In many logistics businesses, the weekly KPI report is a manual job. Someone pulls data from three systems, works out the figures by hand and emails a summary round on Monday morning.
By the time it is read, the report is out of date, and the hours spent building it would be better spent acting on it. There is a better model: Dynamics 365 Business Central holds the underlying data, and Power BI turns it into dashboards that refresh themselves.
This article covers which metrics to measure and how to get them without the manual effort.
The Metrics That Matter in Logistics Operations
On Time In Full (OTIF)
OTIF is the core service measure in logistics. It checks two things at once: did the order arrive on the agreed date, and did it arrive complete?
An order that arrives complete but late is a failure. So is one that arrives on time but short. Tracking both together gives a far truer picture of delivery reliability, and many businesses find their real OTIF is lower than they assumed.
Cost Per Drop
Cost per drop is your total delivery cost divided by the number of successful deliveries. Tracked by route, vehicle or customer segment, it shows where delivery costs are out of proportion to the work done.
The results feed directly into pricing, minimum order values and decisions about consolidating routes.
Stock Turn Rate
Stock turn measures how often your stock is sold and replaced over a period. High turn means working capital is being used efficiently. Low turn points to slow-moving stock.
Measured by SKU, stock turn quickly shows which lines are the problem in a large range.
Order Pick Accuracy Rate
Pick accuracy is the share of orders picked without error, measured against returns and credit notes raised for picking mistakes.
Every picking error costs money in returns, re-picks, credits and customer service time. Tracking accuracy by picker or pick zone shows where errors cluster, so you can fix the cause.
Warehouse Utilisation
Utilisation is the share of available warehouse capacity in use at any given time. Businesses that do not measure it often run short of space in one area while wasting it in another. Both cost money, and both become obvious once you measure them.
Supplier OTIF
Your delivery performance depends partly on how well your suppliers deliver to you. Supplier OTIF is the share of purchase orders received on time and in full, and it shows which supply relationships put your own fulfilment at risk.
Vehicle Utilisation Rate
Vehicle utilisation is the share of payload capacity used across your delivery runs. An under-loaded vehicle spreads its fixed running costs over too few deliveries. Better consolidation and firmer minimum order rules improve utilisation and bring down cost per drop.
Why These Metrics Need to Be Automatic
KPIs calculated by hand are inconsistent, take up staff time and arrive too late to change anything. A metric is only as useful as it is current.
Business Central already records the events these KPIs are built from as part of normal operations: orders, receipts, shipments and stock movements. Vehicle and payload data usually comes from a transport management or telematics system connected to it. Power BI then turns those records into metrics and refreshes the dashboards automatically on a schedule.
Building the Reporting Infrastructure
Setting this up involves three pieces of work: connecting Power BI to the Business Central data, defining exactly how each metric is calculated and designing dashboards around the decisions your managers make every day. The dashboards should serve operational decisions, not financial reporting.
Advantage builds this reporting as part of a Business Central implementation or as a standalone project. Our Power BI for Logistics guide covers the six dashboards that most often replace manual spreadsheet reporting.
Talk to Our Logistics Team
If your KPIs are still built by hand, or you have no current view of how the operation is performing, we can help.
Contact Advantage today or call 020 3004 4600 to speak to our team.
Related Resources
- Power BI for Logistics: The 6 Dashboards That Replace Your Spreadsheets
- Power BI Reporting and Dashboards
- Unified Data and Business Visibility
- Dynamics 365 Business Central
- Real-Time Stock Visibility for Logistics and Distribution
Frequently Asked Questions
What is OTIF and why is it important?
OTIF stands for On Time In Full. It is the share of orders delivered on the agreed date and in the full quantity ordered. It measures the delivery promise from the customer's point of view, so an order that arrives on time but short still counts as a failure.
How is cost per drop calculated?
Divide the total cost of your delivery runs over a period by the number of successful drops. Include driver wages, fuel, vehicle depreciation or lease costs and any subcontractor carrier charges. Track it by route, vehicle or customer segment rather than as a single average.
Can these KPIs be produced automatically from Business Central?
Yes. Business Central holds the source data, such as dates, quantities, costs and customer records, and Power BI calculates and displays the metrics, refreshing on a schedule. Designing the data model and reports takes some initial setup, with light upkeep as your reporting needs change.
What is a reasonable OTIF target for a UK distribution SME?
Many UK distributors aim for 95 per cent or above on planned deliveries. Customers with contractual service levels, such as large retailers and food service businesses, often set targets of 97 to 99 per cent, with financial penalties for missing them. The right target depends on what you have committed to contractually.
