for phase) display as blank

Alteration Indicators

• Check marks in NB alt column for non-charged alterations
• Check marks in Billed alt column for charged alterations
• Aggregated counts at project and division levels

Relationship to Other System Components

Customer Project List

The Cycles Report complements the Projects list:

Customer Approvals Portal

Approval phase timing in the Cycles Report reflects customer approval portal activity:

• Time spent waiting for approval includes time in the approval workflow
• Approval completion triggers transition to next phase
• Approval rejections requiring alterations appear as alteration cycles

Staff Cycle Time Report

The Customer Cycles Report provides client-facing data; staff have a separate Cycle Time Report:

Time Tracking System

Cost data in the Cycles Report originates from the time tracking system:

• Designer hours logged against artworks determine costs
• Per-piece time tracking provides artwork-level cost breakdown
• Time entries aggregated at project and division levels

Alteration Management

Alteration tracking in the report reflects the alteration workflow:

• Alterations linked to original artworks
• Charge status determined by alteration type and contract terms
• Alteration cycles visible in phase timing data

Summary

The Customer Cycles Report is a strategic analytics tool that provides client organizations with comprehensive visibility into creative services performance, costs, and delivery timelines. By presenting data organized by organizational unit and drilling down to individual artworks, the report enables multiple levels of analysis—from portfolio-level budgeting to specific project investigation.

Key Capabilities:

• Cycle Time Measurement: Business-hour-based timing for six distinct workflow phases
• Cost Analysis: Average costs per artwork with alteration breakdowns
• Hierarchical Organization: Division, project, and artwork level detail
• Alteration Tracking: Clear distinction between original work and revisions (charged vs. non-charged)
• Historical Analysis: Date range selection for trend analysis over time
• Detailed Drill-Down: Expand to see notes, status history, and artwork specifications

Business Impact:

• Enables data-driven budget planning based on historical project complexity and costs
• Supports process improvement by identifying where time is spent in the workflow
• Provides transparency that builds trust in the client-agency relationship
• Facilitates vendor performance reviews with objective delivery metrics
• Helps clients understand the cost impact of revision requests
• Reduces information requests through self-service analytics access

Who Benefits:

• Procurement Teams: Budget forecasting and spend analysis by business unit
• Marketing Teams: Timeline planning and vendor performance assessment
• Brand Managers: Project portfolio visibility and process efficiency insight
• Finance Teams: Cost categorization and alteration expense tracking
• Project Coordinators: Detailed project investigation and historical context

The Customer Cycles Report transforms project delivery data into actionable intelligence, enabling client organizations to manage creative services relationships with the same rigor applied to other business-critical vendor partnerships. For organizations committed to operational excellence and cost management, this visibility is essential for informed decision-making and continuous improvement.