Arti Patel Martinez, ProAdvisor Training & Certification Leader: On today's episode of In the Know, we'll be showcasing modern reports.
Hey ProAdvisors, it's Arti, and you're watching In the Know, where you get exclusive access to demos of Intuit product enhancements by the leaders who built them.
Let's jump right in with Subhanan, who will show us more about our new modern reports.
Subhanan, welcome!
Subhanan Sahoo: Thank you, Arti. Yep, we'll talk about modern reports. So, I'm Subhanan. I'm one of the product managers on the QuickBooks Online reports team. I have been with Intuit for about five years, and I'll be talking today about modern reports.
Modern reports are already available in all SKUs. You can see modern reports in the standard version, as well as in the classic versions. So slowly, the modern version of the reports will be the only version of reports that will be available. On June 15, the option to switch back to classic will go away. We are listening to each and every feedback that we have been receiving, and trying to make sure that there is absolutely a smooth transition.
Now, let's talk about why exactly modern reports. I do acknowledge, and and we are very aware that for accountants, classic reports have been the version of reports that you have been using for over a decade or so. One thing is that it has been built with the old technology, because it's more of a monolith kind of technology where everything sits together, whether it is invoices, bills, expenses, or your bank feeds, everything is there together, which bulks up the system. If any part of the system fails, the report also fails, and hence the need to have a much more distributed system where every feature or every module has its own section. What it does is that it's scalable, with more data increasing for your companies, with more features going in. We can relate to you at a much faster pace without having to cross collaborate across every single team that is there.
Going ahead, I'll just touch on the timelines that we have. So like I said, from June 15 onwards, you will see in batches, for a few companies, the option to switch back to classic reports will be removed, and we will go through this journey till August 15. That is the date that we have in mind, where the switch back to Classic will not be available for standard reports as well as custom reports.
Now, I'll demo some of the improvements that we have done on modern reports. Let me start sharing my screen. I'm starting with most-used reports here, which is profit and loss. These are all of the enhancements that we have done over the past two months, so these are very new. You will see first that your company name is now at the top and the report name is at the bottom. Earlier, it was the other way around. In modern reports, we heard a lot of your feedback, and you know we made the change. So by default, the company name will be at the top. However, we did one better, where you can actually go ahead, and in the visual and in headers, you can choose whether you want your company name or report name to be visible first. This is one thing that we have changed.
Another thing, let's display the months of this report. This report is for all dates, so it might take a little bit of time. So earlier, what used to happen with modern reports is that any blank cells that are there used to be filled with dashes. It generally gave a perception that the report is much bulkier and not easy to read. We went ahead and made this parity with classic, where you will now see the blanks now. Again, this is all preferences. You can go ahead and look at this customization panel in the visuals. There are new cell settings. You can choose whether you want to have dashes or blanks.
Another thing that we got a lot of complaints about is that in modern reports, what used to happen is any of the customizations that one does. There could be a case where five different customization needs to happen. For every customization, let's say adding every filter, adding every column, or any other layout customization, the report loads every single time, which makes it seems that the report is loading slower. We went ahead and fixed that. You will see there is a new option to apply changes.
So now, I'll go ahead and make a lot of changes. For example, in row settings, I will put some banded colors, and in column settings, let's say I want the total to display it in some particular color, and then in the data section. I will go ahead and see that I want to show all rows. I want to edit the title section. For example, instead of income, let's say I want it as revenue. All of these things. You see the changes that I made. And with the header alignment, I'll just make it left. I did some five or six different changes. What I can do now is that the report will not load every single time. I can go ahead and apply changes, and all of the customization options that I gave will automatically reflect at once, rather than this report having to load for multiple times. This is one change that we have made.
Another one that I'll talk about has to do with auto refresh. I know that, specifically auto refresh, around 90% of the time, the auto refresh works well if you go into a particular transaction. Let's say I'm going into this particular transaction, and this is an invoice. I made some edits in this particular invoice. Here it is. For simplicity, let's do 1234, and I will save and close. Once this report saves and closes, you will see that the section which got updated is highlighted and automatically the number goes ahead and reflects. Previously around 90% of time it used to work, but now some additional enhancements will ensure that the auto refresh is working seamlessly.
Another thing has to do specifically with balance sheet reports. There were a few companies where there was some data disparity between the classic version of reports and modern versions. Specifically in the retained earnings section, we went ahead and fixed that as well. Now we will not receive any data parity issues. The numbers that you see in classic and in modern are the same.
Another thing I'd just like to show, which might be very important, is let me get to all the dates. You see that you know there are different hierarchy levels. For example, expenses inside of expenses. We have consultancy and inside of consultancy, we have advertising and marketing. There are different levels. Previously, there were only two options for visibility and that was either expand all or collapse all. Now, we do have an option as collapse, which makes it in parity with classic.
For example, if you want to see the reports on all of the accounts, but not the sub accounts, it will show you this. For example, I'll go ahead and use the collapse option. Now, you will see all of the sections and all of the primary accounts that are there, but not the sub accounts. This is another enhancement that we have done.
One thing which was missing is when you export reports in an Excel file, the formulas were inconsistent. Some you used to get formulas and some you would not. Now, irrespective of whichever report it is or what time period it is, if you go ahead and export it, you will always get the formulas embedded in Excel. These are some of the enhancements that we have done over the month or two, just so that to make sure that it's seamless. Thank you!
Arti Patel Martinez: That was great! I caught a lot of your presentation and was answering some of the questions that we saw popping up in Q&A. I hope that helps with folks. And then I've got a couple questions to ask: How has the report customization experience been approved for speed?
Subhanan Sahoo: Yes, this is also one thing that I showed in the demo. Previously, what used to happen, like let's say you have five different customizations that one needs to apply. With modern reports, after you click on one customization, the report used to reload, right? Hence, for five different customizations you want to apply, the report reloads five times, which gives a sense that the report runs for a much longer time. The speed is lesser now with having the apply all button, where you make all of the changes, and then once you go ahead and apply it. That improves the speed quite a bit.
Arti Patel Martinez: Very exciting. And then you may have said this, but I saw little bits of this same question pop up. Can accountants now share reports with their firm specifically?
Subhanan Sahoo: Yes, great question. I know that it was something that was not available in modern reports until recently. We have added this functionality so if accountants go through their client’s accounts they can go ahead and customize any report and create any report. Now apart from sharing it with all or themselves, there is an option of sharing it with the firm, where all of the firm users who are attached to the company can now see the report that has been created by them. Yes, this functionality is now in the product and available to all accountants.
Arti Patel Martinez: Subhanan, thank you so much for that demo. So much great stuff with modern reports. We're so excited for that program to kick off in January. If you find this update interesting or helpful, go ahead and like, comment and subscribe. That's all we have for now.
For more product updates and demos, check out our In the Know hub. We'll catch you next time.*
*This information is intended to outline our general product direction, but represents no obligation and should not be relied on in making a purchasing decision. Additional terms, conditions and fees may apply with certain features and functionality. Eligibility criteria may apply. Product offers, features, functionality are subject to change without notice. Product screen images simulated. Video sequences shortened.
