Edition: Business, Enterprise
User-level: Defined by the security matrix
Previous steps: Reports Overview
At the end of this article, you'll be able to create a custom report in Synergy.
Create a new report
To create a brand new blank report:
Navigate to the reports page using the Organisation Menu > Reports:
Click 'Create' at the top right to start a new report:
The new report will need a type in order to be able to select the reporting column tables. To set the report type, click the add column option in the middle:
You will then get a list of report types to choose from:
Copy and Customise
Synergy comes with a selection of standard reports for you to use. These will include common reports such as 'Monthly Invoice Report', 'Project - Performance', and 'Transactions - All'.
These reports cannot be modified, but they can be copied. Often it can be easier to start with a base report and modify it rather than trying to create one from scratch. To do this, you will need to:
Go to the report list and find the report you want to copy in the list.
Click the ellipsis on the right side and select Copy and Customise:
The report will generate a copy that you can customise and modify as needed.
If you have already run the report, the same action can be performed from the ellipses at the top right of the report screen:
Adding data to your report
When creating 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 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 to 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 to 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. The maximum number of grouping options you can have is 4. Once you reach 4, the 'Add grouping' button will be greyed out. If you need to change a grouping option, you will need to remove one first before you can add another.
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 reporting 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 |
Merging Duplicate rows
In Synergy, you can merge any rows that have duplicate text. This can help to consolidate long reports and also helps in transaction reports with many rows of data.
Synergy will check all the columns and merge all rows if the text in all the columns matches. You can decide which function is performed on the numerically valued parts of the rows (like Sum, Average, or First).
Before
After
To do this, you will need to customise the report.
Click on the ellipsis (3 dots)
Click ‘Merge duplicate rows’
Click on the edit column (pencil) icon
Choose how you want your merged duplicates to total
Note: The 'NONE' option will use the default that's selected in the Grouping/report totals drop-down.
When you select a function from the Grouping/report totals drop-down, it will affect grouping and totals on your report. These are the areas highlighted in red.
When you select a function from Merge duplicate rows, it will impact the data rows in your report. This is the area highlighted in green.
Tip: If you're seeing incorrect or inflated values in any of your reports that have duplicate rows merged, usually this is because you have 'SUM' as your merge duplicate rows totalling, where you may need to use 'FIRST'
Expressions
Similar to Microsoft Excel or equivalent tools, Synergy allows you to create expressions based on existing reporting values, and your own free text. Expressions can allow you to take existing column data, and interpolate other figures from them.
A good starting point is to do something like [Column 1] - [Column 2]. For example, you can take the Project Agreed Fee column and take away the Project Budget column to see what the difference between the two is. This can be done with any columns available in reporting.
To create an expression in Synergy
Customise your report, and click the pencil icon on the column you want to create an expression in
This will open the column properties. At the top is the source. Change the 'Source' to expression
Use the 'append column to expression' to choose a column to include in your expression.
Write your expression. A simple example would be
[Projects|AgreedFee] - [Projects|Budget]Click ok to see the calculated value.
Expressions can be as simple as that, or as complex as you like. For an in-depth look at what queries you can use, check out this Microsoft reference.
Notes:
There is no "Cancel" button within report customisation, any change you make will automatically be saved. Always "Copy & Customise" when wishing to make an edit to an existing report, you can always delete an unwanted report but you can't undo accidental changes to an existing report.
Where to next?
What other features does this relate to?