A well-designed output presents data clearly, loads quickly, and generates accurately into PDF and Excel. These practices help designers avoid the most common layout, performance, and formatting pitfalls.
Design for the audience first
Before opening the Output Designer, answer:
- Who reads this report? (Executive / technical / client / regulator)
- What decisions does it support?
- What format will they use it in? (PDF print / on-screen interactive / Excel download)
The answers determine component choices, information density, and color usage.
Page structure
| Practice | Reason |
|---|
| Page 1 should be a summary | Put key KPIs, RAG indicators, and headline narrative on the first page. Readers may not go further. |
| Use consistent page margins | Apply the same margins to all pages via Page Layout → Apply to all pages. Inconsistent margins break PDF alignment. |
| Name every page | Named pages appear in PDF bookmarks, navigation buttons, and the page thumbnail panel. |
| Limit each page to one main story | Avoid putting unrelated components on the same page. One page = one reporting theme. |
| Use a consistent header/footer template | Apply the same header (logo, report title, page number) and footer (issue date, version, confidentiality) to all pages. |
Component choices
| Scenario | Recommended component |
|---|
| Showing many activities with timelines | Gantt |
| Comparing a metric to a target | KPI card with comparison layout |
| Trend over time | Line chart or cash flow curve |
| Composition of a total | Stacked bar or pie/donut |
| Category ranking | Horizontal bar chart |
| Multi-row data with filtering | Table with conditional formatting |
| Cross-tab aggregation | Matrix |
| Project location or site data | Map |
| Schedule drift | Milestone Trend Analysis |
| Earned value metrics | Earned value chart |
| Cost to completion | Cash flow curve |
Avoid using a chart type that looks impressive but requires explanation. If the reader needs a legend and a title and a footnote to understand it, simplify.
Data binding
| Practice | Reason |
|---|
| Bind all required wells before formatting | Formatting a component before binding wastes time if the data shape changes the layout. |
| Preview with real edition data | Use a representative edition with realistic volume. Small test editions hide performance and overflow problems. |
| Do not use more than 3 grouping levels in a table | Three levels of group nesting is the practical readability limit. Split into multiple tables if more are needed. |
| Limit chart series to \u2264 8 | More than 8 series on a single chart is difficult to read. Use a filter or group lesser series into "Other". |
| Use calculated fields for labels | Calculated fields like CONCAT([Code], \" - \", [Name]) create clean labels without changing the underlying data. |
| Practice | Reason |
|---|
| Use the report theme for colors | Consistent colors across components make the report look professional. Only override for specific semantic purposes (e.g., RAG red). |
| Reserve red for negative/overrun, green for positive/on-track | These color associations are universal in project reporting. Do not use red for decoration. |
| Use number format abbreviation for large numbers | Display 4,500,000 as 4.5M to reduce visual clutter. |
| Align numbers right, text left | This is the standard table convention. Misalignment looks like a mistake. |
| Set a min/max on chart axes only when necessary | Auto-scaling is usually best. Manual min/max can visually exaggerate or suppress variation. |
| Practice | Reason |
|---|
| Avoid binding the same section to > 10 components on one page | Each binding is a separate data query. High binding counts slow generation. |
| Use page-scope filters to limit data early | Filtering at page scope reduces the data each component must process. |
| Use the Matrix component instead of a wide Table for cross-tab data | Matrix generates the pivot at the output level; a manually pivoted table requires pre-pivoted source data. |
| Limit Map components to 1 per output if using geocoding | Geocoding adds latency. Cache is per report run; multiple maps re-geocode the same points. |
Print and PDF readiness
| Practice | Reason |
|---|
| Preview in Print mode before publishing | Switch to Print preview in View tab to confirm nothing overflows the page margins. |
| Avoid freeform component overlap | Overlapping components in PDF may not render as expected \u2014 PDF rendering is z-order sensitive. |
| Add page breaks before major sections | Use Insert → Page break to ensure sections start on a new page. |
| Test with the largest realistic dataset | Tables and Gantt charts that fit on one page with 20 rows may span 5 pages with 200 rows. |