Creating Online Reports within Accolade

Online reports provide an on-demand reporting option and can be added to the Charts & Reports page within Accolade. Any Accolade user assigned All Reporting Rights can create online reports. Generated content can be added as a report in a project by adding a Report pod to a layout, and then adding the layout to a process model.

Use the Report Privacy Warning Text system parameter to add a notification within the report to indicate the content is private or confidential, and should not be forwarded to others.

To create an online report within Accolade:

  1. From the Workspace menu, select Charts & Reports.

To narrow the list, search by the report name or category.

Note:  Process Designers can also create or edit charts, reports, and related configuration by navigating to the System menu and selecting Content Sources > Charts & Reports Manager.

  1. Do one of the following:
  • To add a new report - Click Add New and select Online Report from the drop-down list.
  • To copy an existing report - Locate the report you wish to copy on the Charts & Reports page.
    • Click in the Copy column. Select, add, or rearrange the columns you wish to keep. You can also add filters and advanced matrix settings. Click OK to save changes and progress to the next step. Give your newly copied report a name, a system name, a category, and a description. Decide if you wish to transpose the column and row data. Click Save to create the report.
  • To edit an existing report - Click the name of the report on the Charts & Reports page to open it for editing, Click Report Details Icon to edit the report columns, or click Edit Pencil Icon to edit the report details.

Only users assigned as report owners and Process Designers with All Reporting Rights can edit report columns and details.

  1. Select a subject from the drop-down list, such as Projects or Users, to display the column sets available within that subject.
  2. Double-click or drag and drop the column names from the left side of the dialog to any area in the Selected Columns tab to include the column in the report.
  • To search for a column, enter search criteria in the Find field after selecting the subject.
  • Use the Expand All Icon and Collapse All Icon options to expand or collapse the subject data sets in order to select specific column options.
  • To include an entire column set, drag and drop the column set to the Selected Columns tab.
  • To change the column order of selected columns, drag and drop a column into a new location within the list.
  • To display the totals for number columns, check the Show Totals option to indicate that you would like to sum up a number column into a Totals row at the bottom of the report.
  • To remove a column, click Grey Delete Icon in the corresponding row.
  1. (Optional) On the Selected Filters tab, double-click or drag and drop the column name from the left side of the dialog to any area in the Selected Filters tab to use it as filter criteria that data must match to be included in the report.
  2. On the Advanced Matrix Settings tab, if more than one matrix was selected in the report columns, click Green Add Icon Add to add the matrix join definitions.
  3. Click OK to exit the dialog and return to the report settings.

  4. Enter the following information to identify the report:

    Required fields display with red text and an asterisk * if the field is empty.

Field

Description

Name

Enter a name, up to 64 characters long, which identifies the report.

System Name

Enter a unique, shorter name that identifies the report in queries, reporting views, field codes, and other places in Accolade.

The name must be unique among online reports and can contain only letters (English alphabet), numbers, and the underscore.

Category

Description

Enter a description of the purpose or nature of the report.

This description helps other users identify the report throughout the system.

Transpose

Select this check box to transpose the column and row data when the report is rendered.

Owners

Click Blue Search Icon and select the additional users who can edit the report configuration.

An assigned owner with All Reporting Rights can view, update, delete, or add additional owners to the report. An assigned owner who has Refresh Workbook Data rights will only be able to view the report. To make the report available for all users or for configuration setup, you must have a Process Designers with All Reporting Rights as an assigned owner.

 

  1. (Optional, available in configuration only) Set up the report for export.
  2. (Optional) Click Report Preview Icon in the upper right corner to display a preview of the report contents prior to saving, or click Download Report Icon to download the report to a spreadsheet file.
  3. Click Save to create a new report, or to save changes to an existing report.

 

Conditional Formatting in Reports

Accolade users need an easy way to focus users on the most critical information in the report. Users can easily use conditional formatting on report columns such as date, number, or text to focus attention on the key data to drive decisions on projects. Users can specify a formula that tells the report how to color the background of the cells in a given column. For example, while setting up the report, one can choose to highlight the project duration column which will show the long-running projects as risks. The user would be specifying the criteria such as a project running greater than 500 days will have the color red, projects running between 200 and 500 days will be yellow, and projects running less than 200 days will be green. This will effectively highlight projects that have been running for a very long time.

  1. Access the report you wish to configure.

  2. Click the Settings icon at the top right of the report page. The Selected Columns screen will appear.

  3. Select the Settings icon in the Conditional Formatting column. The Conditional Formatting modal will appear.

  4. Configure the fields. Click the OK button when finished.

  5. Click the OK button on the Select Columns page to finalize preferences.

 

How Do I Know the Feature is Working?

Users have the ability to input formulas into the Value fields of the Conditional Formatting modal. Use Rational and Logical Operators to express what actions should take place when the desired criteria is met. Follow the steps below to guide you through this feature. IF help is needed, use the Valid Operators as a reference.

Relational Operators Logical Operators
= (Equals) Or, || (Double Pipe)
<> (Does Not Equal) And, &&
>= (Greater Than or Equal To)  
<= (Less Than or Equal To)  
> (Greater Than)  
< (Less Than)  
  • To make a valid formula, you need at least one of the relational operators from the table above, and at least one value.

    • i.e. = Red

    • i.e. >=0

  • If you’re using any logical operators (i.e. &&) then you’ll need at least 2 relational operators and at least 2 values per logical operator.

    • i.e. >1 || <0

  • Comparisons to Dates need to be specified in the YYYY-MM-DD format.

    • i.e. < 2025-03-25, if you want all dates less than March 25th 2025 to be formatted.

Notes:   

  • To delete a saved online report, click the name of the report on the Charts & Reports page and click Delete at the bottom of the page. Only the report owner, users assigned as owners with All Reporting Rights, and Process Designers with All Reporting Rights can delete the report.
  • To include a project's thumbnail image in the report, add the Project Thumbnail column available in the Project Details column set.
  • A reference table must also be added to Accolade as an online report in order to be available to use in reporting. The reference table information is included by selecting the Reference Tables option when selecting columns to be included in the report.
  • The process model determines whether the report is available at the project level. When viewed through a project, only data that pertains to that project displays in the report, unless Override project filtering is set in the report configuration. Non-project related information displays identically in both locations. Click Printer Icon on the Reports page of the project to print the list of charts and reports that display.
  • Using filters that reference data with square brackets may not return correct results. It is not recommended to use square brackets in naming projects or other Accolade data, as these characters are not supported in filtering and calculation functionality.
  • Use the Currency Symbol system parameter to specify the currency symbol that displays in the Data Format field when creating charts and reports.

  • Users can now access the "Null or Empty" format when utilizing Conditional Formatting.