Welcome!

We are excited to start our journey with you. To learn more about the next couple of weeks, please click into the below video.

This list of introductory videos will serve as your first walkthrough of the Datarails product in order to review essential functionality to get you started with your reporting.

1. Integrations
2. Intro to your Datarails Environment
3. Filebox Basics
4. Creating your Data Mapper
5. Building Dashboards
6. Intro to DR Flex
7. Functions Basics
8. Building an Output in Excel

For each section, there are additional articles and content linked for greater detail into the functionality reviewed.

Integrations

Integrations to your organizational systems can facilitate automated data collection in Datarails so that your team can spend less time running and collecting your data and more time analyzing it.

This is an introduction to our integrations team as you begin your onboarding journey.

Intro to your Datarails Environment

Understand how to navigate the basic areas of your Datarails environment including folders, Fileboxes, dashboard, mappings, and Admin settings.

This is an overview to introduce you to the main places you will need to know while using the Datarails web application.

Filebox Basics

Fileboxes are the backbone of structuring data to use across the Datarails platform. A Filebox is a file container that will hold a consistently structured data source or report across time (for example, a monthly General Ledger dataset or monthly financials package). You can think of this as a catalog for a single file that you will use within Datarails with the visibility to see different iterations of the dataset or report across time.

This is an overview of setting up a Filebox, uploading a file, and available Filebox tagging to get you started with your data.

For more information please check out this article on Filebox Overview

Creating your Data Mapper

The Data Mapper is the functionality Datarails uses to translate your different datasets into consolidated reporting and actionable insights. Data Mappers are set at the Filebox level and can be shared between Fileboxes with datasets of a similar structure (for example, similarly structured General Ledger datasets for two different entities or companies), or can be entirely unique to a single Filebox that does not share the same data structure as other Fileboxes in your environment.

You would use the Data Mapper as the method for extracting data from the datasets that you have within Datarails in order to structure and use it to build Excel reporting and dashboards.

This is an overview of how you can access the Data Mapper for a particular Filebox, understanding the interface, and steps to begin to create your very own Data Mapper.

For more check out this article on DataMapper Overview

Building Dashboards

Dashboards provide a great way to visualize the data in your Datarails environment to create customized views of important metrics, trends, and KPI’s. The foundation of the dashboard is our widgets (graphs or tables) that you can build based on the data residing in your Datarails environment.

You can easily customize the type of widgets, placement, and filters in an individual dashboard to best fit the way your stakeholders prefer to view their reporting.

This is an overview of getting started with dashboards and beginning to build a widget.

For more information on Dashboards check out this article on Dashboard Overview

Intro to DR Flex

Datarails Flex is your entry point from Datarails into Excel. With its own tab within your Excel ribbon, you will be able to leverage new and existing Excel report structures while leveraging the data structuring and FP&A efficiencies within Datarails Flex.

The following videos give you an overview of navigating Datarails Flex and getting started with building out your reporting using Datarails alongside Excel.

For instructional videos about the functionality contained within Datarails Flex, check out this article on Getting Started in Excel with Datarails Flex.

Functions Basics

Functions are your key building block as you begin to create reporting within Excel using Datarails Flex. A function instructs Datarails which field within your data will be your aggregation field and the method that you will be applying in order to aggregate it. For example, for a monthly General Ledger dataset you may have a column called “Transaction Amount” that nets debit and credits. In this case, we would use the Function menu in Datarails Flex to instruct Datarails to use the sum of the “Transaction Amount” field to produce a monthly income statement.

We will cover functions in greater detail in the next section. This is an overview of locating the functions menu in Datarails Flex and the selections available to you.

For more information on Functions check out article on Dynamic-Formulas-Functions

Building an Output in Excel

Building on the prior video, this overview walks users through building a function in more detail as well as beginning to add criteria to a Datarails formula so that you can begin working through your reporting using Datarails Flex.

The progression from the function builder to the aggregation method and finally to adding criteria is covered in order to help you build and modify formulas as your reporting needs dictate.

When you have finalized your output in Excel, you can check out these articles on Workflow Overview and Workflow Set Up to structure your process in the Datarails web application.

Updated July 16, 2024 13:44