What this is for
Bid reports is where you produce documents from your bid data. Where Insights reads a trend on screen, Bid reports makes a file you can share, for example with your board or a client. It is a catalogue of report templates, led by the Board executive summary. You can run a report, export it, or have it emailed on a schedule.
A catalogue, not a list
The report cards are drawn from the registered catalogue of templates, so the screen only offers a report the system can actually produce. The Board executive summary comes first, then the other templates. The monthly report for a single bid is not in this catalogue, because it belongs to that bid.
Step by step
- Open Insights from the Velstrian Bid menu, then its Bid reports tab.
- Choose a report from the catalogue, starting with the Board executive summary if you need an overview.
- Download it, or set it to be emailed on a schedule.
- For a single bid's monthly report, open that bid and go to its Contract delivery tab, where the monthly reports sit once the bid is in delivery.
What happens next
A produced report is a document you own and can send on. For a live view of performance rather than a document, use Insights. The two are deliberately split: Insights reads, Bid reports produces.
When to use a report instead of Insights
Reach for Bid reports when someone outside the screen needs the information: a board that wants a summary before a meeting, or a client that wants a written update. Reach for Insights when you are the reader and you want to see a trend live. The Board executive summary is the quickest way to an overview document, because it gathers the headline picture into one file. The monthly report for a bid answers a narrower question, how that contract is being delivered, which is why it sits on the bid rather than in the shared catalogue.
Common problems
A report you expected is missing: the catalogue only shows templates the system can produce, so an absent one is not available rather than hidden. You cannot find a bid's monthly report here: it is on that bid's Contract delivery tab. The page says your account is not linked to an organisation: reports run on an organisation's bids, so join or create one first. You wanted a live view, not a file: that is Insights.