Unlocking Report Designer

Good reporting gives you a clear view of the people data in your system. That helps you stay compliant, keep your data accurate and follow up on actions. This recorded expert session shows you how to run reports with subsets and filters, understand the Excel output, and build and format your own templates in Report Designer, including pivot tables and lookups. It also covers scheduled reports and some useful standard reports.

It's ideal for anyone who run and create employee reports, whether you're new to reporting or want to improve how you do it now.

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Key takeaways

• You don’t need a Report Designer licence to run reports, only to change templates. Changes to a template apply to everyone who runs that report. Changes to a report you’ve downloaded only affect your copy
• Reports only show the data your user role can access. Anything else comes through blank, so check user role access before giving someone a report
• Check the standard reports before building a new one. One may already do what you need. You can also design a new report based on an existing one instead of starting from scratch
• Downloading a template checks it out, so nobody else can change it. Check it back in, or undo the checkout, when you’ve finished. Ask anyone going on leave, or leaving the company, to do the same

Q&As

• Why are some fields blank in my report?
  Reports only show data your user role has access to. Ask your system admin to check your role’s access to the areas the report covers

• I’ve created a report group. Why can’t I see its tile?
  A report group only appears once at least one report is assigned to it. You also can’t delete a group while reports are still assigned to it

• Why can’t I change a report template?
  You need a Report Designer licence, and the template mustn’t be checked out by someone else. Report Designer shows who has a template checked out

• Why won’t my template check back in?
  Make sure you haven’t renamed the file. The code at the end of the file name links it to the template, so keep the original name when you save it

• I’ve added a column to the base data. Why isn’t it in the pivot table?
  Add new columns inside the existing table on the base data tab, then click Refresh on the PivotTable Analyze tab

• I ran a report but nothing downloaded. Where is it?
  Larger reports go to My Generated Reports at the top of the reports area, where you can download them once they’re ready

Related articles

• Report Groups
• Assigning a Report Designer Licence
• Checking in a Report
• Report Designer - common Excel functions
• My generated reports