Choose rows in the Financial Summary

Section 01 · The idea

The editor is the table.

The Financial Summary section starts as one line for every budget category in Commercials. That is rarely how a client wants to read it. Choose rows lets you shape the table without touching a single figure: what you see in the editor is what prints in the report.

Where this sitsReport wiring has a front door: Wire Commercials into a report. It covers linking the tools, adding the section, and the publish check, and it states the order to work in. Come here once the Financial Summary section is in the report and reading Commercials.

Where the figures come fromCurrent budget, Committed and Claimed to date are Commercials' own category subtotals. They are read, never retyped, so the report and the cost tool cannot disagree. The tool's full name is Commercials Management; it is called Commercials everywhere else.

The only typed columnNext period forecast. Leave it blank and the report prints nothing for that line.

What you controlWhich lines print, how they are grouped, what each one is called, the order, and whether a grand total is shown.

It changes the report onlyHiding or combining lines never edits Commercials. Nobody's cost plan moves because a report was tidied.

The section must be linkedIf the section still says Manual figures, it is not reading Commercials and there is nothing to choose. Link it in Manage sections, or add it from the Connections panel, then come back.

What Needs allocation meansCosts that have not been assigned to a budget category in Commercials. If that line is carrying money, assign it in Commercials rather than hiding it here. Hiding it only takes it off the client's page; the money is still in the project.

Section 02 · Walkthrough

Shape the table.

Six moves, all in one editor. Nothing is applied until you save, so try things.

01Open the editor

The button only appears on a linked section in a draft.

Open the report in the Builder.
Click the financial summary section in the sections list. The small type under its name reads Financial summary, whatever the section itself is titled.
Click Choose rows, between Section setup and Open in Commercials.

If it is not thereEither the report is published, or the section is not linked. The sections list shows a From Commercials chip when it is.

Not the report's draftThe section carries Content, Draft and Files tabs. That Draft tab holds AI-drafted content for the section. It has nothing to do with whether the report itself is a draft.

FIG 01

The report builder with a financial summary section selected and an orange ring and label on the Choose rows button, sitting between Section setup and Open in Commercials

Choose rows sits in the section header, next to Section setup.

02Read the list

One line per Commercials budget category, with its live figures.

The chip under each name is the category the line covers.
Current budget, Committed and Claimed to date are read from Commercials.
Next period forecast is a box you type into.
Hide on the right takes a line out of the printed table.

Sanity checkThe figures here are the figures the client will read. If one looks wrong, fix it in Commercials, not here.

FIG 02

The Choose rows editor listing Global Project Costs, Portion A Podium and Retail, Portion B Tower and Needs allocation, each with a category chip, Current budget, Committed and Claimed to date figures, a blank Next period forecast box and a Hide button, with Show a grand total row unticked at the bottom

The list as it opens: every budget line Commercials knows about, with its live figures.

03Tick the lines the client reads as one

Tick first, then combine.

Tick the checkbox on each line you want rolled together.
Combine into one line stays greyed until at least two are ticked.
Click it, and the ticked lines become one.

The mathsThe figures are added, column by column. Nothing is rounded away and nothing is dropped.

FIG 03

The Choose rows editor with the Global Project Costs line ticked and an orange ring and label on the greyed Combine into one line button, beside its hint reading Tick two or more lines to combine them into one

One line ticked is not enough. The button wakes up on the second tick.

04Call a line what the client calls it

Click the name and type over it.

Type the client's own words, such as "Construction works".
The chip underneath keeps showing the Commercials category behind the line.
Renaming is report-side only. The category in Commercials keeps its own name.

TraceableThe chips are the audit trail. Anyone can see what a line is made of without leaving the editor, whatever you have called it.

FIG 04

The Choose rows editor with the first line renamed Construction works while its chip still reads Global Project Costs and its figures are unchanged at $49,100,000 budget, $28,216,000 committed and $6,400,000 claimed

A new name, the same category and the same figures underneath it.

05Hide a line, and find it again

Hidden lines are parked, not deleted.

Click Hide on a line.
It drops into the Not shown strip at the bottom, with a count in the heading.
Each line in the strip prints its committed figure on the right.
Click Show to bring one back.

Nothing vanishes quietlyThe strip ends with the total of what you have left out, such as Left out of the table: $2,410,100 committed. Hiding a line carrying money is a good way to see the warning work, and a bad way to finish a report.

FIG 05

The Choose rows editor with two lines still showing and the Not shown group of two ringed in orange below them, listing Portion A Podium and Retail at $2,210,000 and Needs allocation at $200,100 with a Show button each, and a note reading Left out of the table: $2,410,100 committed

The Not shown strip. It tells you what you took out, and what it was worth.

06Order it, total it, save it

The last three decisions.

Drag the handle on the left of a line to move it. Biggest first.
Type into Next period forecast on any line you want a forecast for.
Tick Show a grand total row to print Commercials' own project total.
Click Save. Click Cancel to throw the lot away.

Where this one landedThe two portions were combined into Tower and podium works, carrying both category chips, added figures and a typed forecast of $1,500,000. A combined line grows an Ungroup button, so one click splits it back apart. That is the shape to aim for: money lines visible, biggest first, empty lines parked.

FIG 06

The finished Choose rows list with a Tower and podium works line carrying Portion B Tower and Portion A Podium and Retail chips, added figures of $45,400,000 budget, $31,260,000 committed and $13,595,000 claimed, a typed forecast of $1,500,000 and an Ungroup button, then a Not shown group holding Needs allocation at $200,100, with Show a grand total row ticked

The finished list. Save applies it to the report.

Section 03 · Worth knowing

Five rules this editor keeps.

Nothing is dropped silentlyEvery hidden line stays listed with its committed figure, and the strip totals what is left out of the table. You cannot lose money by accident.

The grand total is the whole projectThe grand total row is Commercials' own project total, so it still includes money sitting on hidden lines. Charlo covers you two ways: Save asks you to confirm when hidden lines carry money, and the printed table adds a footnote such as Total includes $830,000 across lines not itemised above. so the client is never left guessing. Cleanest of all is still to show every line carrying money, or leave the total off.

Commercials is untouchedHiding, combining, renaming and reordering shape the report only. The cost plan, the categories and the figures in Commercials are exactly as they were.

Figures are never retypedA combined line adds Commercials' own subtotals. Only the forecast is yours to write.

Publishing locks the tablePublishing (you may also hear issued, locked or frozen) freezes the report: every linked figure, table and chart stops reading and keeps the numbers it had. To change a published report, click Unpublish report in the wiring banner, edit, and publish again.

Next month's report.

Your row choices come with it, and so does one rule about new categories.

Wiring carries forwardCreate next month's report and every connection comes with it, reading the new month. There is nothing to rewire.

A brand-new categoryIt joins the table on its own only if you have never customised the rows. Once you have chosen rows, a new category waits in the Not shown strip until you click Show.

So check the stripOpen Choose rows on the new month and read the Not shown count. If it has gone up, something new is waiting.

Section 04 · If it looks wrong

Four things that catch people out.

The rows say Manual figuresThe section is not reading Commercials, so there is nothing to choose. Link it in Manage sections, or add it from the Connections panel.

Figures differ from CommercialsThe report may be reading an earlier month. Open the Connections panel and read the month printed on the Financial Summary row.

A category has vanished from the listIt was renamed or removed in Commercials. Its costs are not lost: they wait unassigned, and turn up on the Needs allocation line. Reassign them in Commercials.

Save is greyed outNothing has changed yet. Make an edit, and Save wakes up.

Section 05 · More help

Find guides any time.

WhereThe Help button sits in the bottom-left corner of Charlo CPS. It opens Dylan, Charlo's help assistant: ask a question in plain words and Dylan answers from the how-to guides. The Library button in the panel opens the whole How-To Library.

The front doorWire Commercials into a report. Linking the tools, adding this section, every other feed from the cost tool, and the publish check.

The cover rowCover cards in project reports. The headline figures above the first section.

AskStuck on your own report? Send a real example to ai@charlo.com.au.