This article explains in detail how you can create custom reports and use them effectively for analysing the personnel data stored in Personio. You can find examples of how you can use custom reports in this article.

Tip
To create more advanced analytics and reporting, you can retrieve data from your custom reports through the Custom Report API.

Access rights

Access rights to custom reports can be assigned under Settings > People > Employee Roles > Access rights > Custom Reports. Viewing rights allow employees to view all reports that have been created, including all the data they contain. Editing rights allow employees to create reports themselves and to select report attributes.

Note
By granting viewing or editing rights through the Custom Reports subsection, you are giving your employees access to the entire custom report section. They will be able to see all the custom reports and the data they contain regardless of whether they have access to a specific attribute.

If you want to give your employees access to a single custom report, you can do so via the Sharing options window. For more information, take a look at our article Share a custom report.

Creating a custom report

In the main menu, navigate to Reports > Custom reports and click on the button Create custom report. This opens the following window, which contains a 3-step setup wizard:

Name and description

Give your report a name under which it will appear in your account. You can also add a description, perhaps to describe the purpose of the report. This will also be shown on the overview page.

Specify report details

Type of report

You have a choice between three different report types, depending on the report's purpose.

• Point in time
  This report type shows data for a specific date in the past or future. Future dates take into account scheduled attribute changes and scheduled absence periods.
• Timeframe
  Timeframe reports are particularly useful for displaying data on absence periods, absence account balances and confirmed work hours, and overtime over a defined period.
  You can also add relevant employee attributes such as departments. Please note that timeframe reports on employee attributes always show the value at the end of the period under review. Changes in the department during the period under review will, for example, not be shown.
• Historical Data
  This report type shows changes in employee data over a defined period.

Tip
For Timeframe reports, we are introducing a new format only available for Compensation attributes (see Table columns below). This will enable you to review a month by month breakdown of salary payments over the chosen report timeframe. For example, a report with the timeframe 01.01.23-31.12.23 will display the development of a compensation type during each month of the year.

Date

Next, select the date or period for which you want the custom report to show data. You can select one of the predefined dates, such as the following:

Pick up custom date

Alternatively, you can select or introduce the exact date you wish.

Table columns

Under Table Columns you can add any attributes on personnel data, attendances, absences and one-time compensations. The fields Last name and First name are included in every report by default and cannot be removed. You can arrange all of the columns in your report by dragging and dropping them in the selection field.

The following attribute types are currently available for selection in custom reports:

• Employee attributes
  Lists the contents of the respective attribute at the defined date or the change in values over the defined period.
  
  
• Attendance attributes
  Confirmed attendance hours and confirmed overtime can be included in period reports. Unconfirmed attendances are not included in reports.

• Absence attributes
  Lists the absence types, accrual policies and absence periods.
  
  
• Goal and KR attributes
  Lists the name, status, intervals, and percentage of completion for the different goals and key results.
  
  
• Compensation attributes
  Lists the salary, bonus, overtime compensation, and both one-time and recurring compensations.

The following table provides further detail on the attributes available with each report type:

In the Overview of all Attributes in Personio article (Attributes for Custom Reports section), you will find a comprehensive description of all the attributes listed above, as well as their template placeholder. 

Note
The current scope of custom reports does not include candidate data.

Set up report conditions

Use the Set up report conditions function to define a specific selection of employees whose data you would like to see displayed in the custom report. You can combine any number of filtering criteria to narrow down your selection.

This allows you to include or exclude specific groups of employees. The following options are available:

• For attributes of the types text field, list of options or multiple selection such as department, you can choose the filtering conditions equals or does not equal.
• For attributes of the number type such as weekly hours, the available filtering options are less than, less than or equal to, equal to, not equal to, greater than and greater than or equal to. Use the values field to specify a number.
• For attributes of the date type such as hire date, the available filtering options are also less than, less than or equal to, equal to, not equal to, greater than and greater than or equal to. Use the third input field to specify a date.
• As a default, a filter is added for Status equals Active. This will display employees who were active on the selected date or during the selected timeframe. When removing the filter, the report will include all employees, including inactive ones.

For detailed information on the filter logic in Personio, please refer to this article.

Saving your report

Once you have made all your settings, click on Create report to save your custom report. It may take a few minutes until the report is generated, depending on the number of employees and the number of columns in the report. The report is shown next:

Additional functionalities

You can then perform the following actions:

• Sharing options: Click on the button to share a specific report with the relevant employees. Visit the article How to Give your Employees Access to Custom Reports to learn more.
• Export: Click on the button to download the report as an Excel spreadsheet (.XLSX format).
• Copy report link icon: Click on the icon to copy the report link and either send it or save it.
• Regenerate report icon: Click on the icon to manually refresh the custom report.
  

  Note
  The custom report will be automatically refreshed and updated, as long as it does not become inactive for longer than 60 days and its status does not change to Archived. 

• Three dots icon: Click on the icon to either edit or delete the report. When clicking on Delete, a pop-up will appear asking you to confirm that you wish to delete the report. Click on Yes, delete it to delete. Please note that all data shown in a report is retained even when you delete a report. The data will not be lost.

Overview page

All custom reports created within your company account are displayed in the Reports > Custom reports section.

You can locate a specific report by entering its name fully or partially into the search bar.

You can also locate a report by using the Report type filters (Point in time, Timeframe and Historical data) and the Created by filters (Employee name 1, Employee name 2, etc). 

The report name and the date it was last accessed are shown, as well as whether the report is up-to-date. Below, you will see the report description, as well as the report type (coloured tag) and the name of the person who created the report.

Report status

• Loading: Your report is currently loading. This can take a while depending on the volume of data.

• Up-to-date: Your report is loaded and up-to-date. Any data changes that happen in the system that are relevant for report results will trigger an automated update to the report. For example, if a person’s position and salary is changed, any report that displays this data will be updated.

• Archived: The report has not been viewed via the Personio account, neither has been retrieved via the Custom Reports API for at least 60 days. The report will stop getting automatically updated. To reactivate the report so that it includes the most up-to-date data, open the report and click on either Refresh or on the Regenerate report icon. You will not be able to reactivate the report by retrieving it via the API.

• Failed: Something went wrong on our side. Reload the report and if you still continue to have issues, reach out through Find Answers to get further support.

Tip
You can find frequently asked questions about custom reports here.