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Report design recommendations

As an administrator, you can organize, name, and describe your reports to help your users. This section describes our recommendations for report folders, report names, and report descriptions.

ClosedReport Folders

Use report folders on the Reports page to organize reports, simplify security, and distribute report responsibility. We recommend the following best practices for report folders:

  • Limit folder depth to 2 or 3 levels

  • Sort alphabetically

    The exception to this best practice is we recommend you keep administrative and "unspecified" folders at the bottom of the list for consistency and ease of access.

ClosedNaming Your Folders

Follow these best practices for naming your report folders:

  • Follow our general recommendations in our Naming Conventions walkthrough.

  • Avoid individuals' names.

  • Avoid acronyms.

  • Avoid brand names.

    For brands other than your own, change the names of the folders as business relationships and branding strategies change.

ClosedFolder Categories and Recommended Folders

Create folders that are used for departments / user groups, functional areas, or topics / content. Below is a list of folders we recommend adding to the Reports page:

  • General

    This folder would be the first folder and used for frequently run shared reports.

  • System Admin

  • Archive / Historical / Not in Use

  • Composite Report Parts

  • Disclosures

  • Integrations

  • Personal

    This folder would be used for saved for “Me” reports.

ClosedReport Naming Conventions

We recommend that you follow our suggested naming conventions for reports. Naming conventions are guidelines that help you define names clearly and consistently. They help your users find the reports they want by making them recognizable and easier to search for.

ClosedReport Descriptions

When used effectively, report descriptions have three main benefits:

  1. They give the report context. What is critical today could be forgotten in a few weeks or months.

  2. They support the user.

  3. They reduce the need for long report names.

When writing a report description, follow these guidelines:

  • Identify the purpose or reason for the report.

  • Provide instructions for running the report.

  • Identify key static filtering criteria.

  • Provide the status of a report undergoing creation.

  • Differentiate between report versions.