This article guides you through the process of building, configuring, viewing, and sending customized reports with Nerdio Manager's Report Builder, which forms part of the Reporting Enginefeature.
The Report Builder allows you to configure deeply customizable reports in sections.
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Each section represents a single metric that can be reported against.Sections are grouped under headings that correspond to one of the Reporting Engine's Data Collectors:
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For each Data Collector, you can select multiple sections to add to the report, and, where applicable, configure the type of chart (table, pie chart, line graph, etc.) you want to display for the reported metric.
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A rich text editor allows you to format the report to your style requirements, add custom introductory or explanatory text, and determine the position of placeholders such as report name, description, and date.
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Reports can be viewed in your browser or as a downloadable PDF, which you can also choose to email to nominated recipients.
The Available Sections list in the Report Builder also has a Copilot Readiness heading, whose sections (Copilot Data Governance, Copilot Readiness Summary, and Copilot User Readiness Details) combine data from several Data Collectors, and an Other heading with the Title Page, Custom Text, and Page Break sections. The Microsoft 365 App Adoption section, which uses the M365 App Usage Data Collector, is listed under Users.
Note
The tasks in this procedure are performed at the MSP level.
The following matrix shows the Report Builder configuration permissions associated with built-in Nerdio Manager roles .
Note
Independently of the access granted by the roles in this matrix, individual users can only access reporting metrics related to customer/user data they have access to in other areas of Nerdio Manager. If a user does not have permissions to manage a particular customer account, they are not able to edit or view reports concerning that customer's data.
|
Built-in Role |
MSP-Level Reports |
Account-Level Reports |
|---|---|---|
|
Account Admin |
|
|
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Account Help Desk |
|
(Full permissions) |
|
End User |
|
|
|
MSP Admin |
(Full permissions) |
|
|
MSP Billing Admin |
|
|
|
MSP Help Desk |
Create, Page, Read, Update |
(Full permissions) |
|
MSP IT Admin |
(Full permissions) |
|
|
MSP Sales |
Page, Read |
|
|
Super Admin |
(Full permissions) |
(Full permissions) |
Before you can build and view reports, you need to have configured the Data Collectors you want to report against.
We recommend that you've also allowed at least one scheduled run of each Data Collector to complete. It's possible to run the associated Data Collectors when you run a report, but if you run several at once you may experience an impact on performance.
Nerdio Manager ships with Canned reports, which are pinned to the top of the Reports page and marked with a lock icon. They are read-only: you can run, schedule, view, and clone them, but not edit or delete them. They target all accounts and have no email recipients, so to change the layout, the target accounts, or the recipients, clone the report and edit the clone. If you want to see how reports are laid out and how their parameters function before you jump in and create your own, we recommend you start by viewing, cloning, and editing one of these reports.
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The MFA Status Canned Report shows how many users in a customer account have MFA configured.
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The Copilot Readiness Report evaluates each target account's readiness for Microsoft 365 Copilot across four pillars: licensing eligibility, identity and security, data governance, and Microsoft 365 adoption. It uses data from the Users, Secure Score, Endpoints, Exchange Online, SharePoint, Purview, Tenants, and M365 App Usage Data Collectors, so enable those for the accounts you want to assess.
When you first create a report, you'll be offered extensive customization options for each reporting metric. Once you've created a report, you can run it on demand or schedule when it runs.
To create a new report or edit an existing one:
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At the MSP level, navigate to Insights > Reporting > Reports.
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To create a new report, select New Report. Or, to edit an existing report, locate the report you want to clone, select the More actions
menu, and select Edit.
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In the Report Details screen, specify the following information:
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Report Name: Enter a title for the report. The variable
{$report.name}on the report title page will resolve to this value. -
Report Description: Enter a short description for the report. The variable
{$report.description}on the report title page will resolve to this value. -
Number of Reports to Store: Enter an integer value from 1 to 100 to specify how many past versions of the report will be retained in storage. The default is 2.
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Max Data Age in Days: Enter an integer value to limit the age of the data presented in the report.
Tip
Use this field if you want to display a smaller and more recent set of data than retained by the applicable Data Collector(s). For example, you might have collected data for the past year but only want to report on the past 30 days. Leave this field blank to include all information gathered by the associated Data Collector(s). The maximum age of the data displayed in the report is then governed by the data retention period you specified for its associated Data Collector.
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Sent To (optional): Select who will automatically receive a PDF copy of the report by email every time it runs. Choose one or more of the following:
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Users: Use the dropdown to nominate individual Nerdio Manager users to receive PDF copies.
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Roles: Use the dropdown to nominate individual Nerdio Manager roles to receive PDF copies. All users with the selected role designation(s) will receive a copy.
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Custom Email(s): Enter individual email addresses of other individuals to whom you want to send PDF copies.
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PDF Time Zone: Select the time zone in which dates are displayed in the PDF report. It defaults to your local time zone.
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Select Next.
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In the Configure Report screen, choose sections from the Available Sections list on the lefthand side of the page to appear in your report by selecting the applicable plus
icon. They appear in the Included Sections list, where you can drag them into the order you want. A Title Page section is included by default and always comes first.
On this step and on the Summary step, select Preview Report to download a sample PDF that shows the layout with sample data.
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To configure display options for a section, select it on the righthand side of the page and scroll down to the settings dialog. Here you can specify how you want the section data to display, including:
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Title field: Customize the section heading that will appear in the report. Switch on Hide Title to leave the heading and the data collection date out of the report, for example when a Custom Text section introduces the section that follows it.
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Display As field (available for certain display types only): Choose from options including table, pie chart, and graph.
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Settings section:
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For all chart types, select PDF to open the PDF Configuration dialog and specify the Page Orientation (portrait or landscape) of the section in the PDF output. For tables, you can also set Number of Rows to Display; the default is All.
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For tables, select Columns to open the Configure Table dialog, where you configure which data columns to display in the output and their sort order. You can also filter columns where applicable to limit the amount of data displayed: text and selection filters, date filters (for example, last 7, 30, or 90 days), size filters (for example, less than 5 GB), and numeric range filters with a slider and editable minimum and maximum values. Select Reset to Default to discard your column changes.
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Note
If the columns you've selected are too wide for a PDF page in the orientation you've selected (portrait or landscape), the dialog shows the warning Your column selection is too wide for the PDF. Consider removing columns or changing PDF page orientation. together with the selected and maximum width in pixels. Consider reducing the number of columns in your report, choosing a different format to display the data (if available), or changing the PDF orientation to landscape if you haven't already done so.
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Additional fields: For certain data and display types you can further customize how your data is displayed. For pie charts, Show Trend Indicators (on by default) adds an up, down, or unchanged arrow next to each value, comparing it with the previous run of the report; no indicator is shown on the first run or in the preview. For graphs, Period sets the time period to include. The Secure Score sections have a separate Display as setting (distinct from the Display As chart type) to show percentages or points, and the Category Score Breakdown pie chart can show a single category or All Categories. Other sections have their own settings, such as the quota threshold for the storage sections or the Stale Period and Recency Period settings for the stale and recently added users sections.
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Once you've selected and configured all the sections you want to include in your report, select Next.
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In the Target Accounts field, choose specific customer accounts you want to report against, or All to report against all your managed accounts. Select Next to continue.
Note
If your role limits you to specific accounts, you can select only those accounts. You cannot select All, and you cannot clear every account when you edit a report. Scheduled report emails are sent only for the accounts that the recipient can access.
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On the Summary page, review your settings. You can also select Preview Report to download a sample PDF, generated from sample data rather than a target account, to verify that the report is formatted as you expect.
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Once you're satisfied, select Create. This will save the report layout to be run and viewed at your convenience.
To run or schedule a report:
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At the MSP level, navigate to Insights > Reporting > Reports.
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Locate the report you want to run, and select its play
icon.
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To run the report immediately, select the Run Now area.
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Select Wait for all data collectors to finish to delay the report until any running Data Collectors have completed, or Force run data collectors to run the report's Data Collectors immediately and provide fresh data before the report runs. You cannot select both. Forcing a run can affect performance, so you are asked to type a confirmation; the dialog also warns about Data Collectors that are already running or that finished less than an hour ago, because their existing data is used instead.
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Select Run Now to run the report immediately or when the specified Data Collectors (if any) have finished their runs.
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To schedule report runs, select the Schedules area.
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Either select a previously configured global schedule from the Schedule dropdown, or select Create new schedule to configure a new schedule specifically for this task.
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Select Wait for all data collectors to finish or Force run data collectors to control whether each scheduled run waits for running Data Collectors or forces them to run first.
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Select Save & Close to save your changes and set the reporting schedule.
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Note
If a Data Collector fails for some accounts, the report is still generated and sent for all of its target accounts, with the data that was collected.
Reports can also be run against a prospect tenant, which is a tenant that you do not manage yet. The Run for Prospect Tenant action is shown only when Nerdio has enabled prospect tenant reports for your installation. A prospect tenant run is immediate: it cannot be scheduled, and every run asks you to sign in to the prospect tenant again. Prospect tenants have no historical data, so graphs would contain a single data point, and some sections are not supported:
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All sections of the FSLogix Container Sizes, Desktop Login Activity, AVD Host Pool Assignments, Azure Resource List, and Purview Data Collectors.
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Exchange Online: External Forwarding. OneDrive: OneDrive Tenant Settings. SharePoint: SharePoint Guest Owners and SharePoint Tenant Settings.
Note
In the prospect tenant, the Microsoft 365 admin center setting Conceal user, group, and site names in all reports (under Settings > Org settings > Services > Reports) must be turned off, otherwise the report fails.
To run a report for a prospect tenant:
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At the MSP level, navigate to Insights > Reporting > Reports.
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Locate the report, select the More actions
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Select Add Prospect Tenant, and sign in to the prospect tenant with an account that has the required permissions. You are redirected to the Microsoft Entra ID sign-in page. The tenant then appears in the list, and you can remove it with the delete icon. You need at least one prospect tenant to run the report.
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In Retention Period, select how long to keep the data: 1 Day, 1 Week (the default), 1 Month, 6 Months, or 1 Year.
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If the report has sections that prospect tenants do not support, the dialog lists them in a warning and shows Skip unsupported sections. Select it. Run stays unavailable until you do.
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If the report has graph sections, select Skip graphs to leave them out, because a prospect tenant has only a single data point.
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Select Run.
To view a previously run report:
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At the MSP level, navigate to Insights > Reporting > Reports.
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Locate the report you want to run, and select its view
icon.
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Use the Report Date to View dropdown to select available reports.
Note
The number of reports available in this menu is governed by the Number of Reports to Store setting specified when creating the report.
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Use the Account to View dropdown to select the customer account for which you want to view report data.
Tip
For data displayed in a tabular format, you can change the page size and use the search boxes to help find specific information.
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To save the report as a PDF, select Download PDF.
To clone an existing report:
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At the MSP level, navigate to Insights > Reporting > Reports.
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Locate the report you want to clone, and select the More actions
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Select Clone.
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Enter a name for the cloned report.
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To copy the schedules associated with the original report to the cloned report, check the Copy Schedules box. If you want the cloned report to run on a different schedule to the original, leave the box unchecked.
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Select Clone.
A copy of the report is created and can now be run or edited from the Reports page.
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