Reports, Schedules and Dashboards
A report is a saved combination: which measures, which dimensions, what filters, how it is laid out, and who may see it.
Where to find it
Architect Panel → ERP - Trading & Analytics:
- Analytics — the console — build, preview, run
- Reports — the saved definitions
- Report Schedules — recurring distribution
Architect Panel → Automation:
- Tasks — Scheduled Report Distribution, hourly
What a report holds
- Measures — the numbers.
- Dimensions — how they are grouped.
- Filters — what is included.
- Layout and chart type — how it is presented.
- Row limit — a bound on the result.
- Security groups — who may see it.
Security is on the report
Restricting by security group is a first-class field, not an afterthought. Reports aggregate — which means a report can expose in summary what a person cannot see in detail. A salesperson restricted to their own accounts should not receive a company-wide margin report because nobody set the groups.
Set them when you create the report, not when somebody notices.
Two dimensions is usually enough
A table grouped three or four ways is technically a report and practically a spreadsheet nobody reads. Build several focused reports rather than one that answers everything; each one should answer a question somebody actually asks.
Chart type
Match it to the question. Trend over time is a line; comparison across categories is a bar; composition is a stacked bar — and almost never a pie, which humans read badly at more than three segments. If the chart needs a legend to be intelligible, the report is probably doing too much.
Scheduling
A schedule holds the frequency, the recipients, the format, and the last and next run times. The Scheduled Report Distribution task drives it hourly and ships disabled — enable it under Automation → Tasks, or schedules will sit there looking configured and send nothing.
Send fewer, less often
A daily report nobody opens trains people to ignore the sender, and the one report that mattered goes unread with the rest.
Send weekly unless somebody will act daily, send to named people rather than a distribution list, and remove recipients who have stopped needing it. A scheduled report should prompt an action; if it does not, stop sending it.
Check who receives it
Recipients are a list on the schedule, so review it when people change roles. A monthly management pack that keeps arriving after somebody leaves the company is a data protection problem, not merely untidy.
Worked example
A finance team runs a weekly margin report by product category and month, restricted to the finance security group, delivered as a spreadsheet each Monday to four named people. A separate daily stock-below-reorder report goes to two buyers — daily because they act on it every day.
Recommendations
- Set security groups on creation.
- Two dimensions, and build more reports rather than bigger ones.
- Enable the distribution task or schedules do nothing.
- Review recipients quarterly.