Business Reporting Software FAQ
What is a report?
Data displayed in such a way that you can easily grasp the information. A report typically has two main components: a template and data.
What are some examples of reports?
Inventory tallies, invoices, financial statements, product usage reports, and health insurance policies are examples of traditional reports. Certificates, offer letters and even business cards are also reports – because they're made up of data that is inserted into a template.
What is business reporting?
The process of designing, generating and distributing reports.
Is reporting the same as Document Generation or Mail Merge?
Good question. There are a variety of definitions for these terms, even among industry "experts."
Document Generation is an automated way of producing a document. You create a template and when the document is generated, specific information populates the template.
Mail Merge also is an automated way to producing documents. Mail merge originally was used in the computing industry as a term referring to the process of taking contact from a data source and automatically inserting that data into letters, mailing labels and other documents. "Mail merge" is now commonly used to mean turning any template into a personalized document, such as a monthly bank statement.
Who uses reporting?
Everyone. Program managers, bank employees, marketing vice presidents and administrative employees all create reports. It’s possible you generate reports regularly without realizing that's what you're doing.
Reporting exists in all industries, including finance, energy, education, government, insurance, health care, manufacturing, technology, telecommunications, and transportation. Reporting is used by start-ups as well as businesses that have been operating for centuries.
What does reporting software do?
Reporting software lets you create a template (a form letter, statement, invoice, or other type of document), insert specific data into the template, and generate the final report. In other words, reporting software takes a jumble of data and displays it in such a way that we can understand what the data means.
How does reporting software work?
Every reporting program works differently. The best reporting solution fits your company's business objectives and allows you to create the types of reports you need. And a reporting package is useless if it allows you to create the snazziest report in the world but breaks the bank in the process.
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