Toolsets and timing
Reports are accessed from the main navigation menu, and by default are organized into submenus by the type of data they are working with. Within the reporting tool, we have two important concepts to understand: report templates and report instances:
- Report templates define the features of a report. This includes what fields are available to the report, options for grouping and filtering, display choices (tabular, bar/pie chart), and any other options available.
- Report instances are a saved set of criteria and options you have selected for a specific template. For example, you may want to view a constituent summary report, displaying all contacts in Group A. At a later time, you may create a second instance of the constituent summary report displaying all contacts in Group A and Group B. Report instances are often just referred to as reports.
What's important to understand from these terms is that a single template may be used to create multiple report instances. Many...
