Proper Saving Practices for DrillPoint Reports

Reports created in DrillPoint are just Excel Spreadsheets that have some added functionality built into it resulting for the DrillPoint Reports Tab.  Being that they are merely Excel Spreadsheets, there are times where a user may notice some “odd” functionality on their reports.  Some of those symptoms are listed below:

Common Symptoms: 

•A Refreshed report cannot be brought back to Design Mode 

•A report will not refresh with live data 

•A report will start to refresh and then it just simply stops.  

Note: All of these “random” issues could be caused by an Excel report becoming corrupt.

Unfortunately, it can be challenging identifying why a DrillPoint Report has become corrupt, so outlined below are a few proper steps to follow when saving DrillPoint Reports, to hopefully prevent the corrupting of these reports, and if it were to happen, to have a safety net in place. 

Key Steps to Saving:

A copy of the report, in Design mode, should be saved LOCALLY to the Designer’s computer, preferably with the term “Design Mode” in the title.  This way, the report can always be pulled up in Design Mode and is not susceptible to shared drives network.

•File>Save As>DrillPoint Report – Design Mode

Example: Statement of Revenue and Expenditures – Design Mode

The Designer can then pull the report up, refresh it, and then save the refreshed report with a NEW NAME.  This way it does not overwrite the previous saved report in Design Mode.  These refreshed results can be saved wherever they prefer, locally or on a shared drive. 

•File>Save As>DrillPoint Report – 10-31-2019

Example: Statement of Revenue and Expenditures – 10-31-2019

Each time the DrillPoint report wants to be utilized, the Designer does not have to start with the master saved copy with the title “Design Mode” within a local drive.  Any refreshed report can be opened and taken back to Design Mode, just like they were normally proceeding.  The master DrillPoint Report titled “Design Mode” only needs to be used if the Designer is making changes to the master DrillPoint Report, or if a refreshed report has become corrupt and is showing one of those symptoms listed previously.