IBCS – Universal Reporting Standards

However, we see that there is no common language in the corporate world, particularly in reports. Reports and presentations are prepared at every company with different standards and sometimes with no standards at all. As a result of this, these reports do not create the desired impact, the time and effort spent to create the report or presentation are wasted, and there is the risk of taking decisions based on incomplete information.

Yet, the standards (International Business Communication Standards – IBCS) developed by the International Business Communication Standards Association (IBCS-A) contributes greatly to the standardization of business communication process. These conceptual and visual standards for business communication aim to create an international common language. With global recognition, IBCS also brings much-required standards to the area of Business Analytics, which is highly critical and requires meticulous work.

IBCS aims to identify the international standards of business communication. Rolf Hichert, accepted as a guru in this area, established the IBCS-A association to offer the standards he has created In many years of hard work.

IBCS consists of 7 sets of rules collected under 3 categories, namely Conceptual Rules, Perceptual Rules and Semantic Rules. The first letters of the sets of rules under these categories summarize the road to “SUCCESS”.

1.   Conceptual Rules
Conceptual rules help to relay content into an appropriate story and are inspired by the scientific works of Barbara Minto, the world-famous consultant. These rules include the following:

• SAY – Convey a message

Since the purpose of reports and presentations is to convey a message, there should be a structure that describes the message clearly, supports it with data and visualizes it. Data that do not carry a clear message are called statistics, not reports.

• STRUCTURE – Organize content

The content must be organized logically. The grouping must be consistent, complete, non-repetitive and homogenous.

2. Perceptual Rules
Perceptual rules focus on supporting the message and the content with the visual design most appropriate for the purpose. They have been created based on the works of Edward Tufte, the well-known statistician, Stephen Few, consultant and trainer, and Gene Zelazny, visual communication expert.

• EXPRESS – Choose proper visualization

Charts, graphics or diagrams that facilitate understanding the message must be chosen.

• SIMPLIFY – Avoid clutter

All complicated, unnecessary, distracting or decorative elements such as backgrounds, frames, 3D effects and multiple colors must be removed from the report. The report or presentation must contain no visual elements that do not contribute to the content.

• CONDENSE – Increase information density

It is required to display the components of the content on a single page, using small but understandable objects.

• CHECK – Ensure visual integrity

All visual elements must be used properly. The report or presentation must not contain inaccurate scaling, distorted visuals or misguiding values.

3. Semantic Rules
Semantic rules aim the use of the same writing rules throughout the content. This rule set has been identified by the works of Rolf Hichert, President of IBCS-A and a leading expert in open corporate reporting, as well as by IBCS-A.

• UNIFY – Apply semantic notation

Everything that means the same must look the same and anything that does not mean the same must not look the same. These rules are valid for all content pieces such as terminology, measurements, emphasis, headings and analyses.

These international standards not only provide a common language for businesses, but also contributes greatly to IT teams, business analysts and managers that play a key role in the decision-making mechanisms. These contributions can be summarized as increasing quality, saving time and costs. Coca Cola İçecek, Redbull, Philips, SAP Headquarters, and Lufthansa are among the companies that benefit from these advantages.

The founders of IBCS

Dr. Rolf Hichert: Dr. Hichert, the President of IBCS-A and a leading expert in open corporate reporting, created the idea of IBCS and developed its writing rules. In addition to being a founding partner of MIK GmbH, he is also a professor of controlling at Eberswalde University of Applied Sciences on Control and the General Manager of MIS Switzerland AG. In 2004, he founded HICHERT+PARTNER (currently HICHERT+FAISST).

Dr. Jürgen Faisst: Dr. Faisst, who has been working with Rolf Hichert for more than 20 years, is the person who promoted IBCS to the world. As the General Manager of HICHERT+FAISST, he has adopted the mission of ensuring that business analysts from all over the world benefit from IBCS.

Seminars

In addition to bringing standards to the industry, IBCS-A also delivers trainings on the implementation and effective communication of these standards. IBCS® WITH SUCCESS seminars offer certification of international validity in terms of reporting and presentation standardization. The main goal of this certification is defined as presenting universal design standards for more effective (written) reports and (oral) presentations.

IBCS seminars in Turkey are organized with the contribution and expertise of IBSS. Specialized especially in business analytics, IBSS creates a difference in corporate consultancy services by promoting IBCS in our country and leading the way in standardization.

IBCS-certified IBSS consultants provide all trainings, corporate consultancy and technical consultancy services to businesses. Thus, in addition to offering high quality, fast and reliable consultancy services to businesses on business analytics, cloud solutions, training and licensing, IBSS also becomes an important business partner providing added value to IT teams in business analytics reporting and presentations.