Report Properties and Management
Report properties and management capabilities enable efficient organization, configuration, and maintenance of report libraries within the Reports and Dashboards module. These features support scalable content management, access control, and organizational standards that ensure reports remain discoverable, maintainable, and aligned with business requirements as portal usage grows.
Requirements
To manage report properties and organization, users must be assigned a security role with the following permissions:
All Entities, Report (system): Read, Create, Edit, and Delete for comprehensive report management capabilities
All Entities, Folder (system): Read, Create, Edit, and Delete for folder structure management and organization
Tab Settings, Reports: On and App Settings: App with Reports Tab must be Visible for interface access
Full Control Access permissions to save reports to report folders and modify organizational structures
Report Properties Configuration
Accessing Report Properties
Properties Dialog Access: Click "Report Properties" in the Report Builder interface header to open the comprehensive configuration dialog that controls report identification, organization, and advanced behavioral settings.
Configuration Dialog Structure: The Report Properties dialog provides essential fields for report management including Name, Unique Name, folder assignment, and specialized configuration options that affect report behavior and user experience.
Save and Configuration Integration: Report Properties can be accessed during initial report creation or when modifying existing reports, enabling both initial setup and ongoing maintenance of report organizational attributes.
Essential Report Identification
Report Name Configuration: The Name field provides the user-facing report title that appears in report lists, search results, and user interfaces. Use descriptive, business-oriented names that clearly communicate report purpose and analytical scope to end users.
Unique Name Requirements: The Unique Name field serves as the system identifier and must be unique across the entire portal instance. This field automatically populates based on the Name field but can be customized to follow organizational naming conventions and technical standards.
Name Field Interdependence: While the Unique Name initially mirrors the Name field, it can be modified independently to support technical naming requirements while maintaining user-friendly display names that enhance report discoverability and user experience.
Folder Assignment and Organization
Folder Selection Process: The Folder dropdown in Report Properties enables assignment of reports to specific folders within the organizational hierarchy, determining access control, sharing permissions, and content categorization for efficient library management.
Organizational Hierarchy Integration: Folder assignment integrates with the folder-based permission system, ensuring that report access aligns with organizational security requirements while enabling collaborative analysis and knowledge sharing across appropriate user groups.
Folder Structure Strategy: Select folders based on business function, user audience, and analytical purpose rather than technical considerations, ensuring that folder organization supports user workflows and content discovery patterns.
Permission Inheritance: Reports inherit sharing permissions from their assigned folders, enabling efficient access control management through folder-level permission configuration rather than individual report permission management.
Advanced Report Configuration Options
User Interface Customization
Hide Filters Functionality: The "Hide Filters" checkbox option simplifies the report interface by concealing filter configuration controls from end users while maintaining full analytical sophistication in the underlying report design and data segmentation.
Filter Visibility Strategy: Enable "Hide Filters" for reports intended for broad consumption where end users need analytical results without exposure to complex filter configuration, while leaving filters visible for reports designed for analytical users who may need configuration access.
User Experience Optimization: Hidden filters create clean, executive-friendly report presentations while preserving the sophisticated data segmentation and analytical capabilities configured by report designers and administrators.
Interface Simplification Benefits: Reports with hidden filters provide streamlined user experiences that focus attention on analytical results rather than configuration complexity, supporting adoption across diverse user skill levels and organizational roles.
Report Documentation and Metadata
Description Field Utilization: Report Properties include optional description fields that support documentation of report purpose, data sources, analytical methodology, and usage guidelines for organizational knowledge management and maintenance planning.
Documentation Best Practices: Use description fields to document business logic, filter rationale, data relationships, and intended usage scenarios to support ongoing maintenance and knowledge transfer as organizational needs evolve.
Metadata for Discovery: Well-documented report descriptions improve searchability and content discovery within large report libraries, enabling users to identify appropriate analytical tools for specific business requirements.
Change Management Support: Description fields support version documentation and change tracking that enables collaborative report development and maintenance across multiple administrators and analytical stakeholders.
Report Organization and Folder Management
Folder Structure Design and Implementation
Hierarchical Organization Principles: Design folder structures that reflect business processes, organizational units, and user access patterns rather than technical system architecture, ensuring intuitive navigation and efficient content discovery for diverse user communities.
Folder Creation Process: Create new folders using Reports Tab > New > New Folder functionality, establishing clear naming conventions and organizational standards that support scalable content management and long-term organizational growth.
Naming Convention Standards: Implement consistent folder naming that reflects business terminology and organizational structure, avoiding technical jargon and system-specific language that might confuse end users or complicate content discovery processes.
Scalability Planning: Design folder hierarchies that accommodate future growth, changing organizational structures, and evolving analytical requirements without requiring complete reorganization of existing content and established user workflows.
Folder Sharing and Permission Management
Permission Level Configuration: Configure folder sharing through the Share tab in folder settings, establishing appropriate access levels including "Can View" for read-only access, "Can View and Export" for data extraction capabilities, and "Full Control" for comprehensive management rights.
User and Group Assignment: Folder sharing supports assignment to individual users, user groups, and security roles, providing flexible permission management that scales with organizational complexity while maintaining appropriate security boundaries.
Permission Inheritance Model: Reports automatically inherit permissions from their assigned folders, enabling efficient access control through folder-level configuration rather than individual item management, reducing administrative overhead while maintaining security standards.
Security Strategy Integration: Folder permissions integrate with existing security role configurations and organizational access control policies, ensuring that report access aligns with broader information security requirements and compliance standards.
Report Library Management and Navigation
Reports Home Interface Navigation
Search and Discovery: The Reports Home interface provides search functionality that enables efficient content discovery within large report libraries, supporting keyword searches across report names, descriptions, and folder structures for rapid analytical tool identification.
Folder Navigation: Expandable folder structures in the Reports Home interface support hierarchical browsing and content exploration, enabling users to discover related analytical content and understand organizational knowledge architecture.
Content Overview: The Reports Home interface displays essential metadata including report type, creation date, modification date, and ownership information that supports content evaluation and selection for specific analytical requirements.
New Content Creation: The "New" dropdown in Reports Home provides direct access to report creation, dashboard creation, and folder management functionality without requiring navigation to separate interface sections.
Report Actions and Lifecycle Management
Edit and Modification Access: Reports can be accessed for editing through direct selection from the Reports Home interface, enabling ongoing maintenance, analytical refinement, and adaptation to changing business requirements.
Move and Organization: Reports can be moved between folders through Report Properties configuration, enabling content reorganization as business needs evolve and organizational structures change over time.
Copy and Template Creation: Report copying capabilities enable template creation and analytical methodology replication across different data sets and business scenarios, improving efficiency and consistency in report development processes.
Deletion and Archive Management: Report deletion functionality supports content lifecycle management and library maintenance, with appropriate permission controls ensuring that only authorized users can remove analytical content from organizational repositories.
Advanced Management Features
Report Versioning and Change Control
Modification Tracking: The system maintains modification dates and user attribution for report changes, supporting change management and accountability within collaborative analytical environments.
Configuration History: Report Properties preserve historical configuration information that supports troubleshooting, change analysis, and rollback capabilities when analytical modifications require adjustment or reversal.
Collaborative Development: Multiple users with appropriate permissions can modify reports collaboratively, with change tracking supporting coordination and preventing conflicts in shared analytical development projects.
Version Documentation: Use report descriptions and organizational procedures to document version changes, analytical methodology evolution, and business requirement adaptations that ensure knowledge continuity and maintenance efficiency.
Integration with Organizational Workflows
Approval Processes: Report Properties and folder organization support implementation of organizational approval workflows for analytical content, ensuring quality control and alignment with business standards before widespread deployment.
Content Governance: Folder structures and permission systems enable content governance frameworks that maintain analytical quality, security compliance, and organizational standards across diverse reporting requirements and user communities.
Knowledge Management: Report organization and documentation features support organizational knowledge management by preserving analytical methodology, business logic, and institutional knowledge within accessible, maintainable content structures.
Business Continuity: Proper report organization and documentation support business continuity by ensuring that critical analytical capabilities remain accessible and maintainable despite personnel changes and organizational evolution.
Best Practices for Report Management
Organizational Strategy
Business-Aligned Structure: Organize reports based on business functions, decision-making processes, and user workflows rather than technical considerations, ensuring that analytical tools align with organizational needs and user expectations.
Consistent Naming Standards: Implement and maintain consistent naming conventions for reports and folders that reflect business terminology and support efficient content discovery across diverse user communities and analytical requirements.
Documentation Requirements: Establish documentation standards for report descriptions that capture business purpose, analytical methodology, and usage guidelines to support ongoing maintenance and organizational knowledge preservation.
Permission Strategy: Design folder permission structures that balance security requirements with collaborative needs, ensuring appropriate access control while enabling efficient knowledge sharing and analytical collaboration.
Maintenance and Lifecycle Management
Regular Review Processes: Implement regular review cycles for report libraries that identify outdated content, unused analytical tools, and organizational structure improvements that maintain library relevance and user effectiveness.
Content Consolidation: Periodically evaluate report libraries for consolidation opportunities that eliminate redundant analytical content while preserving essential business intelligence capabilities and user access to critical information.
Archive and Cleanup: Establish procedures for archiving or removing outdated reports that maintain library organization while preserving historical analytical capabilities that may require future access or reference.
Performance Optimization: Monitor report performance and complexity to identify optimization opportunities that maintain analytical sophistication while ensuring responsive user experience and system performance across growing content libraries.
Effective report properties and management create organized, maintainable analytical environments that scale with organizational growth while preserving critical business intelligence capabilities and supporting collaborative decision-making across Partner Portal and Customer Portal implementations.
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