Custom Reports – Phase One

Guide to Creating and Managing Custom Reports

This guide offers a clear overview of how to create and edit custom reports in Phase One of our custom reporting feature. In this phase, you’ll be able to add or remove columns, rename headers, and customize how your data is represented—whether it’s through tables, bar graphs, pie charts, or other visual formats. You’ll work with existing datasets while enhancing the way your data is presented.

Here is our full video guide to get you started: https://go.screenpal.com/watch/cZ62rZVWa4l


Understanding Custom Reports
A custom report is a tailored document that allows users to organize and present data in a way that meets their specific analytical needs. Unlike standard reports, which follow a predetermined format, custom reports enable users to choose which data points to include, how to arrange them, and the visual format they prefer, such as charts or graphs. This flexibility helps users gain deeper insights by focusing on the metrics that matter most to them, facilitating informed decision-making and enhancing overall data analysis.

Phase One: Enhanced Reporting Flexibility

In Phase One, you can customize existing reports by adding, removing, or renaming columns, as well as modifying how data is presented. You can take a traditional table report and transform it into a graphical or chart format, using options like bar graphs, pie charts, and more. This phase allows you to enhance visual presentation while still working with the same dataset as the original report. Additionally, you can create multiple copies of reports to experiment with different layouts and formats.

Phase Two: Full Custom Reporting

Phase Two will introduce full custom reporting from scratch. Instead of starting with an existing report, users will be able to select the exact data they need, combining elements from multiple reports to create entirely new and customized outputs. This upcoming phase will offer more flexibility and control over the data, giving you the freedom to build reports based on your specific business requirements, without being limited to the dataset within a copied report.

How to Access Custom Reports

By default, Custom Reporting is disabled. To enable it, navigate to Settings > General Settings > Custom Reports, and select YES to activate this feature.

Once activated, a new tab will appear on the Reports page, providing access to the custom reports option. A ‘Page’ icon will be displayed next to each report, allowing you to create custom reports. In the Custom Reports section, the same icon will be available for editing reports, and you’ll also have the option to delete them.

The Reports section allows you to create new custom reports

while the Custom Reports section enables you to edit existing reports.

Note: Privileges for custom reports are available exclusively to Enterprise users. These privileges include the ability to create/edit custom reports, edit custom reports, and view custom reports.

Custom Report Privileges and Role Assignment

Custom report privileges are automatically assigned to the administrator role. However, to customize a report, users must have appropriate report access.

Once you have the privilege to create/edit reports, you will be able to view, edit (if the custom report is selected), or create reports. If you only have “edit” access, you won’t be able to create a new report—only edit existing reports you have access to. The View privilege allows you to view/generate custom reports based on the settings in the Custom Report Privileges grid.

When creating or editing a role, a Custom Report Privileges Grid is provided. This grid displays all the reports you’ve created and can be accessed via Settings > Roles and Users > Manage Roles > Edit/New Role > Custom Report Privileges.

  • Create/Edit Custom Reports: If you select this option, selecting specific reports under the Custom Report Privileges Grid is not mandatory. You can save the role without selecting a specific report.
  • Edit or View Access: If you grant a user “edit” or “view” access (or both), you must select at least one report from the Custom Report Privileges Grid. If no report is selected, the user will not have access to view or edit any reports.

For users with Create privileges, no report selection is needed because they will be able to create new reports. However, if no reports are selected for editing, there will be no existing reports available to edit.

By default, when a custom report is created, the user’s role permissions do not change. If a new report is created, access is not automatically assigned to any role except the administrator, who retains full access. Other roles must be manually assigned access to the new report. The user who creates the report will automatically have access to it.

How to Create a Custom Report

Step 1: Create a Custom Report Group

To get started, create a custom report group, which will serve as a folder to organize your custom reports. This group doesn’t need to match the existing report group listings in the system. Currently, you may have seen groups like Marketing Reports,Administrative/Operations Reports, Finance Reports, Module Reports, and Promoter Reports when accessing your reports page. With custom reports, you have the flexibility to create your own group names and organize your custom reports however you prefer. This gives you more control and ease in managing your reports.

You should not create a new report until at least one custom group has been created.

To create a custom report group:

  1. Navigate to the Reports page.
  2. Click on Custom Report Groups located in the top right corner of the page.
  3. Name your new group/folder under which you’ll create your custom reports.

Step 2: Add a Custom Report Group

After accessing the Custom Report Groups section:

  1. Click the ‘Add Custom Report Group’ button located at the bottom right corner of the page.
  2. Input the required information, such as the name and description of the group.
  3. Save your changes to create the custom report group.

This group will now serve as a folder for organizing your custom reports.

Important Notes:

  • Deleting a Custom Report Group: Once a custom report group is assigned, it cannot be deleted directly. To delete the group, you must either delete all reports assigned to it or reassign the reports to another group. Once reports are deleted, they cannot be retrieved. To reassign, simply drag and drop the report into a different group or folder. Custom reports can only be active or deleted; no other options are available.
  • Custom Reports Functionality: There is no difference between the layout of your regular reports and custom reports. You can still schedule, email, export, and generate the reports in the same way. The main difference is that custom reports are generated based on your preferences (such as using graphs or charts). Note: CSV format is incompatible with graph representations. Graphs work with PDF, Word, and Excel formats, and once exported, you can print your report.
  • Scheduling and Emailing Reports: When scheduling or emailing a report, you must choose either Excel or PDF format.

How to Create a New Custom Report:

Keep in mind that Phase One gives you full control to customize existing reports by adding or deleting columns and renaming column headers to suit your needs. For example, if you don’t need certain columns, like GL codes in the Primary Reconciliation Report, you can remove them. You can also rename the report to something more identifiable for you, such as “Daily Sales Reconciliation Report” or “Account Balance Report.” Additionally, you have the option to represent your data using graphs or charts.

It’s easy to delete a specific column—just right-click on the column you want to remove and select ‘Delete Column.’ You can apply this to any column you’d like to remove.

Additionally, you can also insert a new column from the same menu if you need to add more data to your report. Simply right-click on the column next to where you’d like to add a new one, select ‘Insert Column,’ and choose whether the new column should appear to the left or right of the existing one and that’s it, your new column will be added.

To rename a column header, click on the blue edit icon and select ‘Edit Text.’ Similarly, for a newly inserted column, you can add a name by clicking the blue edit icon, selecting ‘Add Text,’ entering your desired name, and clicking ‘Add’ to save.

You can also easily rename your report to make it more identifiable. Just click the blue edit icon next to the report name, select “Edit Text,” and enter the new name you prefer and select ‘Add’.

The following guide provides all the details you need to make these changes and more.

  1. Ensure you are under the traditional Reports section.
  2. Select the report you want to customize and click the edit icon next to it.By default, the following format will appear:
    • The first three lines will display key parameters such as the sales date, organization name, and report name. These will be displayed across all reports, including the sales date range.
    Note: If you do not want this information displayed, press Ctrl + A to select all, and then delete it. This will give you a blank canvas to create your custom report from scratch.

Note: If the work area is not maximized, you can enlarge it by dragging and pulling the footer line at the bottom of the work area. This will give you more space to work with and customize your report.

The first four options in the custom report editor are basic elements: a text box, images, lines, and shapes (such as rectangles). These are foundational tools to customize the layout of your report.

Under the Comparison section, you’ll find various report types such as column, bar, stacked, pie, range area, line, and more. These options allow you to display the same data in different visual formats.

For example, if you want to create a column report or bar graph:

  1. Simply drag and drop the desired report type into the work area.
  2. If you change your mind, you can easily delete the current graph and select a different report type to start again.

This flexible design lets you experiment with different visual formats to best represent your data.

Note: At this point, no data will be displayed in your report. You will need to specify what data you want to include.

Once you have selected your desired format, expand the page by clicking the arrow buttons on the right-hand side. Here, you will find the Properties section, where you can make cosmetic changes to your report. Options include:

  • Displaying the legend
  • Adjusting the border width
  • Changing the border background color
  • Editing the chart area
  • Adding a title
  • Etc

Next, navigate to the Data tab. This is where you will define all the conditions and criteria for your report.

In traditional reports, predefined columns are displayed. On the right-hand side, you will need to select the appropriate dataset, which is unique for each report. For example, if you are creating the Customer Evaluation Report, ensure you select the Customer Evaluation Dataset to display the relevant data.

Once you have selected the appropriate dataset, the associated measures and dimensions will be generated. These fields correspond to the various data points typically displayed in traditional reports.

You can drag and drop these fields into the section on the right to visualize where the data will appear in your report. For example, to display the Customer ID, drag and drop it into the Columns section, and you’ll see its placement reflected in the report layout. If you want to display the Total Spend against the Customer ID, drag and drop it under the Y Value(s) section. This allows you to clearly define how each data point will be represented in your custom report.

If you want to remove the ‘sum’ from a specific field, follow these steps:

  1. Click on the settings icon next to the field.
  2. Navigate to the Aggregate option.
  3. Double-click on None to remove the sum.

This action will eliminate the sum aggregation from that particular field, allowing you to display the raw data instead.

You can then select Preview mode to see how your report will look.

Note: Preview mode displays data from the past 7 days. If there is no data available for this period, the preview will appear blank. The layout in preview mode will resemble the actual generated report, allowing you to assess the design and data representation before finalizing your report.

To save your report, click on the disk icon located to the left of the report grid. This will prompt you to enter the desired name for your report.

Additionally, you can select a group from the drop-down list to categorize your report.

Note: Be aware that some special characters are not allowed in the report name, so ensure you use only permissible characters when naming your report.

To verify that your report is generating the correct data, use the same parameters in both your custom report and standard reports. Generate both reports and compare the results to authenticate their accuracy.

Note: When using certain charts, the grid may be set from 0 to 100, which means data values less than 100 may not be displayed. If this occurs, you can untick the legend, and the data will be displayed. This adjustment only needs to be made once for the chart.

To edit a report, follow these steps:

  1. Navigate to your Custom Report section and select the report you wish to customize.
  2. Click on the edit icon to enter the report editing mode.
  3. Select the graph, then click on the settings icon.
  4. From here, you can add any datasets by dragging and dropping them into the desired area.
  5. Once you’ve made your changes, be sure to save your report.

Note: Some report formats require at least two datasets for comparison in order to generate data effectively.

If you want to simplify a report, such as your Primary Reconciliation Report:

  1. Go to your Reports section and create the Primary Reconciliation Report. All columns will be displayed.
  2. In some instances, you may only see the term Expr displayed. To verify the column name, click on the blue icon next to Expr and select Edit Expression. This will reveal the actual column name for your reference.

If you would like to delete a specific column, simply right-click on the desired column and select ‘Delete Column’. This action can be applied to any column you wish to remove.

Additionally, you can also insert a new column from the same menu if you need to add more data to your report.

If you want to customize your table by inserting the Order Total column just after the Tickets/Item column, follow these steps:

  1. Insert the Column: Right-click on the Tickets/Item column and select Insert Column to add a new column.
  2. Locate the Order Total Column: Scroll across your table to find the Order Total column.
  3. Copy the Expression:
    • Click on the blue icon next to the Order Total column.
    • Select Edit Expression to view the code.
    • Copy the displayed expression.
  4. Paste the Expression:
    • Go back to the newly added column.
    • Click on the blue icon in the new column and select Add Expression.
    • Paste the copied expression into the field.

This will link the new column to the Order Total data, allowing it to display the appropriate values in your report.

You can also add a heading to your column by following these steps:

  1. Click on the blue icon in the column where you want to add a heading.
  2. Select ‘Add Text’ from the menu.
  3. Enter your desired heading text.
  4. Click Save to apply the changes.

This will create a heading for the column.

Next, you will need to copy the additional expressions to the respective rows in your newly created column:

  1. Copy the Expression:
    • For the second expression that provides a summation of all your session totals, click on the blue icon next to the original column.
    • Select Edit Expression to view the code.
    • Copy the displayed expression.
  2. Paste the Expression:
    • Navigate to the second row of your newly created column.
    • Click on the blue icon in that row and select Add Expression.
    • Paste the copied expression into the field.
  3. Repeat for Additional Rows:
    • Ensure you fetch all relevant expressions from the original column to the corresponding rows in your new column.

Important Note on Specific Columns:

For the Delivery, Tax, MOP, MOP Fees, and Inside columns, you will receive a second validation prompt asking if you would like to delete these columns and their associated groups. This is due to the multiple sub-columns associated with each of them. Make sure to review this carefully before proceeding with the deletion.

You can also choose to change the report name to make it easily identifiable, To rename your report, simply click the blue edit icon next to the report name, select “Edit Text,” and enter your desired name.

When editing the Primary Reconciliation Report, we recommend duplicating the tab to keep one version open with the original information and expressions while working on the other. This way, you can delete and add columns as needed without losing your reference.

Steps to Edit the Primary Reconciliation Report:

  1. Duplicate the Tab: Duplicate the report tab to maintain access to the original expressions.
  2. Edit the Duplicate: In the duplicated tab, you can freely delete and add columns. For any new columns you add, you can simply copy expressions from the original report.
  3. Create in Column Format: You can also create the Primary Reconciliation Report in a column format instead of a table format. Again, duplicating the reports will help keep the source expressions intact.
  4. Select Desired Columns: Once your desired columns are selected, you can drag and drop the datasets just as before.
  5. Insert Expressions:
    • To ensure the correct data is generated, select the settings icon for the new column and choose Expression.
    • Copy the expression from the original report that you duplicated.
    • Paste the expression into the required section of the new column.

Please note that you are required to copy the information based on the data you wish to display. For example, copy the Event Level expression if you’re displaying event-level data, or the Session Level expression if you’re displaying session-level data.

Make sure to compare the data in your custom report with the traditional report to ensure they match.

You can now schedule or email your custom report. When downloading the report, it will appear exactly as you designed it.

Important Reminder: Once you have deleted columns from your custom report, even if the checkbox is selected when generating your report, the information from those deleted columns will not be displayed.

Custom reports are a great way to gain insights by letting users display data in a way that fits their analytical needs. This is only phase one of our custom reports, and phase two will be released later on. We understand that some of the steps might be tricky to follow through text, so we’re putting together a video guide to help you navigate and create custom reports more easily. Stay tuned for that!