Sometimes you might see discrepancies or something you weren’t expecting in your Reports. This article aims to provide you with the steps to be able to investigate any common problems you might encounter when Reporting.
Before starting, it’s a good idea to be familiar with:
Troubleshooting Reports
Below we’ve outlined some common Reporting problems. Click the links to take you to the relevant sections where you can explore the next steps.
- I can’t find the information / don’t know which Report to run.
- There are discrepancies in my Report / no data is being returned.
- I don’t understand my Report.
- Some information is missing from my Report.
Which Report do I need?
If you can’t find the information you’re looking for, or don’t know which Report to run, a good place to start is A Guide to Standard Reports.
Within A Guide to Standard Reports you can find detailed information on all of our Standard Reports.
If you still can’t find what you need from one of our Standard Reports, it’s possible that you’ll need to create your own Custom Report, or you can request help with a Report from our team.
If you’re having trouble with one of our Custom or Standard Reports, move on to the next section and work through the steps.
Discrepancies in Reports
If you’re looking at a number of Reports which don’t match, work through the below questions to investigate this problem. If no data is being returned, then skip to the next section for guidance.
My figures don’t match
If you are running two Reports but the figures don’t match, then explore the following questions:
- Are the Reports different types of Reports?
Different Report Types will show different results. This is because they show a different perspective on the same information. This is especially true for Accounting and Analysis Reports. Take a look at the article on Report Types for more information on how different Report Types can produce different results.
TIP: If you’re looking at an Accounting Report and an Analysis Report, jump to the heading below for an explanation of why these Reports might show different figures.
- Are the Reports the same type of Report?
If it is the case that you are running two of the same type of Report but seeing different information, move on through the questions below.
- Is the Included in Metrics check box checked/unchecked on both Reports?
- Is the Included in Metrics check box visible in the Criteria Set?
- Can you see the Included in Metrics check box within the Criteria Set on both Reports?
- Are you using the same Criteria Set on both Reports?
- If you are using Analysis Reports, is the is returned check box checked/unchecked on both Reports?
- If you are using a Metric like Date Transaction Confirmed, are the date ranges the same?
If the above questions can be answered yes, and you understand what you are seeing in the Report, then the next step is to move on to running your Report as a CSV.
No data is being returned
If you are running a Report and no data is being returned, you will see a yellow notification of - No data when the Report attempts to run.
If this is the case, then explore the following questions:
- Should there be data that meets your Criteria? Check your Criteria Set and make sure it includes the data you need it to.
For example, if you are running a Daily Activities Report on the Criteria Set of today, have there been any Activities processed today? If it’s not the case that you are certain there is data that matches your Criteria, it’s possible that no data is being returned because there are no results.
- Can you retrieve similar data from a similar Report?
If the specific Report you are using is not returning any data, test if you can generate the same type of Report with a similar Criteria Set. If this works but the original Report doesn’t, it’s possible that you need to troubleshoot a Standard or Custom Report.
I don’t understand what I’m seeing in the Report
While A Guide to Standard Reports hosts a directory of all the Standard Reports available on Spektrix, Custom Reports are generally unique to your system. This means that there isn’t always standardised guidance available. If you have a Report, Standard or Custom, which you don’t understand, here are some next steps you can take:
- Take a look at the article on Report Types to learn more about which types of Report return which kinds of information.
- If it is a templated Custom Report, you can export it as a CSV to take a look at the raw data.
- If the Report was created or requested by someone else in your organisation it might be worth asking a colleague to explain the function of the Report.
- Contact Support to ask for an explanation of what you are seeing in the Report.
Troubleshooting Templated Custom Reports
In the event that a Templated Report returns blank cells or errors, work through these troubleshooting steps.
- Have any changes to the Report been made?
As it is possible to edit Custom Reports, it’s worth checking the Date Last Modified column to see if any changes have been made. If the outputs of the Report have changed then the template may no longer work. If you suspect this is the case, export the Report as a CSV file to check the raw data.
- Have any changes to the system been made?
If, for example, your Custom Report relates to a specific Seating Plan, Tag, or Attribute which is then removed then this would cause a problem with your Report.
If you’re still struggling with templated Reports, Contact Support and we’ll be happy to help.
Running a Report as a CSV
If you are troubleshooting a discrepancy in figures, trying to figure out what a templated Report is showing, or, want to check for missing information then export your Report as a CSV file to check the raw data.
To achieve this, run the Report as you would normally, but choose Run as CSV from the drop down menu.
REMINDER: If your Report returns No data then it will not run as a CSV file.
Here’s an example of a Standard Report (Event Sales Summary) exported as a CSV. Each of the column headers is the Metric which is included in the Output columns. When the Report is exported as a PDF or Formatted Excel file, the template does a number of calculations with this raw data which you can see in the CSV.
Troubleshooting CSV Reports
Once you have exported your Report as CSV, then take a look at the following questions to help you further investigate.
- Does the data depict instances of Mixed Payments?
- Is the problem related to how Tax is shown in the Report?
- Does the raw data in the CSV match up with what is shown in the templated Report?
- Are there any blank columns in the Report?
Completely blank columns appearing in your CSV Report may indicate that changes have been made to a Custom Report which has been built by Spektrix. If the Custom Report is one you have built yourself, it’s possible that the type of Report does not correspond to the Tables available to that Report Type.
Still have missing info or not seeing what you expected? Jump back to the check list for what to do when no data is being returned.
Why is my Analysis Report different to my Accounting Report when ran on the same date range?
Accounting Reports are great for providing details about transactions as they output data one line per transaction. This means that any return or sale action in that time frame will be noted in the Report.
Analysis Reports output data one line per item that is sold, reserved or returned in the system. Analysis Reports work from the current status of the ticket 'now' and then filter that through the time period, giving a line per order item.
This means that an Accounting Report and an Analysis Report run over the same time period could show different results. This is because any tickets returned outside of the date range will still show in an Analysis Report because that is the current status of the ticket.
Further Reading
To continue learning about Reports and Reporting, take a look at the Reporting category on the Support Centre.
We’d also recommend the following articles as a great place to learn more.