Report Types

Rachael Norris
Rachael Norris
  • Updated

In this article, we’ll cover the common different Report Types and how they work. We’ll also go into some details on specific types of Reports and how to understand them.

 

Report Types

Each Report that exists in your system belongs to a specific Report Type. The type of Report tells you what type of information you are able to have returned to you.

When you run any type of Report as a CSV file, you can see that the data outputs one line per that type of Report. 

For example, Customer Reports return one line per Customer, Event Instance reports show a row for each Instance, and so on. This is important to bear in mind as we go on to learn more about Report Types.

  • A Sales report has one line of data per Seat that could be sold across all of your Instances, and contains information like this:

Next we’ll dive into the most common Report Types, what they can and can’t do, and examples of Standard Reports. 



Report Type Standard Reports examples CAN… CAN’T…
Sales Reports - Sales reports show a row for each seat. They are normally filtered to show the seats for a particular event instance. Sales reports are generally used by the box office and producers.

Event Instances Occupancy Report


Event Sales Report


Post Show Analysis Report

  • Return information about the status of Seats.
  • Work on Instances using both Reserved and Unreserved Seating Plans. 
  • Are the only type of Report that will report on unsold seats. Therefore, Sales Reports are the only reports that can identify how many Locked and Available seats an Event Instance has.
  • Always output information relating to the current status of seats in the system. For example, if a seat was purchased, returned and then purchased by a different customer, a Sales report will only show the most recent information. This means historical data (for example, total sales made yesterday) are best run as Accounting Reports, because Sales Reports will change when tickets are edited. This is a key difference between Sales Reports and Analysis and Accounting Reports. Read more about why sales Reports can change over time.
  • Use a Criteria Set based on Ticket Type. However, you can achieve this through an Analysis Report. 
  • Cross-reference Customer or Order data here. For example, you cannot include what tickets for other Events the customer booked for using a Sales Report, as Sales Reports return information based on Seat status. 

Customer Reports - Customer reports show a row for each customer in the database. They are often used to guide marketing decisions.

Customer & Household Analysis

Individuals & Contacts

  • Contain information such as addresses, memberships, tags etc., as well as some Calculated Metrics.
  • Are best to look at data for customers and whether they’ve made a purchase or not. Analysis and Accounting Reports can output customer information but these reports are only concerned with items that have been sold in the system. 
Analysis Reports - Analysis reports show a row for each item sold or returned. Items include tickets, reservations, merchandise and gift vouchers. Analysis reports are usually used by the box office and marketing.

Offer Analysis

Customer Demographic Analysis 

Donations Report

  • Report on any item that can be sold in a transaction, such as tickets, commissions, donations, memberships etc. 
  • Be used to give an indication of how well tickets for an Event are selling, or the amount of donations received for a particular Fund.
  • Be relied on for financial reconciliation purposes when ran on a specific date range. This is because the status (returned or not returned) of the ticket may have changed within the date range.

Accounting Reports - Accounting reports show a row for each transaction. They show how much money was taken and the end financial result. Accounting reports are generally used by finance and the box office.

Accounting Date Audit


Payments & Activities Report

  • Contain details about the actions in a transaction including sale or return of tickets and commissions, as well as data on payments and refunds. 
  • Record data from transactions as soon as they are confirmed and retains this information permanently. 
  • Report on historical data. Unlike Sales Reports, running an Accounting Report on a Date Confirmed criteria that is in the past should always return the same data
  • Change based on relative dates. Using a criteria like this week or today will change because of ongoing transactions. Also, if you are using Accounting Date as a criteria, this may also change as it is possible to backdate this.
  • Are best used for financial reconciliation. Accounting Reports show each transaction, how much money was taken and the end financial result.
Membership Reports - Membership reports show a row for each membership. They can be filtered to show active or expired memberships. Membership reports are generally used by marketing and development.

Current Members

Membership Activity in the last 30 Days 

Monthly Membership Activity

  • Be used to report on Memberships. Analysis or Accounting reports can be used to report on Memberships, but the Memberships Report contains more specific metrics relating to Memberships.
  • Include Calculated Metrics such as whether the Member previously held any other kind of membership.
  • Include detailed information on Memberships.
 



TIP: For more details, including a full list of all Report Types and their Metrics, take a look at the Report Types section of Introduction to Building a Custom Report.

 

Why Sales Reports can change over time

All the information in Sales Reports is taken from the current status of each seat at the time the report is run.

Sales data does not include any information about previous seat histories and statuses

Some Reports, particularly Custom Reports that we may have built for you, will break down sales by date, or compare one sales period to another. These types of Reports are likely to change over time as the Report is taking data from the current status of Seats. 

In a Sales Report, Date Confirmed is only available as an output column and cannot be used in a Criteria Set.

  • For example, in a Sales Report if you select Date Confirmed as an output column your report could show three consecutive seats in a row (A1, A2, A3) sold each for £10. The first two are sold on the 10th September, while the third is sold on the 11th. In this case the original Report will show:

    Seat Order Date Price
    Seat A1 10/09/2023 £10
    Seat A2 10/09/2023 £10
    Seat A3 11/09/2023 £10

    To summarise this information: sales on 10th September would be £20 (2 seats), and 11th September would be £10 (1 seat).

    In the event that seat A2 is returned and resold on 17th September, this will change the Order Date for seat A2 to 17th September. Sales on the 10th September will now be £10 (1 seat), while sales for the 11th September will remain at £10 (1 seat). 

    These changes would then be reflected in the report if it were run at a later date. In this Report you would not see the history that A2 was sold, returned and then sold again.

    Seat Order Date Price
    Seat A1 10/09/2023 £10
    Seat A2 17/09/2023 £10
    Seat A3 11/09/2023 £10

     

    Each change to an Order in Spektrix will generate a new transaction, and refresh the Date of Transaction

    In Sales Reports you will find that exchanges, refunds and actions made from cancellations will cause your Reports to change and update. 

    TIP: You can use an Accounting Report to report on historical sales data as they generate a line per item. 

    An example of the above scenario represented in an Accounting Report might display as:

    Seat Item Type Date Confirmed Sales Channel Total Charged Total Received
    A1 Ticket Sale 2023-09-01 10:22 Counter 17 0
    A2 Ticket Sale 2023-09-01 10:22 Counter 17 0
      Cash Payment 2023-09-01 10:22 Counter 0 34
      Cobo Delivery 2023-09-01 10:22 Counter 0 0
    A2 Ticket Return 2023-09-01 10:23 Counter -15 0
      Cash Payment 2023-09-01 10:23 Counter 0 -15
    A2 Ticket Sale 2023-09-01 10:24 Counter 17 0
      Cash Payment 2023-09-01 10:24 Counter 0 17
      Cobo Delivery 2023-09-01 10:24 Counter 0 0

 

Why can’t Reports show payments by Event?

Accounting Reports are great for showing details about transactions, however, it is not possible to show specific payment types for a specific Event in an Accounting Report.

This is because you and your customers can include multiple Events, items and payments within one transaction. You can also have Orders which contain two or more methods of payment - within the system this is called a Mixed Payment.

Another reason for this is that if a payment is taken for one item, that item is returned and exchanged for another, the Accounting Reports would show no payment for this transaction.

Each payment is not made specifically for a particular Event (or other item), but rather to pay for whatever combination of items are in the basket/cart.

  • For example, you could have an order which looks like this:

    Items:

    • Two $7 tickets to Macbeth
    • Two $15 tickets to King Lear
    • One $2.50 Programme
    • One $2 Donation
    • One $10 Gift Voucher purchase

    Payments:

    • One Cash payment of $50
    • One Cheque payment of $8.50

    In this example, the customer has used two different Payment Types in the transaction and purchased several chargeable items resulting in a Mixed Payment. Because of this, there's no way for the system to split the $58.50 worth of payments between each item.

    Furthermore, two tickets for Macbeth are then exchanged for two different tickets for Macbeth.

    This example shows the above scenario as output by an Accounting Report into a CSV. As each line shows an item it’s not possible to attribute specific payments to specific Events.

    Mixed Payment is visible where payments are split across multiple items. No payment displays where an exchange has taken place.

Next, we’ll delve into two use cases you might have for needing a Report which breaks down payments by Event.

Passing on Credit Card Commissions

If you need to calculate Credit Card Commissions for promoters (or other third parties) for their events, you might want to see payments by Event. 

To solve this problem, we would suggest that you build a single charge into your contracts, which covers all of your costs. There may be other costs such as cash handling expenses which you might want to consider charging back as well. 

Common ways of calculating the charge are:

  • A percentage of gross sales
  • A fixed amount per ticket sold or returned (especially for free or low-value Events, as many of the costs you incur will be the same as for high revenue ones)
  • A minimum charge per Event (perhaps with sales above the minimum billed as a percentage)

If you would like to discuss how to incorporate this into your settlement Reports please contact Support.

 

Understanding the Impact of Cancelled Performances

Another reason you might want to see payments by Events is if you have had to cancel an Event or Instance. 

Ideally, to get a full picture of the impact you want to be able to report on the following:

  • Ticket returns
  • Refunds
  • Tickets exchanged to future Instances or alternative Events
  • Tickets converted into donations

Visit the Support Centre article Reporting on Cancellations and Lost Income for suggestions on how you can understand the choices your customers make when shows are cancelled. 

 

Understanding Tax Rounding in Reports

Sales Tax or VAT will appear in Accounting Reports when reporting on Events where you have applied this.

In Spektrix, tax is rounded on a per item level.

This means that you can view the same items in different reports and the tax will always be calculated in the same way, regardless of what other items they are grouped together with.

  • Tax is calculated at item level to nine decimal places - like so:

    Item Gross Tax Rate Tax Net
    Child Ticket £10.00 S (20%) £1.666666667 £8.333333333
    Child Ticket £10.00 S (20%) £1.666666667 £8.333333333
    Adult Ticket £16.00 S (20%) £2.666666667 £13.333333333
    Adult Ticket £16.00 S (20%) £2.666666667 £13.333333333


    Tax is then rounded at item level and stored in the system like this:

    Item Gross Tax Rate Tax Net
    Child Ticket £10.00 S (20%) £1.67 £8.33
    Child Ticket £10.00 S (20%) £1.67 £8.33
    Adult Ticket £16.00 S (20%) £2.67 £13.33
    Adult Ticket £16.00 S (20%) £2.67 £13.33
    Total £52.00   £8.68 £43.32

     

    In Reports, items are grouped together and the amount of Tax is totaled for those groups.  The figures are summed after they have been rounded:

     

    Item Gross Tax Rate Tax Net
    Child Tickets (x2) £20.00 S (20%) £3.34 £16.66
    Adult Tickets (x2) £32.00 S (20%) £5.34 £26.66
    Total £52.00   £8.68 £43.32

     

    In this example, in the Total line, it appears as though the total Tax is incorrect as the Tax on £43.32 would be £8.67 and not the £8.68 shown above. This is because through calculating the Tax on each item and rounding, a penny of Tax may be lost or gained in the calculation. 

TIP: For UK organisations, customers may question the fact that the Total VAT is not always 20% of the Total Gross (because a penny of VAT has been lost or gained on each item in the calculation). This isn't a problem as the guidance from HMRC states that rounding on a line by line basis is acceptable. The most important issue is that rounding is always consistent.

 

Reporting on Credit, Deposits & Gift Vouchers - the Special Report

If you need to report on the sale and redemption of Credit, Deposits and Gift Vouchers, the best report to use is the Special Report.

The Special Report can be found in Insights & Mailings under Reports > Special Reports.

REMINDER: It’s not possible to copy or edit the Special Report. The Special Report is the only place you can report on Deposits. You can create or request Custom Reports to show Account Credit and Gift Voucher balances.

To run this report, choose the date range that you’re interested in and then click the Run by month or Run by year button. If you run the report By Month, you’ll see the data grouped by month. By Year will group the data by year. 

The report will run and appear in the top right corner. Click the link to open the BalanceReport.pdf.

The report shows the amount of credit that’s been issued, spent, and expired over the time period you’ve specified. This is shown for Account Credits, Gift Vouchers and Order Deposits

The Period Ending date is determined by the Financial Year setting within your system.  If you need to change this date, please get in touch with the Spektrix Support team.

TIP:To find out more about Account Credit, take a look at the article How Does Spektrix Deal With Credits.

 

Further Reading

To continue learning about Reporting, why not check out the following articles:

You can find more articles on running and configuring Reports in the Reporting section of the Support Centre.