In this article, you will learn how to manage report content in addition to your core fund information: Commentary, Statistics (charts and tables), File Attachments, and Metric Data Updates.
Before you start:
This is Step 2 in learning how to create and manager iPAR Reports. If you have not done so already, first learn how to create a basic draft report. Or if you have yet to complete the initial fund setup, you should do that first.
iPAR Report Sections
After you have created a new report, you will be taken to the Report Edit screen. (If you have an existing Draft Report, click the "Edit" button on the Reporting dashboard page with the list of fund reports.)
The Report Edit screen is made up of three sections:
- Quarterly Report
- Fund Information
- and Attachments
The Fund Information pulls automatically from your fund profile and cannot be edited on this page. It shows summary information for your fund's Fund Information, Heat Map, and Geography.
The Quarterly Report and Attachments sections are fully editable for each quarterly report. We will go through both sections individually.
Quarterly Report Section: Managing and Updating Metrics
Your Metrics are included within the Quarterly Report section. For each Metric that you have registered for data updates, the report builder tool will check to see if you have entered at least one data update within the respective quarter. If you have one or more Metric that hasn't received any data updates for the quarter, the Metrics slider will be highlighted in red and will say how many Metrics need to be updated. You can click on the Metrics slider to bring up a modal listing all of your Metrics (see image below).
For our example report, we have registered "Energy Generated" and "Energy Generated | Solar" for data updates. "Energy Generated" is up to date (meaning it has at least one data update for the report quarter), but we have not entered any data updates for "Energy Generated | Solar" within the report quarter (signified by the red highlight on that row). You can click on any row and add new data for that Metric right on the page. Let's fix our missing Metric data issue for "Energy Generated | Solar" by entering a new data point for the report quarter.
You can select a date and enter a value in-line, and then click "Save." If needed, you can also click "Go to Metric" to go to the full Metric page to get more context. Once we save the new data update, the page will refresh, and we will see that our Metrics are up to date for the report quarter (see image below).
Quarterly Report Section: Commentary
Now we can add more content to the Quarterly Report section of the report. Start by adding some commentary for the quarter. To do so, click the "Commentary" button and a modal will pop up where you can enter a commentary title, as well as multi-paragraph commentary (including images, tables, and custom formatting) using a rich-text editor. You can also paste text from Microsoft Word into the commentary editor. Once you have entered your commentary and a title, click "Save." If you need to make changes, you can click the "Commentary" button again to bring up the editor modal with your existing content.
If you need to delete the entire commentary block (as opposed to just editing existing commentary content), you can click the large blue X on the right of the Commentary slider. To prevent accidental deletion, a modal will pop up asking you to confirm the action. Click "Delete" to confirm or "Cancel" to return to the Report Edit screen:
Once you are done with Commentary for your report, you can move on to the other optional content type for the Quarterly Report section: Portfolio Statistics.
Quarterly Report Section: Portfolio Statistics (charts and tables)
Portfolio Statistics are designed to be modular charts, graphs, and tables that contain either non-impact quantitative data (such as fund performance data) or aggregate portfolio-level information that summarizes your Metrics data or other non-impact data. You can also optionally include commentary for each Portfolio Statistic.
Example: Create a Pie Chart
For our example report, let's create two Portfolio Statistics: one that shows a pie chart breaking down renewable energy generation across the fund, and one that shows a table of recent fund performance. To add a new Portfolio Statistic, click the "Statistic" button and a new modal will pop up:
The basic setup of a Portfolio Statistic consists of 1) specifying the Chart Title and Chart Type (available options are Pie chart, Bar chart, or Table), 2) choosing whether or not to include commentary for this statistic, and 3) entering the actual data in one or more rows (each of which contains a label and a value). Click the "Add Row" button to add a new line, and click the red X on a row to delete that row. As you make changes and add new data, the Preview on the right-hand side will live-update. The image below is our example pie chart for renewable energy generation across the fund during the report quarter.
Once you have entered your data and reviewed the chart preview, click "Save" to go back to the Report Edit page. You will see a new slider for the Portfolio Statistic you just added. You can click on the slider to make changes, click on the large blue X on the right to delete the Portfolio Statistic, or click and drag the blue up and down arrows icon to reorder your Portfolio Statistics (you can reorder Portfolio Statistics however you want, but as a group they always come after Metrics, and Commentary always comes first if present in the report). If you do reorder your Portfolio Statistics, be sure to click the "Save" button at the bottom of the Report Edit screen to save the new order.
Example: Create a Table
Using the same process as above, only selecting "Table" instead of "Pie Chart," we created the example fund performance table below.
Fund Information Section: Add Attachments
The last section of the report allows you to add file attachments such as PDFs, Word documents, and Excel spreadsheets. Your LPs and other report viewers will be able to download the attachments directly when they view the report. The maximum size per attachment is 10mb.
To add a new attachment, click the "Add Attachment" button in the Attachments section, and a new modal will pop up where you can give the attachment a title and then either drag the file onto the modal or click the large dotted rectangle to open a file selector.
Once you select the file or drag and drop it onto the modal, it will upload automatically, and you will return to the Report Edit screen, where you should see the new attachment listed.
From here, you can click and drag the up and down arrows icon to reorder your attachments, click the pencil icon to edit the attachment title or click the X icon to delete the attachment from the report. If you do reorder your attachments, be sure to click the "Save" button at the bottom of the Report Edit screen to save the new order.
Delete a Draft Report
While the report is in draft status (meaning it has not been published yet), you can delete a report if needed. To do so, click the "Delete" button at the bottom-right of the Report Edit screen. A confirmation modal will pop up where you can confirm the deletion or cancel the action.
WARNING -- What is Published cannot be Un-Published: in this tutorial, we show you how to create a Draft iPAR Report, which is private and can be deleted anytime. However, do know that if you choose to publish a report, you cannot unpublish or delete once published.
Pro Tip: Next Time Don't "Start Blank Report," just "Clone" an Existing Report
If you have gone through all the steps above, consider yourself an iPAR Reporting Hero™. Additionally, you will never need to start from scratch again. For your next reporting period, you have the option to clone a new report using an existing Draft or Published report. From the main "Reporting" dashboard, select the "Clone" button next to the report you want to use as a template. Presto!
Next Steps: Report Settings and Publishing
Once you have mastered report creation, you will need to publish the results. Click here learn about report publishing and management.