Who is this article for?

Users looking to build reports.

Create, Edit, and Delete Reports permissions are required.

Building a report template is a one-time investment that pays off every time it is used, allowing anyone with permission to generate consistently formatted, data-accurate reports from matching records in a single action.

Preparing to build your template

Before you start building your template, ensure you have the necessary permissions and have made key decisions about its structure.

Decide which record type your template will report on: Audit, Risk Register, or Risk. This choice is permanent and cannot be changed after the template is created.

Have a clear idea of the structure you want: the sections the report needs, what data each section should show, and which sections need to repeat per finding, risk, control, or other related record.

Creating the template

To create a new report template:

1. Open Reporting.
2. Select Report Templates.

3. Click Create.
4. Enter a Title for the template.
   This is the name users will see when selecting a template to generate a report.
5. Select the Perspective - Audit, Risk Register, or Risk.
   This determines which record the report draws data from and which fields and related record types are available throughout the template.
6. Optionally add a Description.
7. Click Save.

The template opens in a Draft status.

Starting the design process

The first time you open a new template, a guided Start designing screen appears before the editor. It walks you through four choices, each offering a gallery of ready-made layouts to preview and pick from:

• Cover page - a blank cover to design yourself, a Code and Title cover, or one of the ready-made designs. Choose No cover page to skip
• Contents page - add an auto-generated table of contents, or skip
• Header layout - blank, a title header, or an author and date header
• Footer layout - blank, page numbers, or date and page number

Use Back and Next to move between steps; a summary of your choices appears at the bottom. Select Start designing to open the editor. Nothing here is permanent - you can add, change or remove any of these later.

Navigating the editor

The editor has two main parts:

• Element tree (left) - a structured list of all sections and elements; use this to navigate, add, and reorder content
• ViewBar - switches the working area between three views: Element (the report body layout), Headers & Footers (the content that repeats on every page), and Data Sources (the related-record sources the template pulls in)

There is no separate live preview pane - you build directly in each view.

The editor saves your changes automatically as you work. An auto-save indicator shows the save state. Check this indicator before navigating away from the editor to avoid losing work.

Setting up data sources

Data sources are scoped to the perspective, and every template starts with a Primary source - the record the report runs against. For an:

• Audit template, the Primary source is the audit itself, and you can add sources for Audit Objectives, Audit Risks, Audit Controls, Audit Tests, Phases, Findings, Problems and Actions. Problems only appear if your organisation uses them.
• Risk Register template, the Primary source is the register record, and Risks is the source you add to list the risks it contains.
• Risk template, the Primary source is the risk, and you can add Risk Assessments, Controls, Tests and Actions.

To add a data source:

1. In the editor, select the Data Sources view.
2. In the Queries section, select Add.

3. Select the Perspective.
   The category of related records this source will pull (for example Finding, Audit Risk, Action). You must choose this first.
4. Give the data source a descriptive Name.
   A default name is provided, but a clear one is important as it's used when creating repeating sections, e.g., High-Severity Findings instead of Data Source 2.
5. Add an optional Description to explain what the source is for.
6. Select OK.
7. Select the cog icon on the data source to open its configuration.
8. In the configuration table, select the fields you need, apply filters to narrow records (e.g., only High or Critical Severity findings), and set the sort order if required.
9. Select Finish to save.
10. Click Save or Add.

The data source is now available for use anywhere in the template.

Repeat these steps for each distinct set of related records your template needs - for example one for Findings, one for Risks examined, and one for open Actions arising from the audit.

Note

HTML Every template has a Primary data source, marked as Primary at the top of the list. This is the main record the report uses – the audit, register, or risk. Elements placed directly on a page (not inside a Data Block) pull fields from this Primary source. You can select which fields to use, but cannot filter or sort them.

Note

Each data source can be used by only one element. Once assigned to a Data Block, Data List, or Data Table, it disappears from the picker and can't be deleted until the element is removed. To use the same records twice, create two data sources. Sources are marked Assigned or Unassigned to show usage, and Delete unassigned removes unused sources. Everything inside a Data Block shares its data source, so one source can fill a heading, paragraphs, and a table, but cannot power a separate block.

Adding structural elements

To add structural elements to your template:

1. In the element tree, click Add element (or the Plus button).
2. Choose the type you need from the following options:
   • Title - Main title for the report or section
   • Heading - Section titles (levels 1–5)
   • Paragraph - Free text, may include live data fields
   • List - Bulleted or numbered lists
   • Table - Fixed-layout, non-repeating tables
   • Data Block - Repeats once per record in a data source
   • Data List - Inline list of data source records
   • Data Table - Table with one row per data record
   • Pre-built blocks - Ready-made layouts you can adjust:
     • Team Table - Audit team in a table; configurable roles
     • Finding Summary - Repeating summaries with headings and detail tables
     • Action Table - Actions table sorted by priority, showing code, title, description, owner, priority, and status

Which blocks you see depends on the template's perspective - Finding Summary, for example, is only available in Audit templates.

Connecting elements to platform data

To insert a live data field into a Paragraph, Heading, or List:

1. Open the element's Text Content editor.
2. Place your cursor where the value should appear.
3. Select the Property button (the </> icon) in the toolbar.
4. Browse the available fields for your data source.

Note

If you are missing fields here it is because you have not added them to your data source.

5. Set placeholder text so the document still reads well when data is missing.
   There are two separate settings:
   • Placeholder on a Data Block, Data List or Data Table - the text shown when the data source returns no records at all. It defaults to "No data"; change it to something more useful for the reader, such as "No high-severity findings were raised."
   • Placeholder: Text on an individual data field - the text shown when that particular field is empty on a record, for example "Not yet assessed" in place of a missing rating
6. System fields can be inserted alongside your data fields from the same toolbar:
   • Document Created By
   • Document Created Date
   • Page Number
   • Page X of Y

Building repeating sections

Repeating elements - Data Blocks, Data Lists, and Data Tables - are where data sources are applied. Each repeating element must be linked to one of the data sources you configured.

To build a repeating section:

1. Add a Data Block, Data List, or Data Table element to the layout.
2. In the element settings, select the Data source it should draw from.
   For example, the Findings source you created earlier.

The element will generate one repetition per record returned by that data source, applying whatever filters and sort order you defined on the source.

Data Block

Inside the block, add child elements (Headings, Paragraphs, Lists, etc.) that form the structure of a single repeated section. Insert data fields from the selected source into those child elements - each field resolves against its individual record when the report is generated. For example, a Paragraph inside a Findings Data Block can include the finding title, severity, description, and resolution status.

Data Table

Add one column per field you want to display. Each generated row corresponds to one record from the data source. You can set a cell fill colour to style the table.

Data List

The element produces a bulleted or numbered list with one item per record from the data source. Choose the list type on the element, then build the item template - the text and data fields that should appear on each line.

Note

There are no aggregate calculations (COUNT, SUM, etc.); repeating elements display individual records. For totals or counts, use the Queries feature to extract data for a business intelligence tool.

Adding a cover page

If you did not add a cover page on the Start designing screen, you can add one from the element tree. A template can have one cover page maximum.

Add any combination of headings, static text, and data fields - for example, the audit title, lead auditor name, and the generated date.

Adding headers and footers

To add headers and footers:

1. Open the Headers & Footers view.
2. Add static text or system fields.
   age Number and Page X of Y are most commonly used here.

Header and footer content appears on every page of the generated report. You can also set a different first-page header and footer from the default used on the remaining pages.

Publishing the template

To publish your template, when the template is complete, click Set as Active.

The status changes from Draft to Active and the template immediately becomes available for report generation on all matching records.

Managing the template

To update an Active template later, open it, make your changes, then click Set as Active again.

To remove a template from use, set it to Draft or archive it to retire it permanently - archived templates can be reactivated if needed. Use Set status in the row menu or the buttons on the template record.

Existing reports from the template remain unchanged. Templates can only be deleted if no reports have been generated; otherwise, archive them.

Tip

Use the Copy option on any existing template to quickly create a variation - the copy opens as a new Draft ready for editing without affecting the original.