Troubleshooting Custom Reports

If you're encountering errors when publishing a custom report, understanding the report type and identifying potential column conflicts is key to troubleshooting. This guide will help you resolve common issues and ensure your reports run smoothly in BigTime Software.

Identifying the Report Type

When a report throws an error, identifying its type is the first crucial step in troubleshooting. Follow these steps to determine it quickly:

1. If not already there, navigate to the Report Center by selecting Analytics > Report Center from the main navigation bar.
2. Locate the report, click on it to open, then select the Customize > Edit This Report button to enter the report editor.
                                                                      
3. Within the editor, initiate the process to add a new column by clicking an existing column and pressing the + button. This action will display a list of available columns.
                            
4. The categories and names of the available columns correspond to specific report types. The examples below show an Activity type report and an Invoice List type report, as specified by the first column group's label.
      

Note: Both Detail and Summary report types for Time and Expense share the same main headers but differ in key details. For example, Expense Summary reports include Ratio columns, not in the Expense Detail reports, while Timesheet Summary reports feature the "Time vs." section, which is not present in Timesheet Detail reports.

Refer to BigTime's Report Template Glossary for detailed descriptions of each report type and their associated columns.

Avoiding Column Conflicts

Certain columns with similar information can cause errors when included together in a report. For example, including both Payment Type and Last Payment Type in an Invoice List type report can lead to errors upon publishing.

To prevent such issues:

• Review Column Selections: 
  • Before attempting to republish the report, ensure that selected columns do not overlap in the information they provide.
    
    
• Test Incrementally: 
  • Add columns one at a time and test the report to identify any conflicts early.
  • If a Build AI-generated report is breaking, attempt manually re-creating it in the report center.

Duplicate a Report

Creating a copy of a report in BigTime can help refresh a report, and is a straightforward process:

1. Navigate to Analytics > Report Center and choose the broken report you wish to duplicate.
   
   
2. Click the Customize button and select Create a Copy from the dropdown.
   
                                                                      
3. Click Create Report, assign a new name and folder and attempt to publish the duplicated report. You can now modify this copy without affecting the original.

For detailed guidance on creating and customizing reports, refer to BigTime's Creating Custom Reports article.