Creating Reports with the PyraCloud Report Wizard

Introduction to Reporting

PyraCloud reporting offers an easy way to create reports based on data stored in PyraCloud.

It allows you to create single run reports (Run Once) and recurring (e.g. monthly) scheduled reports.

Access to the Reporting components is dependant on your user permissions and job role. In addition, each report type has its own specific permission.

Reports are generated with their creators’ permissions.

PyraCloud Reporting supports the latest stable versions of the most popular browsers (desktop only): Chrome, Edge, Firefox and IE11. On Page reporting (together with old reporting) are supported for Punchout users (and visitors using IE8).

Report Wizard

Report Wizard allows you to create new Run Once and Scheduled Reports. It can also be used to edit existing Scheduled report configurations (Run Once report configurations are not saved and can’t be edited).

There area couple of ways to run the Wizard. You can open Reports History and then click on Create New Report.

There are also a number of pages in PyraCloud that support “On Page”reporting, on these pages you can click Exports and then click Create / Schedule Report.

The Report Wizard is divided into 6 steps (not all steps are available for each report type).

1. Type – where you can select report type and output format
2. Filters – allows to set report filters
3. Schedule – where frequency can be set (Run Once or Scheduled)
4. Date Range – you can set data’s date range here
5. Template – at this step, you can select (but also create and update) template for the report
6. Delivery – where report name and delivery method can be set

To navigate between the steps click Previous and Next, or click on a step number (moving to next step is possible only if current step is correctly validated).

If you try to leave the Wizard without finalizing a report, you will be asked for confirmation:

Step 1 – Type

Report creation starts with selecting the type and output format of the report. Available report types depend on the user’s permissions.

There area large number of reports types, which are grouped into business areas.

To select a report type, first select Group and then Type.

Note that changing a report type during report creation can reset all settings in the next steps.

You can find more information about report formats in this article

Step 2 – Filters

Filters let you to restrict the data that appear in a report (date range for data can be set in the Date Range step). Available filters depend on the selected report type.

There are various types of filters: free text, single and multiple selects, and checkboxes. Empty filter’s value means no restriction on data. Dropdowns and multiselects fields support searching for values:

Common filters:

• SoftwareONE Company – allows you to restrict data in a report to only selected SoftwareONE companies. This is a multi-select field. If none are selected, then data for all SoftwareONE companies will be included.
  • Also include countries added in the future – if checked, then any new countries added in future will be automatically added to the report
• Companies – allows you to restrict data in a report to selected companies. Users can select multiple companies. If none selected, then data for all companies will be included.
  • Also include companies added in the future – if checked, then any new companies added in future will be automatically added to the report

To set additional filters (related to dates and number formatting, and also whether empty reports shall be generated) click Show more formatting options (only available for some report types).

• Date Format – you can select your preferred date format for reports generated. By default, the regional format settings defined in My Profile are selected (not applicable to PDF reports)
• Decimal Separator – allows you to select a separator for decimal numbers (not applicable to PDF nor JSON reports)
• Report Contains No Data – if a generated report is empty, you can decide if the report should be delivered or not

Step 3 – Schedule

In this step you can set when the report should be generated.

You can find more details about Scheduling reports in this article

Step 4 – Date Range

In this step you can select the date range for the data in the report.

You can find more details about Date Range in this article

Step 5 – Templates

You can create a new template or select an existing one (if the report type supports templates). If no template is selected, a default one, with all visible columns for that given report type, will be applied.

On the screen you will see the selected template ‘preview’. Column names will display in the first row, an dif there are “value overrides” (see Override Value), they will be displaued in the second row. Some report types have more than one section, in such cases each section will be presented separately.

Selecting a template

If there are existing templates for the report type, you can find them under Saved Templates.

To select a template click Saved Templates and click on a template name.

To switch back to default template, click Back to Default.

Creating a Template

Click Edit Default Columns to start creating a template (if there are already existing templates for the report type, the option is under Saved Templates).

You can apply all required modifications and click Save as new template to save it. In the opened dialog window, enter the Template Name and select whether the template shall be Personal (only the user can see or edit it) or Shared (anyone in user’s entire company can see or edit it), and click Save as new template.

Columns and their default grouping depend on the selected report type (not all templates utilize grouping of columns). Column grouping is applied in the template editor to facilitate its creation (column grouping is not visible in generated reports). To unfold or fold a group, click on the group name.

Column Descriptions

• Order – position of the column in the report
• Name – default name of the column (as it will be shown in the generated report if Name override is empty)
• Name override – column name that will be visible in a report (if blank, then column name from Name will be used)
• Override value – value that will be visible in a report for the column. If left blank, then generated data will be used
• Value when blank – value that will be visible in a report if there is no data for the column
• Max text length – the maximum number of characters for the field. Blank means no limitation
• Actions – list of actions for a column

Show/Hide a Column

You can select which columns shall be visible in your generated report. By default, all columns will be visible.

• To hide or show a single column, click Hide or Show in the Actions column for the column
• To hide or show all columns in a group, click Hide All or Show All in the Actions column for the group
• To hide or show all columns in a section, click Hide All or Show All (above the grid, on right side)

Find in Columns

To search columns, start typing in the Search Columns field (a list of matching column names will be suggested). Matches will be highlighted and you will also see the number of results calculated. To navigate to the first match, click Go to first match.

Change Order of Columns (and groups)

To change a column position, drag and drop the column name into the desired position. Columns can be moved between groups. To move all columns from one group to another, drag and drop a folded group into an unfolded one.

You can re-order groups in the same way (only if they are folded). It is also possible to enter a new index for a column – the column will be automatically located in the new position.

Change a Column Name

By default, the name from the Name column will be visible in the generated report.

To override a column’s name, type a new name in Name override.

Override Value

By default, data generated by reporting engine will be visible in generate report.

To override a column’s value, enter new value in Override value.

Set Value when Blank

To override a blank value column in a generated report, enter a new value in Override value.

Limit Length of Column

To limit maximum length of characters in a column, you can type a number in Max text length.

Duplicating a Column

You can duplicate an existing column, and then for example, change its name or override values.

To duplicate a column click (…) in the Actions column and then click Duplicate. A new column will be added just below the original one.

To delete a duplicated column, click (…) in the Actions column and click Delete.

Automatically Include or Exclude New Columns

In future, additional columns may be added to the report type. You can decide if these columns should be automatically added to the template (and thus to generated reports). New columns will be added at the end. This option is switched on for the default template.

To automatically include new columns, check Yes, automatically include new columns.

Updating a Template

To update a template, first select it, then click on the template name and click Edit. See Creating a Template for more information about the editor.

Note: Default and Universal Templates cannot be edited

Deleting a Template

To delete a template, select it and click Delete. In confirmation dialog, click Delete template (templates that are being used in other reports’ configurations can’t be deleted). Deleted templates can’t be recovered. Removing a template doesn’t impact already generated reports.

Request Additional Fields

You can request additional fields for a report type.

To send a request for additional fields, start editing or creating a new template, then click (…) next to Cancel and then click Request Additional Fields.

In the dialog, fill in the fields and click Request Additional Fields.

Step 6 – Delivery

In the Delivery step you can find basic information about the report configuration. The default report name can be changed in Report Name (note that for Scheduled reports, the name needs to be unique). You can also select the report delivery method.

To save the report click Finish. You will be redirected to Scheduled Reports (if a Scheduled report was created) or to Reports History (if a Run Once report was created). Run Once reports are triggered immediately.