Start with the management question
Before choosing a chart, identify the decision: when to order, which alert to investigate, or where to adjust capacity. A dashboard describes a state; a decision system also clarifies the information needed and the next action.
Give every number a definition and a source
Recorded sales are not always actual demand, and total stock is not necessarily sellable stock. Shared definitions, update times and data provenance are part of the product. Without them, conflicting reports become conflicting decisions.
Evaluate recommendations against actual constraints
An order recommendation must account for lead time, minimum order quantities, pack sizes and inbound stock. Evaluate models at several historical cutoffs without future information, comparing them with the existing simple method. Prediction error matters, but so does its effect on the decision.
Make human review traceable
At the beginning, explainable recommendations and recorded management decisions can be more useful than automatic ordering. Keep the reasons for changes or rejections. They help improve rules, understand exceptions and base further automation on evidence.