6 Smart Reasons to Use Reporting Templates
Have you ever caught yourself in the midst of a tedious task, thinking, “There must be an easier way!” Well, we have good news!
If procrastination is getting in the way of preparing your data, then reporting templates might be the answer you’re looking for.
Keep reading to learn why report format is important, and find out how to turn boring and mundane into efficient and painless.
Work Smart Not Hard
Do you keep reworking the same tired old documents? Recycling them over and over, shuffling data until it feels about good enough? Admit it, your work deserves better than mediocrity.
Rather than settling for adequate, or wasting time trying to fit new data onto old spreadsheets, give your work an edge. It’s time to consider a report writer such as the Omni ERP Module.
Here are a few key features that our report writer provides:
Simple Functionality
Functionality such as drag and drop systems makes it much easier to create your reports based on your specific data. This means you can build your own screens, group data, and instantly export your work to popular formats such as Excel.
Parameters
You don’t need to waste time figuring out your columns or adding your own parameters. These are all sorted within a few clicks. Moving columns around as you want them is the easy part so that you can spend more time on the content you put into them.
Source Documents
Omni report writing software helps you locate source information easily. For example, by double-clicking on a line, the source document gets pulled up immediately.
Exporting and Importing
It’s effortless to import or export your data as needed. Our report templates are partnered with popular spreadsheet programmes for your convenience.
Template Options
You’ll need report writing templates for a wide variety of typical business documents. These documents include financial reporting, year-end reports, and staff performance among others.
It’s also helpful to have suitable options for status report templates. This means that everyone can communicate the progress of projects in real-time.
Our report writing software holds a library of around three hundred standard reports. You can also configure these templates to your specific reports.
Advantages of Reporting Templates
If you’re not convinced that reporting templates will totally change your life for the better, then it’s time to take a closer look at their advantages.
Here are six smart reasons you should be using reporting templates.
1. Headache-Free Efficiency
Using a report template that is already set up saves a lot of time and feels a lot less laborious. You don’t need to expend a thousand and one clicks on cutting and pasting at the risk of throwing your formulas out. With a robust report template solution, the framework is ready and waiting for you to populate and customise.
2. Cost and Time Saving
Templates save you time and money. When you have a pre-built structure, you can focus more on the data content. So, you worry less about re-inventing elaborate report structures every time you need to do a proposal. With reporting software, you can even create helpful reminders in alert reports.
3. Customisable
With customisable templates, you have greater control over the format and content of your reports. Reporting software capabilities include changing your fonts and using free format text. You can also insert calculated fields.
4. Professional
What if you and your colleagues set up your own reports? If you don’t work from a common reporting software, you’ll come up with vastly different methods for reflecting similar data. This gets confusing and looks unprofessional.
Using a template means that your reports will have a similar format. So you can present information in a structured, consistent way. When your format is organised, your reports, proposals and checklists will create the impression you want.
When you present the information to clients or executives, consistency doesn’t just make your work look smart. Uniformity also means your facts will be easier to read when it comes to the actual presentation part.
5. Information Accuracy
It’s no secret that boring work often lends itself to mistakes that are easily overlooked. Report writing is no party. However, templates prevent mistakes.
Templates make it harder to omit mandatory information accidentally. By simplifying the process, templates make reports more consistent and accurate. Plus it’s easier to see when you’ve left something out.
6. Real-Time Sharing
Report writers often allow real-time sharing. This means new data is instantly available. Having the most up-to-date information is key for decision-making. It’s also particularly helpful in a project status report.
Free Templates
Maybe you’re thinking that you could just set up a report from a free download site such as Canva. It might seem as though you can construct a perfectly good document on public programs. However, the capabilities of these sites are significantly limited.
True, you can get better features on the paid-for versions. Bear in mind though, sites such as Canva are more for design and less for information purposes. You’re much better off spending that money on a reporting template software package.
Plus, you have to wade through hundreds of un-suitable designs before you finally find one that almost works. Or worse yet, you might start on one only to find halfway through that it doesn’t support all the parameters you need. Who likes starting over?
Let’s run through the facts.
What is a reporting template?
Put simply, it’s software that helps you put your reports together. There are many template options that will help you deliver your data in a simple and concise way. The main point is that you don’t have to create an entire report from scratch every time. Reporting templates should ultimately save you valuable time and money.
What is the best format for a report?
The best format will vary based on the type of report you are doing. Much will depend on the field of business you’re involved in and the nature of your reports. For example, financial data will populate very differently from marketing analytics.
Are there report templates in Word?
Yes, you can get free templates from Microsoft Word. However, these are often very generic. If you work with complex, specific information, you may find a general one-size-fits-all approach a little fussy (or a lot fussy). Not to mention limited in their capabilities.
If you’re determined to give free report template downloads a try, just make sure that your business reporting templates can do these things:
– Simple drag & drop functionality to build your own screens, move columns, group data, and instantly export your work
– Locate source documents with a click
– Import or export data from spreadsheets
– Sort columns with a click
– Easily configure screen fields as you need them
– Instantly available daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly reports
– A host of user-friendly report template options
– Set up alerts as notifications for important updates
Yes, Canva and Microsoft Word offer free templates. But you might end up spending more resources in the long run. You’ll be working harder, not smarter!
Don’t Do Drab
Professional business reporting templates are a solution that can make the world of difference to you and your company!
Reports can be time-consuming and frustrating. Especially when the end result looks a little… sad. You want something that will reflect all your effort and hard work. Your reports should look as spectacular as the person creating them!
If you need advice on the best report writer bundle for your buck, contact Omni here.
