Getting Started With Insight Reports

This article and accompanying video serve as an introduction to accessing and understanding the Insight module for bLoyal clients using our Azure platform.

Prefer to watch the video?  Use the WATCH THE VIDEO link at the end of this article.

HOW TO RUN A REPORT

1) In Director, navigate to the Insight module and then locate the report you'd like to run by clicking the appropriate tab (see tabs section below) and then clicking the report name.

2) Review the basic settings, parameters, and columns as outlined below.

3) Click Run Report in the upper left.

TABS

In the Insight module, you will see a list of tabs on the left-hand side of the page.  These tabs serve as groupings for various report types.  For example, the Customers tab has reports related to to customer information and data.  Likewise you'll find other reports grouped by their general business purpose in the other tabs. If you can't find a report that you're looking for, it may be in another tab.

The bottom two tabs are specific to each account. Custom is where any custom reports created specifically for your account would be located (see custom reporting options below). Scheduled is where you'll find a list of all reports you've scheduled to be run in the future (see item 3 "schedule" under basic settings below).

BASIC SETTINGS

Once you select the report you'd like to run, you will need to determine your initial settings.  These setting options are the same for every report.

1. Title - This is the title of the report.  By default, the title will be the name of the report, but you have the option to change it.
2. Format - These are the reporting formats available.  The majority are common formats most users are familiar with (XLS, CSV, etc). HTML may be selected if you simply want to see the report in your web browser. If you have questions about using any of these formats, please reach out to support.
3. Schedule - Here you have different options for scheduling reports.
1. Run Now - This is the option you'll use if you'd like to run the report right away.
2. Schedule a report to run once at a later time/date - This option is useful if you'd like to run the report one time, but not right away.  (For example, you'd like to wait until after the close of business today.)  Select the One Time option from the Schedule drop-down menu.  You can then select the time and date you'd like the report to run.  Click the Run Report button to schedule the report.  This report is now scheduled, and will show up in the Scheduled tab in the Insight module.
3. Schedule a report to run regularly - This option can be used for reports that you'd like to run on an ongoing basis.  (For example, you'd like to run a report every Tuesday before your staff meeting.)  From the Schedule drop-down menu, select the interval at which you'd like the report to run.  You can then select the time and date you'd like the first report to run.  For the Weekly and Monthly intervals, you can also select the day of the week or the day of the month.  Click the Run Report button to schedule the report.  This report is now scheduled, and will show up in the Scheduled tab in the Insight module. If you'd like to cancel a scheduled report, navigate to that tab and remove it there.
4. Filename - This is the filename of the report.  By default, it will be the name of the report, but you have the option to change it.
1. Make filename unique - For regularly scheduled reports, it might be helpful to have a unique filename for each.  
5. Delivery - This option determines how you will receive the report data.
1. URL - Opens report results in a new tab within your web browser.
2. Email - Sends the results to you via e-mail.  You have multiple options as far as the delivery, including the Send From e-mail address, the addressees and a message to the recipients.
3. Grid Export - Makes the report available to be pulled onto a local machine on your network. This is a custom setting that is typically set up with our consulting team.  Please reach out to support if you have any questions or are interested in using the grid export option.
4. Export Provider - For custom integrations.  Please reach out to support if you have any questions or are interested in using the export provider option.

PARAMETERS

Parameters vary from report to report.  (In the image below you can see the parameters for the Customer Summary Report.)  Think of these parameters as filters; they're essentially a way for you to determine the data you'd like to see returned.

COLUMNS

These are the columns that will displayed once you run the report.  The columns available will vary from report to report.  You have the ability to change the columns shown, as well as their position on the report.

1. Selected - These are the columns that will currently display.  There different default columns for each report.
2. Available - These columns are available, but are not currently selected.
3. Add/Remove - You can move columns between the Selected and Available sections.  To add or remove a column, select the column name and click the Add or Remove button respectively.  For example, if you select Account Num and click Remove, it will remove that column from the Selected section to the Available section.
4. Move Up/Down - Columns in the Selected section as they are listed top to bottom will display left to right (e.g. the topmost column will become the leftmost column, etc.).  If you would like to change the order of the columns, you can use the Move Up or Move Down button respectively.  For example, if you select Account Num and click Move Up, it will move that column above the ID column; account Num would then be the leftmost column displayed in the report results.
5. Reset - This button resets all columns to their default positions.
6. Group By and Hide Details - these checkboxes allow you to group data together and/or hide details. Hiding details effectively combines all the results into one line to provide you an overview with total counts for all the data while leaving Hide Details unchecked will yield an individual line for each result, e.g. individual customer or sales transaction info.

RECENT REPORT RESULTS

Recent report results are located in the upper-right hand corner.  These results show the reports that have been run recently.  By clicking the View button, the report will generate with the same basic settings, parameters and column selections as when it was originally run.  For example, if you selected the HTML format and an URL delivery when running the original report, when you click View, a new tab displaying the report data will open in your browser.

CUSTOM REPORTING OPTIONS

If you need a report that we don't have, please reach out to the support team.  As a paid consulting project, we can either modify an existing report or create a custom report for you.

TIPS AND FAQ

Help! I got the following error running a report:

Error completing service request, Method: ACTION_SetRunReport, Status Code: 500

Answer:  While most reports will complete within minutes, some of the reports have a lot of data to retrieve or calculate, so they may take a bit of extra time. For example, the customer mailing list report can be a fairly large report since there's usually so much customer data to retrieve. The above error will appear when the report isn't quite done yet. We recommend instead of the default URL delivery (browser-based) for larger reports to set them to Email delivery:

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That way, a link to download the report will conveniently be emailed to you just as soon as it's ready, and you won't need to monitor the report in Director to see when it's actually done. You may also use the scheduling option to set a large report to run in the future, e.g. at midnight. This can be handy to have a big report ready first thing the next morning that will give you all the details up to the end of the prior day, or whatnot. You may even schedule reports to run daily, weekly, monthly, and so forth.

[More tips and frequently asked questions to come]

WATCH THE VIDEO