The metrics pages
The pages under Analytics, the question each one answers, and how they count.
The Analytics section in the menu holds seven report pages and Exports. Each report page is built the same way: a date control, figure cards, charts and tabs. Each one answers one question.
Who can do this: Analytics is for staff who work across the whole business. It is hidden from staff whose role is limited to chosen stores. Each page has its own permission. The built-in Admin and Reports Viewer roles see every page. The Inventory Manager role sees the Inventory page.
Before you start#
Which pages you can open depends on your plan's analytics grade:
- Available on every plan Sales, Orders and Reports.
- Available on Startup and above adds Returns, Inventory, Committed orders and Performance, and comparison with the period before.
- Available on Scale adds the drill-downs behind every figure.
A page your plan does not include stays in the menu with an upgrade mark.
The pages#
| Page | The question | Tabs |
|---|---|---|
| Sales | What did we take? Net and gross sales, transactions, average sale, discounts and tax. | Overview, Tenders, By store |
| Orders | How were we ordered? Counted by the date each order was placed, whatever its status. | Overview, Payment method, Fulfillment, Channel, Cancellations |
| Returns | What came back, why, and what did it cost? | Overview, Reasons, Dispositions, Refund methods, Products, Status |
| Inventory | What is our stock worth, and how is it moving? | Overview, Performance, ABC classification, Stock movement, Dead stock, Expiring soon, Low stock |
| Committed orders | Were promised dates kept, what money is behind them, and what is coming due? | Overview, Money, Load, Due soon |
| Performance | Which stores, products, categories and customers did best? A row opens that one's own report. | Store, Product, Category, Customer |
| Reports | The printable register reports. | X report, Z report, Sales summary, Inventory on hand |
A few details for each page:
- Orders: the payment method, fulfilment and channel tabs count completed orders only. The Cancellations tab shows where the period's orders ended up.
- Returns: dispositions count returned items, not returns. A return whose items were handled two ways appears under both.
- Inventory: some cards describe stock right now (units on hand, stock valuation, low stock) and ignore the date range. Others follow it (units sold, sell-through, shrinkage). Expiring soon and Low stock appear only when the stock has dates or is tracked.
- Committed orders: covers pre-order and customized products, which are promised for a day. Overview and Money count by the promised day. Load and Due soon show open orders as they stand now. The page appears only when your catalogue sells such products.
- Performance: checkouts without a customer record are grouped as one Guest row. A product in two categories counts fully under each.
- Reports: see Exports & reports.
Tenders: how completed sales were paid#
The Tenders tab, the Orders page's payment method tab and the register reports all answer the same question in the same way:
- Completed orders only. An unpaid or cancelled order has taken no money.
- A payment split across methods counts once per method, with the amount each method carried. An order paid part cash, part card appears under both, and the amounts add up to the order total. Read the transaction count as payments, not sales, when customers often split.
- What was undone before the sale closed is already taken off. A voided payment or a refunded overpayment never reaches the figure.
The register reports add one rule. Tenders are gross of refunds. A refund paid out of the drawer is not taken off them. Refunds paid out is its own block, counted on the day each refund was completed. A refund against last week's sale lowers today's drawer, not today's takings. So check the drawer as tenders in, refunds paid out.
Behind the scenes#
- Every time chart says what one point covers: Hourly, Daily, Weekly or Monthly. The server picks it from the length of the range.
- Days are counted in your own time zone. The X and Z reports use the store's time zone.
- A figure that has no meaning shows a dash, not a zero. For example, the average sale of a period with no completed orders is a dash.
- If you do not have permission for a figure, the page says so instead of showing zeros.
Troubleshooting#
| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| A surprising figure. | Most pages print their limits under the figure, for example "Only completed orders count towards money, so the money and the order counts describe different sets of orders." | Read the small print under the figure first. The full rules are in Metric definitions. |
| Analytics is not in your menu. | Your role is limited to chosen stores, or it has no analytics permission. | Ask the Administrator for a business-wide role with analytics. |
| Committed orders is not in the menu. | Your catalogue has no pre-order or customized products. | Nothing to report yet. |
| Category totals are higher than net sales. | A product in more than one category counts under each. | This is expected. |