Home → Data Management → Reports module → Building a report
1.2. Building a report
A report consists of two fundamental things:
- Outputs
- Filters
Once you have the Outputs and Filters you can start adding Output Settings for each Output you have selected by giving your Outputs specific names which we call an Alias, adding a Function to the Output or choosing to Sort the data in a specific order.
Once you have your Outputs and Filters, you can choose how you want to view the data: on a grid, exported to Excel, visualised onto a chart, or shown on a pivot table.
Outputs
Outputs are the fields of data you want to see. If you were working in Excel imagine these as the different columns of data in the Excel file.
Outputs can be anything in the CRM and are categorised into the following:
- Primary Record
- Contact Record
- Interaction
- Booking
- Event / Training
- Export Doc
- International Trade
- Sale / Pipeline
- Record Activity
Filters
Filters allow you to say what kind of data you want to see from the results.
This could be anything from:
- Adding a filter to only return primary records which have a membership/customer status of "Full Member" or "Active".
- Adding a filter to only return contacts who are marked as a "Main" contact.
- Adding a filter to only return events/training if held within a specific date range.
- Adding a filter to return only the companies that have bookings where the booking status is "No Show".
Output Settings
Once you have your Outputs and Filters you may wish to start adding additional settings to your Outputs. To open the Output's Settings click on the icon () next to the Output you want to edit.
This will open the Output Settings popup where you can change the Alias, select a function or add a sort order.
Report Data Settings
The Report Builder also allows you to limit the number of results the report returns. This is done in the Report Data Settings section of the Report Builder.
Under the "Columns", "Outputs" and "Filters" sections there is the Report Data Settings section. Click the downward arrow () to open the section.
By default, the limit is set to 0 for all reports which means there is no limiter in place.
If you were to add a value of 5 this would mean the report would return only 5 results.
This is a useful tool when paired with the Output Settings Sort. Using the limiter and sort setting can allow you to create Top 5 / Top 10 results if you wish to.
For example, maybe you want to show the top 10 most recent companies to join your organisation.
Displaying your results
Now that we have added Outputs, Filters and Output Settings we are ready to run the report and choose a Report Type to display the data. Typically users will display reports using the Grid or Export option.
The reports module allows for 4 different display options. These being:
- Grid
- Export
- Pivot
- Chart
Grid
The Grid option displays the information on the Report Builder screen in a grid.
Export
The Export option provides the data in an Excel file for you to download. Once you have selected Export the report will run and show an Excel icon on the right-hand side of the screen. Click the Excel icon () to download the report.
Saving your report
When you have run a successful report you can save it for future use. This will save time as you will be able to review your saved reports on the Saved Reports page.
To save your report click the "Save Report" button () on the top right of the Report Builder page.
You can save your report into a folder to keep your reports nice and tidy and easy to access in future. You can add new folder options by clicking the cog icon ().
You are provided with additional options of:
- Private - Ticking this option will make the report private preventing general Rubi Users in your system from running the report.
- Lock Changes - Ticking this option will result in any changes made to the report not being saved.
- Export Only - Ticking this option means you can only export the report to an Excel file.
- Password Protected - Ticking this option means when you export the report it will automatically be password protected.