Creating new reports

The Report Builder takes you through the steps needed to create a report. Select the attributes you want to view, add any filters to limit the report data, group the data and add calculations to the report summary, and define the visualization settings for the report.

You can either start with a report template provided by NexJ and customize it to your requirements, or create a blank report.

Report templates are only available for some NexJ CRM subject areas.

This procedure focuses on how to create a basic report by selecting attributes and adding filters. Further sections on this page provide information about configuring groupings, calculations, and report visualization.

If you are a report administrator, you can use the import report definition utility provided at <Application Root URL>/nexj/ui/report/import-definition to import a JSON file with a report definition and then edit the report definition using the Report Builder.

Before creating a report, note the following warnings and helpful information.

As of NexJ CRM 22.06, you can configure a report with nested collections; for example, for a Deals report you can select the Coverage collection, and the User > Telcoms subcollection. For such reports, the CSV export functionality has been restricted to "expanding" collection attributes to multiple rows. For more information, see Exporting reports.

When you are adding fields, you should be aware that fields that are restricted to certain privileges are marked with the alert icon in the Add Fields dialog. These restricted fields may result in invalid reports for users who don't have the required privileges.

Before you can save a report, you must add at least one field to the report.

As of NexJ CRM 22.03, the Add Field as Calculation option is available for number, date, and time stamp fields. For example, you can add the Expected Amount or Expected Close fields as calculations for a Deals report. Also, you can add collection fields as calculations. For example, you can add the Related Activities > Start Time collection field as a calculation for a Deals report. For information about the operators that are available for selection for calculations, see Adding groupings and calculations to the report summary.

By default, enumeration type attributes use the sort order that is defined in the NexJ CRM model. For example, when you create a Deals report, you can add the Stage field that provides enumeration type attribute values that are predefined (for example, Closed, Initial, Planning and Research). Enumeration type attributes are sorted in the same way as CRM in:

• The Fields dialog for the Field to sort field in the Details tab in the Report Builder

• The Add Groupings dialog for the Add Groupings field in the Summary tab in the Report Builder

• The table in the Details tab in the Report Viewer when you click on a column header

• A Detail (CSV) export from the Report Viewer

• The Summary tab in the Report Viewer, and a Summary (Excel) export from the Report Viewer

• The Visualization tab in the Report Viewer, and a Visualization (PNG) export from the Report Viewer

When one or more fields are chosen for sorting the report, you cannot sort the columns in the data table in the Details tab in the Report View.

To create a basic report:

1. In the My Reports or All Reports tab, click the Add Report button  at the top right of the Reports data table.

2. Choose the subject area you want to generate a report for.

3. Do one of the following:

   • To use a report template, select a template.

   • To build your report from scratch, select a blank report.

4. If you selected a template, the report data is populated immediately. Skip the remaining steps in this procedure and edit the report parameters as needed. For more information, see Modifying reports.

5. Enter a meaningful name for the report, and, optionally, provide a description.

6. Optional: In the View and edit permissions area of the report you can choose from the following settings:

   1. If you want to make your report visible to only you, select the Private radio button.

   2. If you want to make your report available to all NexJ CRM users, select the Public radio button.

   3. If you want to share a private report with specific NexJ CRM users, select the Shareable radio button. After you have created the report and saved it, you can share the report's URL with the required users. For more information about sharing reports, see Sharing reports.
      You will see the View and edit permissions setting if you have been granted the appropriate privileges by your administrator.

7. In the report settings pane below the Name field, in the Details tab, click the Select button for the Add fields text search field, and select from the following attributes in the displayed list:

   • basic attributes which only hold one value (for example, Company Name)

   • associations which are attributes that hold more complex data (for example, Business Address, which you can expand to select the Address 1, City, and Country attributes)

   • collections which are groups of related fields, and are marked by the collections icon (for example, Activities, which you can expand to select the Description, Activity Start Time, and Create Time attributes)
     If you know the names of the attributes you want to add, you can directly enter the field name in the Add Fields text search field. A similar search field is available within the Add Fields dialog. For more information about searching for attributes, see Report fields.

8. Optional: You can click on a selected field and select from the following options:

   • Add Field as Grouping - the new grouping for the field will appear in the Summary tab. For more information, see Adding groupings and calculations to the report summary.

   • Add Field as Calculation - the new calculation will appear in the Summary tab. For more information, see Adding groupings and calculations to the report summary.

   • Add Field as Filter - the new filter for the field will appear in the Filters tab.

9. Optional: In the Filters section, you can:

   • Add filters and associated filters. For more information, see Filtering reports.

   • You can determine how filters and associated filters are evaluated by entering your own expression in the Custom Logic field. For more information, see Custom logic.

10. Optional: In the Sorting section of the Details tab, select the fields that will apply the sorting to the report. Click the Select button  and select the required fields.

    1. To limit the results set, enter the number of item rows that you want to display in the Count field.

    2. To change the sort order of the selected fields to ascending or descending, click Order. All sort fields will follow the same order.

11. Click the Save button .

The report opens. In the Summary and Visualization tabs, you may see a message that the report has not been executed. Click the Update Report button  to execute the report and to generate the summary and the visualization on the full report data. At any time, you can edit the report to change the fields and filters or to add groupings, calculations, and visualization options.

If you want to schedule the report to run at a future time, change the schedule frequency as desired. For more information, see Scheduling reports.

After you execute a report by clicking the Update Report button, the report data can be viewed for 30 days before you must rerun the report for the latest data. To save report data for a specific instance in time beyond 30 days, you must export the report within 30 days. The 30-day limit is the default design-time configuration.

When you view data for a report, click the Update Report button to see the latest data.

If you notice data is not showing anymore, the data has expired, and you must click the Update Report button to generate new report data.