Custom Analysis in NewViews

Custom Analysis is a versatile tool for analyzing reports. Multiple Period Analysis (another versatile tool) allows you to quickly and easily create a comparative analysis of amounts over a date range with custom resolution, but all columns share the same index, amount type, tag and representation. With Custom Analysis, you can set the date range, index, amount type, tag and representation for each individual column to meet your unique analysis needs.

Several column types, in any combination, can be added to a Custom Analysis. For the purposes of this article, will be be focusing on the first 6 types – amount, difference, sum, percent change, percent of, and percent of account.

Amount columns are the most commonly used. Calculated columns (difference, sum, percent change, percent of) can be added once the two amount columns used for the calculation have been added.

amount Displays amounts for a given date range, index, amount type, tag and representation. This type of column is the most commonly used.
difference Displays the difference between the two preceding amount columns (i.e. displays the results of subtracting amounts in the 1st column from the 2nd column).
sum Displays the sum of the two preceding amount columns.
percent change Displays the percentage change between the two preceding amount columns (i.e. displays the % change of the 2nd column with respect to the 1st).
percent of Displays an amount column as a percentage of the column that follows it (i.e. displays amounts in the 1st column as a percentage of the 2nd column).
percent of account Displays amounts in a given date range as percentages of a specified account.
actual minus budget Adds 3 budget columns – financial amounts, budget amounts and actual minus budget amounts. See Budgeting in the User Manual for details.
budget minus actual Adds 3 budget columns – financial amounts, budget amounts and budget minus actual amounts. See Budgeting in the User Manual for details.
budget monthly Adds a column that can be used to enter budget amounts. See Budgeting in the User Manual for details.
foreign exchange accounts See Foreign Currency Translation in the User Manual for details

As new columns are added to the Custom Analysis view, they are appended to the end; they can be moved later. Important! When adding a calculated column (i.e. difference, sum, percent change, percent of), the cursor MUST be positioned in the second of the two columns to be used in the calculation to get the desired results.

Once added, columns are defined individually by double clicking the column header, or as a group using the Window > Define Columns command (Ctrl+F11).

You can create any number of Custom Analysis views by saving each group of column definitions with a unique name.

Setting Up a Custom Analysis
  • Access the report for which custom analysis is to be set up.
  • If the Custom Analysis view is not displayed, click the Accounts + tab to change the view to Custom Analysis.

  • The default Custom Analysis view displays 5 columns: line, folder, account name, account description and one amount column.
  • Columns can be added quickly by clicking the New Column button  on the NewViews Toolbar. Note that new columns are always added to the right of the last column, although they can subsequently be moved.

Important! When adding columns that display calculations based on two columns (i.e. difference, sum, percentage change, percent of), take care to do the following: 1) make sure the two columns upon which the calculated column is based are in the right order to provide the desired calculation, and 2) make sure the cursor is positioned in the 2nd of the two columns when you add the new column. NewViews will remember the relationship between those three columns and maintain it, even if any or all of the columns are repositioned. 

  • Once a new column is added, it must be defined. You can choose to define columns as they are added, or define them all at once after they have been added, or any combination of these two approaches.
  • To define an individual column, double click the column header. Fill in the fields, using the chart below as a guide for column setup.
Column Types: Amount, Percent of Account
Begin Date begin date for range
End Date end date for range
Index date – all transactions
date/debit – debit transactions
date/credit – credit transactions
date/closed – closed transactions
date/open – open transactions
date1 – orders (purchase or sales)
Amount Type count
amount
quantity
Tag
(list will include any custom allocation tags)		 budget
financial
order
Respect Normal Rep yes
no – amount displayed is the sum of postings within the date range, regardless of the account’s normal representation
Percent of Account
(Percent of Account column only)		 account to be used for “percent of” calculation
Column Types: Difference, Sum, Percent Change, Percent of
Column Number Correspond to the column’s position. These fields are generated by NewViews and cannot be edited directly.
Column  Id
Title Custom title for the column. The following variables can be used for data substition:

%_today – today’s date
%_begin – begin date for the range
%_end – end date for the range
%_index – the index used to select items (e.g. date or date/debit).
%_type – the type of amount displayed (e.g. amount or quantity).
%_tag – the tag used to select items (e.g. financial or order).
%_Nrep – the Respect Normal Rep value
%_of_account – name of the account upon which to base percentage
\n – new line
Justify left – column contents will be left justified
right – column contents will be right justified
Width column width (number of characters)
Format format for numeric amounts
  • To define all the columns after they have been added (or at any point in the process), use the Window > Define Columns command or press Ctrl + F11.

  • In the blue table on the left of the Define Columns prompt, the position of each column is numbered and the active column is highlighted.  The columns you have added will either start with /range_amount (amount and percentage of account columns) or /formula_ (difference, sum, percent change and percent of columns).
  • Navigate to each in column in turn use the fields in the white table on the right to complete the setup (see chart above).
  • To save your custom analysis as a new view (i.e. it is presented when you click the Accounts + tab), click New at the top of the prompt and enter a unique name for the settings. (Note: If this analysis is only relevant for a particular report, you may want to use the report name as a prefix for ease of identification.)
More Examples

Monthly Comparison Year to Year

Monthly Sales plus Orders

Monthly P/L as % of Quarter

Note: For this analysis, the quarterly amount column was added first. As each monthly amount column was added, it was repositioned to the left of the quaterly column in order to add the corresponding “percent of” column, then moved again to its final position.