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V16 Training · Reports and Dashboards · Lesson 2 of 6

Report view and group by

This lesson shows you how to turn a list into a table you control: choose its columns, group the rows, add totals, and save the view.

Reports and Dashboards, lesson 2: Report view and group by. 2:29, narrated, with captions. Screens come from a demo company; your own Parsimony site shows your data.

Written guide

The idea

Every list has a second face called Report View. It shows the same records as a table. You choose the columns, group the rows, show totals, and keep the result as a report of its own. The screens use the Sales Order list from a demo company that sells flooring. Your own site shows your own orders. Every list works the same way.

Step by step

Step 1. Switch the view

  1. Open a list, such as Sales Order.
  2. At the top right, open the view menu. It says List View.
  3. Choose Report View. The same orders appear as a table, with the same filters across the top.
The view menu open: List View, Report View, Dashboard View, Gantt View, Kanban View, Calendar View
The view menu open: List View, Report View, Dashboard View, Gantt View, Kanban View, Calendar View

Step 2. Pick your columns

  1. Open the three-dot menu and choose Pick Columns.
  2. Tick the fields you want, untick the rest, and choose Submit.
  3. A column heading also has a small menu with Sort Ascending, Sort Descending, Remove column and Add Column.
Pick Columns: a search box, Select All, Unselect All, one checkbox per field and a Submit button
Pick Columns: a search box, Select All, Unselect All, one checkbox per field and a Submit button

Step 3. Group the rows

  1. Choose Add Group, next to Filter.
  2. In Select Group By, pick a field. The rows gather under each value of it.
  3. The second box starts at Count, so you see how many orders each group holds.
Add Group opens Select Group By and a Count box
Add Group opens Select Group By and a Count box

Step 4. Show totals

  1. Open the three-dot menu and choose Show Totals.
  2. A Totals row appears at the bottom. In this example, five orders still to deliver add up to $90,533.00.
The Totals row under five filtered orders
The Totals row under five filtered orders

Step 5. Save it with Save As

  1. Open the three-dot menu and choose Save As.
  2. Type a New Report name, such as "Open orders to deliver", and choose Submit.
  3. Parsimony keeps your columns and filters as a report of its own. If your menu has no Save As, ask your administrator.
The Save As box with a New Report name typed in
The Save As box with a New Report name typed in

Filtering a list is covered in Getting Started, lesson three.

What you may see on your own site

  • The fields in Pick Columns depend on the list you opened and on how your company set Parsimony up.
  • The three-dot menu may show other items, such as Print and Export. Those are covered in the next lesson.
  • The orders, customers and amounts are your own.

Common mistakes

  1. Quoting a total without checking the filters. The Totals row covers only the rows the filters allow.
  2. Forgetting how many rows are loaded. The footer says, for example, "20 of 26". Load more rows before you trust a total.
  3. Saving a view with a filter you forgot was on. The saved report keeps what you see.

Check yourself

3 quick questions.

1. Where do you switch a list to Report View?

2. What does Show Totals add?

3. How do you keep your columns and filters for next time?