Reporting tool with sufficient formatting capabilities such that I do not have to export into Excel

Description

This feature allows users to format reports directly within the software, negating the need to export data into external tools like Excel. With adequate formatting capabilities, reports can be more intuitive, flexible, and catered to different use cases. This requires that the formatting capabilities be on par or superior to Excel.

Example Use Case

Scenario: A global healthcare company generates comprehensive CPM reports related to financial performance, clinical trials, and patient data. To ensure these reports are digestible and accessible to various stakeholders, the company needs to format them in a user-friendly manner. Currently, it is exporting raw data into Excel to manually format, a process that is time-consuming and requires them disconnect the reports from the CPM database.

Solution: By adopting a CPM tool with robust formatting features, the company can generate properly formatted reports within the system. This saves time and eliminates errors associated with manual processes. The features include color-coding, data sorting, conditional formatting, typeface, filters, horizonal rules, dividers, and so on.

Considerations

We include this requirement because it is the number one reason why users export data from a CPM tool and bring it back into Excel. Doing so creates significant problems from a data integrity and security perspective, as such we recommend avoiding it if possible. High quality formatting tools in a CPM tool can help prevent those issues.

Formatting is a primary reason why some vendors have resorted to the Excel plugin for reporting. While it takes them time to develop the plugin, it saves them the trouble of building a powerful formatting tool inside a web interface and checks a box for all the buyers who are terrified of leaving Excel. The downside here is that installing a plugin on everyone's machine is a major hassle, and a long-term maintenance challenge. Web interfaces have no such issue, as you simply login with your browser of choice.

Questions to Ask a Vendor

• Formatting Capabilities: What formatting capabilities does your reporting tool provide and how do they compare to Excel's functionality?
• Preserving Formatting: Do the reports maintain their interactive capabilities after formatting?
• Excel Export: In what situation would we need to export into Excel to achieve our formatting requirements?