Organize report data

The information displayed in a report comes directly from the fields of the layer or table on which the report is based. One way you can customize a report is by organizing its data. When information can be divided into groups, it can help highlight trends that may otherwise go unnoticed. For example, you may want to have certain employee records grouped by department and sorted in ascending order based on employee hire date.

Reports support the following three methods of organization:

• Grouping—Gather report records by a common value.
• Sorting—Organize report records in alphabetical or numerical order based on the values in one or more fields. Sorting can be performed in either ascending or descending order. Optional case sensitivity can also be used.

  Note:

  Fields that have a domain assigned to them are sorted by either the description or the coded value, whichever is currently displayed in the table.

• Summary statistics—Show the complete set of information for the reported records. Examples include an average or maximum numeric field value as well as the total count of a string value in a field.

Using a combination of the organizational methods available, a report can be created that provides both organized details as well as summary information for quick reference. Grouping and sorting can also be added to an existing report as well as updated after the initial report creation.

Organize data in the Create New Report pane

Grouping and sorting are optional levels of organization that can be applied to your report data. However, this can be defined during report creation that is based on an Esri default template. To organize data in the Create New Report pane, complete the following steps:

1. On the Insert tab, in the Project group, click New Report to open the Create New Report pane.

   Alternatively, right-click a layer in the Contents pane and click New Report to open the pane and have the report's data source set directly.

2. In the Create New Report pane, choose Use an Esri default template and select a template from the drop-down menu.
3. Click Next to provide a report name and set the data source.
4. Click Next to continue to the Filter the data options.
5. In the Filter the data options, specify the fields and rows to show in your report and click Next.
6. In the Organize the data options, select the fields by which you want the data to be grouped and set a corresponding sorting direction.

   • Grouping is available only if the template chosen during step 2 includes grouping. If the chosen template does not include grouping, this grouping option is not available.
   • When a grouping template is used, field labels are added to the innermost group header. If no grouping field is chosen during this step, field labels are not included.
   • Sorting direction includes ascending and descending order, with the additional option to use a case-sensitive sort order. Multiple groups are sorted in a top-down manner while domain fields are sorted by either the description or the coded value, whichever is currently displayed in the table.

7. Specify any additional data sorting desired. This sorting will be apparent within each group. Only fields that are not being used as groups can be selected as multiple sorting levels are applied in a top-down manner after the sorting required by grouped fields.
8. Optionally, define any summary statistics to be included.
9. Click Next to continue to the Design the report options, or click Finish to generate the report using the current configuration.

Add grouping to a report from the ribbon

Additional grouping can be added to a report at any time using the following steps:

1. On the Insert tab, in the Data group, click the Group button to open the Insert Group dialog box.
2. Choose the field by which you want to group and the corresponding sorting direction.
3. Click OK.

A new group header and footer will be added to the report section.

Change data organization in the report properties

Sorting and grouping can be changed after it has been established using the following steps:

1. In the Contents pane, right-click the report title and click Properties. Alternatively, on the Report tab, in the Properties group, click the Sorting button to open the Report Properties dialog box.
2. Click the Sorting tab.
3. Choose the direction existing groups will be sorted.
4. Specify any additional data sorting.

   Alternatively, click the Clear button to remove all sorting or click a field name to expand the field list and choose (Remove item) to remove each sorting level individually.

5. Click OK to apply this change.