You cannot stand on every forecourt. You can read six numbers about each one. Done every Monday, in the same order, they turn a network of stations from a black box into a set of questions with names attached.
01 Volume by product
Litres of each product, this week against last week and against the same week last year, per station. A drop at one outlet while the others hold is local: a competitor's price, a closed road, a nozzle out of service. A drop everywhere is the market. The two need different responses, and the comparison is what tells them apart.
02 Margin per litre
Your gross margin per litre by product, after the OMC's price and before your costs. It should be stable; when it moves, it is a price revision you have not passed through, a rate-difference adjustment you have not booked, or a credit customer billed at the wrong price. Margin is the number that catches pricing mistakes before they compound.
03 Variance, and who owns it
Total shift variance for the week, then the same figure by attendant and by nozzle. A station with a small total but one attendant carrying all of it has a training or an honesty problem. A station where every attendant is slightly short on one nozzle has a metering problem. The total alone hides both.
04 Receivables and their age
Credit outstanding, and how much of it is past its term. Growing outstanding with a stable overdue share is growth. Growing overdue is a collection problem that is cheapest to fix this week.
05 OMC balance and days of supply
For each station, the OMC account balance and roughly how many days of sales it covers at current volume. Anything under the threshold you set gets a top-up before the review ends; that is the one action from this list that cannot wait until Tuesday.
06 Position: cash, bank, dues
Cash in hand and in bank, what customers owe you, what you owe the OMC and other suppliers, and stock value. Together they say whether the network is generating cash or consuming it, which is the question every other number is a detail of.
07 The routine
Twenty minutes. The same six numbers, the same order, every station on one screen. For each number, one question: is this what I expected, and if not, who do I ask? Write the questions down, ask them by Wednesday, and next Monday's review starts with the answers.
08 How OCTYN does it
The owner dashboard in OCTYN shows these numbers across every outlet: today's sales, volume, margin and net profit with their trend, the position of cash, bank, receivables, payables and stock, and the alerts that need you this week: attendant shorts, overdue credit, low OMC balance, licences expiring. The report builder produces the weekly comparison, and exports go to Excel, PDF or Tally for your accountant.
See it with your own outlets: request a demo.