Early Tree
Funding Portal Features Reporting

Building Custom Reports in the Funding Portal

3 min read by Early Tree Team

Every local authority has different requirements. Every nursery manager has different questions. Pre-built reports rarely give you exactly what you need.

That's why we built a proper report builder into the Funding Portal.

The problem with fixed reports

Traditional funding systems give you a handful of pre-defined exports. Maybe you get a "headcount report" and a "declaration summary." If you're lucky, there's a CSV export with everything in it.

But what if you need:

  • Just the children claiming 30 hours, with their eligibility codes and parent contact details?
  • A summary for your accountant with hours and values but no personal information?
  • A list formatted exactly how your local authority wants it?

With fixed reports, you end up exporting everything and then spending time in Excel filtering, reformatting, and deleting columns you don't need.

How our report builder works

Choose your dataset

Start by selecting which submission period you want to report on. Spring term? Autumn term? A specific headcount date? You pick the data you're working with.

Select your columns

A two-pane interface shows all available fields on the left. Click to add columns to your report on the right. Only include what you actually need.

Available fields include:

  • Child details (name, date of birth, UPN)
  • Parent/guardian information
  • Funding type and hours
  • Eligibility codes and validity dates
  • Declaration status and timestamps
  • Attendance summaries
  • Financial calculations

Reorder with drag and drop

Once you've selected your columns, drag them into the order you want. Your local authority wants child surname first? No problem. You prefer date of birth before funding type? Just drag it.

Apply formatting

This is where it gets powerful. For each column, you can apply formatting functions:

  • Date formats: Display dates as DD/MM/YYYY, YYYY-MM-DD, or however you need them
  • Title case: Ensure names display consistently
  • Anonymisation masks: Replace identifying information with asterisks for sharing sensitive summaries
  • Number formatting: Control decimal places and currency symbols

Export your way

When your report looks right, export it:

  • CSV for importing into other systems
  • Excel for further manipulation or sharing
  • PDF for printing or formal submissions

Real examples

For your local authority

Select: Child name, DOB, funding type, hours claimed, eligibility code, declaration date. Format dates to match their requirements. Export as CSV for upload to their portal.

For your accountant

Select: Funding type, total hours, hourly rate, total value. Apply anonymisation to remove child names. Export as PDF for a clean summary.

For your records

Select everything. Keep a complete export as Excel for your own archives.

No more Excel gymnastics

The time you spend reformatting spreadsheets is time you could spend on something more valuable. Build your report templates once, and use them each funding period.

Try the report builder in our demo environment and see how much time you could save.

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