Reports can suppress zeros or show a unique character to signify a null value

Description

Having the option to suppress zeros or show a unique character (0, --, -, n/a, NIL, -), to signify a null value in reports can significantly improve the comprehensibility and clarity of data. This feature allows users to customize how they wish to represent empty or zero values in reports, thus enhancing legibility and decision-making efficiency.

Example Use Case

Scenario: A global retail company uses CPM software for its operations reporting. The reports generated often contain zero values for certain sales data, regional profit metrics or stock turnover rates, disrupting the visual flow of the data and potentially leading to misinterpretation.

Solution: By implementing a CPM system that allows zeros to be suppressed or replaced with a unique character (like 'N/A' or '-' for example), the company can enhance the clarity of its reports. This makes data interpretation simpler and faster for all stakeholders.

Considerations

This might seem like a small requirement, but it can make a big impact on the clarity of your reporting. Not all tools offer it. Some include a 0 by default, which isn't necessarily an accurate way to refer to null. Null represents a data intersection where data does not exist. If you ran a calculation including a null cell, the calculation would not compute - since it's blank.

Some tools don't have null values. They'll insert a zero wherever a null value would otherwise be in order to make their formulas work more reliably.

Questions to Ask a Vendor

• Customization Flexibility: How can users suppress zeros or assign a particular character for null values? Does your system offer this capability natively?
• Consistency Management: How does the software ensure that zero suppression or null character representation is consistent across all reports?
• Reporting Compatibility: Is there any impact of zero suppression or null character representation on other reporting features, such as charting or trend analysis?
• Formulas: If we insert a calculated column in a report with null values, what happens?