Reports

Reports answer questions about the repository, engagements, the ARB, the governance library and the data of other modules. You can start from a standard report or build your own by choosing fields, filters, grouping and sort, then export the result as CSV or as a PowerPoint deck.

Everyone with access can run and export reports. Architects can save reports and upload PowerPoint templates. Reports is an add-on module. Dashboards build on it.

Build a report

The builder starts by asking what the report is about. The data sources are engagements, ARB items, ARB actions, applications, repository elements, the governance library and the capability model, plus any that active modules add.

1. Choose a data source.
2. Work down the three numbered sections: fields, filters, then grouping and sort.
3. Press Run the report to see the result.
4. Optionally save it.

To switch data source, press Change next to the data name. That starts the report again.

1. Fields to show

Tick the columns you want. The list shows every field the chosen data offers, and the report shows your ticks in the order listed.

• Start with the defaults and remove what you do not need. Narrow reports read better.
• If you plan to group by or add up a field, you do not need to show it.

Fields marked as numbers can be summed or averaged in grouping.

2. Filters

Filters narrow the rows. All filters must match, so adding one never widens the result.

1. Choose a field.
2. Choose a condition, such as equals, contains, greater than, is empty.
3. Type a value.

Dates use dd/mm/yyyy, the word today, or an offset such as +30d for 30 days from today. For a choice field, type its name or its key. The page lists the choices each field accepts, so check there if a filter returns nothing.

3. Grouping, sort and size

Decide how the rows are arranged.

• Group by turns the list into a summary, one row per value. Leave it blank for a plain list.
• Per group, show a count, sum or average. For sum and average, choose the number field to use.
• Sort by a field, or by the group count or value, and choose lowest or highest first.
• Most rows limits the size of the result.

A grouped report can be shown as bars on a dashboard. A plain list suits a short table.

Save it

Keep a report you have built so you can run it again. Give it a name and, if you wish, a description, then press save.

• A saved report is private to you until an architect shares it with the organisation.
• You can edit it, copy it or delete it later from its own page.

Only architects can save reports. Anyone can still run a report and download it without saving.

Result

The report’s rows, shown under the settings after you run it.

• Download CSV gives a file for a spreadsheet.
• Download PowerPoint gives a deck in your organisation’s branding, or in the template you chose.

The result is live data at the time you run it. If it looks wrong, go back to the filters. A common cause is a date in the wrong format or a choice typed with the wrong name.

Reports

The reports home lists the standard reports for each part of the repository, grouped by what they are about, plus your saved reports.

1. Click a standard report to run it.
2. Press Build a report to make your own.
3. Press PowerPoint templates to manage the designs reports can be exported into.
4. Use Build your own from under a data group to start from that data.

Standard reports cannot be edited, but you can save a copy and change the copy. Add-on modules can contribute extra links and reports here.

Saved reports

A table of the saved reports: name and description, the data it uses, its author and who can see it, either private or shared with the organisation.

1. Click a name to open and run the report.
2. Use the author and visibility columns to find shared reports.

Your private reports show only to you. An architect can share one so everyone sees it here.

This report

Settings for a report you own, or any report if you are an architect.

1. Choose a PowerPoint template and press Use this template. The default option uses the organisation default, or a generated deck.
2. Press Share with the organisation to make it visible to everyone, or Make private to take it back.
3. Delete this report removes it for good.

A template chosen here takes priority over the organisation default.

PowerPoint templates

Upload your own PowerPoint design and every report can be exported into it. With no template, reports download as a deck in your organisation’s theme colours and typeface.

• A template chosen on a report beats the organisation default.
• Use Download a starter template to get a deck in your branding with the placeholders in place, restyle it in PowerPoint, and upload it back.

Architects upload and manage templates. Everyone can use them.

How a template works

A template is an ordinary .pptx with placeholders in double curly brackets.

• {{report.title}} and other report-level placeholders can go anywhere on any slide.
• A slide containing {{row.<field>}} is repeated once for every row, for example one slide per engagement.
• A shape whose text is just {{table}} becomes the report table, in that position and size, and runs on to more slides if long.
• In a grouped report the row fields are {{row.group}}, {{row.count}} and {{row.value}}.

Logos, colours, layouts and fonts are yours and stay as they are. Macros never run, and macro-enabled files are refused.

Your templates

The templates you have uploaded, with name, file, size, date added and who added it. One can be marked as the organisation default.

• Download returns the file.
• Check placeholders lists every placeholder found for a data source and warns about any that are not recognised, which would be left blank.
• Use the default and delete controls to manage the list.

Check a new template against the data it is meant for before you rely on it.

Upload a template

Add a PowerPoint design.

1. Enter a name and an optional description.
2. Choose a .pptx file, up to 10 MB.
3. Press Upload.

After uploading, use Check placeholders to confirm the placeholders match the data you will report on. A file that is not a valid PowerPoint, or that carries macros, is refused with a message.

A saved report

The page for one report, showing its result straight away.

• Download CSV and Download PowerPoint export it.
• Save a copy (or Save a copy and change it for a standard report) makes a version you can edit.
• Edit reopens the builder. The author or an architect can do this.
• A card at the foot lets the author choose a PowerPoint template and architects share or unshare it.

Standard reports cannot be edited or deleted.