What are report layouts?
Layouts are different "views" on your data within the same report. Reports can contain multiple layouts.
Some common examples of layouts are:
- Sales by customer
- Sales by product group
- Sales by country
- Sales by month
You can also watch the tutorial video.
Layout types
You can choose from over 30 different layout types. They fall into 6 main categories:
Report
The default layout shows information grouped in sections with subtotals.
Drilldown
This layout shows aggregated multi-dimensional information which you can drill into.
Sparklines
This layout shows the development of givens item over a period of time, which is useful to understand trends at a high level.
Charts
This layout includes all common graphs, such as column, bar, line, pie, donut, area, radar, scatter, geo chart, gauge, bullet, scorecard, and timeline.
Treemap
This layout shows data in a hierarchical structure using nested rectangles with relative sizes. For example, revenue by region can be represented this way.
Diagram
This layout shows in a hierarchical structure. For example, salary cost by department or revenue by region can be represented this way.
Create a layout
Click on Define - Add layout. For each layout, you can enter a name and choose whether or not copy the current layout:
You can edit a report layout by simply dragging fields into the various areas (watch the tutorial video):
This window enables you to change the report options and the fields position:
Report options
These are settings that determine the overall appearance of the report layout:
- Layout type - report, drilldown, sparklines, chart, treemap, diagram
- Chart type - column, column (stacked), column (with line), column (combi), bar, bar (stacked), line, line (smooth), pie, pie (3D), donut, area, area (smooth), area (stacked), radar, scatter, gauge, bullet, scorecard, geo chart, timeline
- Column totals - sum, average, variance, variance (-), or none
- Report totals - sum, average, result, result (-), or none
- Sort by - sort either on the descriptions in the row fields (if you select multiple Row fields, these will all be included in the sort operation), or on the values in the report
- Footer text - you can optionally provide a text for the report totals. For example, instead of the default "Totals" you might want to call it "Net result"
- Zones and scale - for the chart types "gauge", "bullet", and "scorecard", you can optionally enter 3 zones, mininum, maximum, and goal value, separated by a comma
- Style - for charts, you can choose with or without gridlines
You can choose from over 30 different layout types.
Fields position
You can manually drag-and-drop any of the available fields into any of the report areas, and if you no longer want a field in your report, you can simply drag it out again.
- Fields - this shows all fields that are available within this report.
- Filters - drag fields here that you want to use as dynamic filters. They will be shown above the report with automatic lists of values. Whenever you select a different filter value, the report will be immediately updated to reflect this.
- Rows - drag fields here that you want to lay out into rows. This is the main dimension of your report. You can create a grouping in your report by dragging multiple fields here, and move them into the desired order. For the standard layout type, you can also indicate where you want subtotals.
- Columns - drag fields here that you want to lay out into columns. Usually, these are fields that contain a period, date, or time. By including one or more fields into columns, you can create two-dimensional reports.
- Values - drag fields here that you want to summarize on. Usually, these are
number or amount fields. Once you have dragged a field here, you can click on it to select
the color and the type of operation.
You can choose from these operations:- Sum - the sum of all values (non-numeric values are ignored).
- Count - the number of values that are not blank (values can be numeric or text).
- Average - the average of all values (non-numeric values are ignored).
- Cumulative - the cumulative value for every row.
- % of total - the % that each value makes up of the report total (non-numeric values are ignored). The report total is always 100%.
- Minimum - the smallest value (values can be numeric or text).
- Maximum - the largest value (values can be numeric or text).
You can also watch the tutorial video.
Zones and scale
The chart types gauge, bullet, and scorecard have a different purpose than the other chart types. Instead of showing series of data, their purpose is to show one single data point, relative within a certain scale. For example, actual revenue as a % of budget revenue.
The recommended use is to calculate a percentage value in your report, and show that in these chart types. By default, XLReporting assumes your value fits within a scale from 0% to 199%, using 3 default zones (at 70, 90, and 110) to color the chart:
- Red: <70%
- Orange: 70-90%
- Green: 90-110%
- Blue >110%
You can also define your own zones and scale, entering the 5 values in the Zones and scale field, separated by a comma. For example: "50, 70, 90, 20, 120" sets the zones at 50%, 70%, and 90%, with a scale between 20% and 120%
By default, the colors red, orange, green, and blue assumes that the value is "the higher, the better". For example, this applies to revenue. However, you can also reverse the zones, for expense for example: "the lower, the better". To achieve this, you would enter "90, 70, 70, 20, 120".
Using percentages enables you to compare different measures in a meaningful way, regardless of their absolute size. However, you can also show absolute measurements by entering the appropriate zones and scale. For example "20000, 40000, 50000, 0, 90000" sets 3 zones with absolute values on a scale between 0 and 90000. The value that you are showing should fit within that scale.
Finally, the bullet chart type has an optional marker, the "goal" that you can compare your value against. If you want to show that marker, you need to enter the goal. For example "20000, 40000, 50000, 0, 90000, 70000" defines 70000 to be the goal.
