Advanced Reporting in Sugar
There is one feature in Sugar Sell, Sugar Serve, and Sugar Enterprise that, while very useful, is rarely used: Advanced Reports. This is likely due to the fact that some knowledge of SQL is required to create Advanced Reports in Sugar. In this blog post, we’ll cover an overview of what Advanced Reports are and the pros and cons of using Advanced Reporting in Sugar.
What are Advanced Reports?
The data coming into Advanced Reports are based on SQL queries that you create which allows more control over the data that will be provided into the report, like the ability to use sub-queries.
What are the Advantages of Advanced Reports?
There are several advantages of Advanced Reports. These abilities include:
- Formatting the data prior to displaying it, including formatting of multiple data tables
- Exporting the data from each table
- Selecting multiple formats, such as text or background colors, for different data tables within one report.
- Making complicated sub-queries
- Putting limits on returns
This screenshot below is an example of Advanced Reporting where a user-selected multiple formats for the data tables all within one report.
Another big advantage of Advanced Reports is being able to access your Sugar database when using SugarCloud. A couple of useful reports you can create are to show deleted records or report on audits (changes to data over time).
What are the Disadvantages of Advanced Reports?
There are a few drawbacks of advanced reports. These include:
- There are no dynamic parameters
- Only rows and columns reports can be created
- The module can only be accessed by administrators
- Knowledge of SQL is required
If upon saving a query there are any errors, you may lose your progress, so we recommend keeping a copy of your in-progress queries before you save them in case you need to reference them.
Concluding Thoughts
If you find yourself wanting a more colorful report, a single place to find multiple sources of different information, or you can’t quite get where you want using regular Sugar reporting, then it might be a good time to look into advanced reports. If you’d like help with implementation or training around Advanced Reports, please reach out to us today.
