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Board OntologyCustomers

Prior-Quarter Concentration

The top-customer ARR concentration reported in the PRIOR period — the comparison anchor for the current `customers.top_customer_concentration`. The board reads the two together to render the concentration trend on the bespoke customers card (rising concentration = growing single-account dependency risk). Common pitfall: comparing a top-1 concentration to a top-5 concentration across periods — keep the "top-N" cut identical. — Customers KPI, I'mBoard-authored (editorial tier).

I'mBoard-authored (editorial tier)

No public third-party standard anchors this KPI yet, so I'mBoard authors and maintains the definition — transparently labeled as editorial tier. See the ontology methodology for the published vs editorial tier system and the back-attribution workstream.

Rogue ID: customers.prior_quarter_concentration Type: Percentage (%) Domain: Customers

Definition

The top-customer ARR concentration reported in the PRIOR period — the comparison anchor for the current customers.top_customer_concentration. The board reads the two together to render the concentration trend on the bespoke customers card (rising concentration = growing single-account dependency risk). Common pitfall: comparing a top-1 concentration to a top-5 concentration across periods — keep the "top-N" cut identical.

Formula

Top-customer ARR concentration from the prior period, on the same top-N cut as the current `customers.top_customer_concentration`. concentrationTrend = top_customer_concentration − prior_quarter_concentration.

Why it matters

Direction is the signal — rising concentration means a single account's health increasingly drives the whole book's risk.

How to interpret

A rising trend warrants a board note on the largest accounts' renewal timing and health. Hold the top-N cut constant across periods.

Calculation policy

How an AI agent should compute this KPI from messy company data. Free-text rules consumed at reasoning time — not a deterministic DSL. The most common ways to get this wrong are listed under Common miscomputations.

Inclusion rules

  • The customers.top_customer_concentration value AS REPORTED for the immediately-prior reporting period — the prior-close snapshot.
  • Use the SAME top-N cut (top-1, top-5, top-10) as the current concentration metric.
  • A percentage of total ARR, as of the prior period close.

Exclusion rules

  • Any current-period activity.
  • A prior value computed on a different top-N cut than the current metric.

Required inputs

  • The prior period's reported top-customer concentration.
  • Confirmation the top-N cut matches the current period.

Data-source priority

  • The prior period's board-reported concentration figure.
  • Re-derive from the prior-period ARR ledger on the matching top-N cut ONLY if no reported value exists.

Edge cases

  • As-of semantics: the prior reporting-period CLOSE, never a trailing window.
  • Top-N mismatch (top-1 vs. top-5 across periods): not comparable — keep the cut identical.
  • An account merger between periods can step concentration up without new underlying risk — disclose.

Validation checks

  • concentrationTrend = top_customer_concentration − prior_quarter_concentration (in points).
  • Bounded 0–100%.
  • Equals the prior period's reported concentration on an unchanged top-N cut.

Common miscomputations

  • Comparing different top-N cuts across periods — produces a fake trend.
  • Using a trailing window instead of the explicit prior-quarter close.
  • Recomputing on the current book instead of using the prior snapshot.
  • customers.top_customer_concentration
  • customers.arr_at_risk
  • customers.percent_arr_at_risk

Source

I'mBoard editorial — authored and maintained by I'mBoard, first published 2026-04-01. No third-party standard is cited for this KPI; when one emerges, the definition is back-attributed and promoted to the published tier (a minor version bump). Read the ontology methodology for the published vs editorial tier system, attribution rules, and dispute process.

Stage relevance

Company stagePriority
Series ACore
Series BCore
Series C+Core
PublicCore

Suggested for stages: Series A, Series B, Series C+, Public.

Default owning functions

  • Sales
  • Finance

Machine-readable

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