Explain a dataset or report in plain business language
Explains what a dataset or report contains, what each column or metric means, and what it shows, in words anyone can follow.
The prompt
Explain this dataset or report to me in plain business language, as if I'm a smart colleague who is not a data specialist.
Data or report: [PASTE SAMPLE ROWS, COLUMN LIST, OR THE REPORT]
Where it came from: [e.g. "CRM export", "finance monthly pack", "survey tool"]
Why I'm looking at it: [e.g. "I inherited this report", "I have to present it on Friday"]
Return:
1. What this is in two sentences: what one row or line represents, the time period, and the scope.
2. Field guide: Column or metric | Plain-English meaning | Example value | Watch out for (units, currency, cumulative vs. period values, percentages vs. percentage points).
3. What the data shows: the 3-5 main takeaways, each in one plain sentence with a number.
4. What it means for the business: who should care and why.
5. Jargon translator: technical terms and abbreviations, one line each.
6. What it can't tell me: questions this data cannot answer.
7. Questions to ask the data owner before I rely on it.
Rules: short sentences, and no statistics jargon unless you explain it. If a column's meaning is unclear, say so and give your best guess marked [CONFIRM] rather than presenting it as fact. Do not invent numbers that are not in the data.
Highlighted [brackets] are blanks to replace with your own details.
Fill in the blanks and use this promptMore Data & Analysis prompts
What to fill in
- PASTE SAMPLE ROWS, COLUMN LIST, OR THE REPORT
- e.g. "CRM export", "finance monthly pack", "survey tool"
- CONFIRM
How this prompt is built
This prompt follows the Few-Shot structure (Few-shot prompting). A few-shot prompt includes one or more worked examples of the input and the output you want, so the model can copy the pattern instead of guessing it.
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