Introduction

Creating business reports traditionally requires SQL knowledge and manual configuration, making the process time-consuming for HR professionals and business users.

The AI Report Builder in uKnowva HRMS simplifies report creation by letting you describe your reporting needs in plain English. The AI generates the SQL query, builds the report, configures report settings, and validates that only safe, read-only queries are used. It also provides a preview so you can verify the results before saving.

In this tutorial, you'll learn how to quickly create reports using the AI Report Builder in uKnowva HRMS.

Step 1: Opening the AI Report Builder

To begin, go to your uKnowva HRMS instance and navigate to the left-side navigation panel.

Click on the Analytics menu and then select the Reports sub-menu.

This opens the Reports page, where all your existing reports are displayed.

At the top of the page, click the AI Report Creator button.

The AI Report Builder interface will now open.

When the page opens, you'll see a chat interface where you can describe the report you need in plain English. You can also use the suggested prompts to quickly create common reports. 

Step 2: Creating a Report Using Natural Language

Inside the prompt box, simply type a description of the report you want to generate.

For example, you can enter a prompt such as:

"Employee headcount by department."

You can also ask for many other types of reports, such as attendance summaries, leave balances, payroll statistics, recruitment reports, performance reports, employee anniversaries, department-wise salary reports, and much more.

After entering your prompt, submit it to the AI.

The AI analyzes your request and automatically generates a secure SQL query, configures the report, and displays a preview before you save it. 

On the left side of the screen, you'll receive a conversational AI response that generally includes a Summary describing the report, What You Will See explaining the expected output, Assumptions made while generating the report, and Explore More suggestions containing additional prompts that you can click to further refine or expand your report.

For example, if you create an employee headcount report, the suggested prompts may include requests such as "Add `Status` to show headcount by department and active/inactive,""Filter to a specific department by `Department`,""Group by `Designation` instead of `Department`," or "Sort the result by `Department` ascending instead of headcount descending." These suggestions help you quickly build more detailed reports without starting over.

Step 3: Reviewing the Generated Report Details

Once the AI finishes generating the report, review the information displayed on the right side of the page.

The Details tab contains the primary report configuration.

Here, the AI automatically fills important information such as the Report Title, Report Description, Report Category, and Access Group based on your prompt.

You can also review the generated SQL query and examine the report preview to verify that the returned data matches your requirements.

If necessary, you can manually edit the report by selecting or removing columns, changing the report view, configuring filters, excluding specific user groups, or adding additional columns to display more information.

This flexibility allows you to fine-tune the report before saving it.

Step 4: Understanding the Chain of Thought

Next, open the Chain of Thought tab.

This section provides a transparent view of how the AI interpreted your request while generating the report.

Instead of displaying a single response, the AI organizes its reasoning into expandable Processing Steps, allowing you to review each stage individually.

Before any prompt is executed, this tab displays a No queries yet message.

After generating a report, each processing step becomes available in an expandable accordion view, with the latest execution automatically expanded by default.

This section helps you understand how the AI arrived at the final report configuration and can be useful while refining complex reports.

Step 5: Configuring Schedule and API Settings

Open the Schedule & API Settings tab to configure report delivery and integration options.

If you want the report to be generated automatically at regular intervals, enable the Schedule Report option. You can then configure the required schedule, timing, and SFTP delivery details if the report needs to be transferred to an external server. To learn in detail about scheduling a report over email or sftp you can follow the detailed articles. 

If you want individual users to receive the report directly, enable the Send Individuals option. 

You can then select the appropriate report fields, recipient fields, CC users, and Excel export fields for personalized report delivery.

To expose the report as an API endpoint for external applications, enable the Deploy As API option and configure the required API settings.

If you prefer receiving reports in CSV format through email, enable the Send Report in CSV Format via Email option. The system can also automatically recommend this option when the report contains a large amount of data.

Step 6: Configuring Advanced Report Settings

Now open the Advanced Settings tab.

This section contains several advanced customization options that provide greater control over report behavior and output.

From here, you can pin frequently used reports, configure Group By settings, decrypt encrypted columns when required, define custom SQL Where Clauses, configure Reports Data Modelling, and set modelling filters.

You can also mark the report as a Large Report, customize PDF export settings, configure developer-specific cron options, club report data, define Group By Count Column Text, and configure Group By Details Columns.

Many of these settings are automatically configured by the AI based on your report request, but you can still modify them whenever additional customization is required.

Step 7: Saving the AI-Generated Report

After reviewing all the report details and making any necessary changes, click the Save Report button.

Before the report is permanently created, uKnowva validates the generated SQL query and displays a preview of the report output. This ensures that only safe, read-only queries are executed and gives you an opportunity to verify the report results before saving.

Once the validation is complete and you're satisfied with the preview, save the report. The AI-generated report will now be available in your Reports list and can be viewed, exported, scheduled, or shared based on the settings you configured.

Conclusion

That's it!

You've now successfully created a report using the AI Report Builder in uKnowva HRMS.

By simply describing your reporting requirements in natural language, you can create powerful business reports without writing SQL. 

If you have any questions or need additional support, feel free to contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..