A report delivered on time can still contain provisional figures. An agency reporting on ChatGPT advertising therefore needs an agreement covering both delivery and data status. Otherwise a client may interpret a punctual Monday report as a final account of the previous week’s business outcomes.
A service level, often called an SLA, should describe what the team owns and how the recipient can use the result. The suggestions here are an editorial operating method for reporting, not an OpenAI service commitment or a ready-made legal agreement. Match responsibilities and timing to the actual working arrangement before making them commitments.
Define the deliverable the client will receive
Begin with the decisions the report should support. Daily observation of advertising activity does not require the same detail as a monthly decision about additional budget. If both needs exist, distinguish a short operational update from a more developed performance analysis. This is more useful than calling every output a real-time report.
For each deliverable, specify the account, campaign selection, period, timezone, metric definitions, format, recipients and owner. Also state whether costs mean media purchases alone or include agency work. Someone should be able to reproduce the report when the regular analyst is absent. A dashboard link without a defined scope is insufficient.
For conversions, the agreed definition must also make attribution understandable. A results column that switches between events or time bases breaks comparability even when the delivery deadline stays unchanged. Refer to the metric definition and identify when an approved definition change takes effect.
Set a delivery time and a separate data status
OpenAI’s reporting documentation describes different update speeds for delivery, cost and conversion metrics. The team’s commitment should therefore be a checked report at a stated time, with visible information about values that may still change. A calendar appointment cannot make unfinished source data final.
Use clear status labels and define them. Provisional can mean a recently ended period that will be retrieved again. Revised means a previously delivered version has changed. Closed under the internal procedure means the planned reconciliation is complete. That last label is not a guarantee that no later correction could ever be necessary.
Put the retrieval time near the figures and refer to cost freshness assessment. Decide how to label a period when a subset is missing. Delivering an explicitly incomplete operational update may be more useful than delaying all information, but it must not look like a complete performance comparison.
Make corrections a predictable part of the service
A hypothetical example illustrates the need. A weekly report initially contains 16 attributed goal events. A later retrieval using the same definition and period contains 18. The difference is 2 events, or 2 ÷ 16 = 12.5% relative to the first delivered version. This is a reporting revision, not evidence by itself that campaign effectiveness improved.
Suppose the team and client in this example have chosen an internal rule requiring a separate notice when the agreed primary metric changes by at least 10%. The 12.5% revision crosses that chosen threshold. The rule is an invented operating condition, not a general standard or platform feature. A smaller change can also deserve a notice if it affects an important decision.
Preserve both versions as dated report snapshots. The correction notice should identify the metric, period, original value, revised value and whether the earlier recommendation changes. Simply sending a new link leaves the recipient to discover the difference at the next meeting.
Decide how long recent reporting periods will normally be retrieved again and who performs the last planned check. Use the late conversion closing procedure for that part. Keep it separate from subsequent business adjustments such as returns, because different data sources may need different reconciliation schedules.
Where a revision affects a client decision, attach a short decision note to the corrected version. State whether the recommendation remains the same, changes or needs more evidence. This avoids treating every numerical correction as a new strategy, while still making consequential changes visible. Preserve the earlier note so the client can see which information was available when a decision was made.
A reporting revision, not a new performance lift
- Version 1: 16 events
Delivered provisional report with a recorded retrieval time.
- Version 2: 18 events
The same scope and definition, retrieved later.
- Revision: +12.5%
(18 − 16) ÷ 16. The change concerns the reported value.
- Decision: send a correction
The example’s chosen 10% threshold is crossed. Preserve both versions.
Separate response time from restoration time
During a reporting interruption, an agency can often control when someone acknowledges the issue but cannot always control when an external source recovers. Distinguish acknowledgement, first assessment, next status update and verified restoration. A single promise of “quick handling” creates little practical clarity.
An illustrative operating arrangement might require an issue detected before the daily delivery deadline to be communicated before that deadline passes. The notice identifies affected accounts, the missing component, the latest known data status and the next check. Define working days, staffed hours and the contact route so a Friday evening is not inadvertently treated like an ordinary working morning.
When a report becomes available again, establish that the missing coverage has actually been recovered. A repaired schedule or successful job run only demonstrates that an execution step worked. Reconcile the expected accounts, periods and rows before telling the recipient that reporting has fully recovered.
Test the agreement with its recipient
Walk through a normal delivery, a revision and an interruption with the person who will use the report. Ask them to explain which information is current and when a new decision can be made. If the wording supports two reasonable interpretations, improve it before it becomes the routine.
Check owners, backup owners and recipients through quality assurance for multiple client reports. The arrangement becomes useful when it makes three things clear: what will arrive, what the figures mean at delivery and how the next change becomes visible. That gives the client usable information even while source values continue processing.
Sources and scope
Define an internal or client reporting service level with clear scope, delivery, data status, corrections and ownership when reporting is delayed.
Working methods and examples are editorial suggestions. Check current platform requirements and available features before implementation.