Leading and lagging, side by side
Which numbers come from which records, and what each one tells you.
JSJye Sanjurjov1.1
Lagging indicators tell you what happened. Leading indicators tell you what is about to. Both come from the same daily records, which is what keeps them honest — nobody is compiling them by hand at month end.
Which numbers come from where
| Indicator | Type | Reads from |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-start completion | Leading | Daily site records |
| Training currency | Leading | The LMS and licence expiries |
| Control performance | Leading | Scheduled controls and their evidence |
| Incident frequency | Lagging | Reported incidents |
| Action ageing | Lagging | The action queue |
Reading them together
Lagging numbers tell you whether last quarter went well. Leading numbers tell you whether this one will. Read alone, either misleads — a clean incident record over a quarter of missed pre-starts is not a safe quarter, it is an unmeasured one.