Why this matters
As a BI Developer, you will often build executive scorecards, operational trackers, or product analytics where one page is not enough. Multi-page reports let you separate audiences, tasks, and levels of detail while keeping performance and clarity. Real tasks include:
- Delivering an executive summary plus detailed drill-through pages for finance, sales, or operations.
- Designing export-ready PDFs with fixed page sizes (A4/Letter) for board packs.
- Providing path-based navigation: Overview β Region β Account β Transaction.
- Reusing a consistent layout across many pages while keeping load times acceptable.
Concept explained simply
A multi-page report is a collection of focused pages that work together to answer a set of related questions. Each page has a single purpose, a clear audience, and minimal cognitive load. Filters flow top-down, and navigation is predictable.
Mental model
Think of your report like a book with chapters:
- Front cover (Summary): the key story in one glance.
- Chapters (Detail pages): one topic per page, organized from broad to specific.
- Appendix (Drill-through pages): only loaded when needed for deep dives.
- Consistent headers/footers: readers always know where they are.
Design workflow (fast and reliable)
- Define purpose and audience: One sentence per page describing who it serves and what decision it supports.
- Storyboard: Sketch 3β6 pages max. Sequence from overview to detail. Limit each page to 1β2 key questions.
- Choose page sizes: For on-screen, use a standard canvas (e.g., 1280Γ720 or 1366Γ768). For PDF export, use A4 or Letter with margins.
- Plan filters: Decide which filters are report-level (global), page-level (local), or visual-level (specific). Use as few as possible.
- Navigation: Keep a consistent header with page title and a simple navigation pattern (buttons, tabs, or native page pane).
- Layout grid: Use a simple grid (e.g., 8px spacing). Align elements to reduce visual noise.
- Performance pass: Minimize visuals per page, pre-aggregate where possible, and reuse measures across pages.
- Accessibility pass: Ensure color contrast, readable fonts, and keyboard-friendly tab order where the tool supports it.
- Usability test: Ask a stakeholder to find 3 answers. Time to answer and confidence are your success metrics.
Worked examples
Example 1: Executive Sales Report (4 pages)
- Page 1: Summary β Total Revenue, YOY growth, Top 5 regions, KPI cards, small trend. Audience: leadership.
- Page 2: Regions β Map or bar by region, slicers for quarter and product line. Audience: regional managers.
- Page 3: Products β Top/bottom products, contribution waterfall. Audience: category leads.
- Page 4: Accounts (Drill-through) β Selected account, trend, open opportunities. Audience: account owners.
Filter plan: Report-level date; page-level product line on Products; drill-through fields: Region, Account.
Performance: Heavy maps replaced with bars when possible; limit to 8β10 visuals per page.
Example 2: Operations Tracker (Export-ready)
- Canvas: A4 portrait, 10 mm margins, 11β12 pt font for print legibility.
- Pages: Overview KPIs β Backlog & SLA β Staffing β Incidents Appendix.
- Layout: Header with report name and date; footer with page number and data refresh timestamp.
Tip: Use compact visuals (sparklines, small multiples) to fit print without crowding.
Example 3: Product Analytics (Task-based)
- Page 1: Acquisition β New users by channel, CAC trend.
- Page 2: Activation β Funnel completion by cohort.
- Page 3: Retention β Cohort heatmap, N-day retention curves.
- Page 4: Monetization β ARPU, conversion rate, LTV.
Navigation: Label pages with verbs (Acquire, Activate, Retain, Monetize). Keep slicers consistent across pages.
Layout recipes you can reuse
- Three-row recipe: Row 1 KPIs (cards), Row 2 trends (line/area), Row 3 breakdown (bar/heatmap).
- Split-view: Left filters and key selectors; right main visual plus supporting table.
- Detail page: Title with context chips (e.g., Region=West), primary chart, secondary diagnostics, notes panel.
Keep spacing consistent (e.g., multiples of 8px). Avoid more than 2β3 dominant visuals per page.
Performance and data model considerations
- Limit visuals per page; each visual triggers queries. Combine where possible.
- Use measures and pre-aggregations; avoid calculating the same logic separately on many pages.
- Prefer drill-through pages for heavy detail tables so they query only when invoked.
- Re-use shared datasets or semantic models across pages to reduce duplication.
- Test slow pages in isolation; remove one visual at a time to find bottlenecks.
Accessibility and consistency
- Color contrast: Aim for at least 4.5:1 for normal text and critical indicators.
- Font sizes: Keep body text β₯ 12 px on screen, β₯ 11 pt for print.
- Keyboard order: Arrange elements in logical reading order where the tool honors it.
- Titles and alt text: Name visuals with action-oriented titles; add descriptions where supported.
- Consistent navigation: Page title always top-left; slicers aligned; same legend placement across pages.
Exercises
Do these in a notes doc or whiteboard. Aim for clarity over beauty.
Exercise 1 β Storyboard a 4-page executive report
Define 4 pages: purpose, audience, 3 KPIs per page, main visual, and filter strategy (report/page/visual). Sketch or outline wireframes.
Hints
- Page 1 should answer: "Are we on track?" in under 10 seconds.
- Use no more than two slicers per page unless strictly necessary.
- Make page titles verbs or outcomes (e.g., "Track Revenue").
Expected output
A one-page outline listing the 4 pages with purposes, KPIs, visuals, and filter scopes.
Show solution
Sample solution:
- Summary: Leadership; KPIs: Revenue, YOY%, Gross Margin; Visual: small multiples trend; Filters: report-level Date.
- Regions: Regional managers; KPIs: Rev by Region, Win Rate, Pipeline; Visual: ranked bar; Filters: page-level Product Line.
- Products: Category leads; KPIs: Units, Return Rate, Contribution; Visual: waterfall; Filters: page-level Category.
- Account Detail (drill-through): Account owners; KPIs: MRR, Churn Risk, Opportunities; Visual: table + sparkline; Filters: drill-through Account.
Exercise 2 β Define a consistent header and footer
Design a header/footer that works across all pages for screen and print.
Hints
- Header: page title, last refresh time, context chips (e.g., FY=2025).
- Footer: page number, contact/owner, small legend if needed.
- Reserve 64β96 px for header to avoid crowding visuals.
Expected output
A short spec listing header/footer fields, spacing, and font sizes.
Show solution
Sample header: Title 18 px bold, subtitle 12 px, chips 12 px; 72 px tall. Sample footer: 10 px text β Page X of Y | Data refreshed: ISO date.
Exercise 3 β Drill-through map
Map navigation from Summary β Region Detail β Account Detail. Specify drill-through fields, default states, and what context carries over.
Hints
- Carry over date and product family globally.
- Drill-through fields: Region, Account ID.
- Provide a clear βBackβ cue on detail pages (e.g., label at top-left).
Expected output
A bullet list of pages with drill-through parameters and context behavior.
Show solution
- Summary β Region Detail: carries Date, Product Family; adds Region.
- Region Detail β Account Detail: carries Date, Product Family, Region; adds Account ID.
- Default states: if no selection, Region Detail shows top 5 regions; Account Detail disabled until a single account is selected.
Self-check checklist
- Each page has one clear purpose and audience.
- Filters are scoped intentionally (report/page/visual).
- Navigation is consistent and requires no instructions.
- Pages have aligned grids and sufficient whitespace.
- Heavy detail runs only on drill-through pages.
Common mistakes and how to fix them
- Mistake: Every page repeats the same slicers and legends in different places. Fix: Standardize placement and reduce count.
- Mistake: Pages mix summary and detail. Fix: Separate layers; keep summary pages light and fast.
- Mistake: Too many visuals per page cause slow load. Fix: Cap at ~8β10 visuals; consolidate; pre-aggregate.
- Mistake: Inconsistent page sizes break exports. Fix: Set a single canvas size per report; test export early.
- Mistake: Colors lack meaning. Fix: Use a semantic palette (e.g., green for good, amber watch, red risk) consistently across pages.
Practical projects
- Board Pack: 5-page A4 report β Summary, Finance, Sales, Operations, Risks. Include footer with page numbers and refresh date.
- Customer Health: Overview, Segments, Cohorts, Account Detail (drill-through). Include a risk heatmap.
- Supply Chain: Inventory, Lead Times, Suppliers, Exceptions (drill-through), with on-screen canvas.
Mini challenge
In 15 minutes, sketch a 3-page report for a marketing lead: Page 1 KPIs, Page 2 Channels, Page 3 Campaign Detail (drill-through). Limit to 6 visuals total. Write one sentence per page explaining the decision it supports.
Note: Anyone can take the quick test below; sign in to save your progress.
Who this is for
- BI Developers building stakeholder-facing reports.
- Data Analysts transitioning from single-page dashboards to report packs.
- Analytics Engineers supporting semantic models for BI.
Prerequisites
- Basic data modeling and measures/aggregations.
- Comfort with your BI toolβs pages, filters, and drill-through features.
- Understanding of the domain KPIs you will present.
Learning path
- Single-page layout fundamentals (grids, typography, color).
- Multi-page storyboarding and navigation design.
- Filter scoping and drill-through patterns.
- Performance tuning across pages.
- Accessibility and export-readiness.
Next steps
- Complete the exercises above and share your storyboard with a colleague for feedback.
- Build one practical project end-to-end and export to PDF to validate sizing.
- Take the quick test to reinforce key decisions and patterns.