(2022) Trello Daily Reports Ultimate Guide

A visual representation of your data without the proper reporting misses the whole point of improving performance. So, you have created your Trello Boards, Lists, and Cards and mapped out your project management frameworks. But what about measuring your efficiency with reporting?

Trello daily reports allow you to keep track of the tasks that are relevant to your business and focus on the high-priority Cards. If you’re solely counting on Trello for reporting, you’re presented with two options: using Automation or the Email Reports configurator.

However, if you want to keep your workflow straightforward and your reports transparent, using the Blue Cat Reports Power-Up could do the trick for you. In this article, we’ll be examining all your options when it comes to Trello daily reports so that you have everything you need to decide on the best option for your needs.

Let’s begin!

Trello Visual Reports

Trello provides visual email reports created via the Email Reports configurator. Essentially, they contain a visual representation of your selected Board's Cards, rather than just plain text, that can be emailed to your team. Here’s how to create your Trello visual email reports:

1. Firstly, select the “Automation” button at the top of your Board and select “Email Reports”.

2. You will be prompted to choose amongst 4 email report options: **"Board snapshot", "Due soon", "Overdue Cards",**or "My Cards".

3. On the left menu, you can configure data such as the date and time to send the report, the email addresses of the recipients (up to 10), the email subject, and the message.

4. On the right menu, you can see a preview of the email report.
5. You get the option to send a test email if you want to check that everything works properly or schedule your email to be sent at your preferred date and time.
6. If you want to view the email report command, you can navigate to the Automation directory’s Calendar tab.

Trello Text Reports

Trello text reports created via the Automation directory are focused on text, although they also offer the possibility of a visual representation of data. For example, you can choose a Board and ask the automation tool to group Cards and create a report with their content.

Let’s say that you want to be sending a daily report of all the completed Cards from your “Done” List to your team. You want to follow these steps:

1. First, go to the “Automation” option and select “Rules”.

2. From the left menu, select “Calendar” and click on “Create Command” from the right menu.

3. You will be prompted to “Add Trigger” which will fire your command.

4. Choose your preferred day and time - for our example, we’ll be selecting “every day” - and hit the “plus” button.

5. Your command will now require you to set an Action. Go to the “Other” tab and click on the quotes to change the name of your variable.

Source: Trello

6. Next, select the filter icon and choose the List “Done” to display its Cards.
7. You can now go ahead and fill in your email’s subject and message. Your command should look like this:

every day,
create a report with all cards in list "Done",
and send an email notification to every member of the board
with subject "Daily Report for week {dateshort}"
and message "{$report}"

The variable {dateshort} will be replaced with the current date and the variable {$report} will be replaced with the contents of the report. If you opt for a visual report, you should use the variable {$report_html}.

To further customize your reports or use multiple commands, you’ll need to specify your “using pattern”. An example of using multiple reports in one command might look like this:

Source: Trello

There are sequences, variables, custom fields, even ASCII character limitations you need to take into consideration. The final email report you can expect looks something like this:

Source: Trello

Blue Cat Daily Quick List

Trello’s daily reports is not the most effortless workflow you could opt for. You need to be familiarized with creating the correct commands, and it’s definitely not a task that every employee in your company could take.

That’s why we’re here to present you with an alternative that’s guaranteed to generate beautiful reports for your Trello data with the right filters to view only relevant information.

Blue Cat Reports grants you instant access to fully customizable and beautiful reports to have a top-level view of your Trello Kanban Boards. You can quickly generate daily quick Lists and share them with your team to keep everyone aligned on what’s being currently done and what’s already complete.

This way, you can keep track of which Cards are taking longer to complete, which employees are getting the most work done, and how much more work can fit into your schedule.

Here’s how you can create beautiful Trello daily reports with Blue Cat:

1. Firstly, install the Blue Cat Reports plugin on your Board and go ahead and select it from the top-right menu.
2. Select “Create a Quick List” and choose the Board you want to see Cards from.

3. In the Cards tab, you can select a filter to show Open, Archived, or both Cards.

4. From the List tab, select the Lists you want to show Cards from.
5. From the Member tab, select Cards assigned to specific members.
6. If you use Labels to organize Cards, you can choose the Labels that are most relevant to you from the Label tab option.
7. From the Due Date tab, you can select Cards based on their due dates.
8. Finally, in the Time in List tab, you can select Cards that have been in your List longer than a specific period.
9. If you’re using Custom Fields you should see your custom fields here with the option to filter your Cards based on those fields. If you aren;t using custom fields, check out our custom fields guide to understand why and how you should!

And there you have it! Your very first Blue Cat Report daily quick List, ready to be exported or emailed to your colleagues. Quick Lists are a stellar way of keeping everyone on the same page on what’s getting done or what’s being delayed due to blockers, and therefore organize the workflow distribution accordingly.

So, whether they’re used to kick-off a week on the right foot or celebrating a busy week’s accomplishments, it’s valuable automation in your toolbox that can save you time and mistakes.

Blue Cat Daily Reports

Do you want to take a step further and generate visual reports filled with charts for beautifully displayed data? Reports are stellar ways of gaining more visibility and a thorough understanding of the work being done in order to eliminate blockers, cut out the noise, and focus on the right strategies to succeed.

Here are the steps to create your first Blue Cat report:

1. First, make sure you have the Blue Cat Reports Power-Up installed and then click on it.
2. Select the “Create a Report” button and name your report.
3. You will be prompted to add multiple charts in arranged rows to a blank report.
4. Select “Add a chart” and choose between: List, Count or Sum, Pie Chart, Bar Chart, Historical Chart, or Time To Complete Chart.

5. Decide on how much space each chard should take in your report.
6. Next, decide on the Cards you want to display:

• Open Cards - Cards visible to your Board, including completed Cards.
• Completed Cards - Cards moved to the “Done” List.
• Cards Added to Board - All the Cards added to your Board.
• Unchecked Checklist Items - Checklist items that haven’t been marked as complete.

7. Select the Board you would like to display the Cards from and hit “Continue”.
8. Now you can choose whether to apply a filter or not. No filter will display all your Cards, while filter will display only the Cards filtered by labels, members, Lists, due date, or time in the List.

9. Name your chart and hit “Create”.
10. Your report is ready! You can now customize your charts further, drag and drop them anywhere you like within the dashboard, export your report as a PNG file, print it, or email it to your colleagues.

It doesn’t get easier than that! One of the most powerful aspects of proper reporting is that it removes possible mistakes and human errors that can cause delays and heavy pains to project completion.

Final Thoughts

Data visualization and reporting are vital when measuring a business’s performance and efficiency. Using Trello effectively to generate daily reports is one way of overseeing data and sharing them with your team. However, unless you’re familiar with the automation tool and rule setting, Trello’s reports can be tricky to set up and follow through. That’s why there is a Power-Up that can help you level up your reporting game.

Blue Cat Reports offers a competitive alternative to visualizing data just one click away. It gives you the bigger picture of your efforts and makes customization fun! The easy-to-use editor lets you pull data from any Board and share the status of your projects in real-time with your team. So, if you’re looking to understand and improve your workflow without losing time on variables, start a free trial today and see for yourself!