Watch Tower · Know your business · Week 4

What your week-4 brief looks like

In week 4 of the Watch Tower plan you get a short brief your team can act on, keep and reuse: the goal, the KPIs with the assumptions behind every number, the options with their guardrails, and a 30-day agenda. Below are two illustrative samples, built from the demo data of two fictional companies in our free demo: a regional carrier and an earthworks contractor. A real brief is built from your own records and the people who do the work.

Download the sample (PDF, 2 pages)What you get in weeks 1 to 4 →See plans ↗

Illustrative sample · fictional company · not a real customer

Watch Tower · Know your business · Week-4 brief · Sample 1 of 2

Lone Star Freight & Logistics (fictional)

Supply chain · regional trucking and 3PL · Dallas–Fort Worth, Waco and Houston

1 · Decision charter

Decision
Pre-book backhauls on the Houston–Dallas lane, or first find out which shipper docks cause the detention?
Sponsor
Owner and operations manager
Outcome
Reduce losses · Decision due before 1 November 2026
Must not break
On-time delivery stays at or above 90% · No hours-of-service violations · No trucks added

2 · Company context, for this decision

Orders sit in the TMS; the dispatcher calls drivers and gets status by text. ELD positions are not linked to the TMS, so they are checked by phone. One dispatcher knows the Houston lane.

Records used: TMS load export, Q2–Q3 2026, all lanes; ELD positions and hours; Maintenance spreadsheetMissing (marked as gaps): Dock appointment times by shipper; Fuel card spend linked to loads

3 · KPIs, defined and sourced

KPIDefinitionBeforeNowPeriodSource · confidenceAssumptions
Empty-mile ratioMiles driven without a load ÷ all miles16.8%18.1%Q2 → Q3 2026TMS quarterly export · DocumentedA leg with no load attached counts as empty, including the drive to the first pickup. Personal-use miles left out.
On-time deliveryDeliveries inside the appointment window ÷ delivered (guardrail)91.2%89.4%Q2 → Q3 2026TMS quarterly export · DocumentedDelivered inside the appointment window the shipper set. Loads the customer rescheduled are left out.
Detention per stopAverage hours at a dock beyond two free hours (guardrail)2.1 h2.6 hQ2 → Q3 2026TMS quarterly export · ReportedHours at the dock from the dispatcher's notes, not dock records (missing today), so treated as reported, not measured.
Loads deliveredLoads delivered in the quarter4,1204,380Q2 → Q3 2026TMS quarterly export · DocumentedEvery delivered load in the TMS, all lanes. Cancelled and split loads counted once.

4 · Options, with guardrails

  1. Pre-book a return load before each Houston departure, on one lane for 90 daysHypothesis: Houston returns run empty because no backhaul is booked at dispatch. Not yet verified; test with the share of Houston loads that leave with a return booked.Guardrail: On-time delivery at or above 90%.
  2. Measure detention by shipper dock for four weeks before changing dispatchHypothesis: two shipper docks cause most detention. Dock appointment times are missing today, so this starts with a simple dock log.Guardrail: No change to customer appointments while measuring.
  3. Change nothing; review empty miles weekly against the 18% triggerThe Monday lane review already covers empty miles, detention and on-time by lane.Guardrail: Escalate if the ratio stays above 18% for two weeks.

5 · 30-day action and test agenda

  • Week 1Start a dock log (arrival, door, departure) at the two flagged shipper docks (Dispatcher)
  • Week 1Record whether a return load is booked at dispatch for every Houston load (Dispatcher)
  • Week 2Compare empty-mile ratio and detention for the Houston lane against Q3 (Operations manager)
  • Week 4Decide go, revise or stop on the lane test using the gate below (Operations manager)

Review gate

  • Go: Empty miles down 3 points and on-time at or above 90%
  • Revise: Empty miles down 1 to 3 points
  • Stop: No change, or on-time below 88%
  • Decides: Operations manager

6 · What comes next: in a real brief, the cards these actions become in your work tracker and the date of the next weekly review. Left out of this sample.

Illustrative sample · fictional company · not a real customer. Every company, person and number on this page is invented, taken from the Watch Tower Console's fictional demo workspace. Norventus · watchtower.norventus.com

Illustrative sample · fictional company · not a real customer

Watch Tower · Know your business · Week-4 brief · Sample 2 of 2

Mesa Ridge Earthworks (fictional)

Construction · earthworks contractor · North Dallas–Fort Worth

1 · Decision charter

Decision
Add a haul truck on the Prosper job, or resequence loading with the trucks we have?
Sponsor
Owner and general superintendent
Outcome
Optimize operations · Decision due before 20 October 2026
Must not break
No safety incidents · Prosper job cost per cubic yard at or below the $4.00 bid · No extra overtime; the Prosper finish date holds

2 · Company context, for this decision

Foremen log daily quantities; the office re-keys them into job cost (on paper at the Denton site). Telematics hours are re-keyed monthly. Each site runs one excavator.

Records used: OEM telematics export, all heavy equipment, Aug–Sep 2026; Daily production reports; Job cost reportMissing (marked as gaps): Truck tickets linked to sites; Paper reports from the Denton site

3 · KPIs, defined and sourced

KPIDefinitionBeforeNowPeriodSource · confidenceAssumptions
Equipment utilizationWorking hours ÷ scheduled hours, all heavy equipment61%58%Aug → Sep 2026Telematics export · DocumentedScheduled hours are 10 a day, Monday to Friday, per machine; working hours are telematics hours with the bucket or blade working.
Idle share of engine hoursEngine running without work ÷ engine hours (guardrail)27%31%Aug → Sep 2026Telematics export · DocumentedIdle means the engine on with no working signal for more than 5 minutes. Warm-up time counts as idle.
Prosper job cost per cubic yardDirect cost booked to the Prosper job ÷ cubic yards moved there; the bid assumed $4.00 (guardrail)$4.12$4.38Aug → Sep 2026Job cost report · ReportedDirect cost is labor, fuel and equipment hours booked to the job; overhead left out. Cubic yards from foremen's daily reports, not survey.
Cubic yards movedCubic yards moved across all jobsites in the month184,000212,000Aug → Sep 2026Daily production reports · DocumentedForemen's daily counts, all jobsites. The Denton site's paper reports are typed in by the office and may lag a week.

4 · Options, with guardrails

  1. Add one haul truck on Prosper for two weeks, then re-measure excavator idle timeHypothesis: too few haul trucks for the excavator's pace. Not yet verified; test with excavator wait time between trucks, by day.Guardrail: Prosper job cost per cubic yard at or below the $4.00 bid.
  2. Resequence loading so trucks rotate between Prosper and the nearest jobTruck tickets are not linked to sites today, so the rotation is tracked by the foreman for the test.Guardrail: The Prosper finish date holds.
  3. Change nothing; record idle minutes daily for two weeks to confirm the cause firstThe Friday equipment review already covers utilization, idle time and next week's moves.Guardrail: Act within 48 hours if the Prosper job cost per cubic yard stays above the bid for two weeks.

5 · 30-day action and test agenda

  • Week 1Pull excavator wait time between trucks from telematics, by day, for Prosper (Equipment manager)
  • Week 1Link truck tickets to the site on each daily report (Foreman)
  • Week 2Compare utilization and idle share for Prosper against September (General superintendent)
  • Week 4Decide go, revise or stop using the gate below (General superintendent)

Review gate

  • Go: Utilization up 8 points and the Prosper job cost per cubic yard at or below the $4.00 bid
  • Revise: Utilization up 3 to 8 points
  • Stop: No change, or any safety incident linked to the change
  • Decides: General superintendent

6 · What comes next: in a real brief, the cards these actions become in your work tracker and the date of the next weekly review. Left out of this sample.