Daily brief
Each morning UpChannels writes the people who run your store a short brief about yesterday: what was sold, what is waiting, and the few numbers worth a look today. Fixed rules build it from what your team entered in UpChannels. Nobody writes it, nothing in it is guessed, and every line and number opens the screen it comes from.
Overview
| Where | What you see |
|---|---|
| Quick Facts, at the bottom, under "How these numbers are calculated" | This morning's brief, open, to read in place. Click Fold to fold it to one line, for example "Your brief · Thu 17 Sep · as of 07:05 store time · ! 3 of 8 areas need attention · Open ›": it stays folded on your next visits in this browser until you click Open ›. (It used to sit on the Dashboard; the Dashboard no longer shows it) |
| Sidebar, bottom, next to the notification bell | An inbox icon with a red count of the briefs you haven't opened. Click it for your last seven briefs |
| Insights | This morning's brief on Today, and every brief you have received on Archive |
- When it arrives. Each morning after your store's day has ended, at the hour set for your store: 7 a.m. store time unless the owner picks another in Settings → AI. A brief is dated by its morning and covers the day before. If AI or the brief was off at the send hour and is switched back on before the next send hour, the missed brief arrives within the hour (unless the brief was set up for your store only that day, after the send hour) and keeps the date of the morning it missed; switched back on the next morning, that morning brings two, each naming the day it covers. One exception: if AI or the brief was switched off in the few minutes after the send hour, while the brief was being made, that morning's brief may have been skipped then, and switching it back on brings none until the next send hour. After a day your store was closed, the next brief covers the closed days too.
- Who gets it. The owner, and the managers the owner adds in Settings → AI. Staff don't get a brief yet. Anyone who switches AI features off for themselves, on Your AI features (
/ai/me), gets none. A manager the owner takes off the brief, or whose role is changed to staff, stops getting it, and their earlier briefs leave the sidebar and Insights with it. - One brief per person. Your brief, your unread count and your Dismiss are yours alone. They follow you to any device you sign in on.
- With the brief off, nothing changes. When the brief is off for your store or for you, Quick Facts, the sidebar and every other page look and work exactly as before. The Insights address then opens Ads Insights, as it always has. Your earlier briefs are kept, and come back when the brief is on again.
What a brief holds
| Part | What it says |
|---|---|
| The status line | How many of your eight areas need attention today, and the weakest one. "No area needs attention" when none does |
| Six lines about yesterday | Sales, Quotes open, Walk-ins, Complaints, Stock and Today (deliveries and service jobs booked for today). Each line opens the screen it comes from |
| Numbers for today | Up to five numbers picked by rule: your focus level's number, your weakest area's, the biggest change, cash, and today's load. Each shows its status as an icon and a word, a bar against its target where it has one, and a small trend line |
| Ladder and balance | Your score on each of the seven levels with your focus level named (levels above your focus are marked ahead), and your eight areas side by side, each ! naming the numbers that are off. Open by default on a wide screen; one tap away on a phone |
| The caption | "Estimated from what your team logged." A brief with a walk-in figure adds "Walk-in figures count only the visitors your team entered." |
Step by step: read this morning's brief
- Open Quick Facts (in the sidebar's Get Started group). At the bottom of the page, under How these numbers are calculated, find this morning's brief, starting Your brief.
- Scroll to it. Once it is well into your window, its top above the bottom fifth, it counts as read, and the red count in the sidebar goes down by one. If you folded it last time, it is one line: click Open ›.
- Read the status line, then the six lines. Click a line to open the screen it counts, for example the orders behind Sales.
- Read Numbers for today. Click a number's name to open its screen.
- Click Fold to fold the brief to one line. This browser remembers it: the brief stays folded on your next visits until you click Open › again.
- To read an older brief, click All briefs in Insights, or the inbox icon in the sidebar.
Tips & best practices
- A number looks wrong? Click Flag under it and send it to UpChannels, with a note on what you expected if you like. What you saw is sent exactly as shown to you.
- Tell the brief when you're open (owners). Until you do, the brief arrives every morning, closed days included. Answer the opening-hours card at the top of your brief, or set your main location's hours (your oldest active location) in Settings → Locations (Edit Location, Opening hours, Save Changes): either confirms them. A save there leaves setup's Monday to Saturday 9 to 5 unconfirmed if you did not change it: if those are your hours, answer Yes, 9 to 5, Mon to Sat on the card. From then on there is no brief on a morning your store is closed, and the next morning's brief covers the closed days too.
- Walk-in figures count only the visitors your team entered on the walk-in log, so they are as complete as the log.
- Managers: Dismiss hides this morning's brief for you until the next one arrives. It stays in Insights. To stop getting the brief, Turn off AI features for me (under the brief, and in the inbox) opens Your AI features, where you switch AI features off for yourself only.
Troubleshooting
| Issue | Fix |
|---|---|
| The brief is not on the Dashboard | It moved to Quick Facts: at the bottom of the page, under How these numbers are calculated |
| I don't see a brief or the inbox icon | The brief goes to the owner and the managers the owner adds. Staff don't get one yet, and a manager the owner took off the brief or changed to staff no longer does. It also stays away when the brief is off for your store or you switched AI features off for yourself. Your first brief arrives at the first send hour after the brief is switched on for your store |
| "No brief this morning · last brief … in Insights" | No brief arrived this morning yet. It arrives at the hour set for your store; earlier in the morning this line names the last one. On a morning your store is closed (by the hours the owner confirmed) there is no brief, and the next one covers the closed days. If the line is still there later in the morning, this morning's brief was not made; tomorrow's arrives as usual. Click the line to read the last brief |
| A line or number says "could not be read" | That figure could not be read this morning, so it is left blank rather than shown as 0. The rest of the brief is fine. It is read again for tomorrow's brief |
| A number says "No reading yet" | There isn't enough in your books to read it yet. The line under it says why and, where it can, when the first reading is expected. See what is counted opens the screen it will come from |
| "areas could not be read this morning" | Some of the checks behind your levels and areas could not be read this morning, so the status line gives no count rather than a partial one. The numbers, the ladder and the balance show what was read, and any part that could not be read says so. When none of them could be read, the brief shows the six lines alone. Everything is read again for tomorrow's brief |
| "You have sent 20 flags today; more tomorrow" | Each person can flag up to 20 numbers a day |
| "Too many tries in a short time. Wait a minute and try again." | Many requests reached UpChannels from your connection within a minute. Nothing was sent: send the flag again after a minute |
| "Could not save hours; try in Settings" | Your hours were not saved. Set them on your main location (your oldest active one) in Settings → Locations under Opening hours and click Save Changes: hours you set there are confirmed too, so the card stops asking from the next morning. Setup's 9 to 5, Monday to Saturday, left as it was is not: answer the card again tomorrow |
| The brief's figures differ from a report I ran today | The brief is a picture of your store when it was read ("as of 07:05 store time"). A sale entered or completed after that counts in the next brief |
What's next
- See where the climb and the levels come from: Dashboard
- How this week is going, any time: Quick Facts
- Keep the walk-in log: Walk-ins
- Switch the brief on or off for your store, pick its hour and who gets it (owners): Settings → AI
Detailed reference
Every part of the brief, the inbox and Insights, for when you need the exact detail. Each panel starts closed — open the one you need.
The line on Quick Facts
| What you see | When | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| This morning's brief, open, headed "Your brief · Thu 17 Sep · as of 07:05 store time" | This morning's brief has arrived | Quick Facts shows it open unless you folded it. See The brief, open below |
| "Your brief · Thu 17 Sep · as of 07:05 store time · ! 3 of 8 areas need attention · Open ›" | This morning's brief has arrived and you folded it | The date is the brief's morning; it covers the day before (a brief that came late keeps the morning it was missed). The time is when the figures were read, on your store's clock (Business Timezone, Settings → Organization) |
| "… · No area needs attention · Open ›" | No area needs attention | No ! |
| "… · areas could not be read this morning · Open ›" | The levels and areas could not be read | No count |
| "Your first brief · …" | The owner's first brief, while the opening-hours card is in it | As drawn on a new store's first morning |
| "No brief this morning · last brief Wed 16 Sep in Insights" | Your newest brief is not this morning's | Opens that brief in Insights. An older brief is never shown as today's |
| Nothing | You dismissed this morning's brief, the brief is off for your store or for you, you don't receive it, or the page is still loading | Quick Facts then looks exactly as it does without the brief |
| Open › / Fold | Opens the brief in place / folds it to one line | Quick Facts loads the brief open, unless you folded it: this browser remembers your Fold until you click Open ›. The brief counts as read once it is open and its top is above the bottom fifth of your window (scroll to it, if it loads lower): the sidebar's count goes down. Its top edge showing at the very bottom of the window does not count |
| All briefs in Insights | Top right of the open brief | Opens Insights on Archive |
| On the Quick Facts demo | Never | The demo shows its sample store as it is |
| On the Dashboard | Never | The brief's line is on Quick Facts |
The brief, open
| Part | What it shows | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Header "Your brief · Thu 17 Sep · as of 07:05 store time" | The brief's morning and when the figures were read | "Your first brief" on the owner's first morning with the opening-hours card |
| Opening-hours card | Owners only, at the top, until the store's hours are answered | See its own panel |
| Status line "! 3 of 8 areas need attention · weakest: Demand (Callbacks waiting)" | How many of the eight areas have a number off target, and the weakest area with the number behind it | Areas only, never a count of tasks |
| Title "Yesterday at Conroe Appliance · Wed 16 Sep" and the six lines | What happened on the day of record | After closed days the title names every day covered |
| Numbers for today · "picked by rule" | Up to five numbers, two columns on a wide screen | Each has a Flag |
| Ladder and balance with Hide / Show ladder and balance | The seven levels and the eight areas | Open by default on a wide screen, folded on a phone; your Hide or Show is remembered in this browser |
| Caption | "Estimated from what your team logged." | Plus "Walk-in figures count only the visitors your team entered." whenever a walk-in figure appears |
| Turn off daily summary | For the people Settings opens for: the owner, anyone with the owner role and the store's only active member | Opens Settings → AI, where the owner switches the daily brief off for the whole store. Anyone else Settings lets in can't change it there, and finds Your AI features linked under its Daily summary card, to switch AI features off for themselves |
| Dismiss | For everyone else, on Quick Facts | Hides this morning's brief for you, on every device, until the next brief. It stays in Insights |
| Turn off AI features for me | For everyone else, beside Dismiss and in Insights | Opens Your AI features (/ai/me), where Show me AI features switches AI features off for you alone: no brief for you, and its line, inbox icon and archive hidden for you. Turn it back on there |
| Open Quick Facts | In Insights only | Opens Quick Facts, where this morning's brief line is |
The six lines and the screen each comes from
| Line | Reads like | Opens | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sales | "$2,050.50 across 2 orders" | Orders, the sales of the day of record, all locations | Counted by sale date, the way the orders list counts them, net of anything returned on them |
| Quotes open | "2 ($1,000)" | Orders › Quotes | "Orders › Quotes lists every quote of the last 30 days; this counts the open ones, of any date." No "expiring this week" while quotes have no written expiry date |
| Walk-ins | "7 logged, 3 sold · 2 requested items you don't stock" | Reports › Lost sales for that day | "Walk-in figures count only the visitors your team entered." The requested items are those asked for at least twice in 7 days |
| Complaints | "2 open, 1 overdue" | Complaints | |
| Stock | "1 low and 1 out, of your 3 stocked products" | Inventory › Products | "On Inventory › Products pick Stock filter: Low Stock. Its Out of Stock filter also lists products never stocked." |
| Today | "2 deliveries, first window 10:00 to 12:00 · 1 service job" | Routes for today | "Service jobs are on the Schedule." |
- A line that could not be read says could not be read, never a number or a 0.
- The brief counts every location of your store.
Numbers for today (the tiles)
| Slot | Header | Picked by |
|---|---|---|
| Focus | "Focus level 3 · …" | The number most in need of a look on your focus level: the lowest level below 80%, where the dashboard's bouncing dot sits |
| Weakest | "Weakest area · …" | The number most in need of a look in your weakest area |
| Change | "Biggest change · …" | The biggest change for the worse |
| Cash | "Cash · …" | The cash number most in need of a look |
| Today's load | "Today's load" | Today's deliveries and service jobs, with links to Routes and Schedule. For now always the fifth tile |
| Part of a tile | Reads like | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Status | on track, attention, too few to grade, no reading yet, could not be read, today | Always an icon and a word |
| Value | "24%", "$4,200", "3.1×", "9 days", "5 of 12" | A count too small to grade shows as "{A} of {B}" with too few to grade |
| Window | "12 quotes in the last 90 days" | The days the number covers |
| Change | "was 8 of 13, is now 5 of 12 · against the 90 days before", or "first reading" | The base it compares with, for example the days just before or the same weeks last year. The weekly Sale orders number compares only with its own reading of 7 days before, both counted the morning after their days, so it reads "first reading" for the first 7 days after this rule began |
| Bar | The reading against its target's line | Only for a graded number whose target names a figure |
| Trend line | The number's recent readings, up to 13 | Average sale's line started again when the brief began counting sales net of anything returned on them, as the orders list and the dashboard do, and fills back up over 13 days |
| Target | "Reference: 35 days or less · from a trade body, not from your data" (it names where the figure comes from), "… is a starting value.", "Rule: …" or "Against your own trend" | Never a pass-or-fail bar, and no comparison with other stores yet |
| Flag | Under every number | See its own panel |
No reading yet, and could not be read
| State | What you see | Means |
|---|---|---|
| no reading yet | "No reading yet", then "Why: …" (for example "Why: no orders entered yet" or "Why: needs 12 month-ends of stock value in the books."), "First reading expected after …" when that can be known, "Meanwhile, as a rough trend only: …" when a rough figure exists, and See what is counted | There isn't enough in your books yet. It is never counted as needing attention |
| could not be read | "could not be read" | The figure could not be read this morning. It is never shown as 0, and it is read again for the next brief |
| "areas could not be read this morning" | The status line with no count | Some checks behind the levels and areas could not be read, so no count is given over partial figures. The numbers, the ladder and the balance show what was read, and each part that could not be read says "could not be read". When none of them could be read (no record of the levels and areas that morning), the brief shows the six lines alone |
The ladder and the balance
| Part | What it shows | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Ladder | Seven bars, one per level: Operational, Organized, Dependable, Informed, Sustainable, Connected, Intelligent, against the 80% mastered line | Each level's score, the same practices as the dashboard's climb |
| Focus | "Level 3 · Dependable is your focus" | Your lowest level below 80%. "Every level is mastered" when none is |
| A level above your focus | An outlined grey bar at the level's own score, with ahead under its number, and the line "Levels 4 to 7 are ahead of your focus: their scores show what is already in place, and the climb works on Level 3 first." | Its score is real, but the climb works on your focus first, so a level ahead of it that reads mastered is not yet the next step. Your focus and the levels below it look as before |
| A level that could not be read | "could not be read" | No level is named the focus then |
| Balance across 8 areas | People, Merchandising, Vendors, Selling, Fulfilment, Demand, Cash, Risk, each with its score | "!" on an area with a number off target, and the weakest area named. "Same practices as your well-run %, by area instead of by level. "!" marks an area with a number off, whatever its score." An area with nothing to measure yet reads "not covered in v1" |
| Under an area's ! | The numbers that are off, for example "Off: Purchase orders waiting" | An area can score 100 (every practice met) and still carry a ! when one of its numbers is off, such as a purchase order waiting too long. A brief from before this line was added says "One of its numbers is off" instead. So does People for a manager who can't see timesheets: the team's numbers are named only to people who can see timesheets, as on Quick Facts |
| An area that could not be read | "could not be read" | One of its checks could not be read this morning, so it has no score rather than a partial one |
The inbox in the sidebar
| Part | What it does | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Inbox icon with a red count | The briefs you have neither opened nor dismissed | Next to the notification bell, at the bottom of the sidebar. Not there at all when you don't receive the brief |
| The list "Your daily briefs" | Your last seven briefs, newest first: the title, "Brief of Thu 17 Sep", and a blue dot and "unread" until opened | Click one to open it in Insights |
| All briefs in Insights | Opens Insights on Archive | |
| Turn off AI features for me | Opens Your AI features (/ai/me), where you switch AI features off for yourself | Last in the list, for anyone Settings does not open for. The owner turns the brief off for the store with Turn off daily summary under the brief |
| Refresh | Checked again every minute while the tab is in front, when you come back to it, and at once when you open or dismiss the brief on Quick Facts | No pop-ups, no sound, no email or text: the count is the only alert |
Insights
| Part | What it does | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Today | This morning's brief, open | When your newest brief is older, one line names it instead |
| Archive | Your briefs, newest first, up to the last 60; a blue dot and "unread" on the ones you haven't opened | Click one to open it above the list |
| "What was recorded for Wed 16 Sep" | Opens the figures recorded for the brief's day (the day it reports on): Sales, Revenue in the books, Quotes open, Walk-ins, Complaints, Stock, Today | A group that could not be read says "could not be read". After closed days the brief's Sales and Walk-ins lines add up every day it covers, so they can be more than this one day's figures. The figures stay as they were recorded: days recorded before the brief counted sales net of returns show sales as sold, and when items sold on a day come back later, the orders list shows that day's Sales lower than what was recorded |
| "This brief could not be shown." | A brief this page cannot draw | |
| Who can open it | Anyone who receives the brief | For everyone else, and whenever the brief is off, the Insights address opens Ads Insights as before |
Opening a brief here counts as reading it, as on Quick Facts.
Flag a number that looks wrong
| Step | What you see | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Flag under a number | A window titled "Tell UpChannels this number looks wrong" | |
| "Sent with your flag, exactly as shown to you:" | The number's name, its value, the line under it and its window, then your store and the brief's date | Nothing else about your store is sent |
| "What did you expect to see? (optional)" | Up to 280 characters | |
| Send flag / Cancel | Sends it / closes without sending | |
| "Sent to UpChannels" | The flag was received; the window closes | UpChannels checks flagged numbers. There is no reply in the app yet |
| "You have sent 20 flags today; more tomorrow" | The daily limit | 20 per person per store day |
| "Too many tries in a short time. Wait a minute and try again." | Many requests reached UpChannels from your connection within a minute | Nothing was saved. Send it again after a minute |
| "Could not send; try again" | Anything else went wrong | Nothing was saved |
The opening-hours card (owners)
| Part | What it does | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| "When is Conroe Appliance open? Setup did not ask. Until you answer, the app assumes 9 to 5, Monday to Saturday." | Asks for your main store location's hours | Your main location is your oldest active one. Shown at the top of the owner's brief every morning until answered here or its hours are set in Settings → Locations |
| Yes, 9 to 5, Mon to Sat | Saves Monday to Saturday 09:00–17:00, Sunday closed | Replaces the hours on that location |
| Set different hours | Opens the seven days, each with an opening time, a closing time and Closed; Save hours or Cancel | Starts from the hours the location has. A day that is open needs both times, closing after opening |
| "Hours saved · Mon 09:00–17:00, … · closed Sun · Change in Settings" | Your answer is saved | Change in Settings opens Settings → Locations. From the next morning a closed day gets no brief, and the next brief covers it |
| "Could not save hours; try in Settings" | The save failed | Nothing changed; the card comes back tomorrow |
| Saved in Settings → Locations instead | Edit Location on your main location (your oldest active one) shows its Opening hours; Save Changes saves them with everything else in the dialog | A save there confirms the hours it shows when you changed a day, or when they were already not setup's week (then whatever else you changed), so the card stops asking from the next morning. Only the main location counts: saving or creating another location changes nothing for the brief. Setup's Monday to Saturday 9 to 5, Sunday closed, left as it was never counts, not even when you save the location: setup does not ask the hours |
Managers never see this card: only the owner can change a location's hours.
Why there is no brief this morning
| Reason | What you see |
|---|---|
| It isn't the send hour yet (7 a.m. store time unless the owner picks another) | "No brief this morning · last brief …" until it arrives |
| Your store is closed today by the hours the owner confirmed (on the opening-hours card, or set on your main location in Settings → Locations) | "No brief this morning · last brief …"; the next morning's brief covers the closed days |
| The brief could not be made this morning | "No brief this morning · last brief …". Tomorrow's brief arrives as usual. A brief that fails while it is being built alerts UpChannels automatically |
| The brief is switched off for your store, AI is switched off or paused for your store, or you switched AI features off for yourself | Nothing: Quick Facts, the sidebar and Insights are as they were before the brief |
| You are staff, or a manager the owner hasn't added | Nothing |
| The owner took you off the brief, or changed your role to staff | Nothing: the inbox icon, the line and your earlier briefs in Insights go too, and the Insights address opens Ads Insights |
| The brief reached your store today, after the send hour | Nothing until the next send hour, usually tomorrow morning |
| The owner switched the brief or AI back on after the send hour, and this morning's brief was not made while it was off | "No brief this morning · last brief …", then this morning's brief within the hour, unless the brief was set up for your store only today, after the send hour, or AI or the brief was switched off in the few minutes after the send hour, which can skip that morning's brief: then nothing until the next send hour |