How to Add Charts to a Planfix Report and Group Data
Add a chart to a Planfix report and a column of numbers turns into a picture the team can read in a second. A report already collects the amounts, dates and names your colleagues enter while working on tasks, and charts and graphs in a report put the same figures on a pie, bar or line chart. This short video builds a simple expense report and adds a chart to it.
What you’ll learn: how to add charts to a Planfix report
- Create a report on an expense data tag and name it.
- Choose what the columns show: project, task, the employee who recorded the expense, the amount and the note.
- Set the selection parameters and group the rows by project.
- Add a pie chart built on the amount column.
- Change the grouping and see the same data, and the same chart, by employee.
How to add a chart to a report in Planfix, step by step
Step 1. Create the report on an expense data tag
Open the Reports section and click New report on the task panel; to start from something that already works, select an existing report and click Create copy. The Report Wizard opens. In General information, choose the group the report belongs to, name it — the video calls it “Expenses by project” — and select the object whose data the report uses. Here the amounts are recorded with an expense data tag, so the object is Data tags, and you then specify which data tag to include.
Step 2. Add the columns the chart will use
Report view is where the table is built. Each column needs at least a column header and an object type for the output, and Planfix then offers the fields available for that object. The report in the video uses project and task, so every amount keeps its context; the author of the entry, meaning the employee who recorded the expense; the sum from the expense data tag, with aggregation by that field so grouped rows carry a total; and the note from the same data tag. Those columns are the whole report, and custom reports in Planfix let you come back and change them at any time.
One thing to keep in mind while adding columns: a chart needs a number, not a name. The column with aggregation is the one worth charting later.
Step 3. Set selection parameters and grouping
In Selection parameters, the filter decides which records reach the report. The settings look the same as task filters: define any number of conditions and set the logical connections between them in the designated field. You can limit the report to this month, to one employee or to one project; the video keeps all the data for active tasks and adds grouping by project. Grouping can be set here or after the report view is configured, and setting it afterwards lets you group and sort by the columns you have just added.
Step 4. Add the chart on the Charts and graphs tab
Go to the Charts and graphs tab and click Add new graph. Give the graph a name — “Distribution” in the video — and select its type: bar, line, pie, combined, funnel, pyramid, stacked or Gantt. On the Data to display tab, select one or more report columns to build the chart with, and the grouping it uses. The video chooses a pie chart on the sum field, saves the chart and runs the report again: the table stays, and the amounts appear as slices by project next to it.
Two appearance settings are worth knowing. Charts sit above the body of the report by default and can be moved, and the chart height affects how it is displayed — if you only see the labels and no chart, increase the height.
Step 5. Change the grouping to change the chart
The chart follows the grouping, which is the part that surprises people. In the video, the grouping is switched from project to the employee column, and both the table and the chart immediately break the same expenses down by employee. Labels on the X axis are always taken from the grouping in the chart settings, or from the report settings when the chart has none; with no grouping at all they come from the source data. So set the grouping in the report first, run it, check that the columns hold the data you expect, and then point the chart at the same column and grouping.
Example: expenses by project, then by employee
Run the report and you get a table of project names with the sum of expenses for each project. Expand one project, or all of them at once, and you see the specific tasks, employees, amounts and notes behind the total, so expenses entered by different people in different tasks end up in one place. The pie chart adds the share each project takes of the total.
Then change the grouping to the employee column. The same entries now answer a different question — who spends the most — without a second report and without touching the columns.
Who it’s for
- Finance and management: expenses by project as a total and as a share of the whole, in one chart.
- Project managers: the tasks and notes behind a project’s number, one click away from the chart.
- Team leads: the same data grouped by employee, to see who records the most spending.
- Operations: a chart per question — a pie for shares, a bar for comparisons, a line for change over time.
- Anyone new to reports: a short report with four or five columns is enough to get a readable chart.
FAQ
How do I add a chart to a Planfix report?
While creating or editing the report, open the Charts and graphs tab and click Add new graph. Name the graph and choose its type, then on the Data to display tab select the report columns to build it with and the grouping it uses.
Why does my report chart show the wrong breakdown?
The data in a chart depends on the grouping. Labels on the X axis come from the grouping in the chart settings, or from the report settings when the chart has none, and from the source data when nothing is grouped. Set the grouping in the report first, run it, then use the same column in the chart.
What chart types can a Planfix report use?
Bar, line, pie, combined, funnel, pyramid, stacked and Gantt charts. One report can hold several of them, and line graphs have sliders that give a larger view of a chosen period.
Start with the number people keep asking about
Take one figure your colleagues ask for every month, put it in a report with the two or three columns that explain it, and add a chart on top. Charts and graphs in Planfix are built on report data, so every chart stays as current as the report behind it. When the report itself needs more work — filters, totals, access and a schedule — see how to build a full project expense report. New to Planfix? Sign up to try it.
