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How-to · Project Report

Feed a report from Commercials.

Cost figures, cost tables and cost charts, read straight out of the cost tool. One panel shows every connection, what it reads and whether it is still reading, and dry-runs the publish checks before you issue anything.

Figures, tables and charts One panel for the lot Checked before you publish
ProjectCharlo CPS
TitleWire Commercials into a report
Contactai@charlo.com.au
RevB
StatusIssued for use
Sheet1 of 1
Section 01 · The idea

The report reads the cost tool. Nobody retypes.

Once both tools sit on the same project, a project report can pull from Commercials in three ways. Charlo fetches and formats the numbers. You decide what the client sees, and when it is signed off.

Start hereThis guide is the front door for report wiring, and it runs in one order. Link the tools first. Then wire the cover cards, which have their own guide, Cover cards in project reports. Then add the tables and charts here. Then choose which cost lines the client sees, in Choose rows in the Financial Summary.

·Three kinds of feed

Take as many as the report needs.

  • Figures. Five headline numbers for the cover cards: Approved budget, Committed cost, Forecast final cost, Variations approved, Claims certified.
  • Tables. Ready-made cost views as report sections: Budget Position, Cost Summary, Financial Summary, Variation Register, Claims Position.
  • Charts. Commercials visuals as their own sections, such as Budget, committed and certified by category, and Committed by vendor.
  • Everything else stays yours. Commentary, photos, programme and risks are still written in the report.
One name, two formsThe tool's full name is Commercials Management. It is called Commercials everywhere else, including on the chips in this panel. Same tool.
FIG 01The Data connections panel on the Stanton Quarter report, with a Cover cards group holding Approved budget, Committed cost, Certified to date and Variations approved on orange Commercials chips, and a Table sections group holding the Live register rows on Registers chips and Budget Position and Cost Summary on Commercials chips, each row showing a month, a Live chip and an Open button
Everything the report reads from another tool, on one screen. Orange chips read Commercials, purple chips read Registers.

·Live while you draft, frozen when you issue

The same connection behaves differently either side of publish.

  • Draft. Every wired item reads the live figure each time the report opens.
  • Published. The figures stop moving, and the panel turns read-only.
  • Changing an issued report. Click Unpublish report in the banner, make the change, publish again.
  • The full rules are in Publish and revisions, further down this page.
Nothing driftsA client reading last month's report and a client reading this month's are looking at two fixed records, not one moving one.
FIG 02The Data connections panel on an issued report, with a banner reading This report is issued, so its wiring is frozen, an Unpublish report button ringed in orange, no Add button, and every cover card and table row carrying a grey Frozen chip
An issued report. Every chip reads Frozen, the Add button has gone, and the banner carries the way out.
Section 02 · Before you start

Check the tools are linked to one project.

Nothing can be wired until the report and the cost tool agree on which job they are talking about. That agreement lives in Project Central, and these days it is made for you.

·New projects arrive already linked

Project setup does the linking as it builds the project.

  • Create the project through Create project in Project Central and the wizard makes a Project Reporting, Meeting Minutes, Commercials and Registers project, links all four, and switches on the data flows between them.
  • Each tool sits in its own slot with a Live chip and an Open button.
  • The Linked tools and data flows area underneath reads All connections healthy.
Older projectsA project with an empty Commercials slot offers Create and Link existing in that slot. Create makes a new Commercials project tied to this one; Link existing points at one you already have.
FIG 03Project Central with a brand-new project selected, showing Project Reporting, Meeting Minutes, Commercials and Registers slots all on Live chips with Open buttons, above a Linked tools and data flows area reading All connections healthy
A brand-new project. All four tools linked by the wizard, with the data flows already live.

·Check you have finished

One chip tells you the whole story.

  • Read the linked count beside Save changes, such as 4/4 linked.
  • For this guide, Commercials and Project Report both have to be on the project.
  • The same count shows against every project in the list on the left.
If Commercials is missingThe Add picker in the report will offer no Commercials options at all. Fix the link first, then come back.
FIG 04Project Central with the Stanton Quarter project open on the Setup tab, showing identity, site and contract details with a 4 of 4 linked chip ringed in orange beside the Save changes button
The finished state. Four of four linked, and the report can see the cost tool.
Section 03 · Walkthrough

Wire it, check it, issue it.

Add connections one at a time when you know what you want, or take the standard pack when you do not.

01Open the connections panel

It lives in the builder toolbar.

  • Open Project Reporting, pick the project, open the month in the Builder.
  • Click Connections, between Cover cards and Project settings.
  • Read the groups in order: Cover cards, then Table sections. Chart sections join the list once the report has them.
  • Click Open on any row to jump to that item in the builder.
Not the report's draftA section opened in the builder 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 05The report builder with an orange ring and label on the Connections button in the toolbar, beside Cover cards, Project settings and Check, with the sections list on the left and a section open on its Content, Draft and Files tabs
Connections in the builder toolbar, next to Cover cards.

02Add one thing at a time

Use this when you know exactly what the report needs.

  • Click + Add.
  • Under Figures, click a headline figure to add a cover card wired to it.
  • Under Tables, use Or link a Commercials Management view, pick the view, then click Link.
  • Under Charts, click a visual to drop it in as its own section.
  • Click Back to connections to see the result.
Cover cards have their own guideFigures here and the Cover cards modal create exactly the same cards, so use whichever is already open. For labels, badges, colours, ordering and the eight-card limit, read Cover cards in project reports.
Also hereOr link a minutes register pulls a Meeting Minutes register, such as the action register, under the same live and freeze rules.
FIG 06The Add view of the Data connections panel showing a Figures list of the five Commercials headline figures, a Tables area headed Or link a Commercials Management view with a view dropdown and a Link button, a minutes register dropdown below it, and a Charts list
Figures, tables, charts. Each table row carries its own Live and freeze note.

03Or take the standard pack

The quick way to get a new report reading.

  • Look for Nothing here reads from Commercials yet at the top of the panel.
  • Click Wire the standard pack.
  • Or click + Add one at a time to pick your own instead.
When it is offeredWhile nothing in the report reads from Commercials yet. Other wiring does not stop the offer: the shot below already has three cover cards fed by the report's own sections, and the offer still stands.
Safe to clickThe pack never duplicates. Anything already in the report is left exactly as it is.
FIG 07The Data connections panel on the UX Verify Tower report, showing an offer card headed Nothing here reads from Commercials yet with a Wire the standard pack button ringed in orange and an Add one at a time button beside it, above four cover cards fed by the report's own sections and one manual figure
Shown on a second, freshly linked demo project. The offer stands even though three cards already read the report's own sections.

04Look at what it added

One click, ten connections, all reading.

  • Read the confirmation line, Added 4 cards, 4 tables, 2 charts.
  • Tables: Budget Position, Cost Summary Report, Financial Summary and Variation Register.
  • Every new row carries an orange Commercials chip and a Live chip.
  • Remove anything the client does not need, the same way you would any other section.
The Financial Summary comes with itThe pack links the Financial Summary table for you. Read Choose rows in the Financial Summary to decide which cost lines print.
FIG 08The Data connections panel on the UX Verify Tower report after wiring an earlier standard pack, headed Added 4 cards, 3 tables, 2 charts, with four new Commercials cover cards and Budget Position, Cost Summary Report and Variation Register table rows all on Live chips, and one manual row still reading Not wired
An earlier pack run. The pack now also links the Financial Summary, so yours reads Added 4 cards, 4 tables, 2 charts.

05Check the connections before you publish

A dry run of the publish checks. It locks nothing.

  • Click Check connections at the top of the panel, or Check in the builder toolbar. Same check, two buttons.
  • Read the result, such as All 19 linked connections check out. with the time it was checked.
  • Ticked items are reading. Red items name what cannot be read.
  • Fix anything red, then check again.
What is countedOnly connections to other tools. Your own sections and typed figures are not checked, because there is no other tool to reach, so the count can be smaller than the row list.
Free to runNothing is written and nothing is frozen, so run it as often as you like before the report goes out.
FIG 09The Data connections panel after running the check, showing All 19 linked connections check out with the time beneath it and a ticked list naming every table, register and cover card it tested, above the cover card and table section rows
The check names each item it tested, tables, registers and cover cards alike.

Publish and revisions.

Publishing (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 you unpublish it, edit, and publish again.

How to publishClick Publish report in the builder toolbar.
What you see afterA banner at the top of the panel reading This report is issued, so its wiring is frozen. Unpublish the report to change it. Every row carries a Frozen chip, and the + Add button goes.
To change itClick Unpublish report in that banner. The report goes back to draft and reads live again. While it is unpublished it drops off the client portal; publish again and it returns with the fresh figures.
Section 04 · Reference

The five chips.

Every row in the panel carries one. It is the fastest read of whether the report is telling the truth.

LiveWired and reading. The figure updates each time the draft opens.
Closed monthWired and reading a month that is closed in Commercials, so the figures are that month's locked copy. Shown after you run Check connections.
FrozenThe report is issued. The figure is the copy taken at publish, and it will not move.
Not wiredA manual figure. Someone typed it, and nothing will update it. Perfectly correct when that is what you meant.
BrokenCharlo cannot read the source, most often because the tool link has been removed. Click Open on the row to fix it, or point it at a different source.

Which month you are reading.

Commercials banks its figures by calendar month, and every row prints the month it reads.

The month columnMost rows read the report's own month, such as August 2026. A table can be set to read an earlier month instead, and this column is exactly how you spot that.
Bringing a row into lineA table reading an earlier month shows a quiet Read this report's month action beside its month. Click it and the row reads the report's own month from then on.
Month closed in CommercialsThe report reads that month's locked figures. This is what you want for a period that is done.
Month still openThe report reads today's numbers, and they keep moving until the month is closed or the report is published.
Figures look staleCheck the month on the row first. A closed month showing its locked figures is correct, not a fault. If a figure genuinely has to change, that is a Commercials decision about reopening a closed month, made by whoever runs the cost ledger. It is not a report-side fix.

Next month's report.

You wire a report once, not every month.

Wiring carries forwardCreate next month's report and every connection comes with it, reading the new month. There is nothing to rewire.
New Commercials categoriesIn the Financial Summary, a brand-new category 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. See Choose rows in the Financial Summary.
Worth doing anywayRun Check connections on the new month before you publish it. It costs nothing and catches a source that has moved.
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 cover rowCover cards in project reports. Labels, badges, colours, ordering, and what to do when a card reads a dash.
The cost linesChoose rows in the Financial Summary. Which lines the client sees, combining lines, and the grand total.
AskStuck on your own report? Send a real example to ai@charlo.com.au.