01 Concepts
The report schematic
Use a disciplined frame and keep layout, query and rendered-value checks separate.
Start with a frame the engine can own
A report schematic gives the page a readable structure before individual visuals compete for space. The shipped page engine resolves fields against TMDL and owns the coordinates it emits. Prefer a cited reference-report frame when one exists; otherwise use the documented default.
The existing default uses a 1280 × 720 canvas, a 60-pixel header and 10-pixel gutters, with a declared KPI band and minimum sizes. These are layout policies, not evidence that the selected measures answer the business question. Do not hand-edit emitted PBIR positions to disguise an incompatible layout.
Give the page one job
State the reader's decision and primary outcome first. Then select drivers and diagnostic detail. An executive overview, trend page, breakdown and drillthrough are useful design patterns; the academy teaches how to choose them. Their presence in a website illustration does not establish a generally available automatic generator.
A KPI needs more than a large number. Name its period, unit and comparison when those are available. Establish business polarity explicitly: an increase can be favourable for one measure and adverse for another. Missing baselines and trends should remain visibly unavailable rather than being inferred from a metric name.
Use fewer measures when the model supports fewer. Repeating current, prior-year and growth versions of one metric does not produce three independent business outcomes. Keep the relationship between the outcome and its supporting information clear, without presenting a descriptive breakdown as causal proof.
Review the page in three layers
| Check | What it establishes |
|---|---|
| Layout | Declared geometry, bounds, overlap, reading order and visual policy. |
| Visual query | The checked projection returns values matching independent expectations. |
| Rendered result | Captured appearance and, in preview, bounded numeric-label checks against authored display expectations. |
Theme wiring is separate from rendered appearance. A registered palette can still produce clipped text or inaccessible combinations in a particular visual. Review the actual target host and exported result, including the states the report lets a reader enter.
Rendered numeric verification is a bounded Windows OCR preview. It needs independently authored label regions and display expectations. Missing, clipped or contradictory evidence cannot pass, and the documented empty-state mismatch remains a limit. It is not a claim that every label in every visual has been checked.
Inspect the design, then practise it
Explore the report schematic showcase for sample page roles and the proposed F4 report-design course for the full learning sequence. F4 covers KPI hierarchy, page selection, actual frame geometry, intent-based layout, theme wiring and separate verification evidence.
Canvas-background exercises and automatic archetype ideas remain proposed curriculum or preview design work. Use the installed package contract to establish available authoring features. Keep business acceptance with the report owner, after checking both the numerical evidence and the page the audience will actually use.