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Standard Reports and Summary Figures

When you save a report in the Report Builder you can make it more than a saved query: a standard report, offered to everyone as a starting point across the top of the screen, or a summary figure, a single number shown above the results whenever that datastore is being reported on.

Where to find it

Architect Panel → Data:

  • Report Builder — Save, then "Show it as" in the save dialog; standard reports appear under Standard reports

Admin Panel → Reporting:

  • Report Builder — the same screen, once granted

The three ways to save

In the Save this query dialog, Show it as offers:

  • A saved query: listed under Open…, for reuse.
  • A standard report: a chip under Standard reports across the top of the Report Builder. Clicking it opens the report, checked against the current user's permissions.
  • A summary figure: one number above the results whenever its datastore is the starting datastore. Up to four per datastore.

Who sees it

Who can see this in the same dialog decides who gets it:

  • Everyone who can reach this screen.
  • Only my security group.
  • Named security groups, entered as group numbers in Group IDs.

Architects see all of them. Every report still runs with the viewer's own permissions, so a shared standard report never shows anyone data they could not otherwise read.

Creating a standard report

  1. Build and run the report.
  2. Click Save, name it for the question it answers, and choose "A standard report" in Show it as.
  3. Choose who can see it, and save.

Standard reports are listed whichever datastore is chosen, not only on their own, so keep the list short and the names clear.

Creating a summary figure

  1. Set Show to Totals, choose one figure and no grouping, for example the number of open cases.
  2. Save it as "A summary figure".
  3. Choose the datastore in Start from again: the figure appears above the results.

When there are none

With no standard reports visible to you, the strip says "Nothing saved yet" and offers up to six automatic suggestions, such as "Number of ..." and "... by month".

What goes wrong and how to tell

  • "A summary figure has to be a total, not a row listing. Switch Show to Totals."
  • "A summary figure is one number, so it cannot be grouped.": remove the grouping, or save it as a standard report instead.
  • A figure shows a dash: it could not be worked out for you. Hover over it for the reason, often a permission.
  • "That saved query is not available to you.": it is shared with groups you are not in.
  • Two ledger reports appear on every datastore on systems with ERP: they are platform standard reports for the ledger.

Worked example

A customer service lead saves three standard reports for their team ("Open complaints by category", "Complaints closed this month", "Overdue responses"), each visible to their security group. They also save "Open complaints" as a summary figure on the Complaints datastore. Now anyone in the team who opens the Report Builder on Complaints sees the open count at the top and the three reports one click away.

Recommendations

  • Publish a handful of standard reports rather than many.
  • Use summary figures for the numbers people check daily.
  • Share with groups, not everyone, unless the report is genuinely general.
  • Review standard reports when processes change, so stale ones do not mislead.