Providing a Canvas Report Overview

Objective

After completing this lesson, you will be able to understand use cases of Canvas Reports.

Overview of Canvas Reports

Select the link 'Working with SAP SuccessFactors Canvas Reports' to get more information.

Canvas Reports is a tool to create reports in table and visual formats. Canvas Reports was previously known as Online Report Designer.

Sample Canvas Report displaying Recruitment Key Metrics.

You can use the Canvas Reports tool to easily drag and drop components onto a report page. These components can include tables, charts, images, and text. Using these components, rich, multipage reports can be created showcasing data across the SAP SuccessFactors solution. These solutions can include data from Live Detailed Reporting and Employee Central Advanced Reporting.

Reports can be exported as PowerPoints, PDFs, Word documents, or Excel spreadsheets. Users can also use the Report Distributor tool to schedule and email PDFs of reports or run reports offline.

Users can implement data transformations, such as relabeling fields, creating custom calculations and concatenated fields, using If/Then/Else statements, hiding duplicates, and transposing rows to columns.

Canvas Reports for transactional reporting (Detailed and Advanced reporting) was initially announced for deletion(deprecation) on November 21, 2025, but it has since been postponed.

Currently, there is no set date for deletion, but the recommendation is to use Story reporting whenever possible.

Canvas Report Data Sources

Canvas Reports within Report Center is a front-end solution which allows users to create reports and queries using many different data sources:

  • Live Data Source (also called ad hoc data source) through the Detailed Reporting query tool
  • Replicated Data Source (realms) that pulls data from Employee Central (EC) and other modules using the Advanced Reporting query tool
Diagram shows SAP SuccessFactors reporting tools: Report Center presents data from Detailed and Advanced Reporting, which query Live and Replicated Data Sources from SuccessFactors Employee Central.

Canvas Report Use Cases

Common Use Cases of Canvas Reports

  • Provide operational and compliance reporting in a visually interesting format when story reporting is not in use or has a limitation that prevents using it. Examples may include:
    • Managers viewing information about their direct reports
    • Administrators reviewing open approval requests
    • Department head reviewing absenteeism statistics
  • Mail report results in a file format because Canvas Reports is currently the only type that supports email distribution
  • Utilize the basic and advanced report templates that are available for Canvas Reports. Currently, canvas has a wider range of templates compared to stories.

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