Every report in Cloudby is the same engine wearing different clothes. Learn the four controls once, date range, filters, grouping and sort, and you can drive any report in the system, from a trial balance to a stock valuation to a payroll summary. The Reports module teaches the controls here so the rest of the product does not have to repeat them.
- The four shared report controls
- How a date range differs for a period versus a snapshot
- How filters, grouping and sort shape a result
The four controls
- Date range – run a report on a single date (a snapshot, like a balance sheet) or between two dates (a period, like a profit and loss), or by a named accounting period.
- Filters – narrow the result by the dimensions that matter: ledger, customer, vendor, product, status, location and more, depending on the report.
- Grouping – collapse rows under a dimension (by customer, by category, by month) so totals subtotal where you want them.
- Sort – order the result by any column.
How it behaves
Period versus snapshot
The single most useful idea about the date range is the difference between a span and a point. A profit and loss, a sales report or a stock movement covers a period between two dates; a balance sheet, a trial balance or a stock valuation is a snapshot as at one date. Choosing the wrong one is the most common reason a report “looks wrong”, so match the date control to the question.
Compose, do not hunt
Because the controls are consistent, you build the report you need by composing them, filter to one customer, group by month, sort by value, rather than hunting for a differently-named report for every variation. The same four levers answer a great many questions.
Edge cases and good practice
- Set the date control first. Decide whether you want a period or a snapshot before anything else.
- Group to subtotal. Grouping is how you get the per-customer or per-month totals most questions actually want.
Related
- Reference: Matrix reports
- Reference: Exporting and drill-down
- Reference: Report catalogue