Table of Contents

Common Custom Report Uses

Jennifer Trower Updated by Jennifer Trower

Read Time: 6 mins

Sonar includes pre-built data views for commonly used reporting data, such as transactions, account status history, churn, MRR, and more.

These views make reporting easier by bringing related data together in one place and using the same calculations Sonar uses internally.

Permissions

Before getting started with the feature, your user roles will need to be adjusted to account for the permissions required to use the Reports feature.

If you're a Super Admin, you already have full access, and no changes are needed. To learn more, see the Roles and Permissions article.

Reporting access is controlled by two layers that work together: role permissions and report licenses.

Role permissions (set under Settings > Security > Roles): at least one of the following is required to view reports:

Permission Details
1. View generated FCC Form 477 reports: allows you to generate a FCC Form 477 report.
2. Create a FCC Form 477 report: allows you to create a FCC Form 477 report.
3. View account reports: allows you to view account-category reports (delinquency, churn, account status).
4. View financial reports: allows you to view financial-category reports (Aged Receivables, Invoiced Revenue, Daily Payments, Disbursements).

Report license (set under Settings > Integrations > Report Licenses); required to create or modify reports:

  1. Viewer license: required to filter, drill into, and export reports.
  2. Editor license: required to clone dashboards, use Explore from Here, and create or modify custom reports.
Only Super Admins can assign or revoke report licenses.

Overview

Common Custom Report Uses

Each view below consolidates Sonar data into a single source you can build reports on. To use a view, navigate to the location shown, start a new report or dashboard, and build from there.

Use Case What It Does Where to Find It
Consolidated Invoiced Transactions Contains the full invoiced transaction history. Consolidates all invoiced debits and credits in a single table. The transaction date is tied to the date the transaction was applied to an invoice. Invoices > InvoicedTransactions
Consolidated Account Transactions Contains the full account transaction history. Consolidates all debits, discounts, and payments in a single table. The transaction date is tied to the date the transaction was created on the account. Accounts > AccountTransactions
Account Status History Snapshots Determines what status an account was in as of a specified date. Useful for point-in-time reporting and historical analysis. Accounts > AccountStatusHistoric
Simplified Churn Reporting Compares account statuses between two dates and determines whether the change is considered an activation or churn based on the status.activates_account field. Accounts > AccountChurn
Available Credits Calculates how much available credit an account had as of a specified date. Accounts > AvailableCredits
Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) Calculates MRR by account and breaks it down by Debit (Revenue), Discount, and Net (Monthly Recurring Charge / MRC). Includes account service amounts, quantities, price overrides, billing frequency, voice service parameters, and anchor subsidies. Accounts > MonthlyRecurringRevenue
Ticket Reply Statistics Contains First Reply data for tickets. Limited to outgoing replies. Tickets > TicketRepliesStatistics
Custom Field Data (0–9) Multiple isolated custom field views that allow you to specify a custom field ID and add that field to reports. See How to Enhance Your Reporting with Custom Field Data. Accounts > CustomFieldData0, Jobs > CustomFieldData0, etc.

How to Use a View in a Report

  1. Navigate to the view location shown in the table (for example, Invoices > InvoicedTransactions).
  2. Start a new report or open Explore from Here on an existing tile built from that view.
  3. Add the dimensions and measures you need.
  4. Apply filters and save the report to your user profile or publish it to your team.

Cloning a Dashboard or Report Tile

Cloning allows you to create an editable copy without changing the original dashboard or anyone else’s view.

There are two types of cloning:

  1. Cloning an entire dashboard or report: This can only be done by Support. To request this, follow the clone request steps outlined in this article.
  2. Cloning an individual tile within a dashboard: This can be done by the user by following the steps in How to Create a Clone below.

When to Clone Instead of Edit Directly

  1. You want to add or remove filters without changing the team's shared report
  2. You want to test changes before publishing them broadly
  3. You want a personalized version with your preferred date ranges, columns, or tiles
  4. You like the existing report but only need to add one or two additional column.

Before You Create a Clone

Before cloning an individual tile, it is recommended that you first create a report where the tile can be saved. This helps ensure the correct subfolders are created.

If you are saving the tile as a new dashboard, it must be saved in one of the following locations:

  1. My Folder/accounts
  2. My Folder/financials

If these folders do not exist, create a report first and save the tile to that report.

How to Create a Clone

Before cloning a report from a published dashboard, make sure you have an unpublished user dashboard where the cloned report can be saved.

To clone a report:

  1. Go to Reports and open the dashboard that contains the report you want to clone.
  2. Find the report tile you would like to clone.
  3. Hover over the top-right corner of the tile and click the three-dot menu.
  4. Select Explore From Here.
  5. In the new window, click the settings icon in the top-right corner.
  6. Hover over Save… and then select To an existing dashboard.
  7. In the Add to a Dashboard in this folder window, enter a title for the cloned report.
    You must save the cloned report under a new name. Existing canned reports cannot be overwritten.
  8. Select the unpublished dashboard where you want to save it.
  9. Click Save to Dashboard.

After saving, the window should close and a confirmation banner should appear.

Information to Collect Before Requesting a Clone

  1. Instance hostname: for example, yourcompany.sonar.software
  2. Dashboard ID: the number at the end of the dashboard URL (for example, /reports/dashboard/44 = ID 44).
  3. Your user ID: found under your profile in the Sonar UI.
  4. Your username and email: must match your Sonar user record.

How to request a clone:

  1. Open a support ticket.
  2. Include all four data points listed above.
  3. Specify that you want an editable, unpublished clone of the dashboard delivered to your user profile.
  4. Once complete, the cloned dashboard appears in the relevant reporting section (for example, Financial Reporting for an Aged Receivables clone).

After your clone is delivered:

  1. The clone is visible only to you.
  2. The original published dashboard remains unchanged for all other users.
  3. You can edit filters, tiles, columns, and scheduled deliveries on the clone independently.
  4. If you later want to share the customized version with your team, submit a separate publish request.
For details on unpublishing or returning a clone to a different user, see the How to Unpublish a Report or Dashboard article.

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