I don't think we disagree (Report and dashboards are useful decision making tools), but in practice hiring external people to come in and build them causes more

I don't think we disagree (Report and dashboards are useful decision making tools), but in practice hiring external people to come in and build them causes more problems then it solves. In my experience processes on the ground can and will change and all of these pre-written reports and dashboards quickly become ossified and outdated. If you take steps to make sure the data is properly stored and queryable stakeholders can maintain and develop their own reporting. Make the data understandable and accessible and reporting will follow. Human friendly schemas and such help a lot.