In previous lessons, we covered how to summarize data and highlight wins. While useful, those are retrospective activities. To truly drive strategy execution, you need to look forward and understand the ripple effects of missed targets.

This lesson introduces Cascade’s Tapestry engine—the intelligence layer that powers more sophisticated reporting, specifically the Highlight Key Risks configuration.

What is Tapestry?

Most reporting tools just aggregate numbers. Cascade uses an engine called Tapestry.

Tapestry weaves together:

1. Quantitative Data: The hard numbers and KPIs.
2. Qualitative Data: Written updates and commentary.
3. Strategic Context: The dependencies, alignments, and relationships between your goals.

Because Tapestry understands how your goals are connected, it doesn’t just tell you what is happening; it calculates the "So What?"—the downstream consequences of performance issues.

Using the 'Highlight Key Risks' Widget

When you select the Highlight Key Risks option in the AI Executive Reporting widget, Tapestry analyzes your report's scope to identify threats that may not be obvious just by looking at a red traffic light.

The Chain of Consequence

The AI generates a narrative that typically follows a specific logic flow, moving from the tactical problem to the strategic threat:

1. The Identification: It pinpoints a specific operational issue (e.g., "Inability to optimize resource allocation in Operations").
2. The Immediate Consequence: It explains the direct result (e.g., "Supplier costs are uncontrolled, driving operational inefficiencies").
3. The Strategic Risk: It links this to your long-term goals (e.g., "This jeopardizes the 2028 target of $4.5B in COGS reduction").
4. The Ripple Effect: It speculates on secondary impacts (e.g., "Failure to reduce COGS may delay our market penetration strategy due to lack of competitive pricing").

Key Takeaway: The AI moves beyond "We are behind schedule" to "Because we are behind schedule, X, Y, and Z are now at risk."

From Detection to Action

Identifying a risk is only half the battle. Cascade allows you to drill down and solve the problem without leaving the report.

1. Verify the Source

At the bottom of the AI-generated risk assessment, you will see citations or links. Clicking these will take you directly to the specific goal or metric where the data originated. This allows you to verify the context immediately.

2. The 'Suggested Plan of Attack'

Once you have drilled down into the problematic goal, you don't have to brainstorm solutions from scratch.

• Locate the specific metric or objective that is off-track.
• Click the Suggested Plan of Attack button.

Cascade will suggest actionable steps you can take to mitigate the risk and get the goal back on track.

Summary

This workflow transforms your leadership meetings from passive status updates into active problem-solving sessions.

• Don't just report status: Use Highlight Key Risks to understand dependencies.
• Understand the 'So What': Look for the connections between operational failures and long-term strategic risks.
• Close the loop: Use the Suggested Plan of Attack to leave the meeting with a solution, not just a list of problems.