Once you've selected the appropriate data fields for your report, you will need to decide how to organize the report. Organizing report data helps put the data into context, and makes it easier to read and understand. We have some recommendations you can follow to optimize your report layouts, but understand that this process is more art than science.
Organizing Your Report
When building your report, follow these best practices for organizing fields:
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Order fields by hierarchical relationship.
Place grandparents before parents, and parents before children. For example: Location fields > Facility fields > Contract fields > Payment Transaction fields.
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Order fields with increasing specificity.
Place general fields before more specific fields. For example: Expense Type > Effective Date > Payment Amount
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Group related fields together.
If multiple fields have the same data type or similar functions, place them together.
Examples
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Related by Data Type: Date Fields, Currency Fields, Math Fields
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Related by Function: Group/Type/Category Fields, Address Fields, Area Fields
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Order fields using common sense.
Think about how two fields are related before placing them.
Examples
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Chronological Order: Begin Date > End Date
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Field Name Order: Account Number 1 > Account Number 2 > Account Number 3
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Mathematical Order: Amount A > Amount B > Sum of A and B
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Dropdown Parent-Child Order: Location Group > Location Type
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Refining Your Layout
The following sections describe ways you can refine your report layout configuration.
Display Multiple Values in Separate Cells
You can configure your report to have fields with multiple values display each value in a separate cell. If you are going to select Microsoft Excel as your report view type, select this check box.
To display multiple values in separate cells:
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Click Report Settings in the header of the Report Builder.
The Report Settings menu opens.
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Select Display Settings from the Report Settings menu.
A window opens.
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Select the Display Multiple Values in Separate Cells check box.
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Click Finish.
The window closes.
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To save your changes, click Save in the header of the Report Builder, to the right of the report name.
Native Excel Output
To generate a report as native excel output:
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Click Report Settings in the header of the Report Builder.
The Report Settings menu opens.
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Select Display Settings from the Report Settings menu.
A window opens.
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Ensure Excel is selected from the View Type field.
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Select the Generate Native Excel File check box.
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Click Finish.
The window closes.
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To save your changes, click Save in the header of the Report Builder, to the right of the report name.