Changes to report limits and previews in Version 1.22
In Version 1.22, as part of ongoing improvements to our reporting tools, we changed how you pull data into a report in Helm CONNECT. Our goal was to give you the flexibility to build the reports you need while maintaining the performance of Helm CONNECT.
Removal of the 366-day limit on date ranges
Once you upgrade to Version 1.22, the 366-day limit on the date range filters will no longer apply, and you'll be able to select any dates you want for your reports. We know this will be good news for anyone who needs to report on more than a year's worth of data at a time.
New limit on the number of columns and rows in a report
To make reports faster and more stable, we imposed the following limits on the number of columns and rows that you can add to each report:
- Column limits: Reports are now limited to 40 columns. As soon as you open a new or existing report, it's easy to see the number of columns in your current report and whether you're approaching the limit. As soon as you reach 40 columns, you're prevented from adding any additional columns.
- Row limits: Most reports are now limited to 100,000 rows; however, these reports based on the following data sources have a higher limit of 200,000 rows: Parts, Parts History, Part Quantities, Vendor Part Prices, Forms, all the Checklists data sources, and all the Templates data sources. You'll see a warning if you try to export the report as a PDF or a CSV file.
Changed behavior for the report preview
You'll also see some differences with the report preview. Previously, the preview would load automatically as soon as you selected a data source. If you made any changes, such as adding or removing columns or modifying the filters, you'd see those changes immediately. In Version 1.22, you must click the new Update Preview button to load the preview manually and, each time you make any changes, you must click the new Update Preview icon to see the changes in the preview.
NoteReports with either default columns or fixed columns won't require you to click the Update Preview button when you first load them. In addition, we didn't change the number of rows displayed in the previews; they will still show only the first 25 rows of a report.
What will happen to existing reports?
Reports created in earlier versions of Helm CONNECT will also be subject to the new limits when you open them in Version 1.22:
- Column limit exceeded: If an existing report exceeds the new column limit, it will open in Version 1.22. However, the displayed number of columns will be highlighted in red, and you won't be able to add any additional columns or generate a report preview. If you try to export the report as a PDF or a CSV, you'll see a warning that you've exceeded the maximum number of columns and must reduce the number of columns in your report.
- Row limit exceeded: If an existing report exceeds the new row limit, it will open in Version 1.22, and you'll be able to generate a report preview. However, if you try to export it as a PDF or a CSV, you'll see a warning that you've exceeded the maximum number of rows and must use the available filters to reduce the amount of data in your report.
What about connections to external tools?
If you're using an external tool, such as Power BI to analyze and visualize your data, you won't need to add new data connections to your existing reports or update your queries. You will, however, need to ensure that your existing reports are within the new column and row limitations; otherwise, you won't be able to pull the data you need from Helm CONNECT.
We're here to help
As always, we want to ensure that each of our customers is successful with Helm CONNECT. If you have any questions, please reach out to your account manager or contact our Support team:
By email: support@helmoperations.com
By phone: 1.250.360.1991 ext 3