Custom Reporting - Building a Report Template

Find out how to build your own reports on Insights

You probably know that there are around 70 pre-built reports in Insights that you can use. 

These cover pretty much everything that is included in the ATS, and can be exported, saved and scheduled as required.

However, we recognise that sometimes these reports don't quite fulfil all your reporting needs. This is why you also have the option to build your own reports.

 

With Custom Reporting, you can, amongst other things: 

• Include the filters and columns that you require
• Rename the columns and reorder them
• Add in output rules to make the data perform in a certain way.

 

Check out this video for more information, or read on for a step-by-step guide on Custom Reporting:

 

Accessing Custom Reports

To create a Custom Report, you will need to acess Insights as normal.

Once logged in, you need to go to 'Report Manager' on the left-hand side:

From here you should select 'Report Templates':

 

From here, you have access to the Data Dictionary and Template Builder.

 

If you are not sure which columns you require in your report, the Data Dictionary is a really good place to go for more information. 

The Data Dictionary provides information on column names, column descriptions and column group names. All of these are useful when compiling a report.

 

If you do know the columns you require, you can go to the Template Builder option.

 

Building a Template for a Custom Report

When you click on the Template Builder option, you will be presented with a screen that looks like this:

 

First of all, you must give your template a 'Focus'. Do you require your report to focus on:

• Applications - this relates to the information that candidates put into the platform
  
• Jobs - this shows information at a Job level
• Recruiters - this shows what actions Recruiters have completed in the platform.
  

 

For this example, we'll choose the 'Applications' focus as this provides the majority of columns to choose from.

 

Once you have selected your focus, the screen will refresh and you will be presented with the filters that can be applied to the report:

You can see two sections - 'Standard filters' and 'Optional filters'.

• The Standard filters are included with the report as default
• The Optional filters can be added in as required.

 

The filters are grouped together, and if you click on the blue text, you can see which filters are included in which group:

• This example shows which filters are included under the 'Candidate Metadata Filters' group.
• To add in the filters to your report, simply select the tickbox next to the relevant group. 

 

Scrolling further down the page, you will see a similar section for columns:

• Again, clicking on the blue text shows you what is included in that column group.
• The 'Standard Columns' are again ones that will be included as default in your report.

 

Under 'Optional Columns', in this particular focus, you can see many column groups:

 

Again, clicking on the blue text shows you all the columns that are gathered together in that column group:

 

 

It is likely that you will not need all columns within a specific group, possibly just one or two columns within that group.

Unfortunately, you cannot add just a single column to a report, you have to add the whole group.

However, once the group has been added, you can choose which specific columns will be included in the report later on. 

In this example, we have added the 'Standard Candidate Columns' and the 'Standard Jobs Columns' groups:

 

Once you are happy with your column group selections, scroll down the page to the bottom. 

Here you will see a darker blue option titled 'Extended Report Configuration':

• Click this section.

 

The section will expand and you will see options for 

• Manage Custom Columns
• Manage Virtual Columns
• Column Configurator:

We will come back to 'Custom Columns' and 'Virtual Columns shortly.

For this example, we are going to select 'Column Configurator', and then we are going to launch the Column Configurator:

 

The screen will refresh and you will be presented with a screen that looks like this:

• Each column will be shown as a separate section (highlighted above). 

 

As previously stated, it is unlikely you will need every column that you have selected. As a result, we recommend that you make all the columns 'hidden', and as you choose which ones you would like to be included in the report, you can make them 'visible':

 

• 'Hidden' columns will show as grey, and if you select the 'Hidden' icon on the right-hand side, the column will turn white and the icon will change to 'Visible'. 

 

You can also use the blue arrow keys on the right-hand side of each section as well:

• These are useful for keeping the columns that you are selecting, together as a group
• Selecting the top arrow button will send the column up to the top of the report
• You will then have all visible columns congregated together at the top of the screen:

 

When you export or save/schedule this report, the top-most column on this screen will show as the left-most column (i.e. the first column) on your report.

• If you wish to change the order of the columns, simply drag and drop to your required order, using the darker shaded section on each column:

 

You can also rename the columns by over-typing in the 'Label' fields:

 

Once you are happy with the columns that have been selected and the order of them, click 'Accept' at the top of the screen:

 

Your screen will refresh and you will be taken back to the 'save' screen:

• Here you can give your report a name and add any notes to it if you wish.

 

Once you save your template, the screen will refresh and you will be redirected to the top of the screen where you will see an option titled 'View Template Output':

• You can also see the name of your report detailed as well. 

 

Click 'View Template Output'. This will show you what your report is going to look like before it is exported, saved or scheduled:

• At this stage, you have the option to add in any filters you require and also any columns you may have missed off, by using the tabs at the top of the screen.

 

Once you are happy with your report, you can save or schedule it, or export it immediately. These actions are done in the same way that you would save/schedule or export a pre-built report.

 

Editing a Custom Report

Once you have created a Custom Report, you might want to go back in and add new columns or change the order of the columns.

 

To do this, go back into 'Report Manager' and select 'Report Templates'. You will then be able to select your previously saved report:

 

You will be taken back into the Template Builder, as detailed above. 

 

Let's say for this example that you would like to add in some new columns into your report.

• These columns might already be part of the column group you originally selected, or may be part of a new column group. 

 

If the columns are part of the existing column group(s) you selected, you can simply go back into the Column Configurator and make them 'Visible' to bring them into the report:

• Make sure you click 'Accept' and then 'Save' once you have made your changes.

 

Alternatively, if you wish to bring in a new golumn group, you can select the relevant one in the 'Optional Columns' section:

Open the Extended Report Configuration and Column Configurator again:

 

This time, you will see all of your previous columns, but not the new ones (just yet). You need to select 'Validate' to bring the columns in:

 

You will always see this 'error' message when Validate is selected:

• This is totally normal! 
• This is essentially the system saying 
  "There's more information here than I previously recognised."
• Select 'Sync' to bring the new columns into the configurator:

 

The screen will refresh again and you will see a verification message:

 

The new columns will have been brought in at the bottom of the screen, and made 'Hidden', but you can again make them visible and send them up to the top of the screen as required. 

 

All other functionality is the same. 

 

Other Report Configuration Options

We mentioned earlier in this article that the 'Extended Report Configuration' section enables you to 'Manage Custom Columns' and 'Manage Virtual Columns.

 

For more information on these two subjects, click below:

Manage Custom Columns

Manage Virtual Columns