Build reports with sam
Ask sam to build a whole report from a sentence, or to change one that exists by setting its window, retitling a block, redefining it or taking it off.
sam can build a report for you and change one you already have. It works from your semantic fluid, so the numbers in a report sam builds are the same numbers your team agreed on, and it says so plainly when the fluid cannot show what you asked for.
Ways to start
| From | What you do |
|---|---|
| Activate · Reports | Press New canvas, describe the report under What should it contain?, then Create and let sam build it. |
| An empty Reports page | Press Build one with sam. sam asks what to call the report and what it is for before it builds anything. |
| An empty canvas that has a description | Press let sam build it from the description. |
| A box you drew on a canvas | Choose ask sam, pick what it may place and describe one block. See the report canvas. |
| sam's pane, on any page | Ask in your own words. Open the pane from the sam button at the top of the console. On a canvas whose pane is closed, the chat icon at the right of the toolbar opens it. |
sam needs two things to build a report: a name and what it is for. If you gave only one, it asks for the other in a single short question and stops. Once it has both, it builds the whole report in one reply.
What sam builds
A full report from sam follows the order a management pack reads in:
- Four to six headline kpis.
- Two or three trends over time.
- The breakdowns that matter.
- A short paragraph of written analysis.
Then it opens the report for you. Blocks appear on the canvas one at a time as sam places them, and when the last one lands the pack settles into rows: four kpis to a row and two of anything else, every block in a row the same height. See Blocks for what each kind shows.
sam chooses the mark from the shape of the question: one number is a kpi, and two or three numbers about one thing are one kpi card; a rate over time is a line and a total for each period is a column chart; a number by category is a bar, and a share of a whole is a donut; two numbers for each thing (volume against reliability) are a scatter; one number across two breakdowns (product type by month) is a heatmap; several columns to read are a table and a paragraph of judgement is text. Split by a second breakdown, a line draws a line for each value and a column chart or an area stacks. Titles are short and lowercase.
Ask for a comparison in your own words ("against last year", "vs the previous month") and sam draws the block against the previous period or the same period last year. Ask for a trend and a kpi gets its sparkline. Both need a date window, on the block or the report; when there is none yet, sam places the block anyway and says the comparison will show once there is one. A ring, a stack (stacked, side by side or 100%) and an order (largest first, smallest first or by name) can be asked for too. See Blocks for what each one draws.
sam works to a few rules that keep the analysis honest:
- Every number in a written block comes from a query it ran in that conversation. It is told not to estimate.
- A target only appears when you gave one. It is told never to invent a goal to measure against.
- If the fluid cannot show what you asked for, it names what is missing (a metric, a dimension, a relationship, a source) and does not place something that answers a different question.
These are instructions to sam, not checks the canvas makes, so read a written block before you send it on.
Ask for a change
You do not have to rebuild a report to change it. Ask sam, and it reads the report first, then changes it.
Put the weekly sales dashboard on the last 7 days.
Rename "net revenue by week" to "revenue by week" and draw it as a bar.
Take the debtors table off the board pack.
Add a target of 80 to the on-time delivery kpi.
Compare the on-time delivery line with last year.
Show revenue by region and month as a heatmap.sam can do these things to a report that exists:
| It can | Notes |
|---|---|
| Set the report's filters | A window for the whole report is one report filter on its date dimension, not a condition on each block, and it holds for blocks added later. sam can also clear them. |
| Redefine a block | The metric, breakdown, conditions, mark, row limit, target, comparison, trend, ring, stack, order, title or written words. The block keeps its position, size, comments and sheet, and any values you hid or axis you fitted. |
| Take blocks off | Any blocks, by name. |
| Place new blocks | On the open report, or on another report you name. |
| Find a report | It can list the reports you can open and read one before changing it. |
Every change is checked before it is made. sam runs each block again with the report's filters folded in, and if any block could not run, nothing changes and it tells you which blocks and why. That way a report is never left half edited, and a filter on a field that a block's table cannot reach is caught up front rather than every time someone opens the report.
If the report is open, the changes land as a single edit, so one undo takes them all back. Every change is also saved as a version in the report's history.
What sam does not do to a report
sam does not move or resize blocks, and does not add the header block. It does not edit a table's sheet (formulas, formats, totals). It does not set colours, share or publish a report. Those are yours to do on the canvas, and a block sam redefines keeps whatever sheet you built on it.
Schedule and send with sam
sam can also schedule a report: tell it the report, the email addresses and when, and it sets up the delivery. It can list what is scheduled, change a delivery, send one now, pause or resume it, and remove it.
Email the board pack to board@acme.co and cfo@acme.co every Monday at 7am Sydney time.An email always asks first. However your workspace's sam is set up, scheduling, changing and sending a delivery wait for you to confirm on a card, because a report in an inbox is a copy of your numbers that cannot be recalled. Removing a delivery asks too. Pausing asks unless sam is set to run changes without asking.
Scheduling is for owners and admins, as it is on the Report schedules page.
What you control
An owner or admin decides what sam may do under Settings · sam. The reports group covers creating reports, placing and changing blocks, and scheduling deliveries. If it is off, sam can still answer questions about your reports and can no longer change them.
Creating and changing a report is not held for confirmation in the way a change to your data model is, because every change is a version you can restore. A member with the read-only role can ask sam about reports and it changes nothing.
sam's work counts against your workspace's AI usage. See models and usage and actions and approvals.
Getting good results
- Name the numbers the way your team does. sam matches the metrics and dimensions in your fluid, so "net revenue by region" lands more exactly than "how are we doing".
- Give the window. "Last 12 months" or "this quarter" saves a follow-up. For a whole report, say so: "make the whole report last 7 days".
- Say what the report is for. The description becomes the brief every later request reads, so "for the Monday leadership meeting" shapes what it includes.
- Start from the fluid you have. If a report needs a number that is not defined yet, define the metric first, or ask sam to.
Something unclear or out of date? Tell us, and we will fix the page.