Who is this guide for: Administrators and users with report permissions
Platform: Sense HR
Available on: All plans
Before you begin
Make sure you have:
☑️ Logged in to Sense HR
☑️ Access to the Reports area
☑️ Permission to create or edit reports
Overview
When you create or edit a report, Sense HR lets you save your work as a draft before publishing it.
This means you can build, test, and refine a report without making it the published version straight away.
Once a report has been published, the published version remains available until it is replaced by a newer published version. If you later make draft changes and discard them, the last published version remains in place.
Use drafts to:
test different filters
adjust sorting
refine the report name or description
test adn refine AMI prompts, if available (Elite and Enterprise only)
return to unfinished reports later
prepare reports before publishing them
Publishing is a separate action. It marks the latest saved draft as the published version of the report.
Navigation path
Open and work with an existing report
To reopen a saved report, either:
open the report type under which the report was created, for example Profile information, or
go to Reports > All Reports.
Click the report you want to work with.
Selecting a report opens it in the report workspace, where you can review, edit, save, publish, export, copy, delete, create charts, or analyse with AMI if available.
Understand report list statuses
In the report list, a report can show one of two statuses:
Status shown in the report list | What it means |
Draft | The report has been saved as a draft but has not been published |
Published | The report has a published version |
Understand editing states
When you open or edit a report, the report can also have unsaved or draft changes. These are working states inside the report workspace, not separate statuses in the report list.
For example:
Editing state | What it means |
Unsaved changes | You have made changes that have not yet been saved |
Saved draft changes | Your changes have been saved to the draft version |
Published report with draft changes | The report still has a published version, but you are editing a newer draft version |
This distinction is important because Discard draft behaves differently depending on whether the report has ever been published:
For a report that has never been published, Discard draft deletes the draft report.
For a published report, Discard draft removes the draft changes and keeps the last published version.
Understand the published version and draft version
A published report has a published version.
If you edit a published report, Sense HR lets you work on draft changes without immediately replacing the published version.
This means:
the published version remains available
changes can be saved as a draft
the draft can be tested before publishing
publishing replaces the existing published version with the latest saved draft
discarding the draft keeps the previous published version
This is useful when you need to update a live report but want to check the changes before replacing the current published version.
Save changes as a draft
Click Save changes to save your latest changes to the report draft.
This lets you keep working on the report later without publishing it.
Use Save changes after making changes such as:
editing the report name
editing the description
changing the AMI prompt, if available
applying filters
changing sorting
The Save changes button is only available when there are unsaved changes.
🖊️ Note: Saving changes does not publish the report. It saves the latest working version as a draft.
What saves automatically
Field changes made through Manage fields are saved independently.
When you add or remove fields and click Apply fields, Sense HR saves those field changes automatically.
After applying field changes:
The field changes are saved to draft.
The report grid reloads with the updated fields.
🖊️ Note: Because field changes save to draft automatically, changing fields does not make the main Save changes button available on its own.
What does not save automatically
Some changes must be saved using Save changes.
These include:
report name
description
AMI prompt for analysis, if available for your access role (Elite and Enterprise plans only).
filters
sorting
If you make these changes and leave the report without saving, Sense HR will prompt you before you leave.
Publish a report
Publishing marks the latest saved draft as the published version of the report and replaces any existing published version.
Before you can publish, you must save all unsaved changes.
To publish a report:
Make the changes you need.
Click Save changes.
Click Publish.
Confirm that you want to publish the report.
This will mark the report as published and replace any existing published version with your latest saved changes.
The Publish button is only available once all unsaved changes have been saved.
Drafts vs published reports
A draft lets you continue editing a report before publishing it.
A published report is the current published version.
Action | Draft (Saved draft report that has never been published) | Published report |
Can be reopened later | Yes, if saved as a draft (using Save changes) | Yes |
Can be edited | Yes | Yes |
Can be saved without publishing / republishing | Yes | Yes |
Can be published / republished | Yes, after saving changes | Yes, after saving changes |
What happens when published | Becomes the first published version | Replaces the previous published version |
What happens if draft is discarded | The draft report is deleted and all changes are lost | Draft changes are discarded and the previous published version remains |
💡 Tip: Use drafts when you are still testing filters, sorting, fields, or AMI prompts. Publish only when the report is ready to become the current, finalised version.
How AMI prompts work with saved changes
If Analyse with AMI is available on your plan and permissions, the AMI prompt can be edited from Report details (Elite and Enterprise plans only)
AMI uses the last saved prompt.
This means:
If you edit the AMI prompt and click Save changes, AMI uses the new prompt
If you edit the AMI prompt but do not click Save changes, AMI continues to use the last saved prompt
If you close or leave the report without saving, the edited prompt is not retained
⚠️ Important: Always click Save changes before using Analyse if you want AMI to use a new or updated prompt.
Refresh a report
Click Refresh to rerun the saved report query and reload the report data.
Refresh is useful when you want to pull the latest results using the report’s saved configuration.
Because refresh reloads the report from the saved query, unsaved changes are not retained.
Refresh may discard unsaved changes such as:
unsaved filter changes
unsaved sorting changes
unsaved report detail changes
Refresh does not undo field changes made through Manage fields, because those are saved independently when you click Apply fields.
Leaving a report
When you click Back, Sense HR checks whether there are unsaved changes or an unsaved draft.
The prompt you see depends on the report state.
If the report has unsaved changes or has never been saved
You may see:
You have unsaved changes. Save your changes before leaving or discard them.
Available actions:
Continue editing — return to the report
Discard draft — discard the draft changes
Save changes — save the changes before leaving
If the report has already been published, discarding the draft keeps the previous published version.
If the report has never been published, discarding the draft deletes the report and all changes are lost.
Copying a report and draft behaviour
Click Copy to create an exact copy of the current report.
Sense HR opens the copied report immediately so you can start working with it.
The original report remains saved up to the point where changes were last saved.
💡 Tip: Use Copy when you want to reuse a report structure for a new period, payroll run, department, or review cycle without changing the original.
Deleting a draft or report
Click Delete to remove a report.
When you delete a report, a confirmation dialog appears.
Choose:
Discard to delete the report
Cancel to keep the report
⚠️ Caution: Deleting a draft report removes it from the report list.
For a never-published draft, deleting or discarding the draft removes the report entirely.
For a published report with draft changes, discarding the draft removes only the draft changes and keeps the last published version.
Best practice
Save changes regularly while building a report.
Use drafts to test fields, filters, sorting, and AMI prompts before publishing.
Publish only when the report is ready to become the current version.
Always save an updated AMI prompt before clicking Analyse.
Use Copy rather than editing an existing report when you need a similar report for a new period or purpose.
Use Refresh when you want to rerun the saved report query and pull the latest data.
Basic Troubleshooting
Save changes is unavailable
There are no unsaved changes that require saving.
Field changes made through Manage fields save automatically and do not activate Save changes.
Publish is unavailable
Publish only becomes available after all unsaved changes have been saved.
Click Save changes first.
I changed fields but did not see a toast message
This is expected. Field changes save silently after you click Apply fields. The header briefly shows a saving status, then the grid reloads with the updated fields.
Refresh removed my unsaved changes
This is expected. Refresh reruns the saved report query and reloads the report using its saved configuration. Unsaved changes are not retained.
Refresh did not remove a field I added
Field changes are saved independently through Manage fields. Refresh reloads the saved report query, but it does not undo field changes that were already applied.
AMI used the old prompt
The updated prompt was not saved before analysis.
Return to Report details, update the prompt if needed, click Save changes, then click Analyse.
I discarded a draft and my report disappeared
The report had never been published. Discarding the draft of a never-published report deletes the report and all changes are lost.
I discarded a draft and my published report remained
The report had already been published. Discarding the draft removed the draft changes and reverted the report to the last published version.
Summary
Drafts allow you to build and refine reports before publishing them.
Remember:
Save changes saves the report as a draft
Publish replaces the published version with the latest saved draft
A published report keeps its last published version until another draft is published
Discard draft deletes a never-published report, but only discards draft changes on a published report
Manage fields saves field changes separately
Refresh reruns the saved report query and reloads data
Back warns you if leaving could discard unsaved work
Analyse uses the last saved AMI prompt
A typical safe workflow is:
Create or Edit the report.
Adjust fields, filters, sorting, and report details.
Click Save changes.
Test exports, charts, or AMI analysis if needed.
Publish when the report is ready.