Looking for opensource software to generate reports for our clients

Napalm2880

Napalm2880

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I've got a database that holds financial data for a number of clients.

I'm looking for suggestions for an opensource tool that will allow our clients to log into a dashboard and download some standardised reports and be able to customise their own reports, using filters etc. Obviously each client would only be allowed to see their own data so the system would have to be able to support some kind of access control.

API access to the reporting tool as well as some kind of export to PDF, CSV, etc. will be a bonus.

Any suggestions?
 
Do not be a cheapskate. Get someone to develop a portal for you. You cannot run a business effectively if you try to skimp on something this important.
 
@Napalm2880

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Stonemason said:
Do not be a cheapskate. Get someone to develop a portal for you. You cannot run a business effectively if you try to skimp on something this important.
Click to expand...
I'm looking for something "out the box" mostly due to time constraints. If I don't come right with a proof of concept then custom dev will be my next option.
 
Napalm2880 said:
I'm looking for something "out the box" mostly due to time constraints. If I don't come right with a proof of concept then custom dev will be my next option.
Click to expand...
Aren’t all your requirements met by Excel(except open source)?
 
Qlik Sense is also good.

Qlik Sense | Modern Cloud Analytics

Qlik Sense offers modern analytics that empowers users at all skill levels to uncover insights and trigger actions when it matters. Go beyond the dashboard.
www.qlik.com www.qlik.com
 
Nod said:
www.finereport.com

Top 10 Free and Open Source Reporting Tools in 2020

In this article, I review some of the top free and open source reporting tools. These reporting tools have many advantages: low cost, meeting basic reporting needs, having a dedicated discussion board to solve user problems...
www.finereport.com
Click to expand...
The problem I'm having is that not many of these will allow for external customers to pull their own reports and segregate their data. They're designed more for internal reports (which is not what I'm looking for).
 
Napalm2880 said:
This looks good but sadly all data needs to reside inside our organisation. Can't be cloud based :X3:

EDIT: my bad, there is a self-host option. Will check this out.
Click to expand...
It runs quite nicely in docker. You can also embed it in your own application but I think that is licensed differently.
 
I think you are looking for a lot more than what you realise.

Let's put the portal and the users and the export capabilities and, and, and ...to one side for a second.

What's going into these reports? If you are going to tell me that the data are governed and managed correctly, data quality is assessed and remediations are in place and it's all ready to go and they have no existing reporting capabilities then that is something that I would be very skeptical of. You just don't see it - so either this is a fresh requirement and you have ungoverned, unmanaged financial data of dubious quality that you are looking to report on (danger!) or you have a properly governed, well managed warehouse in which case we need to know what is being used to do that and what are the reporting capabilities of those tools...

In the broader strokes: you seem to want this off your desk with a minimum of pain and cost, who wouldn't? But realise that reporting as an after thought is probably the worst mistake you could possibly make. These reports are what management, Exco, the board will be using definitely make sure this stuff is taped up properly. That means Data management, data quality, data governance. Those are strategic requirements that must be satisfied before reporting tool selection.

Circling back to your initial question: even if you can find an open source option (is Pentaho still around?) you would still need to manage that solution. Security, AD integration, user admin... all of these things are base level requirements that just software will not solve.

Were I in your shoes I would:
  1. Implement PowerBI as a service handing over the cost of licenses to Client
  2. Set up a team to manage this and charge well for it on a monthly basis (add the licensing fee to this invoice)
  3. Understand that this is going to cost a lot of money to implement, manage and administer and it will still probably take up much more time and resources than what you expect
 
I've implemented a customized basic version of what you're asking for years ago , so I have a little experience in this area. It was a reporting and graphs dashboard with multiple logins and some custom options to pull data in certain ways.

I agree with SlinkyMikes post. The detail might be a little overkill for what you are trying to accomplish , but the main idea remains : You are trying to do something that is more expensive and complex than you think it is.

This requires (unfortunately) an attitude adjustment. If you are trying to use an out-of-box solution to speed deployment up then you don't get to be fussy. You have to review the tools available and see how you can make them work for you. You don't get to make demands of the software or shoot them down casually.

I would start by writing a set of stored procedures on your database that pull relevant data out in a standard form that satisfies a few of the major reports you want to do. Then , pull this into excel and formulate graphs , charts and whatever else you want to do semi-manually.

Then , send them out to customers in PDF form and get feedback on the reports and what they might like to see next. This will give you a better handle on their requirements and you can iterate from there. It will require a little more manual work initially but result in a better outcome in the end - and you can get started quickly.
 
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Stonemason said:
Do not be a cheapskate. Get someone to develop a portal for you. You cannot run a business effectively if you try to skimp on something this important.
Click to expand...
Actually, I disagree. I use open source software often to solve my own and other people's problems and it is not just about cost. I think there are a number of benefits:

Flexibility/Freedom to pretty much use the software how you want (Mostly!)
Less dependancy on underlying proprietary licensing (unless you want that, which sometimes you might)
Not re-inventing the wheel and developing a system from scratch
Less esoteric/vendor lock in - we've all seen those legacy custom apps still in use from 20 years ago where the dev is no longer around and are a huge risk to business
Mostly have relatively modern architectures with good extensibility mechanisms (module/plugin architecture) and integration mechanisms (eg.restful API's) - often better in this respect than some established proprietary equivalents.

... to mention a few.

I've also seen quite a few proprietary software products that use open source elements like Mongodb, various web/application servers, Solr etc.

There are some caveats to using open source software and it is not always the way to go. Not all software is equal in terms features, maturity, quality, documentation, level of available support etc. but I think what the OP is contemplating is valid. At the very least, it might provide a benchmark for what would be required or expected of a paid for solution.
 
I'm no expert. But the needs between different use cases and databases is usually so different, might be best to create a custom portal.

Maybe something like a Bootstrap Admin Panel and then a Dev doing the rest.

But it is not cheap if you get a good and experienced developer.

athemes.com

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If there is something out of the box, following
 
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