The one rule that explains most confusion
Signal is a window, not a ledger. Almost every number you see is owned by another system. Signal reads it, arranges it, and shows it to you. When a number is wrong, the fix usually belongs in the system that owns it — not in Signal.
The exception is the work people do inside Signal: notes, follow-ups, team assignments, weekly check-ins, targets and corrections. Signal owns those.
Who owns what
The numbers | Come from | How fresh |
Revenue, gross profit, MRR, VABO, outsource costs | Our finance system — Finance's official record | Updated as Finance posts each month; the current month is always incomplete |
Clients, contracts, retainers, contract dates, who the Account Director is | Nova | Continuously |
Total revenue for closed months, and contractor payments | Our accounting system | Monthly, once the month closes |
Employees, titles, divisions, departments | Nova and payroll | Continuously |
Salaries, compensation, worker classification | Payroll systems (US, international and contractor) | Per payroll cycle |
Churn risk scores and expansion readiness scores | Our AI/ML models | Recalculated weekly |
Client sentiment, pacing to goal, contract-term intentions | Client Pulse — entered in Signal by account teams | Weekly, as people submit |
Team check-in completion, sentiment and bandwidth | Employee Pulse — entered in Nova | Weekly |
Sales opportunities, close rates, wins and losses | Salesforce | Refreshed regularly; the page shows a timestamp |
Call sentiment and per-contact relationship signals | Gong call analysis | Feeds the weekly model run |
Role targets, the hiring book, the renewal tracker | Google Sheets maintained by People, Finance and Client Success | When the sheet owner updates it |
Open roles, candidates, interview stages, offers | Greenhouse | Refreshed on demand, cached briefly |
Written summaries, drafts and brand research | Claude (AI), generated on Signal's servers | Weekly, or on demand |
Tasks | Asana | Live |
Team assignments, notes, follow-ups, targets, corrections, access | Signal itself | Instantly, as you save |
Why two numbers can both be right
This comes up constantly, so it's worth being precise about.
Finance figures and contract figures are different measurements.
Gross profit, MRR and VABO come from our finance system — what was actually billed and posted.
A client's "Revenue" or active retainer comes from Nova — what the contract says.
A contract can be signed and active while finance hasn't posted anything against it yet. That's why a brand-new client can show a real retainer and $0 gross profit at the same time. Neither number is broken.
Total revenue changes source when a month closes. For open months, Signal shows the finance system's view. Once a month is closed, it switches to the accounting system's final figure. A small step-change at the boundary is expected.
Model scores and human forecasts disagree on purpose. The churn model's score and the renewal confidence a human typed in are two independent opinions. When they conflict, that's the signal — those are the accounts worth discussing, not a data fault.
Delivery cost on Client Profitability is an estimate. It's built from self-reported hours multiplied by a single blended rate. It is not payroll, and it isn't meant to be.
How fresh is "fresh"?
Cadence | What it applies to |
Live | Anything you or a colleague typed into Signal — notes, assignments, follow-ups, check-ins |
A few minutes behind | Most dashboard pages cache their data briefly so they load fast. Reloading may not fetch new numbers; some pages have a refresh or sync button |
Weekly | Churn and expansion scores, AI-written summaries, recommended actions |
Monthly | Finance actuals, closed-month revenue, brand research |
When someone updates a sheet | Role targets, the hiring book, the renewal forecast |
The practical consequence: the current month is always partially complete. Comparing it to a closed month will always look like a decline.
When a number is genuinely wrong
Signal has a queue for exactly this.
Use the flag control on the page where you saw it, or go to Corrections.
Say what you expected and what you saw.
It's triaged through Pending → Reviewed → Resolved, and you can follow it there.
For client or team information that's wrong at the source — the wrong Account Director, a wrong contract date, a wrong department — fix it in Nova. Signal will pick it up.
For creative performance insights, or to change client or team information, go to Nova. For questions about a specific client's data and performance, ask Iris.
Related
Data Map — the same picture, drawn as a diagram inside Signal
Glossary — what each metric actually means
Corrections — reporting a wrong number
Getting help — who to contact