Reports - Getting started

1What the Reports module does #

Every standard report in InvoiceNET - the day book, the ledgers, the stock registers, the outstanding lists, the GST checks, the CRM and workflow reports - runs in one report viewer. The viewer is the same for all of them: options on the left, the result in the middle, the help on the right, and the same buttons along the top. Learn it once and every report works the same way.

A report is never a copy of the data. Each time you press Run the server reads the books as they stand, cuts them to what you may see, and sends the answer back. Nothing you do in a report changes an entry - except the three reports that are built to be edited in place (see Reports you can edit in below).

Working with a report always follows the same chain:

Two neighbours share much of this machinery and are described here too: the Home dashboard, whose cards are reports drawn for you when you sign in, and Stock Availability, a report page of its own. Your company's own reports - the custom reports - are in My Reports, which has its own guide.

Report Scheduling - reports mailed on a schedule - is a feature bought on its own, listed under Standard Reports. Without it the Schedule button is not shown and saved schedules are not sent. It is checked on its own, so a company that runs its sales reports under Sale can schedule them too.

2Where to find help #

Help comes in three places, and they use the same words.

• On every report: the Help rail on the right edge of the viewer. Press its chevron to open it. It starts with the report's own guide - what it shows and how it is built - then Every parameter, in detail (every filter of this report, one line each, taken from the filters themselves so it never falls behind), Whose figures you see (your reporting scope, named for you), Licence and permission, Shortcut keys and If something does not work. Whether the rail is open or closed is remembered per report.
• The manual: at the foot of this page, every screen of this module in detail - the report viewer, the All Reports catalogue, the dashboard and Stock Availability.
• Search help... in the top bar of the application searches every screen's guide at once. Tick This screen only to keep to the page you are on.

3Where things are - the Reports menu #

Click Reports in the sidebar. It opens a page of cards, one per report, filed under group headings. Start here comes first; the other groups follow in alphabetical order. The Search... box at the top keeps only the cards whose name, description or group contains what you type; Down arrow steps from the search box onto the cards, the arrow keys walk them and Enter opens one.

Reports under their own module

A report that belongs to a module with a sidebar group of its own sits under that group, not under Reports. The core modules - accounting, inventory, sales and purchase - have no group of their own, so their reports stay under Reports.

All Reports - the catalogue

All Reports lists every standard report the system carries as searchable cards, grouped by category, whether or not it is on your menu. Type part of a name, a description or a category in the search box; the counter beside it reads shown of listed. A greyed card marked No View right is a report you may not open - it stays on the list so you know what to ask for. A report of a module the licence does not include is not listed at all.

Home and Stock Availability

• Home - the dashboard: cards of reports drawn for you when you sign in (see The Home dashboard below).

4First-day setup (administrator) #

Do these once per company. Steps 1 to 3 are for whoever looks after the database; the rest are done in the application.

1. Licence. The company's licence must include Standard Reports for the Reports menu, the module each report belongs to (Financial Accounting, Inventory Management, Sales, Purchase, Cashier, Fixed Assets, Admin, Linked Transactions, Order Management and the rest), and Dashboard for Home. After a licence is renewed or extended, sign out and in again; the server picks the change up within about ten minutes.
2. Menu grants. In User Manager, the Reports tab grants the report menu entries under the Reports section (the View column); the Menu Definition tab grants the other sections - Cashier, Fixed Assets, Admin and so on. A tick on a section carries everything under it.
3. Report rights. On User Manager's Custom Reports tab, tick View, Print and Export on each report's permission entry, company by company (see Who may see what below).
4. Scope. Decide each user's report option - All, Branch or Group - in their user profile. It limits every report they run.
5. Mail. For e-mail and scheduled delivery, set up at least one sending account on Settings > Email Account (the Mail Accounts page). Scheduled delivery also needs the API's delivery worker to be running (it is on unless the API's settings switch it off).
6. Divisions. If the company tracks divisions, switch on Track divisions on Settings > General Settings and keep at least one active division; every report then gains a Division filter.

5Keys that work in every report #

Double-clicking a row does the same as Enter. There are no F2, F3 or F4 keys in a report: nothing is found, added or modified here.

On the Reports card page and the All Reports catalogue: the arrow keys move between cards, Home and End jump to the first and last, Enter or Space opens the card, and Down arrow in the search box steps onto the cards.

6Finding a report #

• Open Reports in the sidebar. The reports are filed as cards by subject - Account Books, Financial Statements, Inventory Reports, Outstanding Analysis, GST Reports and more. A module with its own group (CRM, Workflow Management, Communications, Fixed Assets, Cashier...) keeps its reports there.
• All Reports, where your menu carries it, lists every report as searchable cards; a greyed card means you do not have the View right on it.
• Inside a report, a row can open another report - an item row its movement, an account row its ledger - already filled in and run.

Every report opens in its own tab, titled with the report's name, so you can keep several open and switch between them. Opening the same report again opens a second tab.

7Running a report #

1. The report opens with its Filters on the left, one under another, each with a line under it saying what it does. The From and To dates start at your Reporting Period - the chip on the footer bar. Changing them here changes only this report.
2. Set what you need. A pick-list with many entries (products, accounts) is drawn a screenful at a time - type to narrow it. In a multi-select, nothing ticked means all. A switch that depends on another stays greyed until that one is on.
3. Press Run (F5) - on the toolbar or at the foot of the panel. A spinner names the step the run is on (running, preparing, drawing); Cancel (or Esc) gives up on it.
4. Read the result. The header shows Rows, the time it was Generated and the Run time from pressing Run to the report being on screen.

Presets - your saved filter sets

At the top of the panel, Preset keeps a set of filters under a name. Set the filters, type a name in the Preset box ("Month-end debtors", say) and press the save button beside it. Later, picking the preset puts its filters back and runs the report in one click. The bin button deletes the selected preset. Presets are yours - kept per user and per report on the company database - and a filter the report has since dropped is quietly ignored.

Filters that order the columns

Some multi-selects become columns in the order you pick them - Movement Analysis's voucher types, for example. When two or more are picked, a numbered list appears under the box: drag a row, or use its up and down arrows, to choose which figures stand side by side.

Docking the panel

The chevron at the top of the Filters panel docks it to a narrow rail, giving the report the whole width; the chevron on the rail brings it back. The panel starts open, and whether you docked it is remembered per report.

When nothing comes back

• No entries match these options. - the report ran and found nothing. That is an answer, not a failure: widen the dates or clear a filter.
• Some reports say why they are empty - a note on the banner replaces the general line (a table not yet set up, a filter that cut everything).
• A run that takes longer than the connection's 30-minute limit is given up with a message saying so. Narrow the filters, or ask for the report to be looked at.

8Filters every report shares #

Besides its own filters, a report picks up shared blocks, so the same question is asked the same way everywhere. A block's list only appears when there is something to pick: a company that never keys HSN codes never meets an HSN filter.

Account filters (ledger and balance reports)

Product filters (inventory reports)

Division

When Track divisions is on in the general settings and divisions exist, every report gains a Division filter: one division's entries, or (All divisions).

Comparison with an earlier period

Reports whose rows are things rather than vouchers - items, accounts, parties, groups, assets - carry Compare with an earlier period. Switch it on and choose Compare against: Previous period (same length) or Same period last year. Every figure column gains a (prev) twin for the same row; a row that existed only in the earlier period is added at the foot rather than dropped. The report is built twice, so expect twice the wait. Registers and day books do not offer it - their rows are transactions and cannot be matched across periods. The financial statements have a comparison of their own.

Whose figures you see

Every report is bound by your report option: All shows every branch; Branch only your login branch (and entries with no branch); Group every branch of the group company you picked. The scope is written on the report's head, so a printed page always says whose figures it carries. To change it, click the Report Option (or Group Company) chip on the footer, which returns you to company selection. The Professional edition always works with All.

9The Document view - reading, finding, drilling #

The Document is the report as it would be printed: the head lines (period, scope, what the filters cut), group headings, day or group subtotals, running balances and the totals at the foot. The column headings and the foot stay in place while the rows scroll, and a ledger's Total and Closing Balance stay in sight on every page.

Find in this report

1. Type in Find in this report at the top right of the result, then press Enter.
2. Every matching row lights up and the found text is marked. The first match is selected and scrolled into view; the counter reads, for example, 3 of 17.
3. Press Enter or Down arrow (or the down button) for the next match, Up arrow for the previous. On a large report the find opens whichever page holds the match.
4. Empty the box to clear the marks.

Find marks rows; it never hides them, so balances and totals stay true. To cut the rows themselves, use the filters and run again.

Columns

Columns hides or shows the Document's columns - untick one to hide it; Show all brings them back. The button shows how many are hidden. The choice is remembered per report, for you. It affects the Document and its print only: the exports, the Analyse grid and the charts keep every column. The last visible column cannot be hidden.

Drilling down

A row that can be opened carries a drill mark at its start. Double-click the row, press Enter on it, or click the mark.

• A voucher row opens the voucher on its entry screen, in view mode, in a tab of its own.
• An item or account row opens that item's or account's own report, filled in and already run. Your filters travel with it: a drill made after narrowing to one brand and one quarter lands on the same brand and quarter. A filter the next report does not understand is dropped.
• Some reports open a record page instead - the CRM reports open the lead or deal itself.
• In matrix reports each underlined figure opens exactly the vouchers behind it: step into the row with Right arrow and press Enter on the cell, or click the figure.
• Paired (T-form) sheets carry a second mark at the end of the row, for the item on the right-hand side.

Closing the drilled tab brings you back to the report with the same row selected, so you can carry on with the arrows. A drill is checked on its own: the report or voucher it opens applies its own licence and rights, so a drill can be refused even though this report ran.

10The four views #

The view you last used is remembered per report. A view, once built, stays built until the next run, so switching back is quick. Analyse, Charts and Pivot read every row, so they open only when the whole report has loaded.

Analyse

• Drag a column header into the band above the grid to group by it; each group gets its own Sum foot, and the grouped column leaves the body because its value already heads the group.
• Click a header to sort; the funnel on a header opens its filter menu.
• The search box on the grid's toolbar looks through every row, not only the page on screen, and keeps the rows that match.
• The Sum footers cover the columns the Document totals. A column whose foot is a stated figure - a closing balance - shows that figure instead of a sum.
• Continuation lines inherit the voucher or item from the line above, so grouping never files them under blank.
• Double-click a row to drill down, as in the Document.

Charts

• Pick the Chart shape, the Category (a text column) and one or more Figures (numeric columns). Several figures plot side by side; a pie or donut shows only the first.
• Each bar or slice is the sum of the figure per category, largest first. Beyond 30 categories (12 for a pie) the rest fold into Others.
• The cards above the chart give the rows, total, average per category, largest and smallest - or, for several figures, one card each.
• With more than twelve categories the chart shows twelve at a time: drag the scrollbar under it, drag its edge grips or roll the mouse wheel to zoom. Only the category axis zooms - the value axis stays put.
• Click a bar or slice to open the Document with exactly its rows marked; the find box's arrows then walk them.

Pivot

• Drag any column from the field list, or the bar above the table, into Rows, Columns, Values or Filters. Click a value's name to change how it adds up - Sum, Count, Average, percentage of total and more.
• A date column also offers its month, quarter and year as fields.
• Your arrangement is remembered for the report. Type a name in Layout and press save to keep several; pick one to apply it; the bin deletes it; Reset returns to the report's opening layout. Layouts are kept in this browser, for your login.
• Double-click a figure to open the Document with exactly its rows marked.
• Subtotal lines are never counted twice - the pivot is built from the record rows only.

11Large reports #

A report with many rows arrives in chunks of 10,000. The first chunk shows at once; a strip reads Loading the rest of the report: n of N rows with a progress bar, and you can read, page and find in what has arrived. Stop loading ends it early - what is on screen is then only the first part, and Print, Analyse, Charts and Pivot refuse until you run it again.

• The Document shows 500 rows at a time. A pager gives first, previous, next and last page and a page number box. The find box searches the whole report and opens the page holding the match. The total at the foot always covers the whole report.
• Analyse pages itself above 2,000 rows (200, 500 or 1,000 a page); sorting, filtering, grouping and the Sum footers still cover every row.
• Above 150,000 rows, Analyse and Pivot stay shut - a second copy of that many rows does not fit in the browser's memory. The Document, Find, Charts, Print and the server-written Excel and PDF still cover every row.
• Excel, CSV, PDF and HTML of the Document are written by the server from a fresh run, always in full.
• The Run time figure shows a + while rows are still loading, and is restated when the last row is in.

12Print, export, e-mail and schedule #

• Print (Ctrl+P) prints the view on screen under the report heading. The Document prints every row even when only a page is on screen; the heading repeats on every sheet. It waits until every row has loaded.
• Excel, CSV and PDF export the view on screen. HTML appears in the Document view and PNG in the Charts view. The Document's PDF is landscape A4 with the header repeating on every page and page numbers - the same file the e-mail attaches.
• E-mail sends it now; Schedule sends it by itself - daily, weekly or monthly, at a time, for a period (today, last month, this financial year to date...).

Printing and exporting are separate rights; e-mailing and scheduling need the Export right, because they send the data out of the company.

E-mailing a report

1. Run the report and open the view you want to send.
2. Press E-mail. The compose window opens with a subject and a covering note already written; the attachment strip names the file that will go.
3. Pick From (e-mail account) - the accounts you may send through; the account assigned to the finance module on Settings > Email Account (the Mail Accounts page) (else the company's default account) is picked first - fill To (type addresses, comma-separated, or use Address book) and edit the note.
4. Add files with Attach file or, where Document Management is licensed, From Document Explorer - it lists the connections; open a folder with its arrow (it is read the first time) and tick the files.
5. Press Send.

The server runs the report again for every send, so the rights and the log stand on a fresh run. The attachments together may not pass 25 MB. Every send is written to the notification log, and to the report access log where that is set up.

13Scheduled delivery #

A scheduled delivery is a standing e-mail: this report, these filters, mailed on a rhythm. Press Schedule on the toolbar. The window lists your deliveries of this report - rhythm, period, what it sends, the addresses and the Last outcome - with Edit and Delete on each, and a form for a new one.

• A new delivery captures the filter panel as it stands now. An edited delivery keeps the filters it was saved with - make a fresh one if the question itself changed.
• It is sent as you: your rights, your report option and your branch apply, and every send lands in the access log. You see and change only your own deliveries.
• A slot missed while the server was down is sent once on the next scan - the newest edition, not a backlog.
• A failed send is written to Last outcome and tried again at the next due time, not every few minutes.
• Each send checks the licence and your rights again, so a delivery stops working when the right is taken away.

14Reports you can edit in #

Three reports let you key figures straight into their rows. Every change waits in a save bar above the report - it counts the lines not yet saved - and the whole set goes in one save. Discard drops them. After the save the report runs again by itself.

15The Home dashboard #

Home is the first page after signing in. It shows Dashboard for your name, and a set of cards - each one a report drawn for you with your company, branch and report option, so the figures you look at every morning are there without running anything.

Where the cards come from

The cards are your company's custom reports that are marked to show on the dashboard in their definition (made in the desktop's query editor), that you hold the View right on, and whose module the licence includes. The same definition says whether a card is a Grid, a Chart or a Pivot - the pivot tiles. Nothing is assigned on this page: an empty Home ("No dashboard reports are assigned to the selected user and company context.") means no such report is open to you here.

The page

• The strip at the top counts Total Cards, Grid Reports, Chart Reports and, where there are any, Pivot Reports. A Customer Portal administrator also sees Tickets awaiting reply; clicking it opens the Support Desk on those tickets.
• Cards sit four across (one across on a phone); a pivot card takes two places. Drag a card's header to move it and its edge to resize it - the arrangement is not kept, and the next visit lays the cards out afresh.
• Refresh at the top runs every card again. Welcome opens the welcome page.
• The cards are kept for your session: coming back to Home shows them as they were, without running them again. Press Refresh to catch up with new postings.

A card

A grid card shows five rows a page, with sorting, filtering, grouping and a column chooser. A card whose report fails shows its error in the card; the other cards are unaffected. The heading line of each card gives its row count and the time it was loaded.

16Stock Availability #

Stock Availability answers "how much can we promise?" - per item and branch - in four quantities: Physical Stock (what the stock sheet says is there), Reserved (committed to orders already taken), Blocked (held on a quality or damage block) and Net Available (physical less reserved less blocked - the only figure to promise a customer). A row whose Net Available is zero or below is tinted amber.

• Filters: As on (blank means today), a search on item, part number, brand or group, Group, Brand, and three switches - Nothing free only, Hide items with no movement (on when the page opens) and Include inactive items (off when the page opens). Nothing is read until you press Apply filters.
• The footer counts the items and totals each quantity column, following the grid's own column filters. Group by Unit before reading a total - a grand total adds kilograms to bags.
• Drag a header into the bar above the grid to group; the funnel on a header filters the rows already on screen.
• Refresh (F3) runs it again with the current filters; Export and Print carry the grouping, filters and totals as they stand.
• The Customer Portal's catalogue and order desk read the same figure, so what this page shows is what portal customers see.

17Who may see what #

A report must pass three checks, in this order. The first that fails decides what you see.

• Rights belong to a permission entry, and several reports can share one - most stock reports answer to Stock Report, the cash-counter reports to Cash Counter Reports. Granting View on the entry opens every report that shares it.
• A report whose permission entry does not exist in the company is not restricted.
• Administrator and Global Administrator hold every report right automatically. A Developer sees the whole menu but holds only the report rights ticked for that login.
• The Print, Export, Edit, Drill Down and Report Options ticks on the Reports tab are stored with the menu grant; the viewer's buttons follow the permission entry on the Custom Reports tab.
• The viewer reads your rights when the report opens. After an administrator changes them, close the report and open it again. Run, export and e-mail are checked again on the server every time.
• The figures are then limited by your report option and branch, whatever your rights.

18Settings that change how reports behave #

19Reports about the reports #

Report Access Log (Admin) answers who ran, exported or e-mailed which report, when, with what filters, how many rows came back and - for exports and mails - what left and to whom. Filter it by From, To and Action. Printing happens in the browser and is not logged; the Export right governs what can leave as a file, and that is logged. The log starts the moment ReportAccessLog.sql has been run in the company database.

Modified/Deleted/Cancelled Entries (Admin) is the audit trail of the entries themselves.

20Moving from the desktop #

• The viewer is the web port of the desktop's report viewer. A report's address is its desktop name - the Day Book is /report/DayBookX - so habits and bookmarks carry over.
• The report option works as the desktop applied it at login: All, Branch or Group.
• Report rights are the same permission entries the desktop used (User Manager's Custom Reports tab), so existing View, Print and Export ticks keep working.
• The desktop's option dialogs become the filter panel: its check-lists are multi-selects where nothing ticked means all, its Selective Accounts is the Accounts filter and its Employee-Wise is Employee accounts only.
• Drilling works as on the desktop - a voucher row opens the voucher, an item row the item's own report - and the filters you set travel with the drill.
• Custom reports are still designed on the desktop; the web runs them in My Reports.

21If something does not work #

The viewer's Help rail lists every message it can show, with the fix. Open it on any report and read If something does not work.