Utilising Ashby's Reporting and Data Features

Ashby is an incredibly powerful ATS and one of the main reasons we see companies moving to the platform is its reporting and data functionality. There is so much that can be built directly within Ashby, without having to plug in an external reporting tool or manage key hiring data across multiple spreadsheets.

We'd been working with Orbital for some time and they were already established Ashby users, with some great foundations in place internally. They didn't need an implementation but they did want to look at how they could get more from the system and move from managing a lot of their reporting externally to having a fully functioning dashboard within Ashby.

Bringing headcount and financial reporting into Ashby

Despite already using Ashby, much of Orbital's financial reporting and headcount planning was still happening outside the platform. This meant that information relating to proposed hires, approved headcount, live roles and hiring progress was spread across different systems and processes, making it harder to get one clear view of what was happening across the business.

We worked closely with their Head of Talent and senior leadership team to look at what they actually needed from their reporting and how we could bring that into Ashby.

A big part of this was configuring their opening approval process and building the structure needed for their headcount information to live within the system. Rather than only tracking a role once hiring had started, we could create visibility from the point a hire was first proposed and move it through the full process:

Proposed headcount → opening approval → live hiring → hire → data and reporting

We then moved their reporting into Ashby so that the full headcount picture, from draft and proposed hires through to approved openings and live roles, could all be tracked and viewed in one place.

This gave leaders much better visibility of their own headcount and hiring plans, while the C-level team could see the overall picture across the business without relying on separate reports being manually pulled together.

It also gave the Head of Talent much better oversight of the recruitment function itself, making it easier to understand where every role was in the process, how the team was performing and where things might be getting stuck.

Rather than Ashby simply being the system used to track candidates, it became a much more useful source of truth for the company's overall hiring activity.

Getting more from the system you already have

This is something we see quite regularly with companies that have already been using Ashby for a while. The system has been implemented and is working well enough day to day, but there is often functionality available that teams haven't had the time or capacity to properly explore and implement.

Reporting is a really good example of this. If you're still exporting data, maintaining separate headcount spreadsheets or manually creating reports for leadership, it's worth looking at whether more of that could actually sit within Ashby. We focused on heavily in another Ashby optimisation project with OLIX Technologies.

It isn't about using every feature simply because it's available. It's about understanding what would genuinely make the Talent team's life easier and give the wider business better visibility.

Optimisation isn't a one-off project

Our work with Orbital hasn't stopped with this project. Ashby releases new functionality quickly and the needs of Talent teams naturally change as companies grow, so what worked when you first implemented the system isn't necessarily going to be the best setup a year or two later.

We continue to work with the team through regular training and optimisation sessions, looking at new functionality, answering questions and making sure their setup continues to reflect how they actually want to work.

For us, that's an important part of optimisation. The best ATS setup isn't necessarily the one with the most functionality enabled, it's the one your team actually uses and that gives you the information you need.

Are you getting enough from your Ashby setup?

You don't need to be migrating ATS to benefit from reviewing how you're currently using it.

If your headcount planning is still sitting in spreadsheets, reporting is being built manually outside the system, leaders don't have easy access to the data they need or your Talent team is spending time pulling together information that already exists within Ashby, there is probably an opportunity to simplify things.

Sometimes you don't need another tool or another integration. You just need to get more from the system you already have.

Already using Ashby but feel like you could be getting more from it?
We help teams improve reporting, dashboards, workflows and wider Ashby configuration so the system gives you the information you actually need. Get in touch.