The Metric Dictionary
What each business metric means, how to work it out, and — the part that is usually missing — which system holds the number and which record it comes from. Written so a finance analyst, a supply chain planner and a data engineer can read the same page and agree.
01 Finance & cash
Finance & cash
Margin, cash and the ratios a board reads first. These are the numbers the rest of the dictionary rolls up into. Serves the CFO view.
Gross margin %
The share of every sales euro left after the direct cost of making or buying what you sold.
(net_revenue − cogs) ÷ net_revenueOMOperating margin
Profit from running the business, before interest and tax, as a share of revenue.
operating_profit ÷ net_revenueEBITDA%EBITDA margin
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, as a share of revenue.
ebitda ÷ net_revenueCMContribution margin
What one extra sale leaves behind after the costs that only exist because you made that sale.
(net_revenue − variable_cost) ÷ net_revenueDSODays sales outstanding
How long, on average, customers take to pay you after you invoice them.
(accounts_receivable ÷ net_revenue) × days_in_periodDIODays inventory outstanding
How long stock sits before it is sold, on average.
(inventory_value ÷ cogs) × days_in_periodDPODays payables outstanding
How long you take to pay your suppliers.
(accounts_payable ÷ cogs) × days_in_periodCCCCash conversion cycle
The number of days between paying for something and being paid for it.
dso + dio − dpoCCRCash conversion ratio
How much of the profit you reported actually turned into cash.
operating_cash_flow ÷ net_incomeFCFFree cash flow
The cash left after running the business and keeping its assets in shape — the money genuinely available for debt, dividends or investment.
operating_cash_flow − capital_expenditureFAForecast accuracy
How close the forecast was to what actually happened, measured as absolute error against actuals.
1 − ( Σ|actual − forecast| ÷ Σactual )OLOperating leverage
How much profit moves for a given move in revenue.
% change in operating_profit ÷ % change in net_revenueCapex%Capex intensity
How much you must invest in assets for every euro of revenue.
capital_expenditure ÷ net_revenueROCEReturn on capital employed
The profit a business earns for every unit of capital tied up in it.
EBIT ÷ (total_assets − current_liabilities)LeverageNet debt to EBITDA
How many years of current earnings it would take to repay what you owe.
(total_debt − cash_and_equivalents) ÷ EBITDAVarianceBudget variance
How far actual performance has drifted from plan, and in which direction.
(actual − budget) ÷ budget02 Pricing & sales
Pricing & sales
What you charge, what you keep, and what it costs to win the next customer. The half of revenue that most reporting leaves out. Serves the CMO view.
Average net price
What you actually received per unit, after every discount, rebate and allowance.
net_revenue ÷ unitsGross-to-netPrice realisation
How much of your list price survives all the way to the invoice.
net_revenue ÷ list_revenueWRWin rate
The share of decided opportunities that you won.
opportunities_won ÷ opportunities_closedSCLSales cycle length
How long a deal takes from first qualified contact to signature.
mean(close_date − created_date) for won opportunitiesPCPipeline coverage
How many times your target is currently sitting in open, qualified pipeline.
open_pipeline_value ÷ target_for_the_periodCACCustomer acquisition cost
What it costs, all in, to win one new customer.
(sales_cost + marketing_cost) ÷ new_customers_wonLTV:CACLifetime value to CAC
How much gross profit a customer produces over their life, compared with what it cost to win them.
(average_gross_profit_per_year × expected_years) ÷ cacNRRNet revenue retention
What last year's customers are worth this year, before any new customers are counted.
(starting_revenue + expansion − contraction − churn) ÷ starting_revenueMSMarket share
Your slice of a defined market, in units or in value.
your_units (or value) ÷ total_market_unitsCTSCost to serve
Everything it costs to look after a customer after the sale is agreed.
(delivery + service + returns + order_handling) ÷ customers or ordersAOVAverage order value
What a typical order is worth, after discounts and returns.
net_revenue ÷ ordersSOWShare of wallet
How much of a customer's spending in your category you actually hold.
your_revenue_from_the_account ÷ the_account_total_category_spendAttachAttach rate
How often a service, warranty, accessory or add-on is sold alongside the product it belongs to.
orders_containing_the_attached_item ÷ eligible_orders03 Supply chain & operations
Supply chain & operations
Service, stock and the capacity to deliver. Where promises to customers either hold or quietly fail. Serves the supply chain view.
On time in full
The share of orders that arrived when promised, with everything the customer asked for.
orders_delivered_on_time_and_complete ÷ total_ordersFRFill rate
How much of what was ordered you were able to ship.
units_shipped ÷ units_orderedOEEOverall equipment effectiveness
How much good output a line produced compared with what it could have produced running perfectly.
availability × performance × qualityTurnsInventory turns
How many times you sell and replace your stock in a year.
cogs ÷ average_inventory_valueCoverStock cover
How many days of demand your current stock would satisfy.
current_stock ÷ average_daily_demandPORPerfect order rate
The share of orders that went through without a single failure — right items, right time, undamaged, invoiced correctly.
orders with no error at any step ÷ total_ordersSLTSupplier lead time
How long a supplier actually takes, and how much that varies.
mean and variability of (goods_receipt_date − purchase_order_date)Scrap%Scrap and yield
The proportion of what you made that could not be sold.
scrapped_quantity ÷ total_produced (yield is the inverse)SASchedule adherence
How much of what you planned to make you actually made, in the order you planned it.
units_produced_as_scheduled ÷ units_scheduledFCUFreight cost per unit
What it costs to move one unit to the customer.
total_freight_cost ÷ units_shippedOSAOn-shelf availability
Whether the product was actually there for the shopper to buy.
store_days_product_available ÷ store_days_expectedUtilCapacity utilisation
How much of the capacity you already own is being used.
actual_output ÷ practical_capacityMTTRMean time to repair
How long, on average, it takes to get a failed asset running again.
total_downtime_hours ÷ number_of_failuresReturnsReturns rate
The share of what you sold that came back.
units_returned ÷ units_soldOCTOrder cycle time
How long a customer waits between placing an order and receiving it.
delivery_date − order_date, in calendar dayskWh/unitEnergy per unit
How much energy it takes to make one unit of output.
energy_consumed_kWh ÷ units_produced04 Customer & marketing
Customer & marketing
Who buys, how often, and what it costs to keep them. The base that every growth plan is built on. Serves the CMO view.
Active customers
How many customers actually bought from you in a defined window.
count(distinct customers with at least one purchase in the window)CRRCustomer retention rate
The share of the customers you had at the start of a period who were still buying at the end.
customers_retained ÷ customers_at_startPFPurchase frequency
How often the average active customer buys.
orders_in_period ÷ active_customersCPLCost per lead
What you pay to get one qualified lead.
campaign_spend ÷ qualified_leadsMQL→SQLLead to opportunity conversion
The share of marketing-qualified leads that sales accepts and works.
leads_accepted_as_opportunities ÷ qualified_leads05 Workforce
Workforce
Productivity, turnover and the cost of both. The metrics that move quality and service before they reach the P&L. Serves the CHRO view.
Revenue per employee
How much revenue the business produces for each full-time equivalent employee.
net_revenue ÷ average_fteAttritionAttrition rate
The share of your people who leave in a year.
leavers_in_period ÷ average_headcountCPHCost per hire
Everything it costs to fill a role, from advertising to the recruiter's time.
(external_cost + internal_cost) ÷ hiresAbsenceAbsence rate
The share of scheduled working time lost to absence.
days_absent ÷ scheduled_working_days06 Data & governance
Data & governance
Whether the numbers above can be trusted at all -- quality, coverage, lineage and the time it takes to get an answer. Serves Data Governance.
Data quality score
How much of your data passes the rules you have agreed it must meet.
weighted pass rate across completeness, validity, uniqueness, timeliness and consistency rulesMCGoverned metric coverage
How much of what your business actually reports on has one agreed, documented definition.
metrics_with_a_governed_definition ÷ metrics_used_in_reportingLCLineage coverage
How much of your important data can be traced from the report it appears in back to the system it came from.
critical_data_elements_with_end_to_end_lineage ÷ total_critical_data_elementsTTITime to insight
How long it takes to go from someone asking a question to an answer people are willing to act on.
elapsed time from a business question being asked to a trusted answer— Why this exists
A metric is a promise, not a label
Two teams reporting different numbers for the same thing is rarely a data problem. It is two definitions, both reasonable, neither written down. Every page here gives the four things a metric needs before anyone can rely on it: a formula, a level of detail, a source and an owner.
That is also exactly what a semantic layer stores. Once a definition lives in one place, every dashboard, board pack and AI agent that asks for it gets the same answer — which is the whole point of governing it.
Want these definitions running, not just written?
SCIKIQ turns a dictionary into a governed layer — one definition per metric, traced back to the source system.