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The Report Builder

The Report Builder (formerly the Query Builder) is where you build a report from your datastores without writing SQL: choose a starting datastore, join related ones, pick columns or totals, filter, and see the results, a chart or a CSV. Saved reports can be reused, added to dashboards and sent on a schedule.

Where to find it

Architect Panel → Data:

  • Report Builder — build, run and save reports

Admin Panel → Reporting:

  • Report Builder — the same screen for people who are not architects, once the item is granted to their security group

A Create Report button on a datastore's list also opens it, in Simple view, on that datastore.

Before you start

  1. Switch Business Intelligence on. It ships off. Turn on the Business Intelligence module in Platform Modules (the same switch as "Enable Business Intelligence" in Site Settings). While it is off the screen says so.
  2. Grant access. Architects can always use it. Anyone else needs the Admin Panel item granted to their security group; it ships granted to nobody.
  3. Check datastore permissions. People can only report on datastores their group can read. See Who Sees What.

The screen

  • Top bar: Start from (the datastore), Show (Records or Totals), the Query name, Undo and Redo, Run, Open…, Save, CSV and a Simple view / Advanced view switch.
  • Standard reports: ready-made starting points across the top. See Standard Reports and Summary Figures.
  • Report period: quick date ranges, when the datastore has a date field. See Report Periods.
  • Datastores (Advanced view): Find a datastore, with Related and All datastores lists, and a canvas showing the joins.
  • Inspector: Columns to show, Filter by, Group & count by and Sort.
  • Tabs: Results, Chart, How this runs, SQL (architects only) and Assistant (when AI is configured).

Building a report

  1. Choose the datastore in Start from.
  2. Choose Records to list rows, or Totals to count, add up or average them.
  3. For Records, tick the Columns to show. For Totals, choose the figures and what to Group & count by (up to six figures and two groupings).
  4. Add conditions under Filter by, or click a Report period.
  5. Click Run. Check the Results, and for Totals look at the Chart tab.
  6. Click Save, give it a name and choose Who can see this. The report gets its own key automatically.

What goes wrong and how to tell

  • "You do not have access to the Report Builder.": grant the Admin Panel item to the person's security group.
  • "There are no datastores you have access to, so there is nothing to query.": the person's group has no Read permission on any datastore.
  • "A saved query needs a name.": name it before saving.
  • Two people see different numbers from the same report: every report runs as the person viewing it, with their permissions. That is by design.
  • The Admin Panel item reads "Query Builder": it is the same screen under its old name.

Worked example

A service manager wants open cases by team. The architect switches Business Intelligence on and grants the Reporting → Report Builder item to the managers' group. The manager chooses Cases in Start from, picks Totals, groups by Team, filters Status to Open, clicks Run and sees a bar chart on the Chart tab. They save it as "Open cases by team", visible to their security group, and add it to the team dashboard.

Recommendations

  • Grant the Report Builder deliberately; it can reach every datastore the person can read.
  • Start in Simple view and switch to Advanced view to join datastores.
  • Name reports for the question they answer.
  • Check Who can see this on every save.