The Breakdown Tab: Six Measures, Every Angle
Before this tab existed, your shop already had several breakdown tables — and that was exactly the problem.
The per-cashier table had discount and profit but no qty and no cost. The per-customer table had only invoice counts and revenue. The per-product table had cost and margin but no discount. So the most natural question a shop owner can ask — “profit from which cashier, and profit from which customer?” — could not be answered. Not because the data was missing, but because those two tables never measured the same thing.
The Breakdown tab removes that difference. Six measures, always the same six: Qty, Revenue, Discount, Cost, Profit, Margin. Whatever angle you choose, the columns stay put. So “per cashier” and “per customer” can finally sit side by side.
One thing to accept as part of the tool: sometimes a column shows a dash. That is not a bug and not missing data. It means the measure cannot be stated precisely for that angle — and this page would rather admit it than fill the gap with a plausible-looking number.
And one last thing that makes the tab trustworthy: the Customers, Products, Suppliers and Staff pages compute nothing of their own. They borrow the transaction page calculation. So whenever a number looks suspicious, there is always a way to check: open the source page, pick the matching angle, and it must agree down to the last unit.
Before you start
- You already know the map of the Analytics module — this tab lives on seven of its pages.
- Product cost is filled in correctly. Cost, Profit and Margin go wrong if purchase prices were never recorded.
Steps
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Open any analytics page and choose the Breakdown tab
It exists on seven pages: Repairs, Sales, Purchases, Products, Customers, Suppliers and Staff. It always sits last, after Trend, Period and Rankings.
The fourth tab on any transaction page. -
Choose the angle, not the number
On Sales the choices are by product, by product with variants merged, by service, by cashier, by customer, and by payment method. On Repairs: by technician, by item type, by brand, by problem type, by customer, and by spare part used.
What you pick is not the number, it is the angle. -
Read the six columns as one sentence
Qty how many, Revenue how much came in, Discount how much was given away, Cost what it was bought for, Profit the difference, Margin what percentage that profit is. A thin margin on large revenue usually matters more than the reverse.
The same six columns whatever the angle. -
Read the basis note under each table
Per-product and per-service angles are computed from invoice lines, so invoice-level discounts and shipping are not included. Per-cashier, per-customer, per-supplier and per-payment-method angles come from invoice headers, so both are included.
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Do not distrust a dash — read its note
A column showing a dash means that measure cannot be stated precisely for that angle. It is a deliberate choice: better honestly empty than filled with a number that looks reasonable and is not true.
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On people pages, you pick the source instead
Customers offers From Sales or From Repairs. Staff offers As Technician or As Cashier. Products offers Sold, Purchased, or Used in repairs. The rows are already fixed; what you choose is which transactions to measure them from.
On people pages, what you pick is where the numbers come from. -
Verify against the source page, not against your gut
Breakdowns on people pages have no formulas of their own — they reuse the transaction page calculation. So if Staff as cashier looks odd, open Sales then Breakdown by cashier: the numbers must match exactly.
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Do not look for a combined sales-and-repairs total; there is none
The two are calculated on different bases, so adding them would create a third number matching no page at all. If you need the combined picture, that belongs in the Profit and Loss report, not this tab.
What you end up with
You can answer questions like "which cashier gives away the most discount" or "which brand has the thinnest margin" with numbers computed on the same basis, so the answers can be compared across angles.
If something goes wrong
Cost and Profit are zero although the item clearly has a purchase price
Cost is read from the stock movement that recorded the purchase price when the item left. Items whose opening stock was entered without a purchase price have no such figure. Fix it through the stock card, then reopen the period.
The per-product total does not match the per-cashier total for the same period
They are not supposed to match. Per product is computed from invoice lines — without invoice-level discounts and shipping; per cashier comes from invoice headers — with both. The note under each table says so.
There is a nameless row holding a large number
Usually transactions with no registered customer, no brand, or no problem type filled in. Not corrupt data, but a mirror of fields skipped during entry. That is a useful finding in itself.
Service figures look too large compared with products
First check whether the shop really does sell services on sales invoices. Service lines apply discount per unit while product lines apply it per line — and that difference is correct, not a calculation error.
Related tutorials
- Tutorial
The Analytics Module: Eight Pages, One Habit
Get the map first, before entering the deepest tab.
- Tutorial
Selling Services and Manual Pricing
Where the service lines in the By Service angle come from.
- Tutorial
Payment Method in Transaction Lists
The By Payment Method angle pairs with the filter in your lists.