Module 07: Reports & Dashboards
Reports turn platform data into something you can read at a glance: a table of the day's settlement prices, a chart of dataset deliveries, a summary of who used the system. In this module you will find and run reports in the portal, use insight reports, bring reports into Excel, and see how reports can be scheduled, emailed and shown on dashboards.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this module you will be able to:
- Find, run and view reports on the Reports screen
- Explain the difference between stored reports and insight reports
- Find the insight reports for a screen or a single item
- Download a report into Excel and refresh it
- Describe the no-code ways to schedule, email and display reports
Prerequisites
Step 1: Understand the Kinds of Report
A report is built from a report configuration, which says what to run (usually an ODSL script written by a developer) and, optionally, a template that formats the result as HTML. Each run produces a report for a date, the ondate.
| Type | What it means for you |
|---|---|
| Default | Runs a script and stores the result. You choose the date range and run it |
| Fixed | Updated by people or processes rather than run, for example a daily status report that several processes add to during the day |
| Dynamic | Runs automatically the first time a date is opened |
| Insight | An interactive report that reads live data and stores nothing, so it has no ondate |
| Widget | Like an insight, sized to sit on a dashboard, and can update in real time |
Creating a new report configuration needs a script, so it is usually done by a developer or your data team. As a user you find, run, view and share reports, and you can schedule and email them as shown in Step 6.
Step 2: Run a Report in the Portal
- Go to Reports
- Choose Public for OpenDataDSL's reports, or Private for your company's own
- Find the report by filtering or scrolling. Reports are grouped by category
- Choose the date range with the range selector
- Select Run
The result appears on screen. A stored report can be opened again for any date it was stored for.
A Fixed report is updated by people or processes, not run. Open it to read the latest content.
Step 3: Use Insight Reports
Insight reports are interactive reports that read the platform's data as you open them. You will find them in several places:
| Kind | Where it appears | Example |
|---|---|---|
| General insights | In the reports menu | A general audit report |
| Service insights | In the reports section of a screen, about every item on it | Insights on the curves screen |
| Item insights | In an insights menu or tab after you select one item | The Insights tab of a dataset in dataset monitoring (Module 06) |
| Excel insights | In the insights section of the Excel Add-in | Data returned straight into a worksheet |
Many extensions add their own insight reports. For example, the Automations extension adds Automations by Target, Automation Failures and others in the Automations category of Insights, each with Refresh and CSV buttons.
Some master data records also carry reports: an embedded report shows as a link on the record, and a linked report shows as its own tab when you view the record.
Step 4: Bring a Report into Excel
- In the Excel task pane, select Download, then Reports, or select Download on the Reports card
- Search for the report
- Select the download icon on the report, or the plus icon to add several to the selection
- Optionally, on the Options tab, choose the Ondate to show. This option appears once you have added data to the selection
- Choose the layout, Horizontal or Vertical, and select Download
To update it later, select Refresh, then Reports, and choose the ranges to refresh.
Reports can be hidden from the Excel Add-in by the people who create them. If you cannot find a report in Excel that you see in the portal, ask its owner.
Step 5: Dashboards
A dashboard arranges widgets (charts and small reports) on a grid. You can build your own dashboard to act as your personal home screen, and dashboards can optionally be shared with colleagues.
If your company uses the Composer extension, its gallery has a Save as dashboard button. It saves the composition cards, in their order and widths, as a portal dashboard, and you choose its name, what each widget shows and whether to share it. See Composer, getting started.
Step 6: Schedule and Email a Report
You do not need to remember to run a regular report.
With the Aggregator extension (if installed), Information, Aggregator lets you start from a ready-made example, such as the day's dataset deliveries, run it and save it under your own name. Its report can then:
- Run on a schedule, for example weekdays at 18:00 UK time, storing the result for each date
- Email the result each time it is stored, to addresses in your organisation
Building a new aggregation from scratch uses database pipeline stages, so you may want help from your data team the first time. See Schedule and email.
With an automation, any report can be emailed when it is updated, using the email targets described in Module 08.
Exercise
- Go to Reports, choose Public, and browse the categories. Pick a report and run it for the last month
- Open the Insights tab of a dataset in dataset monitoring and open one of its insights
- In Excel, download one report and refresh it
- If the Aggregator is installed, open Information, Aggregator, pick an example under Start from an example and select Run
Summary
| Task | Where |
|---|---|
| Run a report | Reports, Public or Private, find it, choose the range, Run |
| Interactive insights | Reports menu, a screen's reports section, or an item's insights |
| Report in Excel | Download, Reports, Options for the ondate, Download |
| Personal or shared view | A dashboard of widgets |
| Regular delivery | Aggregator schedule and email, or an automation |
Further reading: Reporting Basics, Insights, Reports in Excel, Aggregator
In Module 08 you will set up notifications so you hear about delivery failures and quality issues without having to look.