Know Your Tools: Apricot's Reporting Options
Yesterday we talked a lot about knowing which tool to reach for before you start building, and I wanted to keep that conversation going here!
The short version: getting your reports to look and work the way you want starts with choosing the right tool for the question you’re actually asking.
- Native Reporting — for speed; quick, operational pulls using live Apricot data.
- Results Reporting (ARR) — for precision; deeper filtering, analysis, and funder-ready exports.
- Impact Hub — for visibility; dashboards, trends, and cross-program comparisons.
Once you’re in the right tool, the next step is understanding how that tool is structured — from forms, columns, and sections in Native Reporting, to universes, objects, and queries in ARR, to networks and data standards in Impact Hub.
And before you publish, take a minute to name it, save it, assign an owner or set permissions, and set a review date. Even a simple naming convention can make reports much easier for your team to find and understand later.
Example naming convention: Frequency_Program_Report Type_Owner Initials(optional)
For example:
- Monthly Housing Enrollment Report_ZF
- Quarterly Youth Services Funder Report_AB
- Annual Demographics Dashboard
The goal isn’t to make your naming convention complicated — it’s to make the purpose of a report clear without having to open it.
Missed yesterday’s coaching? You can rewatch it here: Know Your Tools: A Best Practice Guide to Apricot's Reporting Options and Report Organization
Which tool do you use most — or which one are you still trying to figure out?