Analytics Request Guide
The Analytics Request Guide helps employees turn a business decision into a scoped, answerable question for analysis. Use its preparation steps and worked example to clarify the audience, timeframe, measures, and handoff.
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Rolled out to every employee at AutoZone (125,000), PetSmart (50,000+), A.S. Watson and Raley's (20,000) — and at larger retailers we are not permitted to name.
Built for: Retail and merchandising · Financial services · Healthcare operations · Technology and SaaS
Overview
The Analytics Request Guide is a single intranet page for employees who need to explain what an analysis should help decide. It opens with three useful starting points—support a decision, understand a trend, or clarify a data definition—then gives four prompts for shaping the question: state the decision and audience, define the population and timeframe, note known data and definitions, and describe delivery expectations.
A fictional Northstar Services example contrasts a vague request to analyze sales with a more answerable question about whether to continue a spring travel-accessory pilot. It demonstrates how a named decision, comparison periods, product scope, and intended audience help an analyst assess the request, without claiming the data is available or predicting a result. The page also defines population, timeframe, and measure in plain language and identifies analytics intake, data definition, and data access owner roles as possible handoff supports.
Use this page before submitting a new analysis request, particularly when a decision has a meeting date or when teams may interpret a measure differently. Configure the organization-authorized form and verify the support routes before publishing; the template itself does not provide a live submission workflow. It is not a report, dashboard, data-access approval, or substitute for a formal privacy or data governance policy. For routine requests, keep one authoritative intake route and use this page to improve the quality of the question sent there.
Standards & compliance context
- Follow the organization-authorized form's instructions for sensitive information; this guide does not establish data permissions or replace internal data-handling policy.
- Do not interpret a request as approval to access data; route access questions through the organization's appropriate process, as the page's data access owner role indicates.
- Use clear headings and meaningful image alternative text, and check keyboard navigation, contrast, and form accessibility against WCAG 2.1 AA for an employee-facing page.
- Keep the fictional Northstar scenario visibly illustrative and do not present its business context, measures, or outcomes as verified organizational facts.
General regulatory context for orientation only — verify current requirements with counsel or the relevant agency before relying on this template for compliance.
What's inside this template
Prepare an answerable analytics request
Orient employees around connecting an analysis question to a real decision before they start drafting.
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At fictional Northstar Services, employees use this guide to connect an analysis question to a decision. Start with what someone needs to decide, then make the scope and intended use clear.
Choose a useful starting point
Help requesters recognize whether their need is a decision, trend, or definition question.
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These are ways to shape your question, not separate request destinations. Support a decision Name the decision, who will make it, and when the answer is needed. Example: decide whether to extend a pilot to another region. Understand a trend Specify the measure, the group being observed, and the period to compare. Example: compare weekly order volume before and after a launch. Clarify data or definitions Identify the term or measure that is unclear and how you expect to use it. Example: ask which events count as a completed onboarding.
Prepare the question
Turn the initial idea into a brief with the scope, known data, and delivery context an analyst can assess.
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A short brief helps the analyst check scope and feasibility before selecting an approach. State the decision and audience Write the decision the analysis should inform and name the role or group that will use the answer. Define the population and timeframe Say which customers, products, locations, or processes are in scope and give start and end dates or a clear comparison period. Note known data and definitions List familiar reports, systems, or measures if known. Flag terms that may have more than one definition; do not assume access or availability. Describe delivery expectations Explain how the answer will be used, the format that would help, and the date or meeting that makes the timing relevant.
Worked example: from broad request to decision question
Show how specific scope and comparison periods make a vague sales request more assessable without assuming a result.
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Fictional Northstar Services example; business context is illustrative. Too broad: “Analyze sales.” It does not identify the decision, the product group, the period, or what comparison would be useful. More answerable: “For the quarterly assortment review, should Northstar keep the spring travel-accessory pilot in the West region? Compare weekly unit sales for the pilot product group across the 12 weeks before launch and the 12 weeks after launch, and show the same periods for the existing travel-accessory range as context. The merchandising lead will use the result to prepare the next review.” Why this is clearer: It names a decision and its audience, defines the population and time windows, and gives a comparison that can help distinguish a pilot pattern from the wider category. An analyst can then check which measures are available, whether the definitions match, and what caveats should accompany the result. No result or data availability is assumed. Helpful terms: “Population” means the records or entities included in the question. “Timeframe” means the dates or periods being examined. “Measure” means the value being counted or calculated, such as units sold; agree its definition before comparing results.
Send your request
Direct employees to the organization-authorized intake form and its guidance for sensitive information.
Who can help with the handoff
Identify the role-based routes for clarifying intake, measure definitions, and data access.
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Explains request routing and helps clarify the question before it is assessed Analytics intake owner Data and Technology Helps identify the meaning and scope of a measure when its definition is unclear Data definition owner Directs access questions to the appropriate organizational process Data access owner
How to use this template
- Replace the fictional Northstar example and confirm the organization's approved analytics request form and support roles before publishing the page.
- As the requester, write the decision to inform and identify the role or group that will use the answer.
- Define the relevant customers, products, locations, or processes and specify start and end dates or comparison periods.
- List known reports, systems, and measures, and flag terms whose definitions or data availability need confirmation.
- State how the result will be used, what format would help, and the date or meeting that makes delivery timing relevant, then submit through the authorized form.
- After handoff, use the intake and data definition owner routes to clarify routing or terms, and revise the request if the analyst identifies scope or feasibility caveats.
Best practices
- Write the decision before naming a chart or report so the analyst can assess what the answer needs to support.
- Specify the population and exact comparison periods instead of relying on phrases such as “recent sales” or “the pilot.”
- Name the intended audience by role or group and explain how that audience will use the answer.
- List known reports and systems as clues, not proof that the data is accessible or suitable for the analysis.
- Flag ambiguous measures and ask for their definition before comparing results across periods or groups.
- Give a relevant decision date or meeting rather than requesting an unexplained urgent turnaround.
- Keep the worked example clearly marked as fictional and replace it with a realistic, non-sensitive example employees will recognize.
- Verify the form and role-based help routes before publishing, and give the page an owner and review trigger so outdated handoff instructions are corrected.
What this template typically catches
Issues teams running this template most often surface in practice:
Common use cases
Frequently asked questions
What kinds of analytics questions does this guide help employees prepare?
It supports requests tied to a decision, a trend, or an unclear data definition. Examples include comparing weekly order volume across two periods or asking what counts as a completed onboarding. It is a starting point for shaping the question, not a promise that the requested analysis is feasible.
Who should complete the guide and who assesses the request?
The employee or team that needs the analysis should describe the decision, audience, scope, known data, and timing. The template identifies an analytics intake owner as the role that explains routing and helps clarify the question before assessment. It does not name a specific person or define an approval chain.
How often should this guide be used?
Use it whenever you are preparing a new analytics request or materially changing an existing question. It is especially useful before a review meeting or decision date, when the intended use and timing can shape the handoff. The page does not prescribe a recurring submission cadence.
Does completing the guide guarantee access to data or an analysis result?
No. The template explicitly tells employees not to assume that a system, measure, or dataset is available or that they have access to it. The receiving analyst can check feasibility, definitions, and relevant caveats after the request is submitted through the organization-authorized form.
What should I do if a measure has more than one definition?
Name the term or measure that is unclear and explain how you expect to use it. Note any familiar report or system, but do not treat its definition as authoritative without confirmation. The data definition owner role is listed as a route for clarifying a measure's meaning and scope.
How should I handle sensitive information in a request?
Use the organization-authorized analytics request form when it is available on the page and follow that form's instructions for sensitive information. The guide does not specify what data is permitted or provide a substitute for your organization's data-handling policy. Do not add sensitive details to the page itself unless the approved process directs you to do so.
Can we customize this template for our organization?
Yes. Replace the fictional Northstar Services example with a clearly labeled example relevant to your employees, and update the form and support roles to match confirmed organizational routes. Keep the prompts for decision, audience, population, timeframe, measures, and delivery expectations so requests remain assessable. Avoid implying that a form, contact, or data source exists until it has been verified.
What setup is needed for the request form and support information?
The form section is an instruction to use an organization-authorized form when one is available; the supplied page does not include a configured form integration or live submission workflow. Set up the approved form through your site's supported form block or remove or revise the section if no authorized form is available. Confirm that the intake, data definition, and data access owner roles reflect real help routes before publishing.
How is this better than sending an open-ended request by email?
The guide prompts the requester to state a decision, audience, population, timeframe, known data, definitions, and delivery expectations before handoff. Its worked example shows how those details turn “Analyze sales” into a question an analyst can assess. It does not replace your organization's intake channel; it helps make the request sent through that channel clearer.
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Rolled out to every employee at AutoZone (125,000), PetSmart (50,000+), A.S. Watson and Raley's (20,000) — and at larger retailers we are not permitted to name.
