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How-to · Project Report

Wire the cover's headline figures.

The row of cards on your report cover. Point each one at a Commercials figure, at one of your own sections, or type it yourself. Charlo keeps the number current while you draft, then locks it when you publish.

Three kinds of source Up to eight cards Live until you publish
ProjectCharlo CPS
TitleCover cards in project reports
Contactai@charlo.com.au
RevC
StatusIssued for use
Sheet1 of 1
Section 01 · The idea

A cover card is a figure pointed at a source.

The cards sit between the cover block and the first section of the report. Each one carries a label, a number, an optional badge, a colour and an icon. You decide where the number comes from, and Charlo goes and gets it, so nobody retypes a figure and nothing drifts.

Where this sitsReport wiring has a front door: Wire Commercials into a report. It covers linking the tools, the tables and charts, the connections panel and the publish check, and it states the order to work in. This guide is the cover row on its own.

·What you get

One row of cards, read in about five seconds.

  • Live while you draft. A wired card shows today's figure, with a small Live · locks on publish caption under the label.
  • Up to eight. The cover holds eight cards. Four to six reads best.
  • Frozen when issued. Publishing locks every figure, so a report you have sent can never change under you.
Not the same as the Headline stripThe Headline figures printed inside the report, such as Approved budget and Expended to date, belong to the Financial Summary section, not to the cards. If that section is not linked to Commercials, those figures are typed by hand and can differ from the cards above them.
FIG 01An August 2026 draft report cover with four cover cards beneath it, Approved budget $94.50m ringed in orange and labelled Live now locks when you publish, Committed cost $59.68m, Certified to date $20.01m and Variations approved $1.45m
The card row on a draft report. The ringed card is reading Commercials right now.

Three places a card can get its number.

Mix them freely. One cover can carry a Commercials figure, a count from your own register and a typed percentage, side by side.

CommercialsFive headline figures come straight from the cost tool: Approved budget, Committed cost, Forecast final cost, Variations approved and Claims certified. Both tools have to be linked to the same project in Project Central.
Your own sectionsAny section of the report can lend a figure: a total, a first row, a count of rows, a count of open items, or a count sitting at amber or worse. The card reads the section's live content.
Typed by handLeave a card unwired and type the value. Useful for a figure that lives in someone's head, such as "62% complete". The wiring panel marks it Manual figure so everyone knows it is not fed.
Room on the coverThe cover holds eight cards. The chip at the top of the modal counts what you have used, such as 4 of 8 cards used, and at eight the modal stops offering new ones.
Section 02 · Walkthrough

Wire a card.

Everything happens in one modal. Drag a wire if you like seeing the connection, or pick from a dropdown if you would rather not drag.

01Open the wiring modal

Cards are wired in the builder, not on the report page.

  • Open Project Reporting and pick the project on the Portfolio tab, which lists every project and its monthly reports.
  • Open the month you are working on in the Builder.
  • Click Cover cards in the toolbar.
Read the three lanesSources on the left, Cover cards in the middle, Cover preview on the right. The curved lines between them are the live wiring.
It saves as you goEvery change lands the moment you make it. Done simply closes the modal. There is no separate save, and no way to abandon a change by closing.
FIG 02The Wire up cover cards modal with a Sources lane listing Commercials and the report's own sections, a Cover cards lane joined to it by curved wires, a cover preview on the right showing four cards, and a 4 of 8 cards used chip at the top right
Sources, cards, preview. The preview is the real cover, not a mock-up.

02Drag a wire onto a card

Open a source to see what it can give you.

  • Click Commercials in the Sources lane. Its five figures open underneath, each showing its current value.
  • Press on the dot beside the figure you want.
  • Drag onto a card in the middle lane and let go.
  • Drop onto Drop here to make a card to create a new card instead.
CheckThe preview updates as soon as the wire lands. If the value looks wrong, you have picked the wrong figure, not a broken link.
FIG 03The wiring modal with the Commercials source opened to show Approved budget $94.50m, Committed cost $59.68m, Forecast final cost $94.50m, Variations approved $1.45m and Claims certified $20.01m, and an orange ring on a connector dot labelled Drag from this dot to a card
Every Commercials figure has its own dot, and its own live value.

03Or pick the source from a dropdown

Same result, no dragging.

  • Click a card in the middle lane. The inspector opens along the bottom.
  • Choose the figure in Source.
  • Reads on the right shows what the card will print.
Undoing a wireThree ways, all in this inspector. Pick a different figure in Source to point the card somewhere else. Set Source to Manual figure to stop it reading, and the card keeps the last figure it showed, ready for you to overtype. Or click Remove card to take it off the cover altogether.
Also hereLabel, Badge, Tone, Icon and Position dress the card.
FIG 04The wiring modal with one cover card selected and the inspector open along the bottom showing Label, Badge, Tone, Icon, Source and Position controls plus a Reads value of $94.50m and a Remove card button, with an orange ring on the Source dropdown labelled Or pick a source here, no dragging
The inspector for the selected card. Reads on the right is the printed value.

Dressing a card.

Five cosmetic controls, all of them carrying meaning to a reader.

LabelWhat sits under the number. Plain words win: "Approved budget" beats "Budget (approved, ex GST)". The section carries the detail.
BadgeA short word in the top right, such as Approved, Open or Watch. Leave it blank for none.
ToneThe colour: Accent (brand), Green, Amber or Slate. Use amber when something needs attention, not for decoration.
IconThe small symbol: Chart, Money, Clock, Warning, Document or Tick.
PositionWhere the card sits in the row, counting from the left. Put the figure the client asks about first.
Section 03 · Once it is issued

Publishing freezes the wiring.

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.

·What changes

You can still look, you just cannot rewire.

  • A banner reads This report is issued, so its wiring is frozen. Unpublish the report to change it.
  • The wires turn grey, and the legend under the lanes reads Live, Frozen, Needs refresh and Broken.
  • The Commercials source carries a Frozen count, so you can still see what each card was reading.
  • Click Unpublish report in the banner to make the report editable again.
Mind the portalWhile a report is unpublished it drops off the client portal. Make the change, publish again, and it comes back with the fresh figures.
FIG 05The Wire up cover cards modal on a published report, with a banner saying the report is issued so its wiring is frozen, an Unpublish report button ringed in orange, grey wires and a 4 Frozen chip on the Commercials source
An issued report. Read-only, with Unpublish report built into the banner.
Section 04 · If it looks wrong

Six things that catch people out.

Card shows a dashNothing to show yet. Either the card is unwired and no value was typed, or the source has no figure for this month.
A source reads Not availableThat figure has not been entered in Commercials yet. Forecast final cost is the usual one: nobody has authored a forecast. Enter it in Commercials and the card fills in.
No Commercials sourceThe two tools are not linked. Open Project Central, find the project, and link Commercials to it. Wire Commercials into a report walks through it.
Figure looks staleCommercials banks by calendar month. If that month is closed in Commercials, the card reads its locked figures, which is correct. 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.
Card is missingCount the cards. The cover holds eight, and at eight the modal stops offering new ones. Remove one you do not need first.
Nothing will changeThe report is published. Click Unpublish report in the banner, make the change, publish again.
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, the tables and charts, the connections panel, the publish check, and the order to do it all in.
The cost linesChoose rows in the Financial Summary. Which cost lines the client sees, and how the Headline figures under the card row are built.
AskStuck on your own report? Send a real example to ai@charlo.com.au.