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How to Create Custom Reports
How to Create Custom Reports

If the system reports don’t offer what you need, you can create a custom report.

Jeffrey Mo avatar
Written by Jeffrey Mo
Updated over a month ago

Custom reports give you the flexibility to create reports with the information you need if the default reports don’t work for you.


Create a custom report

  1. Log in to your Fingercheck account as an Administrator.

  2. Hover over the REPORTS tab, and select a category.
    In this example, Time Card is selected.

  3. Click the +Custom Report button.
    A list of various Fingercheck data sets appears.

  4. To narrow your choices, select a category.
    The following example shows that Time Card is selected, and it contains two sources.

  5. Click the Select button for the data source you want to use.

  6. In the Code field, enter a code for your report.

  7. Edit the Name and Description fields as needed.

    These fields are used on the Custom Reports list to display your report.

  8. From the Default Export Type drop-down list, select one of the following options:

    • PDF, Portable Document Format

    • Excel, Microsoft Excel

    • CSV, Comma Separated Values

    • TXT, Text Separated Values

    • CSV2, Comma Separated Values
      If you want to use a CSV format, you will most commonly use the CSV option. The uncommon CSV2 option suppresses blank lines and might be helpful for custom GLs.

  9. Click Start.


Use the Custom Report Writer

After you click Start for your custom report, the Custom Report Writer screen opens.

  1. Drag and drop the fields you want to include in the report.
    The fields are listed on the right side. Use the blue up and down arrows to open and collapse the panels to view all of the fields.
    As shown in the example above, several Absence Request fields were dragged to the canvas.

  2. To reorganize the columns, click and hold on the column heading, and drag it to its new location.

  3. To change the report’s name, click the Edit icon (pencil) next to the title at the top of the page.

  4. To run the report (even before saving it), click Run Report at the top of the report.
    To change the format to PDF, .csv, or .xls (Excel) format, select the option for the Run Report drop-down list.

  5. To save the report to a different category, or to make it a favorite, click the gear icon, and select the option from the Move to a different category drop-down list.

  6. Click Save Report.


Apply filters to a report

With filters, you can apply restrictions to the data displayed on the final report. For example, if you use filters on an Employee Absence report, you can show only the PTO requests, ignoring other possible absence requests, such as Sick Leave or Unpaid Absences.

  1. Click the FILTER button.

  2. Click Add a Filter.

  3. Select the field you want to filter by.

  4. If you want to use an advanced editor for the filter, turn on the Use Custom Expression toggle.
    Using this editor goes beyond the scope of this documentation. For assistance, contact Fingercheck Support.

  5. Click Add.

  6. Select the operator and an option for the filter.

  7. To add another filter, click Add Filter, and repeat the process.
    The AND operator is selected by default, so both filter results must match for the data to be included in the report. If you want to change it to an OR operator, click the gear icon.

  8. To close the filter pop-up, click the FILTER button.


Sort data in a report

You can sort the order in which results appear in your report, that is, ascending or descending alphabetical or numerical order. For example, you might sort an Absence Request report example alphabetically by employee last names from A to Z, or you might want to sort by date in descending order.

  1. Click the SORT button.

  2. Select a field to sort by.

  3. Select the sort order:

    • Az: Ascending

    • Za: Descending

  4. To add another sort order, click Add Sorting and repeat the steps.

  5. To close the sort pop-up, click the SORT button.


Group data in a report

You can group similar data together in your report. For example, you might group each employee’s data together. So, in an Absence Request report, Savindra Mohan’s absence requests would be listed together, and Joe Smith’s absences would be listed together. Another example might be to group the entries by date.

  1. Click the GROUP button.

  2. Click Create a Group.

  3. In the pop-up window, select a field from the Group By drop-down list.

  4. From the Page Break drop-down list, select how you want to configure page breaks.

  5. Click the gear icon to edit the header and foot captions.

  6. To add another group, click Add Group and repeat the steps.

  7. To close the pop-up window, click the GROUP button.


Have totals appear in your report

  1. To have totals appear at the end of the report:

    1. Hover over the column header, and click the hamburger icon that appears.

    2. Turn on the Show in Totals toggle.

      The total will appear at the bottom of the column as shown here:

  2. To show the value (for example, the name of the employee) in the row that shows the total:

    1. Create a group or groups (as described in the How to group data in a report procedure above).

    2. Turn on the Show Field Value in Group Totals toggle.

      The field value will appear at the end of each group as shown below.

      In the example, the toggles for Show in Totals and Show Field Value in Group Totals were turned on for the LastFirst field. Only the Show in Totals toggle was turned on for Hours_RG.

  3. To hide the details of a report and show only the totals for specific groups of data (for example, to see only the totals of jobs but not the details of each job):

    1. Click the gear icon.

    2. Click Theme editor.

    3. Turn off the Row toggle.

    4. Click Save.

      For example, here is a report with Show in Totals selected for the Hours_RG column and the Row toggle on.

      Here is the report with the Row toggle off.


Apply formatting to a report

You can add formatting style to PDF and Excel file types. Customization options include:

  • Resizing, bolding, and italicized fonts

  • Changing column widths, cell borders

  1. To change column formatting (such as field width or font color):

    1. Hover over the column header, and click the hamburger icon that appears:

    2. To edit the column heading, click in the first field and edit the name.

    3. Change the other settings as needed for the column.
      Tip: To include dollar signs ($) in the entries for a column, enter {0:C2} in the Formatting field.

    4. To make advanced edits to the column, click the Edit icon (pencil) in the top right of the pop-up window.
      For more information, see the How to use the Expression Editor section below.

    5. To close the pop-up window and apply the changes, click the hamburger icon.

  2. To change borders and fonts for the header, rows, and the footer, click the gear icon, and click Theme editor.
    Formatting options appear in the panel on the right.

  3. Make your changes, and click Save in the top-right.


Use the Expression Editor

The Expression Editor offers a powerful set of features for advanced filtering of data. The tool is written in the C# programming language, so it is recommended that you have a basic understanding of programming before using the editor. If you have questions, please contact Fingercheck Support.

To open the Expression Editor:

  1. Hover over the column header, and click the hamburger icon that appears (as shown in step 1a in the previous procedure).

  2. Click the Edit icon (pencil) in the top-right of the pop-up or the Expression Editor link in the lower left.
    The Expression Editor window appears.

  3. Make your changes, and click Save.

Common expressions are:

Expressions

Description

(FormatString(ToDateTime([DateWorked]),'{0: dddd }'))

Display the day (for example, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday)

(FormatString(ToDateTime([DateWorked]),'{0: MM/dd/yy }'))

Parse out the date (remove the 0:00 at the end of the date)

(FormatString(ToDateTime([TimeIn]),'{0:hh:mm:ss tt}'))

Format TimeIn to AM/PM

(Round(IsNull(ToDecimal([Hours_RG]),0),2))

Round Hours_RG to 2 decimal places

(Round(IsNull(ToDecimal([Hours_RG]),0) + IsNull(ToDecimal([Hours_DT]),0) + IsNull(ToDecimal([Hours_OT]),0), 2))

Add multiple earning codes together


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