Reporting: Quick Start Guide to Reports Module - READ ME FIRST

Reporting: Quick Start Guide to Reports Module - READ ME FIRST

Getting Started With Reports

1. NonProfitEasy comes with a variety of reporting tools that allow you to view and interact with your data in a variety of ways. These tools are embedded throughout the system and can be found in a variety of places. They range from simple "view data on the screen" and "push button" exports to a robust and highly sophisticated custom reporting module and include:
   
   • Basic Dashboard (view and filters)
   • Smart Dashboards (view, filters, sort order control, drill downs, and export functions)
   • Financials Screen (view, filters, and export functions)
   • Events: Manage Attendees (view and export functions)
   • Quick Search and Advanced Search (view, filters, and export functions)
   • Reports: Default Reports (view, filters, "on the fly" manipulation of data, and export functions)
   • Reports: Custom Reports (view, filters, "on the fly" manipulation of data, use formulas to manipulate data, control report layout, and export functions)
2. The first step in "pulling a report" from the CRM is to determine what kind of report do you want. Do you want a basic list of names and addresses, a list of donations that includes the Fund and Campaign name, a list of members due for renewal, etc. Refer to this tutorial for more information in the questions you should consider.
3. Once you determine what type of report you need, consult our Report Options Comparison Chart (Basic Reporting Part III tutorial) to determine the best place to get the report you need.
4. In general, the steps for producing a report are:
   • Decide what, specifically, you want to know
   • Decide what format you need the data in (unformatted data file for mail merging in Word, "fancy" formatted report with a chart or graph, ability to manipulate data easily "on the fly" to perform analysis and answer multiple questions, etc.
   • Determine which reporting tool in NonProfitEasy matches your needs and navigate to it (use the Report Options Comparison Chart to help with this step or contact Fundly Support if you are unsure what the best option is). Always be sure to check the Default Reports as there is likely one that does what you want or can be modified to do what you want.
   • Create/Pull the report - this includes anything from selecting from a pre-set list of options on the Basic or Smart Dashboard or a default report, entering search criteria into the Advanced Search screen, or creating a custom report from scratch.
   • Run the report and verify the results - best practice rule of thumb is to verify 10%-20% of the records on the report to ensure they should be on the report. You will also want to make sure data you expect to see is on the report. Correct data errors and/or report criteria errors until you have the correct results.
   • Manipulate/format the report output (add formulas to adjust the way data displays such as adding grouping, sub-totals, etc. or converting short dates to long dates, etc.)
   • Format the report (make the report "pretty" if needed by adding borders, shading, adjusting font size and style, add images, etc.)
   • Use the report (includes "filtering on the fly" on the screen to conduct analysis, exporting the report to another format, etc.)
5. In addition to the Basic Dashboard, Smart Dashboards, Financials Screen and Export, Manage Event Attendees Export, and Quick and Advanced Search, NonProfitEasy has over 160 default reports as well as the ability to write your own custom reports.
6. To access custom and default reports, click on Reports on the Main Menu. This will take you to the Reports index page.

   

   

7. To open an existing report (default or custom report), click the page icon in the upper left to open the list of default and custom reports. Click the gray arrow to the left of the Default and/or NonProfitEasy (your custom reports) folder to navigate the list of reports.

   

   

   

8. Default reports contains report categories (sub-folders). Click the gray arrow to the left of any category to open that sub-folder and reveal the list of reports in that folder.

   

   

9. You can search for default and custom reports by typing keywords into the Search box at the top of the list of reports. Click the three dots on the right of the search box to open up the search options/to indicate whether you wish to search just the report titles or also the report descriptions.

   

   

10. Prior to running any report, you can click ONCE on the report name/title to select the report and populate the Report Description box at the bottom of the list of reports.

    

11. To run a report, click on the "play" button to the right of the report name OR click the three bars to the right of the report name and select Run from the contextual menu that opens up to run the report on the screen. (Please Note: If you get an error message that your session has timed out and that you need to contact your administrative whenever you attempt to run reports, it’s because you must enable third-party cookies in your browser in order to run reports. Please see this tutorial for more information.)

    

    OR

    

12. You can Export the report (as PDF, Rich Text, CSV, or Excel) without first running it (or you can run it and then export it) by clicking the three bars to the right of the report name and selecting Export As and then selecting the desired format (you can also email it immediately to anyone you choose (including yourself) in the desired format by selecting Email Report from the menu or you can schedule the report to automatically run and email to anyone you want by selecting Schedule. See the Out of the Box Reporting webinar recording for more information scheduling reports).

    

    OR

    

13. With some reports (if filters have been sent to "prompt on run"), when you click Run/run the report, a box will pop up allowing you to specify the report criteria you want. Enter any criteria that you want and then click Okay to finish running the report.

    

14. For Advanced Reports Interface: Once you run the report on the screen, you can right click anywhere on the report to filter and conditionally format the report “on the fly” using the interactive HTML Viewer (see this tutorial for more information on the interactive HTML viewer). In this screenshot, we have right-clicked on the Hardik Pithadiya's Donation Date. We now have the option to filter the report by donation date (or to conditionally format the donation date field; for example, we could highlight in yellow all donations made on the same date or made after May).

    

15. You can also click on the left/right facing arrow on the right to open up the Interactive Filters menu to filter and re-sort the report “on the fly” as well as hide or unhide columns (see the above linked tutorial on the Interactive HTML viewer for more information).

    

    

    

16. You can search a contact from the report result by typing what you are searching for in the Find field in the upper right hand corner.

    

To Create a New Report:

1. First check the default reports; the report you need may already exist or there might be a default report you can use as a jumping off point for your custom report so that you do not need to start from scratch.
2. If you would like to make changes to a default report (adapt it to your needs), you must make a copy of it. Click the three bars to the right of the report’s name and select Copy. This will allow you to copy the report to your custom reports folder and then edit it.

   

3. If you need to create a new report from scratch, first check this tutorial on which report types do which things. We have several different reporting interfaces/tools, including Advanced Search, Express View report interface, Advanced View report interface, and Cross-Tab report interface. In general, Express View will be your “go to” choice for 80% of your reporting needs, but some reports can only be built using Advanced Search, the Advanced Reports interface, or the Cross-Tab Reports interface.
4. To create a new Cross-Tab, Dashboard, Express View, or Advanced report, click the + button in the upper left and then select the type of report you want to create (see our tutorials on each report type for more details).

   

   

5. To save your report, you must click on the gray arrow to the left of the Non-Profit Easy Folder name to open the list of sub-folders and then select/click on your organization’s name. That is the ONLY place you can save custom reports. If you receive a message that “folder is read only” you have not clicked in the correct place (hint: the only place you can save reports is the folder WITHOUT an icon of a lock next to it). In the screenshot below, the name of our organization is NPE Demo and that is the folder we have highlighted/selected to save our report to. It's the only one without a lock icon/the only one we can select.

   

6. For complete instructions on how to create an Express View, Advanced, Crosstab, or Dashboard report, visit the Reports section of the support library and see those tutorials.