Report builder
Open Reports > New report, or open a report and select Edit.
The parts of the builder
Section titled “The parts of the builder”| Number | Area | Use |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Name and description | Name the report and describe its purpose. |
| 2 | Query | Choose a template, write a query, set inputs and run it. |
| 3 | Report sharing | Open the sharing task. |
| 4 | Report guide | Replay the walkthrough with the question-mark button. |
| 5 | Publish | Publish a new report when its checks pass. |
Your private draft
Section titled “Your private draft”Each person has one private draft per report. When draft controls are available, naming a new report starts autosaving. Otherwise, name, run and publish it in one step. Name, description, query and parameter edits autosave after you stop typing. The header shows Saving…, then the time the draft was saved. Save draft also appears before a new report’s first save.
If a draft save gets no answer for 20 seconds, the editor stops waiting and shows “The server is not responding. Your changes are still on this page. Try again in a moment.” below the header. Saving… ends, and your edits stay on the page. Keep the page open and select Try again in a moment.
If saving fails, keep the page open and select Try again. A conflict shows This draft changed in another tab. Reload to see the latest. Select Reload to load that draft. For who can see drafts, see Roles and permissions.
The builder’s Query results and results shown when previewing as another person use the same search and sort progress card, including “Busy, retrying”, dimmed rows, disabled column sort buttons, and Retry and Cancel on failure. Cancel stops the pending change and restores the last completed search and sort; the rows already shown stay. The chart preview shows “Busy, retrying” while Rowseta retries a busy chart request. Search matches the displayed text across all result columns. Enter text in Search…, then select Search or press Enter. To clear an applied search, empty the field and select Search or press Enter again. Charts use the whole result. Numbers keep their stored decimal scale without thousands separators, and dates and times use the Organization timezone saved with the result. Result downloads use the same saved values as the grid.
Add a chart
Section titled “Add a chart”Open the Chart tab. Before a query has run, it says Run your query to see chart ideas. Select Run query to run the query saved on the Query tab and stay on this page. With no query, it says Start with a query and offers Go to the Query tab.
The tab gives this three-step guide:
- Write or pick a query: “Start on the Query tab, or from a template.”
- Run it: “Rowseta reads the columns in your results.”
- Pick a chart idea: “Each idea is a ready chart. Change anything after.”
After the run, Pick a chart to start shows a gallery of chart ideas. Select an idea to add it, then change it as needed. Or select Build your own chart. No chart is added until you choose one. Without a chart, the report shows its table.
The sentence editor reads Show, for each and as. Choose the measure, grouping column and chart type. Measures include a row count and the sum, average, lowest or highest value of a numeric column. Available chart types depend on the grouping column. Bars can show a second measure with + add a second number. Choose Nothing, show the table only to remove the chart.
Column names are made readable, such as Org unit ID for OrgUnitId. Edit Group label and Measure label to change the axis titles. Suggested grouping columns and chart ideas describe distinct counts as “different values”, with “about” when the count is approximate.
In Count each row as, enter a plural word, such as students. Rowseta’s guess is prefilled when you choose an idea or build your own chart. Leave it blank to use rows. The help line says: ‘Used in chart labels, for example “29 students”. Leave blank to say “rows”.’
A new chart uses the report name as its title. An existing saved chart title is kept. Chart changes save in your private draft. Publish makes them live. Opening the editor or the Chart tab does not load results or a saved chart preview. Select Run query on the Chart tab to show results. After a successful run of a changed query, a compatible chart stays; one that no longer fits is removed, with “Your chart no longer matched the query, so it was removed. Pick a new one.” A result with one row and one non-empty numeric value offers a headline number.
The tab can also show:
- Running your query: chart ideas appear when results are ready. Progress can say Processing rows.
- Your query ran, but returned no rows: use Change inputs or Edit the query.
- No chart fits these results yet: include a grouping column with repeating values, or select Keep the table only.
- Loading chart ideas.: the loading status for chart ideas. The sidebar can say No chart ideas for these results.
- Choose a column to add a chart.: choose a grouping column in the sentence editor.
- Waiting for your draft to save.: the preview waits for the draft.
- Building the chart: the preview is being prepared. Progress can say Starting, Preparing, Building indexes, Processing rows or Done.
- Updating: the previous preview or ideas stay visible while new data loads.
- Your chart no longer fits the query. Pick a new chart or remove it.: select Pick a new chart to remove the stale chart and choose another.
- The chart is taking too long. Try again. or The chart could not be loaded. Try again.: select Try again.
System reports can carry their own charts. Templates with a chart carry it into a new report when their query is unchanged. Charts are not shown in course-limited Brightspace launches or insight widgets. See Fixed rules for the promotion detail. An empty chart preview shows the same explanation as the report instead of empty axes.
Publish
Section titled “Publish”Name the report, select Run, check the results, then select Publish. Run checks the query and shows results; it does not publish or save the query. If a successful run removes a chart that no longer fits the query, that removal is saved in your private draft. Editing still autosaves independently.
Publish and Publish changes also stop waiting when their save or publish request gets no answer for 20 seconds. A draft autosave timeout shows the message above with Try again; a publish timeout shows it in a notification. Keep the page open, retry the save if needed, then select Publish or Publish changes again in a moment.
If publishing is blocked, Before you publish shows these checks:
- Report has a name: enter a name.
- Run the current query: run successfully after changing the query. Comments or spacing alone need no new run.
- Every parameter has a default: fill every required Default in Parameters.
- Report has unpublished changes: make a change when editing an unchanged published report.
- Evaluation limit reached: appears when first publishing at the limit.
Use Run now for the query check, or View Billing when shown. Evaluation includes up to 3 published reports you create; drafts and system reports do not count toward this limit. At the limit, the checklist says 3 of 3 published reports in use. Delete one or subscribe. See Billing.
Update a published report
Section titled “Update a published report”Select Edit. Your edits stay in your private draft, marked Unpublished changes, until Publish changes. The published report stays unchanged meanwhile. Discard changes removes your draft changes after confirmation.
If the Discard changes request gets no answer for 20 seconds, the same not responding message appears in a notification and your edits stay on the page. Try Discard changes again in the confirmation in a moment, or select Keep editing.
On a phone, the editor shows Editing needs a larger screen. Open the report on a computer to edit; saved unpublished changes wait there.
Version history
Section titled “Version history”Select Version history on the report page or in Report actions, or History in the editor. Version history lists published versions with publisher, time and change tags; Live marks the current version. Draft saves and runs do not create versions.
Select a version and choose another under compared with to see query, name, description and parameter differences. Restore as draft opens that version in the editor without publishing it. For your listed unpublished changes, Edit draft opens your draft. Older edits may show Edited, details not recorded.
Copy a report
Section titled “Copy a report”Choose Copy in a report’s actions menu. Name, run and publish the copy. System reports also offer Copy to customize.
Delete a report
Section titled “Delete a report”Choose Delete in the actions menu and confirm. The confirmation names dependent insight widget metrics; deleting also removes them. If deletion fails, retry from Reports.