A dashboard can show dozens of numbers while leaving the owner unsure what to do next. A pharmacy KPI is useful only when the definition is clear, the record can be checked and someone owns the response.
This weekly review combines sales, stock and operational signals. It deliberately avoids universal “healthy pharmacy” thresholds: a new shop, an established pharmacy and a different product range will have different baselines.
Choose seven measures you can reproduce
- Net sales: use a consistent treatment of discounts, refunds and tax.
- Gross profit: reconcile the cost basis before relying on the number.
- Unavailable-item enquiries: track unmet demand separately from completed sales.
- Inventory discrepancies: count confirmed unexplained differences, with value at cost.
- Expiry exposure: review batches approaching their relevant action dates.
- Supplier exceptions: include overdue credits and disputed deliveries.
- Cash forecast: show the lowest projected balance and the date it occurs.
Some measures may require a manual log outside your software. It is better to label a reliable manual measure than invent an automated metric from incomplete data.
Write a metric dictionary
For each KPI, capture name, purpose, formula, time period, source and exclusions. “Sales this week” must specify whether that means calendar week, seven rolling days or the current shift.
An unavailable-item enquiry is not a confirmed lost sale. One person may enquire several times, and some enquiries are not appropriate supply requests. Keep the operational label accurate and minimise personal data.
For expiry exposure, quantity at risk and value at cost answer different questions. A batch approaching expiry may have expected demand or an agreed return route; record that context beside the flag.
Compare like with like
Use equal-length periods and flag holidays, temporary closures and unusual orders. Show the previous value and the underlying counts, not just a percentage change.
For example, five unavailable-item enquiries versus two last week is an increase of three. Reporting “150% worse” without the counts makes a very small sample look more definitive than it is.
Look for linked signals. Rising sales with falling cash may reflect larger purchases or delayed collection. Lower stock with more unavailable enquiries may mean the apparent inventory efficiency is hurting service. A single number rarely establishes the cause.
Use an action register
| Signal | Question | Action owner | Evidence of completion |
|---|---|---|---|
| Repeated stock discrepancy | Same conversion issue? | Inventory reviewer | Corrected record and recount |
| Outstanding supplier credit | Accepted but not issued? | Purchaser | Credit note reconciled |
| Forecast cash gap | Which dated commitment causes it? | Owner | Documented funding or agreed timing |
Limit the meeting to a few actions that can be completed before the next review. Carry unresolved items forward with an explanation. A KPI meeting that produces no owner or date is mostly a report-reading exercise.
Make data quality visible
Show whether figures are complete, provisional or manually estimated. If cost records are missing for a product, do not quietly calculate profit as though its cost were zero. If a count is old, show its date.
For developers, calculation versions matter. When the definition of net sales changes, historical comparisons may need recalculation or a clear break in the series. Exportability and drill-down are often more valuable than another colourful chart.
Begin with four weeks of a consistent definition, then choose realistic internal improvement goals. Do not copy a competitor's claimed target without knowing their business and methodology.
RunMyPharmacy's reporting workflow and sales-tracking tools can supply records for parts of this review. The seven-KPI operating template also uses independent manual logs; it does not claim that every measure is a built-in dashboard feature.
Disclosure: written for the RunMyPharmacy team with AI drafting assistance and an editorial check of examples, links and product claims. We build the linked product. Examples are hypothetical; worksheets and illustrative software-design advice are not guarantees of product automation.
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