How to re-order content in a Genovo report

Nigel Ogram

One of the many features that sets Genovo apart from the competition is the extensive user customisation suite. Most configuration changes and customisations can be done by the user without any input from us. That said, if you don’t have the time, skills or inclination to make customisations, we offer a bespoke chargeable customisation service – just get in touch and we’d be happy to discuss your requirements.

Customisation in Genovo can be split into two main categories:

• Look & feel – the visual aspects of your Genovo account as well as the colours, fonts, formatting etc of your reports.
• Content – the actual words, paragraphs, tables, graphs and images that make up your reports./li>

This month’s user tip blog focusses on one small element of the ‘Content’ category and something we’ve been asked about a few times – the various ways that you can re-arrange the order of content in your reports to reflect your own style and preferences.

What you can’t do…

Let’s deal with the elephant in the room first. Despite the name, report sections can’t be re-ordered using the Report Section Manager. The feature is designed to allow you to manage the sections that show in your Report Builder, and to add your own custom sections if required.

Moving sections around can cause problems – there are just too many inter-dependent elements to a report. Moving them around could stop Genovo working correctly, or the report simply wouldn’t make sense. However, with our help, some changes are possible, especially for custom sections. Just get in touch and we’ll be happy to guide you.

Re-ordering report sections ‘on the fly’

If it’s only the current report that you need to re-order sections for, it couldn’t be easier! Simply use the re-order ‘handles’ to drag and drop the section you want to move. In the example below, I’m moving the Risk Warnings section so that it appears within the Appendix:

Permanently re-ordering report sections

If you want to permanently re-order report sections, there are two ways

The simplest way to re-order sections for future reports is to use report templates. Simply convert an existing report into a template, or clone an existing template. The section order will then remain intact for any new report created from that template.

Re-ordering plans within a report

When adding plans to any review or recommendation section, you may find that you want to re-order them. This could be for any of the following reasons:

• To group plans from the same provider
• To group plans by client in a joint report
• To group plans of the same product type
• To sort plans by value

If you’re entering plans manually, you clearly have some control over the order (just add them in the order you want). However, if you’re pulling plans into Genovo from an integrated CRM, you’ll have no control over the order.

However, re-ordering plans in a table is really easy – in the example blow, I’m grouping the two Transact plans together:

The order of the plans will be applied to all steps, even if you’ve already completed them.

Re-ordering report content

OK – we’ve got the really easy ones out of the way – what about re-ordering Genovo’s boilerplate content?

Although it’s not as straightforward as the simple ‘drag & drop’ shown above, its really not very difficult. Let’s say you wanted the ‘Reviews and ongoing service’ paragraph moving from the Important Information section (near the end of a report) to the Introduction section (near the beginning).

You can’t move snippets owned by Genovo, even if you’ve created a customised version of the Genovo snippet. However, using Report Content Manager, you can create a custom snippet in the section you require and then use the ‘drag handles’ to position the custom snippet where you want. The sequence is as follows:

• Find the Reviews and ongoing service snippet in Report Content Manager
• Click the pencil icon to see the snippet – take a copy of the text
• Change the Report section to Introduction
• Click Add custom snippet
• Paste the copied text in – don’t forget to use the paste as Plain text option
• Format the text
• Save the new custom snippet
• Move the custom snippet
• Go back to the Important Information section and hide the Genovo snippet (otherwise you’ll get the content twice)

This is a really simple way of permanently re-locating content in your Genovo reports, but it isn’t without disadvantages. You should be aware of the following:

• If the original Genovo snippet used a rule to trigger it, this won’t be included in your custom snippet. It isn’t possible for users to create their own snippet rules, as it’s quite complex. If you still need the snippet rule to apply, you’ll have to ask us to apply it for you, for which we may have to make a charge.
• If you create a custom snippet and hide the original Genovo snippet you won’t be able to easily identify when the Genovo version of the snippet has been updated (which you can do quite easily for customised snippets, using the ‘Your company’s active custom version of Genovo snippets > Genovo version newer’ filter in Report Content Manager.

There are Knowledge Base articles to explain how the various content customisation features of Genovo work:

• What is the Report Content Manager?
• Video tutorial – How to customise the boilerplate content of your reports and templates using the Report Content Manager
• What is the Report Section Manager?
• Video tutorial – An overview of the Report Section Manager

Nigel’s knowledge

In addition to Report Content Manager, you can also customise Genovo content using the Advice Options & Reasons library. This feature allows you to manage and customise the selectable options that show in the steps of the various wizard sections found within the Report Builder. It can be accessed via Customisation > Advice options & reasons.

If you want to customise the ‘look & feel’ of your reports, there are several options:

• Report Theme – the colours, fonts and styling of the report
• Report Title Page Image – the ability to add a custom image to report title pages
• Report footers – a feature to configure your own custom page footers
• GUI Theme – allows you to customise the look and feel of the Genovo app

Further reading

You’ll find loads more really useful information in:

• Genovo’s series of User Tip blogs;
• the extensive Genovo Knowledge Base;
• the collection of really useful Genovo matrices;
• the ever popular Genovo video tutorials; or

Of course, if you’re still stuck, or just need a helping hand, you can always submit a support ticket and we’ll get straight back to you.

Finally – make sure you don’t miss any of our hints & tips – subscribe and get email alerts when we update our blog.

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