Edition: All levels, with various differences in functionality
User-level: All user levels, with access modified in the security matrix
At the end of this article, you'll be able to navigate Synergy reporting, view and customise standard reports, and understand how data is organised in Synergy.
Reports list
You can find the reports list by going to the Side Navigation > Reports:
The reports list will show you a list of the reports available to you in your organisation. This will include any reports you've created, Synergy default reports, and any other reports that have been shared with you.
There may be reports hidden from your view if you do not have access to see them. When anyone creates a report, it will only be visible to that user unless it's shared.
The columns you'll see in this list are:
Name - The name of the report. Click this to run the report.
Category - The report type selected when the report was created or edited.
Tags - When editing a report, add a tag to it to search using the top left search bar
Liked - Click the star to like a report, and then filter by liked reports on the filters panel
Shared - Reports with the icon in this column have been shared with others
Last run - the date the report was last run
Last updated - the date the report was last run
Created by - displays the name of the person who created the report. Standard reports created by the Synergy team display Synergy Default as the creator.
Scheduled - a timer icon indicates that a schedule exists for this report
Popular - this is a report used frequently
Actions
From the reports list, you have a few actions available to you in the row action menu. Different actions will be available depending on the report.
Run: this will run the report. The same as clicking on the report name.
Customise: this will take you straight to the report in edit mode. This is only available if you have access to edit reports, and this is a report you've created.
Copy and customise: this will create a new copy of the report, with "- copy" appended to the title. This is useful if you want to take a Synergy Standard Report and tweak it a little.
Share: make the report available to other specific staff or groups of staff.
Delete: Remove the report from the reports list. Note: this action is not reversible, and permanent.
Searching and filtering
Search
User the search box at the top of the screen to locate a report. For example, to find the Project - Performance report, enter "Performance" as the search term.
Filter
The filter panel helps you filter the list of reports on screen, to quickly find what you need.
Available filter options are:
Category - when you create a report, you're required to pick one or more report types to categorise it - Projects, Contacts, Staff, Financials, Collaboration or Admin. Use this filter to only show certain report categories.
Created by - reports that have been created by you or other staff
Last Run - a date or date range so you can check when a report was last run
Liked - Like a report by clicking the 'star' next to it - use this filter to show Liked reports, Not liked reports or All reports
Popular - reports used frequently by you and others in your organisation
Scheduled - reports that are run and set using a pre-configured schedule creates by your or your staff
Shared - reports created by another team member that you have access to
Tags - filter by tags added to reports
Type - filter to see reports that come built into your organisation, created by the Synergy team, custom reports created by your staff, or all reports
Updated Date - a date or date range so you can check when a report was last updated
View, filter, and group when running reports
Once you've run a report, you'll be presented with the data, as well as options for manipulating it.
At the bottom of the screen you have page controls. You can control the size of the page, allowing you to show up to 100 rows per page, and you can move through the pages of the report using the page selector:
At the top you can use the 'details' button to toggle showing the reports' description, filters, and grouping selections:
You can also export the report to Excel using the spreadsheet icon:
And export the report to a PDF using the print icon:
The Ellipses menu
Use the ellipses' menu to:
Copy and customise - edit the data, filters, or grouping in your report
Refresh - If you've made updates in the data source in Synergy, refresh your report to take that data into account
Rerun Report - Go back to choosing the filters for the report before it runs
Replace standard costs with actual costs - Present the actual cost of transactions instead of the standard cost (learn about the difference here)
Editing a Synergy Standard Report
Synergy Standard reports are reports created and uploaded by Synergy Staff. You will have many of these in your reports list when your organisation is first created, and any additional reports that have been created by Synergy will also show up like this. These reports cannot be edited, so if you need to modify one, you will need to create a copy of it, which you will be able to modify.
When you use the ellipses' menu to edit a report, you'll get an option to copy and customise it. If you are the user who created the report, you'll also get the option to customise it.
The only difference between these two options is 'copy and customise' creates a new version of the report to edit
Customisation Options
When editing a report, there's a whole range of options to customise:
Name - The name of the report
Description - Add a description that helps others understand the purpose and criteria for the report
Tags - Tag your report to make it more easily searchable, e.g. 'WA Team' or 'EOM Reporting'
Categories - Categorise your reports into the groups provided to filter them down on the main reports page
Columns
Add columns to your existing report using the + button. You'll be presented with a full list of all available data:
Select a report category on the left, and see the available columns in that category in the centre. To add one, just click the '+' button next to the column you want to add. Check the existing columns added the the report on the right.
**Tip**
Hover over a column and click the ? to see a description of the column, and how it's calculated
Filters
Use filters to narrow the data presented - you can filter by any column in Synergy, even if it's not added to your report
Use the funnel button the access the filters.
Synergy supports 'and/or' filtering, use either or a combination of these to add filters to your report. Some columns are filtered by text, true/false propositions, or multi-select fields.
Allow edit of filters before running the report
Use this option so whenever the report is run, filters can be added or changed before data is presented
Uncheck this field if you want filters to be fixed (typically this option is used to show staff the same results without the need to edit)
Grouping and Sorting
The blue rows in Synergy reports are grouping levels - you can have up to 4 levels of grouping
In the above example the report is grouped by Project Manager - all that PMs projects' are grouped under them.
Use the Arrow & Stairs button to begin grouping and sorting your reports
Grouping
Use the 'Add grouping' button to add another row of grouping. When this button is greyed out, you have the maximum amount of 4 grouping rows, and need to remove one to keep adding
Ascending or Descending - Choose if the grouping rows are presented largest to smallest or smallest to largest, A to Z or Z to A etc
Expanded or collapsed - Choose if you want the data under the grouping rows to be visible (expanded) or hidden to show summaries (collapsed)
Sort the grouping order by using the 8 dots button next to the grouping name
Sharing
Choose who the report is shared with:
By user level (e.g. only project managers in Synergy can see this)
By person (e.g. only Amy and Denise can see this report)
All users
How data is organised in Synergy
Synergy allows you to access almost every piece of data you enter (and more) in the reports engine. As such, it can be a little overwhelming to begin.
The most important decision you make when creating and editing reports is the 'base table' - the 'main' category of data you choose. Below is a list of those base tables, and a brief summary of their purpose and value.
The final column distinguishes between whether the table contains data that is 'time-based' - this means data that is attributed to a date. The best examples of this are transactions (because they are entered for a particular date, and invoices (because are invoiced on a date). Other tables like Projects are not time based, but rather 'moment in time' (when you run the report you'll get the current value e.g. residual, fee etc)
Table | Major data points | Why you'd use it | Time based? |
Project | Fee, Residual, Revenue, Profit, PM | Project Performance | No |
Contacts | Contacts data (name, address, company) | Marketing, CRM, Client List | No |
Stage | Fee, Residual, Revenue, Profit, Stage Manager | Stage Performance, EVM, Forecasting | No |
Task | Assigned to, completion % | Task management, Kanban | No |
Budget | Units, rate, role, category | Budget analysis, Forecasting | No |
Transaction | Date, Status, Value, type | Any report on work done in a period - most popular reporting table | Yes |
Staff | Name, Salary, Cost info | Staff performance, labour costing | Yes |
Rates | Value, Type, Rate group | Rate review, Rate card | Yes |
Resourcing | Resourced hours, utilisation % | Forecasting labour and effort, staff hiring, estimated billing vs forecasted revenue | No |
Invoices | Value, date, contact, markup | Revenue reporting, accounting, credit reporting, BAS, EoFY | Yes |
Bills | Contact, Value, disbursements | Subcontractor. Subconsultant reporting, accounting | Yes |
Project Contacts | Contact Type, Name, details | Contact relationships | No |
Invoice Stages | Value, date, contact, markup | More granular than invoice, can report on discipline and cost centre - tracking categories | Yes |
Invoice payments | Date, value | Debtors, collections | Yes |
Financial Controls | Overhead factor, target margin, availability, utilisation | Business review | Yes |
Staff Office | Office | Charging between office, report on staff movements | No |
Budget vs Actuals | Units, value | comparing budgets vs work done | Yes |
Invoice vs Cost | invoice value, cost value | compares the revenue to the cost of transactions on an invoice | Yes |
To-Do | Name, assigned to, status, due date | granular work review, task management | No |
Teams | Team | Workforce Management | No |
Timesheets | Day of week, units, project | timesheet admin, CPD, approvals | Yes |
Tips!
By far the toughest part of reports is making sure you have a clear idea of what you're trying to report on - remove columns and filters you don't need and try to simplify as much as you can!