Report formatting issues
Is anyone else having a problem with how the reports are downloading since they changed the reporting? Our formatting is now a mess.
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Comments
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Hi Lisa -- Yes, I don't like how some cells are now merged and there are some extra columns for the Excel exports. What I had really liked about the Excel exports from FE NXT up until now was that the export to Excel was clean -- no merged cells, no added columns, and everything lined up. For this month's reporting, there were extra steps to unmerge cells and move columns over to fit into our existing report templates.
This change to the Excel formatting caused a lot of added stress for our Finance team, as this change corresponded to our fiscal year-end reporting period. Hopefully the FE NXT Development team can fix this quickly.4 -
Agree, I use the Export Excel Data for the "clean" export as well (no merged cells and extra columns). I noticed as well that even though I said no headers on each page, it still put them in..
I use export excel data to get data to do various checks and vlookups and stuff. Now to clean up an export in order to use the data is a waste of time. Hope they put this back to what it is supposed to be.
Sylvia3 -
Yes, this has been a problem since the update.
It would be good if all those affected submit a case. At least there will be a record of how not to do an update. The more open cases, hopefully the more resources are dedicated to finding a fix. Here's an idea, do a roll back. I don't think there will be any user that would complain. Fixed in one sentence.
My case has been open since April 6 and while thy tried to close, I stated that my original issues have not been addressed. Basically the report outputs have changed without any input from the user. I have merged cells, deleted rows, new row added, and 3 rows combined into one row. As well as repeated headers.
I sent them a report template of my previous report, without numbers, and how the reports look like now.
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Yeah. I noticed this too. Excel data report exports need to be clean and simple (no merged cells), reasonable font size, minimal formatting. Something easy to access the actual data! Sounds like Blackbaud needs a discovery on the "Excel data" report. I use this a ton. This and PDF reports. I don't use any of the other options.2
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Yes, what a mess! I do like some of the functionality added (specifically-- being able to navigate between columns more quickly and update parameters) BUT the reports take a lot of clean up to go into Excel. Like others have said, the time spent unmerging cells, removing headers, and resetting page breaks takes away the "sleek" reporting aspect of NXT. And even in their raw form in PDF, some reports are missing labels on certain lines and totals of columns.
I do hope Blackbaud addresses the issues soon!1 -
Yes - Agree. I had several reports that I would download and have links/lookups referencing the data. Everything moved and shifted, and agree with all of the other comments below. Hope BB fixes this.1
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My case is open yet as well, going on 3 weeks. One of my transactions will not pick up the correct data in the web base view and if you add up a column, it doesn't add up to the subtotal amount. Their solution was run it in the database view, which is fine, but more cumbersome to run as there are more columns to delete, etc. I am now double checking anything I run out of the web base view to make sure all the numbers add up correctly. I am frustrated that we put in cases and never hear back from them for weeks.1
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I thought it was just me. I started using NXT a few years ago, specifically to download Excel Data from my Database reports, because the Database doesn't export well to Excel at all (the internal Excel version there is waaaaay too old). The NXT export to Excel Data was a godsend at the time.
Our auditors request Excel versions of all of our FE reports (including GL reports, financial stmts, budgets etc) and I need to be able to give them something clean, lined up, and with correct (sub)totals. If exporting to Excel Data is now broken, that is an urgent problem, especially as we are quickly approaching the end of our fiscal year. I hope Blackbaud is listening to everyone about this.1 -
We are having problems too. The formatting is a mess.2
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FYI, I asked about the formatting issue at today's FE NXT Report webinar. This was through the Q&A window.
The response was surprise and asking if they could create a support ticket. I said yes, but haven't seen anything, but it could be they already saw my previous ticket still open.
I asked, did anyone do any testing before releasing this module? My excel exported reports are not formatted the same way as prior to the update. I have rows being added to my report.
I also mentioned that I am not the only organization that is experiencing this issue.
I should have taken a screen shot, of the Q&A conversation but I was working on my audit sample requests.
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Oops. That sounds like the right people are not looking at community posts...0
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Lisa Olscamp:
Is anyone else having a problem with how the reports are downloading since they changed the reporting? Our formatting is now a mess.Yes, I don't like how some cells are now merged and there are some extra columns for the Excel exports. What I had really liked about the Excel exports from FE NXT up until now was that the export to Excel was clean -- no merged cells, no added columns, and everything lined up. For this month's reporting, there were extra steps to unmerge cells and move columns over to fit into our existing report templates.
This change to the Excel formatting caused a lot of added stress for our Finance team, as this change corresponded to our fiscal year-end reporting period.1 -
Looks like I have another case opened for the export to excel issue.
"My name is Josie, I am with FE customer support. This case was made because I understand you would like an update regarding the reporting formatting.
We are actively working on this issue, I am very sorry for this inconvenience and we really appreciate your understanding on the matter. You will be notified when we have any update via email, I will make sure of that."
Will see how this goes. We made it through YE, but need to decide how to proceed with the new fiscal reports.
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Thank you for sharing. Please provide any updates if you can when available. Hopefully they will have this resolved soon!1
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I just received notification that the formatting should now be resolved. I am going to be running my reports to see.
If those that are following could do the same and let me know if the formatting has been fixed for your reports.0 -
Ours still look ugly - the formatting is still wrong. There is some improvement but it still needs work.1
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Same here.
In fact no real change since the merged cell correction/update fix. My rows are still off. Original report had 40 rows and the new report has 34 rows.
For those that are following this thread, please make sure you file a ticket so we can get the report formatting back to the way it was.
If Blackbaud does not think it is a serious issue, they will continue to push updates that will just make our lives difficult.0 -
See the update to my ticket below, emphasis mine.
"I was able to escalate this case to a senior team for review and we do have a new ticket in for this exact issue. It was filed when the initial fixes were sent out and this was not addressed. I am awaiting to hear back on the fix, however, please note that because the "export excel data" option is intended to remove unnecessary formatting in order to just provide columns of data, the blank rows injected into the report for the sole purpose of VCO formatting have been removed. The "export excel report" option exists so that the report can be exported excel, while maintaining as much of the original formatting as possible. I will update you once this fix is released. "
Not feeling any real support from this response. Do I point out the difference between columns vs rows? I think I will.
I did not have any issues with the columns, it has always been the number of rows changing and the spacing. Original report had 40 rows, updated reports implemented changed my rows to 32, current update gives me 34 rows.0 -
@Lisa Olscamp
i am having with the report parameters when i edit reports. my latest error is ‘failed to save report parameters’ column heading cannot exceed 255 characters'. i cleared every field that is labeled ‘column heading’ and am getting the same error. All my edit work is down the drain.0
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