Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Reporting (but were afraid to ask)

Introduction

Why should I bother reading this guide?

This guide will help you choose the best business reporting solution for your organization by pinpointing criteria to consider during the evaluation process. Dozens of reporting programs are on the market today, which can be both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, you have the opportunity to select the solution that’s optimal for your company. On the other, you will need to carefully analyze how a particular reporting package could benefit your business. This guide cuts through the clutter by focusing on the key questions you should ask.

Isn’t it the IT department’s job to take care of this?

One major difficulty in creating effective reports is that those who deal with storing data (the IT staff) are often also in charge of designing reports. But the IT professionals aren’t necessarily the ones who know what your customer, colleague, or other report recipient needs to see. You, the business professional, are the one who best comprehends what a report needs to accomplish. This is why it’s important you be involved from the beginning in choosing a reporting solution.

How is this guide organized?

This guide is divided into three main sections. The first section gives a brief overview of reporting and sheds light on why an organization needs reporting software. The second section contains specific questions to ask when considering reporting packages. The third section shows how Windward Reports addresses key criteria.

A Quick Overview of Reporting

What is reporting?

First, let’s make sure we’re all in agreement on what a “report” is. A report is simply a representation of data displayed in such a way that people can grasp the information at hand.

Inventory tallies, invoices, financial statements, product usage reports and more are all traditional reports used by businesses. Business reports also fall into a broader category, because a report is anything with data inserted into a template. Certificates, offer letters to potential employees and even business cards can be reports.

The process of designing, generating and distributing reports is what makes up “reporting.” When choosing a reporting program, your company needs a solution that will allow for creating the most functional and visually impressive reports, regardless of which category they fall into.

Is reporting the same as “document generation” or “mail merge”?

The answer depends upon whom you ask. There are a variety of definitions for these terms, even among industry vendors, so we’ll take a moment to cover how they’re used in this guide.

“Document generation” is an automated way of producing a document. You create a template and when the document is generated, specific information populates the template.

“Mail merge” also is an automated way to producing documents. Mail merge originally was used in the computing industry as a term referring to the process of taking contact information (name, address, phone number, etc.) from a data source (database, spreadsheet or other data storage repository) and automatically inserting that data into letters, mailing labels and other documents related to personalized mail. The term “mail merge” is evolving; it now commonly is used to mean turning any template into a personalized document, such as a monthly bank statement.

Who uses reporting?

Everyone.

A variety of individuals create reports, from program managers to bank employees to marketing vice presidents to administrative employees. It’s possible you generate reports habitually without thinking about the fact that you’re creating a report.

Reporting exists in all industries, including finance, energy, education, government, insurance, health care, manufacturing, technology, telecommunications, transportation and more. In addition, reporting is used in a range of establishments, from start-ups to businesses that have been operating for centuries.

This is why it’s so important to properly evaluate a reporting package. The most efficient solution for a technology start-up may not work for a Fortune 500 energy company, and vice versa.

What does reporting software do?

Reporting software lets you create a template (a “form” letter, statement, invoice, or other type of document), insert specific data into the template, and generate the final report . In other words, reporting software takes a jumble of company data and displays it in such a way that we can understand what the data means.

Every reporting program does this differently. The best reporting solution allows you to create the types of reports you need and fits your company’s business objectives. A reporting package is useless if it allows you to create the snazziest report in the world but breaks the bank in the process.

To help you evaluate a reporting package, we’ve created a list of questions to ask. Knowing your criteria before you begin evaluating software options will help keep you focused on the end result: a reporting package that best meets your company’s needs.

You can get the rest of this book at Windward Reports' Free Reporting Guide.

Book extract reprinted with permission of Windward Studios. Book copyright (c) by Windward Studios, All Rights Reserved.

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