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Practical guide / Free to read

See what matters. Choose what happens next.

Bring the moving parts of your business into view without losing the promises, evidence and people behind them.

Start with the business in front of you

You may have one customer conversation to follow up, or a week full of invoices, jobs and supplier questions. Begin with the work you actually have. A manual action is enough to start; you do not need to fill every tool before using this overview.

Name the business or part of the business you are reviewing. Choose a review date. This date determines which commitments appear due; it does not reconstruct a complete historical business position from today’s source files.

Know what is in your picture

Add editable JSON files from Job Cost & Profit Review, Invoices & Payments, Business Spending, Cash Timing, Customer Follow-ups, Quote & Scope, Customer Opportunities, Job & Delivery, Deadlines & Renewals, Business Records, Business Routines, Suppliers & Purchasing, Business Continuity & Owner Backup, Stock & Supplies, and Equipment & Maintenance. Read the preview before adding a file. The overview stores a selected copy and does not change the original.

Sources & coverage shows the tool areas you included and those still unknown. No findings from a file does not prove that the underlying business has no problems. Missing records, unrecorded payments, and work tracked elsewhere remain outside this view.

The source file’s review date, the import date and the date you actually checked the information are different. Record a checked date only after comparing the copy with current events. Choose a sensible interval for checking it again. Loading the same file again does not make old information fresh.

Read the reason behind the finding

The overview uses the existing tools’ attention rules and selected additional checks for open invoices, bills, customer commitments and quotes. Each entry explains why it appears, its relevant dates, information basis, source and a suggested next step. An owner still decides its importance.

Use the area, source, date and search filters. The main view includes dates that have passed, today, the next seven days and undated work. Later dates are available separately. Some source tools flag only matters inside their review window, so this is an attention review rather than a complete calendar.

Counts represent source entries, not unique business problems. Several reasons concerning one record are grouped together. The same real-world issue can still appear in different tools. There is no invented business health score.

Keep financial meaning intact

An unpaid invoice, a supplier bill, a possible sale and an estimated receipt mean different things. The overview keeps their descriptions, currencies and source context. It does not add them into one misleading money figure. Cash Timing findings describe the entered base forecast; they are not a current bank balance.

Read the overview alongside your financial records and the original source tools. This overview is an action aid built from selected working files. It does not replace bookkeeping, a profit-and-loss statement, a balance sheet, or a cash-flow forecast, and it cannot establish that the books are complete.

Background: SBA: Manage your business

Connect the work before choosing the action

A late supplier delivery may block a customer job. A missing document may delay a renewal. Select related findings when creating an action, then explain the dependency in your own words. The overview never assumes two customers, documents or orders are the same because their names look similar.

Choose the decision or result, why it matters, a concrete next step, the responsible person and a date. Link as many relevant findings as the task needs within the working file limits. A linked action does not hide its source findings.

Make room for a realistic plan

Choose a manageable set of actions for this review. Give each one a practical next step, an owner, and a point to check progress. Decide what belongs in this review, what comes next, and what can wait.

Enter the hours you realistically have and estimate your own effort where you can. The overview compares available hours with actions marked This review and To do. Unknown effort remains visibly unknown. Waiting, delegated and deferred work is retained but excluded from your own planned hours.

Waiting and deferred actions need a reason and a return date. Delegated work also needs a named person. Done and set-aside actions need a dated outcome. These choices describe the overview action; they do not record a payment, finish a customer job or discharge an obligation in another tool.

Background: SBA: Manage your business

Refresh without losing your decisions

Choose Refresh on the source you want to update. Check the preview of new, changed and no-longer-flagged entries before accepting. Stable book identities and overlapping record identities help prevent a second copy being counted again. Files with no book identity require particular care when you choose their replacement.

A refreshed source retains your action plan and highlights changed or missing linked findings. A finding disappearing can mean completion, a changed date, a deleted record or a different scope. Check the outcome instead of assuming the work is done. Excluding a source retains its copy and linked actions while removing its findings from the current review.

Refreshing changed contents clears the previous freshness check. An older numbered revision cannot replace a newer one. Different contents with the same revision produce a warning for your review. Separate files and tools do not synchronize automatically.

Keep something useful for your next visit

Record what moved forward, what you learned and the next review date. Download the editable overview after changes. It includes selected source snapshots, your actions and review history. Reopen it to continue. The working draft holds the open work in this page; account saving remains separate.

Preview and download a PDF or text reading copy of the overview or the action plan. Keep the action plan beside the weekly review worksheet. Review private details before sharing a reading copy or the complete backup.

To change underlying work, download the source copy from Sources & coverage and reopen it in its own tool. Bring the newer file back through Refresh. Each overview supports up to 200 source files and 10,000 actions, subject to a 96 MB backup limit and the source tools’ own limits.

Try it in your own situation

Build a review you can use today

  1. Name the work you want to review and choose the date.
  2. Add a relevant tool file or one manual action.
  3. Check the source’s age and what is missing from your coverage.
  4. Read a finding’s reason and identify any related customer work or obligation.
  5. Choose an action, owner and date; explain what depends on it.
  6. Compare the work you chose with the time you actually have.
  7. Keep an editable backup, then return to record what changed.

Keep exploring.

Get what you need and keep work moving. Explore Running a business
Sources and further reading

Original Brass Charter examples and exercises, with background reading from the sources below.

Keep your open draft?

Continuing will discard your unsaved changes. You can return to the draft and save or download it first.