If you’re running quarterly reviews and need to make sense of all the data your team’s racked up in Charma, you’re in the right place. This guide is for managers, team leads, or really anyone who wants to cut through the noise and get straight to what matters: clear, useful performance reports you can actually use. If you’re tired of clicking through endless dashboards or exporting bloated spreadsheets you’ll never read, keep going.
1. Get Oriented: What’s Actually in Charma Reports?
First things first: Charma is big on tracking meetings, goals, feedback, and action items. But not all that data is equally useful for a quarterly review. Charma’s performance reporting pulls together:
- Goal progress: Who’s on track, who’s stuck, and what’s fallen off the radar
- Meeting summaries: Attendance, participation, and action items completed
- Feedback logs: Praise, coaching, and constructive notes
- Action item completion: Who’s following through and who’s dropping the ball
What matters: For most quarterly reviews, you’re after trends, not raw data. Look for patterns: is someone consistently missing deadlines, or crushing their goals every time? Don’t get bogged down in every single metric. Decide what you’ll actually talk about with your team, and focus there.
2. Step-by-Step: Pulling the Right Reports
All right, let’s get into the weeds. Here’s how you actually dig up the reports you need.
Step 1: Log in and Get to the Reporting Hub
- Sign in to Charma.
- Go to your team workspace (not your personal dashboard).
- Find the Reporting or Analytics section in the sidebar. (Charma moves stuff occasionally—if it’s not there, check under “Teams” or “Performance.”)
Pro tip: Bookmark the direct link once you find it. No need to hunt every time.
Step 2: Set Your Date Range
- Quarterly reviews = last 3 months. Set your filter for the right timeframe.
- Double-check the start and end dates. Charma sometimes defaults to the last 30 days, which isn’t helpful for quarterly.
- If you want to compare quarters, pull up the previous one in a separate tab.
What to ignore: Don’t bother with daily or weekly breakdowns unless you’re troubleshooting a specific problem. Focus on the quarter as a whole.
Step 3: Pick Your Metrics
Charma gives you tons of options. Here’s what’s worth your time:
- Goal status: Who’s on track, at risk, or behind
- Action item completion rate: % of tasks done on time
- Feedback received: How much feedback (and what kind) did each person get?
- Meeting engagement: Attendance and talking time, if you care about participation
Skip these:
- “Mood” scores (unless you’re tracking morale specifically)
- Vanity stats like “messages sent”—quantity doesn’t equal quality
Step 4: Drill Down by Person or Team
- Filter by individual, subgroup, or whole team.
- For managers, it helps to look at both individual and team trends: Is someone quietly struggling while the team looks fine overall?
- Most teams only need three views: whole team summary, direct reports only, and any outliers.
Warning: Don’t overanalyze. If you have 20 charts, you’ll end up with analysis paralysis. Stick to 2-4 key reports.
Step 5: Add Notes or Context
Charma’s reports are only as good as the context you add:
- Make notes on outliers or odd patterns (“Bob’s drop in action items due to paternity leave”)
- If you exported a spreadsheet, add a “Comments” column to jot down quick explanations
- If you’re prepping slides, drop your main takeaways right under the data
This stuff matters—otherwise, you’ll forget why someone’s numbers looked weird three months from now.
3. Exporting: What Works, What Doesn’t
Charma lets you export reports, but there are a few hiccups and tricks to know.
Step 1: Choose Your Export Format
- CSV/Excel: Best for deeper analysis, making charts, or combining with other data.
- PDF: Good for sharing a snapshot with execs or people who just want the highlights.
- Direct sharing: If your company uses Charma heavily, you can share live links. Just be sure everyone has access—permissions can be a pain.
Heads up: Some visuals and charts look great in Charma but export as ugly tables. Always check your file before sending it to the boss.
Step 2: Clean Up Your Exports
- Open the exported file. Delete any columns you don’t need (nobody cares about user IDs).
- Rename columns for clarity if you’ll use this in a slide deck.
- Highlight or color-code key stats if it helps you (or your audience) focus.
Don’t:
- Send raw, messy data to execs or team members. It just confuses people.
- Over-format. Keep it simple and readable.
Step 3: Combine with Qualitative Notes
Numbers only tell part of the story. For quarterly reviews, mix in:
- Notes from 1:1s
- Feedback from peers
- Any context around missed goals (sick leave, shifting priorities, etc.)
If you can, keep your notes and exported data in the same doc. It saves a ton of time when you’re prepping for the actual review.
4. Common Pitfalls (and How to Avoid Them)
- Getting lost in the weeds: Don’t try to cover every metric. Pick what matters for your team.
- Relying only on “objective” data: Charma tracks actions, but not every important thing shows up as a stat. Gut checks and conversations matter.
- Ignoring permissions: Before sharing anything, double-check who can see what. You don’t want to accidentally send private feedback to the whole company.
- Not updating filters: If your report looks off, make sure your date range and filters are right. This trips people up all the time.
5. Quick Reference: Building a Useful Quarterly Report
Here’s a simple workflow you can reuse every quarter:
- Set your objectives: What’s the story you want to tell? Team progress? Individual growth?
- Pull the big-picture numbers: Goals, action items, feedback.
- Spot outliers: Who’s ahead, who’s behind, and why.
- Add context: Notes, explanations, and anything the numbers miss.
- Export and clean up: Make it readable—ditch what doesn’t matter.
- Share thoughtfully: Right format, right audience, right permissions.
6. Pro Tips for Sane, Useful Reviews
- Automate what you can: If you’re doing this more than once, save your filters and export settings.
- Don’t reinvent the wheel: Use last quarter’s report as a template—just update the data.
- Stay skeptical: If a metric looks weird, dig deeper. Sometimes the system logs things wrong, or someone forgets to mark a task “done.”
- Take notes as you go: Don’t wait until the end of the quarter to start gathering context. Jot down explanations when things happen.
Keep It Simple, Iterate Often
Quarterly reviews are about progress, not perfection. The first time you dig into Charma’s reports, it might feel overwhelming—too many numbers, not enough answers. That’s normal. Focus on the handful of metrics that actually move the needle for your team. Add your own insights, clean up your exports, and don’t be afraid to simplify.
No report is perfect. The goal is to learn, adjust, and make it a little easier next time.