Report Builder

Use Insights > Reports > Report Builder when a report in the catalog is close but not exactly what you need, or when you want a custom cut of your sales, receivables, shipping, or customer data. You choose what to measure and how to break it down, and Arcus shows a live preview as you go. When it answers your question, save it so you and your team can open it again from All Reports.

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Before You Start

• You need View Reports to open the builder, preview, and run.
• Export Reports lets you save or update a report. Without it, Save as is turned off and a line under the buttons explains that saving needs that permission. You can still build and run.
• Every data source reads sales, shipping, receivables, or customer figures, and a data source is listed only when your role can read it. A source that reads financial data, such as receivables aging, needs View Accounting. If your role can read none of them, the page reads No report subjects are available to you, names the permission you would need, and offers Back to Reports.
• A report you build here cannot be emailed on a schedule yet. You can still open it, share it, and use it from the saved report page. To email a report on a cadence, schedule a built-in report from Scheduled Reports.

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Open the Builder

You can arrive three ways:

• Insights > Reports > Report Builder from the deck or the command palette navigation search.
• Build a report at the top of Insights > Reports > All Reports.
• Edit on a saved report’s page, which reopens that report here with its settings filled in.

A link that opens the builder carries the report definition in the address, so a copied link opens the same report.

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Start From the Gallery

The builder opens on Build a report with the line Start from a report you already have, or from scratch.

• Start from scratch opens an empty builder where you pick the data source, a measure, and a breakdown yourself.
• A card for each built-in report you can see, grouped by category. Customize opens that report in the builder, ready to change, with its first two measures, a first grouping, and a recent date range already chosen. Open report runs the report in the catalog instead.
• Search the report gallery narrows the cards by name, description, and category.

A note beside Start from scratch counts how many of the reports can be customized so far. A report that cannot be customized has its Customize button turned off and a sentence under the card saying why, for example that the report is hand-built over its own query, or that the data behind it has no measures switched on in the builder yet. Open report always works. If nothing matches your search you see No reports match that search with Clear search. If the gallery cannot load you see Could not load the report gallery with Retry, and you can still start from scratch.

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Build Your Report

Once you are building, the page has three panes: the data on the left, the result in the middle, and your settings on the right. On a narrow window the three panes stack one above the other.

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Choose the data

1. Under Data source, pick what the report is about: Sales by product (monthly), Sales by product (daily), Sales by channel, Sales by state, Accounts receivable aging, Shipping margin, or Customers (lifetime value). Only the sources your role can read appear.
2. Use Search fields to find a field by name.
3. Under Measures, click a measure to add it, and click it again to remove it. Hover or read the line beneath a measure for its definition. A measure marked soon is defined but not switched on yet; its reason shows beneath it and it cannot be picked.
4. Under Break down by, click a field to group the results by it.
5. Under Filter by, click a field to add a filter on it.

Some fields are held back on purpose, each with its reason shown beneath it:

• Fields that hold a raw internal ID cannot be used to group, and cannot be filtered unless there is a picker. The reason points you to the readable alternative, such as the product name or SKU, or the order number.
• A field that is an exact timestamp cannot be a grouping, because every row would be its own group. Use the date grain under Advanced instead.
• A cost or margin column that uses a different cost basis from the Gross Margin measure cannot be filtered, because the filtered figure would disagree with the one on screen. Use the Gross Margin measure instead.
• A few revenue columns can be filtered but carry a caption saying what they are, such as ex-tax, live orders only or includes tax.

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Set it up on the right

Your choices appear as cards on the right:

• Summarize lists the measures you picked with their definitions, and each has a remove button. If you change measures and a basis control no longer applies to all of them, a note explains that the basis control was removed and each measure now uses its own default basis. Choose Got it to dismiss it.
• Group by lists your groupings. Use Move up and Move down to change their order, and remove one with its remove button. Include unattributed rows (on by default) keeps rows that have no value for a grouping field and shows them as Unattributed. Turn it off to leave them out; the number of rows hidden is always stated above the results.
• Date range appears for data sources that have dates. Choose a range from Today through Last 12 months, or Custom range. Ranges are worked out in your entity’s time zone, and a named range keeps moving: a saved report that uses Last 30 days shows the last 30 days each time it is opened. A monthly data source offers whole calendar months only, and the control says Monthly report: whole calendar months only.
• Sort lets you rank the rows. Choose Sort by a measure, a Direction (Highest first or Lowest first), and Show only the top 5, 10, 20, 25, 50, or 100 rows. You can also click a measure’s column heading in the result to sort by it, and click again to reverse.
• Filters lists each filter with a condition and a value. Conditions include is, is not, is greater than, is at least, is less than, is at most, contains, is any of, is none of, is between, is empty, and is not empty, depending on the field. A yes or no field offers Yes and No, a list condition lets you add several values with Add, and an account field gives you a picker. A filter that is not finished is left out of the report, and the card says Not applied yet or Add at least one value. Until then this filter is not applied. so an unfinished filter is never mistaken for an empty result.
• Advanced (shown when the data source offers it) holds the Basis controls (such as revenue basis, tax, and history), the Date grain (None (single total per group), or a grain such as monthly), and Compare to (Previous period, Previous period (weekday-matched), Previous month, Previous quarter, Previous year, Same dates last year, or Last year (weekday-matched)). The header of the card reads in use when one is set. A date grain or a comparison needs a date range, and the card tells you so if you have not set one.

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Read the Result

Until you have picked a measure, the middle pane reads Build your report with Pick something to measure, then choose how to break it down. A live preview appears here. After that, the preview updates a moment after each change and shows the first 100 rows.

• Run in the header runs the full report. It is turned off until a measure is picked (and a date range, when a grain or comparison needs one).
• Table shows the rows. Beside it, Chart type offers the chart types that fit your data, with a recommended one marked, and lists the others under More (not available for this data) with the reason each does not fit. If you pick a chart that needs at least one measure and a grouping you have not set, Arcus shows the values as a table and says so.
• As of shows when the figures were run. With a comparison, a chip names the comparison dates and each figure carries its change.
• Each money column states its basis in its heading, for example whether revenue is recognized and tax-exclusive.
• Notes above the results state anything that limits them: the preview cap, a ranking that covers only the preview rows (Click Run to rank every row), a result cut at the row cap, or the rows hidden by the unattributed setting.

If no rows match you see No records match with No data for the current measures, filters, and date range. and Clear filters when filters are on.

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Save the Report

1. Choose Save as. The button reads Save when you opened an existing saved report.
2. In Save report (titled Update saved report when you are updating), enter the Report name, an optional Group (pick one, No group, or New group), Who can see it (Just me or This entity (shared)), and an optional Description.
3. Create a schedule after saving is switched off and marked Not available, because a builder report cannot be scheduled yet.
4. Choose Save (or Update). You see Report saved or Report updated, and Arcus opens the saved report’s page, where you can customize, share with specific teammates, save a copy, or Edit it again.

The status next to the report name reads Draft before the first save, Unsaved changes after you edit a saved report, and Saved once it is stored.

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Leave and Come Back

Your work is kept as a draft in your browser for the company you are in. If you return with unsaved work, a banner says You have unsaved work from a previous visit with the report name; choose Restore it to continue, or Discard to clear it. Choosing Gallery (or the Reports link above the page on a narrow window) while you have unsaved changes asks Leave without saving? and explains that the changes stay in the page address and are kept as a draft but are not saved to your reports yet. Choose Leave or Keep editing. Closing the browser tab asks for confirmation too.

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Messages You May See

The page explains a problem in plain words, with what to do next:

• That date range is incomplete.: pick both a start and an end date.
• This report needs a date range.: a date grain or a comparison is set, and both need a range.
• Nothing is being measured yet.: pick at least one measure.
• That measure is defined but not switched on yet.: pick an active measure.
• That measure cannot be broken down over time.: clear the date grain or choose another measure.
• That measure cannot be added up across these groups.: it is a balance or a ratio, so remove a grouping or pick another measure.
• These measures are recorded at different time grains.: run them as separate reports.
• A filter is incomplete.: give every filter a field, a condition, and a value, or remove it.
• That basis is not offered for every measure you selected.: remove the measure that does not support it, or choose a basis they share.
• That data source is not available to you.: pick one from the list or start from a gallery report.
• You do not have permission to run this report.: ask your administrator for access.
• Could not load the report builder fields.: the data sources could not load; reload the page.
• This report could not run with the current settings.: change the most recent thing you added.

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What Changes When You Use This Page

• Previewing and running read your data. They do not post, move stock, or change any record.
• Saving or updating stores the report definition, not its figures: the report runs fresh each time it is opened. It then appears under My saved reports on All Reports, and teammates see it there when you share it with the entity.
• Saving and updating a report are recorded in Organization > Audit Log.

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Common Scenarios

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I cannot find the measure I want

Check Data source first, since each source has its own measures. A measure marked soon is not available yet. If a source you expected is missing, your role may not include the permission it needs.

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I want the same report to email me every week

A builder report cannot be scheduled yet. Open the closest built-in report in All Reports and schedule that, or share your builder report with your team so they can open it themselves.

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My ranking looks wrong

If a note says the ranking covers only the preview rows, choose Run to rank the whole report.

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