Automated Project Reports: Build an Expense Report
Automated project reports save you from pulling expense data out of scattered spreadsheets and from worrying that a budget overrun slipped past. Customizable reports in Planfix analyze the data your team already records in tasks, such as purchases entered with a data tag. This short video shows how to build a project expense report, add a chart and email managers a link to it on a schedule.
What you’ll learn: how to build a project expense report in Planfix
- Create a report on an expense data tag and choose its columns, filter, grouping and sorting (0:08).
- Remove duplicate data while keeping a clear hierarchy, and total expenses automatically.
- Add a chart and set its data, height and position (1:30).
- Email selected users a link to the report and limit access to specific employees and clients (2:05).
How to set up automated project reports in Planfix, step by step
The steps follow the video. In the Report Wizard, Selection parameters come before Report view; if you set grouping and sorting after adding columns, you can group and sort by them.
Step 1. Create a report on the expense data tag
Open the Reports section and click New report. In the General information step, enter a name, select Data tags as the object and pick your expense data tag. Planfix does not include it by default, so an account administrator needs to create a data tag first.
Step 2. Add columns in the report view
In the Report view section, add columns for:
- project name and task name;
- purchase date;
- the employee who created the entry;
- purchase amount, with totals enabled for grouped data;
- purchased items.
Step 3. Select the tasks, then group and sort them
Task selection parameters decide which tasks appear in the report. The video collects all purchase-related tasks from last month. Next, group the data by project and then by task, and sort it by comment date so purchases appear in chronological order.
Step 4. Hide duplicate values and add a totals block
The first run shows repeated data. Turn off the display of columns with duplicate values: they still group the data, keeping a clear hierarchy. Then add a totals block to the amount column to see the total purchase cost at a glance.
Step 5. Add a chart or graph
Open the Charts and graphs tab, click Add new graph and choose a chart type, such as bar, pie or Gantt. Select the report columns and grouping to display, then set the chart’s height and position relative to the report. Save the settings and run the report.
Step 6. Email the report on a schedule
With automatic report generation, selected employees or external contacts get a link to the report by email; set this up on the Generate on Schedule tab. See how to send scheduled reports to managers and clients.
Step 7. Set report access for employees and clients
By default, only the report’s creator can view it; you can grant access to specific employees and clients on a separate report tab. Scheduled recipients see the same data as the report’s author, so check what the report includes before sending it to clients; they can’t open tasks they have no access to.
Example: last month’s purchases by project
The video’s report answers one question: what did each project spend on purchases last month? Once set up, it groups purchases by project and task, totals their cost and lets you track expenses across projects in one click. Depending on your plan, you can save versions of it, then export or print them.
To turn it into a project profitability report, add income data. One report row holds only one data tag entry, so income and expenses share a line only when grouped by a shared column. A Formula column calculates values from the columns to its left. For a field-based method, track project profitability with totals fields.
Who needs project expense reports
- Executives and investors: project expense and profit reports arrive as an email link on a schedule, no spreadsheets needed.
- Project managers: purchases in each project, broken down by task and date.
- Finance teams: expense totals by project and task, ready to export to XLSX, CSV or Google Sheets.
- Client-facing teams: a scheduled report link for clients, sent after you check the report’s contents.
FAQ
How do I create a report in Planfix?
In the Reports section, click New report, or select an existing report and click Create copy. The Report Wizard has five steps: general information, selection parameters, report view, charts and access.
Can a Planfix report show project profitability?
Yes, if income is recorded as well as expenses. The ready-made Income and Expenses Accounting solution, available on any plan, records both with data tags, and its reports show them by project and task.
Why do two people see different data in the same report?
A report shows only the data available to the user running it, such as the tasks and data tag types they can access. Time zone can also affect results. Scheduled reports are the exception: recipients see the data as the author saw it.
Build your first expense report
Start with a question your managers ask monthly, such as how much each project spent, and build a report that answers it. Then see how custom fields, data tags and reports connect in Planfix. Each setting is explained in the Help Center guide to reports. New to Planfix? Sign up to try it.
This video was featured in What’s New in Planfix: June 2026.
