A reading guide for the norm table that every gap on a report depends on: the population column that says which customers the norm was drawn from, the cell count that says how many, the greyed cells under the floor, the method column, median or percentile, the version and date, the norms that moved since last quarter and why, and the test of a good norm table, that a reader can defend any gap on the report by pointing at one row of it.
Every gap on a report is a customer measured against a norm, and the norm table is where the norm is defended. It is the table most readers never open and the one that decides whether the gaps are real. This guide is the reading order: count, population, method, version and movement, and the test.
| Column | What it is | Read for |
|---|---|---|
| Segment cell | Size band, sector, type | Which customers this norm applies to |
| Measure | Products per customer, spend per unit of size, share | What is being normed |
| Norm value | The figure | The number the gaps use |
| Method | Median, 75th percentile, mean with reason | How it was computed |
| Population | Main-supplier customers in the cell, trailing year | Who it was drawn from |
| Count | Customers in the population | Whether it means anything |
| Floor | The minimum count | The greying rule |
| Version, date | When computed, under which definition | Comparability |
| Movement | Change since last version, and reason | Whether gaps moved because the norm did |
| Cell | Measure | Norm | Method | Population | Count | Floor | Version | Movement |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mid, manufacturing, direct | Products used | 4 | 75th pct | Main-supplier, trailing 12 mo | 84 | 30 | v2026.3, 1 Jul | +0 |
| Mid, manufacturing, direct | Spend per site | $95,000 | Median | Main-supplier | 84 | 30 | v2026.3 | +$4,000: recomputation |
| Small, services, distributor | Products used | 2 | 75th pct | Main-supplier | 31 | 30 | v2026.3 | −1: two customers left the population |
| Large, energy, direct | Spend per site | greyed | Main-supplier | 9 | 30 | Merged into Large, industrial |
Count: the energy cell is greyed and merged; its customers' gaps are computed against the industrial norm and say so. The small services cell is one customer above the floor and its norm moved by a whole product because two customers left; read its gaps with care.
Population: main-supplier, trailing twelve months, everywhere. Not circular.
Method: percentile for product counts, median for spend. Stated.
Movement: spend per site rose four thousand at recomputation; every gap in that cell shrank by that much times the customer's sites, and the movements page should say so.
Pick any gap on any report. Find the norm table row it used. If the row's count is above the floor, the population is main-supplier, the method is stated and the version matches the report's, the gap is defended. If not, it is not.
Norm value read alone. A figure with no count behind it.
Population 'all customers'. Circular; every customer at norm.
Greyed cells producing gaps. A list built on six customers.
Movement unrecorded. The gaps moved and nobody knows it was the norm.
Covirage publishes the norm table with every report, with count, population, method, version and movement on each row. The norm guide covers how the rows are computed, and the segmentation guide covers the cells.
Because the count is what makes the norm mean anything. A median of six customers moves when one of them has a bad quarter. The floor, thirty is common, is on the table, and cells under it are greyed and merged upward. A gap computed on a greyed cell is a gap nobody should act on.
The definition of who is in the cell: customers of this size band and sector where the company is the main supplier, in the trailing year. If the population is 'all customers', the norm is circular, because it includes the customers the gap is measured on. The column should say main-supplier or full-relationship, and the table should say how that was decided.
Because a norm recomputed at quarter end moves every gap under it. A share of wallet that fell three points may be the customer or the norm. The norm table's movement column, with the reason, recomputation or method change, is what lets the movements page say which.