Build Reports in Process HQ

This page applies primarily to business users. It describes how to create and manage reports created in Process HQ.

About reports

Reports allow you to independently explore and analyze business data. The self-service report creation framework offers a selection of standard visualization formats, along with easy-to-configure filters and interactive elements

You can share a report with colleagues in stand-alone form, or as part of a comprehensive dashboard.

When to use Process HQ reports

Reports in Process HQ are the best way to meet your organization's reporting needs. However, you should build reports in Appian Designer instead if you need to:

• Show reports in Appian Portals.
• Display reports alongside other interfaces.
• Follow specific brand guidelines.

Developers can also create reports, then deploy them to environments to kickstart your reporting experience.

Create a report

You can create reports using the datasets available to you. Datasets are available based on the configuration of the record types included in the dataset. System administrators can create a report from any dataset in the Data Catalog.

To create a report:

1. Ensure you're in the Report Creator role.

2. Go to Process HQ and decide how you want to start building the report:

   • To partner with AI, start with Appian AI Copilot.

   • If you're less familiar with the data, start with a guided experience.

   • If you're already familiar with the data, start from a dataset.

3. Design, filter, and sort the report data.

4. (Optional) Add interactive elements to the report.

5. Click SAVE.

   By default, you are assigned Owner permissions to any report you create, and all other users are assigned No Access.

6. (Optional) Share the report with your colleagues.
7. (Optional) Add the report to a dashboard.
8. (Optional) Partner with AI Copilot to discover new insights about your report.

Create a report with AI Copilot

Appian AI Copilot can automatically generate a report for you based on your available datasets. You can chat with AI Copilot to adjust the report as much as you want. Then, create the report to make your own edits manually, save, and share the report.

To create a report with AI Copilot:

1. In the AI Copilot chat on the Home page, ask AI Copilot for the report you'd like to see.
   
   For example, "Show me a report of orders by customer for the last month."

   Tip:  Click the Expand button to make the AI Copilot window larger, so your report preview is easier to see.

2. Continue chatting with AI Copilot to refine your report. You can ask AI Copilot to add or remove fields, change the chart type, apply filters, and more.

3. When you're ready to edit the report yourself, click CREATE REPORT.

   

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4. Edit the report data manually.

Create a report with the guided experience

If you're exploring less familiar data, you can take advantage of a guided experience to create a report.

To create a report with a guided experience:

1. Go to the Home page and click CREATE REPORT.

2. Go to the GUIDED EXPERIENCE tab.

3. Pick and format report data using autocomplete suggestions. As you select different options, you'll see a real-time preview of the report.

4. When you're ready, click CREATE REPORT.

   

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5. Edit the report data.

Create a report from a dataset

If you're already familiar with the data you want to use for your report, you can start by selecting a specific dataset.

To create a report from a dataset:

1. Go to the Data Catalog page.

2. From the DATASETS tab, decide which dataset you want to start with. You can use the toolbar to:
   • Search by dataset name or description.
   • Filter by Source Type (Database, Salesforce, or Web service).
   • Filter by Source Name.

3. Click the dataset. The dataset details appear.

   

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4. Review the fields and data in the dataset to confirm it meets your needs.
5. Click CREATE REPORT.
6. Edit the report data.

Selecting a dataset for your report

When you create a report, the dataset you select determines what data can be included in your report.

Before selecting a dataset, you should:

• Identify what question you want the report to answer.
• Consider what information you need to see.
• Review the fields and data available in the dataset.

Example

You have a Customers dataset and an Orders dataset, where the Customers dataset has a one-to-many relationship with Orders (each customer can have many orders).

To decide which dataset to use in this scenario, think of the question you want the report to answer:

• Select the Customers dataset (the "one" side) if you want to know which customers have spent the most money on orders.
• Select the Orders dataset (the "many side") if you want to see how many orders have been placed in the last month.

Design, filter, and sort report data

After you've created a report with AI Copilot, starting from a dataset, or using the guided experience, you can start customizing the report.

Choose whether you want to display your data in a grid, KPI, or any of the following chart designs:

• Pie
• Donut
• Bar, Stacked Bar, or 100% Bar
• Column, Stacked Column, or 100% Column
• Area, Stacked Area, or 100% Area
• Line
• Scatter
• Heatmap

You can use dataset filters to determine which data is visible in the report. Then, aggregate, sort, and format the data to best fit your business needs. You can also customize field display names to make sure the report is easy to read and understand.

If your report includes a chart, you can customize the chart's appearance with reference lines and legends, data tooltips, and axis titles.

For example, you can quickly build a stacked bar chart with multiple data points, and add a color scheme.

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Next, add interactive elements to your report, or share the report with your colleagues.

Add interactive elements

Every chart in a custom report is interactive. By default, you can click on sections of the chart to quickly filter the report data.

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You can also add more design elements that let report viewers interact with the data and take action from the context of the report.

These design elements include:

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#	Design Element	Description
1	Report Filters	Display interactive filters on a report so report viewers can filter the data to best fit their needs. User filters configured on the dataset's underlying record type are not available in reports in Process HQ.
2	Actions	Display record actions from the base record type in a grid header.
3	Link to Row Details	Displays a link to the record’s summary view in a grid. This option will only provide links to records in the base record type; it cannot provide links to related records. The summary view page is determined by the default start page configured in the Admin Console.
4	Show Export or Download Button	Depending on the selected design: Displays an export to Excel button on a grid design. The data will download as a .xlsx file. Displays an image download button on a chart design. The image will download as a PNG file.
5	Drilldown Reports	Select a Drilldown Report that's based on the same dataset. When users click a section of the chart, they'll see the selected drilldown report with the data filtered by the section of the chart they clicked.

Next, save and share the report with your colleagues.

Report security

When you create a report, the following access levels are assigned by default:

• Owner access is assigned to the user who creates the report.
• No Access is assigned to the Process HQ Users system group.

When you share a report with another user, the user's access level for the report controls which actions the user can take.

The following table describes the actions users can take based on access level:

Action
	Owner	Editor	Viewer	No Access
See a report on the Home page	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
View a report	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Edit a report	Yes	Yes	No	No
View report properties	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Edit report properties	Yes	Yes	No	No
Duplicate a report	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
See which users a report is shared with	Yes	Yes	No	No
Edit which users a report is shared with	Yes	Yes	No	No
Favorite a report	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Delete a report	Yes	No	No	No

Edit report properties

Report creators must have Editor access to a report to edit its properties. System administrators can edit any report's properties in Process HQ.

To edit the properties of a report:

1. Go to the LIBRARY section of the Home page.
2. Next to the report, click the three-dot menu .
3. Click Edit Properties.
4. In the Edit Properties dialog:
   • For Name, enter a name for the report.
   • For Description, enter a brief description of the report.
5. Click SAVE.

Duplicate a report

Report creators must have Editor access to a report to duplicate it. System administrators can duplicate any report.

To duplicate a report:

1. Go to the LIBRARY section of the Home page.
2. Next to the report, click the three-dot menu , then Duplicate.
3. In the Duplicate dialog:
   • For Name, enter a name for the report.
   • For Description, enter a brief description of the report.
   • For Application, select the application related to the report. The report object will appear in the application you select.
   • To share the report with the same users who can access the original report, keep the checkbox selected. Otherwise, deselect the checkbox.
4. Click CREATE.

When you duplicate a report, the new report will only be available to you. You must share the new report to allow other users to view it.

Share a report

Report creators must have Editor access to a report to share it. System administrators can share any report.

Keep in mind that sharing a report gives the user access to that report, but data won't display in the report unless the user also has access to the underlying datasets.

To share a report:

1. Click SHARE in the header of the report. The Share Report dialog displays.

   

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   Tip:  You can also share a report from the LIBRARY section of the Home page. Click the three-dot menu for the report, then click Share.

2. Add new users or groups:

   1. In the Add User or Group field, search for a user or group to add.

   Tip:  To share with all users, select the Process HQ Users group.

   1. Use the dropdown list to assign the user access level.
   2. Click ADD. The Users or Groups with Access section updates.
3. Edit an existing access assignment:
   1. In the Users or Groups with Access section, find the user or group you want to edit.
   2. Use the dropdown list to assign a new access level. Click X next to the user or group to remove them.
4. Click SAVE.

Favorite a report

Report creators or system administrators can favorite any report for quick access. The reports you add as favorites display in the FAVORITES tab of the LIBRARY section of the Home page.

To favorite a report:

1. Go to the LIBRARY section of the Home page. The All tab is active by default.

2. In the library list, click the Add to Favorites icon for the report you want to favorite.

   For example:

   

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Delete a report

Report creators must have Owner access to delete a report. System administrators can delete any report.

To delete a report:

1. Go to the LIBRARY section of the Home page.
2. Next to the report, click the three-dot menu .
3. Select Delete.
4. In the Delete dialog, click DELETE.

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