Audience: All Users


Purpose

In this article, we will cover how to utilize the report builder feature to create a custom spend report. 



Overview



Understanding Report Builder

Report builder simplifies the reporting process, allowing users to build customized reports across multiple fields of data.

The platform was architected to work with large data, and Report Builder caters to the instances when the Predefined Reports do not provide the detail required to answer your specific question.



Using Report Builder

Step 1: To access the Report Builder, select Report Builder from the right hand side of the Report Dashboard.  


Here you will be presented with a screen that asks you to confirm the source of the data you wish to query.


You can define: Date Range / Currency / Fields you want to pull / Scope of data / My Spend (Users) / Company Spend (Admin) / Organization Spend (Admin + Company reporting)


The report builder screen largely looks like the Predefined Reports, however the cube charts have been replaced with a conditional filter editor explored in more detail below. Along the top of the screen,  the bar indicates the current selected data source, and the data represented in below. The data table scrolls horizontally and vertically so that you can see results for all of the chosen fields. For large data sets, the platform will render enough rows to fill the screen, and as you scroll down the page will continuously load more rows so you can see a full picture of your spend. This approach allows us to render large amounts of data quickly into your browser, or application, without having to wait for data to be formatted or rendered – delivering an instant reporting experience. 


Step 2: Conditional Filters – Building Your Filter

The key part of the Report Builder, and the one we are most excited about, is the Conditional Filter builder. This puts you in control of the data, which is displayed in the data table below, and allows you to logically build a string of conditions, which trim down the results until you are left with only the results to the question you needed to ask.

 

To begin, click Add Condition, and choose your first field name to query. Next, select your measure (for example, equal to) and finally choose your criteria – here you are presented with the top options but you can begin to type in this box and autofill will present the available options. If no option lists here, there is no data matching this condition. To turn this query into a negative ‘is not’ query, simply click on ‘is’ to toggle this option.

Once you have built your query you are free to build another filter by selecting Add Condition again, and you can chain these filters to create complex queries quickly with immediate results detailed in the data table below.

You can clear the filters and start again, resetting the data table to default with all results, by clicking Clear Conditions.


Step 3: Outputting Data from the Report Builder

The Report Builder provides the ability to output the entire data table of results into a CSV file, on demand. No scheduling or waiting is required, just hit Export to CSV and the file is downloaded in the browser. The CSV report is in a standard format which will allow you to import the data into any third party software and is formatted to import cleanly without having to manipulate the data or remove and header rows – you get a perfect full version of the data from the source you have chosen in the search.


Step 4: Creating Templates

Once you have built your report using the conditional filters you may want to save this as a template to use this again in the future. You can do this by clicking Save Template where you will be asked to give your report a name and confirm the fields you wish to choose to be part of the results. Click Load Template in the future to recall this for use.