Analyse Sales & Margins - Quick Start

Run the Analyse Sales & Margins [base] Workbook which is View only to get started quickly.

This Workbook runs over Sales Invoices and includes multiple Tabs which allow you to instantly understand your sales trends and margins. Run across any date range, Identify best sellers and investigate issues.

Once you are familiar with the basics learn how to customise your very own Workbooks, see:

• Analyse Sales & Margins - Deep Dive

Each Tab showcases a different report or chart style.

Select the Tab that best matches the report style you want then simply customise to show the exact data you need.

• Customer - a Standard list type report that can be used to report Sales & Margins by Customer and almost any other sales related field e.g. Items, Salesperson, Customer Group etc.
• Monthly Sales - a Pivot type report 
• Headline Sales - Sales Dashboard
• 3M Dashboard - 3 Months - Sales Dashboard over past 3 months
• Sales Chart - Monthly Bar Chart

Customer Tab

This is a Standard list type report that can be used as a template to report sales & margins by Customer and almost any other sales related field e.g. Items, Salesperson, Customer Group, Departments etc.

The Base report can be customised as follows:

1. Order by - to change sort order
2. Analyze by - to change data displayed in rows
3. Group by - to add a subtotal
4. Filter - to add focus 
5. Drill Down - to see more detail
6. Date Range - to select and change Sales Date 

1. Order by - to change sort order

Sort by Margin to find low margin Customers or Items.

• Click on a column to do a simple sort; or
• Click on the Order by icon to add multiple sort orders

2. Analyze by -  to change data displayed in rows

Change rows from Customer to Item to see margins by Item.

• Click on the Analyze by field
• Select another dimension to display that field in the rows e.g. select Item

3. Group by - to add a subtotal

Add a subtotal to organise your data further e.g. see Item sales by Customer.

• Click on the Group by field
• Select another dimension to subtotal by e.g. Items by Customer or Items Grouped by Item Type or Level

4. Filter - to add focus 

Focus on one aspect of your business by setting Filters. In our example we have set a Filter on the Class (Department) and selected only the Golf Shop.

• Click on the Blue Funnel icon to Add a Filter 
• Select the Field to Filter on e.g. Class Name
• Click on the Class Name filter box then select Golf Shop 
• Click the red Apply button to run the filter

5. Drill Down

Drilldown to more detail by clicking on a row

• Click on a Row (Customer) to Drilldown to see what Items they have bought
• Setup your own custom drill down sequence by clicking on the blue Cog

6. Date Range

Change the Sales Date Range for the entire WorkBook once and it will apply this across ALL Tabs.

• Click on Sales Date field
• Select or enter e.g. LM = Last Month, TM = This Month, LW = Last Week
• Click red Apply button

To set a Sales Date Range for just one Tab add a new Filter at the Tab Level.

• Click on the Blue Funnel icon on the Tab to Add a Filter just to that Tab
• Select or search for the Field to Filter on e.g. Sales Date
• Click on Sales Date field
• Select or enter e.g. LM = Last Month, TM = This Month, LW = Last Week
• Click red Apply button

Monthly Sales Tab

This is a Pivot type report that allows you to show and manipulate data in both Row and Column dimensions.

This report can be used as a template to report sales by Customer versus almost any other sales related field e.g. Items, Salesperson, Months, Departments etc.

The base report can be customised as follows:

1. Analyze by - to change rows
2. Versus - to change the columns
3. Order by - to change sort order
4. Group by - Group by is not available in View only Workbooks
5. Filter - to add focus 
6. Drill Down - to see more detail
7. Date Range - to select and change Sales Date 

Analyze by- to change rows

Change rows from Customer to Item to see Monthly Sales by Item.

• Click on the Analyze by field
• Select any other dimension to display that field in the rows e.g. select Item

Versus- to Change columns

Change columns from Sales by Month to any other dimension to breakdown sales in another way e.g. select Location to see where different Items are selling better than others.

Order by- to change sort order

Sort by Total Sales to find top Customers or Items.

• Click on a column to do a simple sort; or
• Click on the Order by icon to add multiple sort orders

Filter- to add focus

Focus on one aspect of your business by setting Filters. In our example we have set a Filter on the Customer field then selected one Customer to be able to see what Items they have bought and how often.

• Click on the Blue Funnel icon to Add a Filter 
• Select the Field to Filter on e.g. Customer
• Click on the Customer filter box then select one or more Customers to filter on
• Click the red Apply button to run the filter

Drill Down- to see more detail

Drill down to more detail by clicking on any number.

• Click on an amount to drill down to see detail by invoice then again to see what Items they have bought in that period
• Setup your own custom drill down sequence by clicking on the blue Cog

Date Range- to select and change dates

Change the Sales Date Range for the entire WorkBook once and it will apply this across ALL Tabs.

• Click on Sales Date field
• Select or enter e.g. LY = Last Year, 
• Click red Apply button

To set a Sales Date Range for just one Tab add a new Filter at the Tab Level. This allows more flexibility 

• Click on the Blue Funnel icon on the Tab to Add a Filter just to that Tab
• Select or search for the Field to Filter on e.g. Sales Date
• Click on Sales Date field
• Select or enter e.g. YTME - rolling 12 months (showing full months) or LY = Last Year
• Click red Apply button

Headline Sales

This is a Dashboard built up of a number of elements (widgets) including:

• KPI widgets - showing highlight boxes for YTD and MTD Sales and Margins with comparison to the prior year or prior month
• Pivot report widget - sales and margins pivot to show breakdown by months 
• Report widget - comparison style report comparing last year to this year with variances, this report includes a horizontal bar chart format to also visually highlight the size of each number.

Dashboards can be created and customised to include different report formats including charts.

Filter- to add focus

Focus on one aspect of your business by setting Filters that apply across the entire Dashboard e.g. Filter for one Department, Class, Location, Salesperson etc.

3M Dashboard - 3 Months

Dashboard filtered to to focus on the past  3 months.

Combines a simple bar chart with a sales comparison broken down by Customer.

Sales Chart

Simple bar chart of monthly sales by the income account.

Change the Analyse by field to see sales by another dimension e.g. by Customer, Department, Salesperson, Location etc.