An Introduction to ClickTime's Report Studio

Getting Started with ClickTime's Report Studio

ClickTime’s Report Studio is a powerful new tool designed to help you build custom reports and gain a deeper understanding of your organization’s time, costs, and performance. With its interactive displays and a wide range of customization options, Report Studio allows you to explore your ClickTime data visually, perform manipulations to focus on key information, and create interactive dashboards—all without significant design time investment.

This guide and the associated articles in our Report Studio series will walk report designers through the basics of crafting reports in Report Studio. This feature is available for organizations who have added Report Studio to their plan or are on an Enterprise package.

If you are interested in adding Report Studio to your ClickTime subscription or increasing the number of Designer licenses you carry (see below for more regarding Designers), please reach out to us at support@clicktime.com.

Accessing Report Studio

Once Report Studio is part of your ClickTime subscription, your organization can provision Manager and Administrator Users with different access levels:

• Viewers: Can open and view existing reports (built by ClickTime or shared with them) but cannot edit or create reports from scratch. Viewers can only see data they already have permission to access based on their existing ClickTime roles (e.g., a manager limited to specific divisions or projects will only see that data in Report Studio).
• Designers: Can view existing reports, create new reports, and make changes to reports they have permission to edit. Designer access requires a Designer license and is available to Managers and Administrators (but not Standard users). Premier plan customers receive two Designer licenses.

For more information about Report Studio user permissions, please see our dedicated article on Report Studio User Permissions.

To access Report Studio, navigate to Company > Reports in ClickTime and click Open Report Studio.

Understanding the Building Blocks: Attributes and Metrics

When viewing a report in ClickTime’s Report Studio, you’ll see data organized into rows and columns. Understanding these fundamental components is key to building effective reports:

• Rows: Attributes (The Context) Each row typically represents a business element like an employee, client, project, or task. In ClickTime, these are called attributes. Attributes provide the context for your data, helping you understand who or what the numbers relate to. Example: A report on time tracked might have each employee listed as an attribute in the rows.
• Columns: Metrics (The Values) The columns display the values you're measuring, such as time entry hours, billable amounts, or costs. These are called metrics. Metrics are the actual data you want to analyze. Example: In the same time tracking report, "Time Entry Hours" would be a metric in the columns.
• Cells: The Data Points The intersection of a row (attribute) and a column (metric) forms a cell, which displays a specific value calculated from your ClickTime data. Example: A cell might show "40" under the "Time Entry Hours" column for "Employee A," meaning that employee tracked 40 hours.

Analyzing these data points helps you uncover patterns, identify areas for improvement, and make informed decisions based on your organization's performance.

Creating Your First Report: A Quick Start

Getting started with Report Studio is straightforward:

1. Access Report Studio: Navigate to Company > Reports and click Open Report Studio.
2. Create a New Report: On the Report Studio Home Page, click Create New Report.
3. Select Attributes and Metrics: Choose the attributes (rows) and metrics (columns) you want to include from the Dataset List. Drag or double-click them to add them to your report layout.
4. View Your Initial Report: Report Studio will automatically display a basic grid view of your selected data.

For more information on creating reports in Report Studio, please see our dedicated article on How to Build a Report in Report Studio.

Enhancing Your Reports: Formatting and Visualizations

Once you have your basic report, you can enhance it in several ways:

• Formatting: Use the Format Panel to adjust the appearance of your report, including fonts, colors, number styles, and more, making it easier to read and understand.
• Visualizations: Transform your grid data into charts and graphs (like bar charts, line charts, and pie charts) to visualize trends and relationships in a more engaging way.

Filtering Your Data: Focus on What Matters

Filters allow you to narrow down the data displayed in your reports, so you can focus on specific time periods, employees, clients, or other criteria. You can access filter options in the Filters Panel.

Sharing and Subscribing to Reports

Report Studio makes it easy to share your insights:

• Sharing: You can share your custom reports with other ClickTime users, controlling their viewing and editing permissions.
• Subscribing: Set up automated delivery schedules to email reports to yourself or other stakeholders regularly.

Exploring Further

ClickTime’s Report Studio offers a wide range of features to help you analyze your data in detail. Explore options for creating custom metrics (calculations), using advanced visualizations, and leveraging the power of thresholds (conditional formatting) to highlight key information.

This overview provides a starting point for your journey with ClickTime’s Report Studio. Dive in, experiment with the different features, and unlock the valuable insights hidden within your ClickTime data!

 

FAQ

Q: Can I include custom fields in Report Studio?

A: Yes, please reach out to ClickTime Support regarding this request (support@clicktime.com).

 

Q: How often is the data Report Studio uses refreshed?

A: Report Studio data is refreshed on a nightly basis.  So reporting day of will have all data from the day prior and before available.  We support the following times for this nightly refresh; 4pm PST, 8pm PST, 2am PST.  Your organization will always be defaulted to the time that makes most sense given your organization's primary time zone but you can request for one of the other times via our Support Team if it is more ideal.  If you need to sync data urgently for a reporting need, please reach out to ClickTime Support (support@clicktime.com).