Report Builder User Guide

A complete guide to designing caregiver progress reports, entering comments, moderating, and producing, publishing and emailing finished reports in Edge.

Detailed version. For a one-page summary, see the Report Builder Overview. Your school may have renamed some words, such as Student, Class, Teacher or Caregiver; Report Builder uses your school's words throughout.

1. About Report Builder

Report Builder is Edge's new way to build and send caregiver progress reports. It was designed around the Ministry of Education's 2026 reporting-to-parents requirements, and works for any kind of written report, from a junior narrative report to a secondary NCEA summary.

It covers the whole reporting cycle in one place:

• Design a report on a drag-and-drop canvas, using your school's colours, logo, fonts and cover page.
• Fill in each student's report: teachers type comments and make selections directly on a live view of the report.
• Moderate: a report moderator reviews each report, fixes typos, and either approves it or sends it back with a note.
• Produce PDFs, publish them to the caregiver portal, email them to caregivers, or download them for printing.

Two kinds of content on a report

Report Builder and the older Custom Reports

Report Builder sits alongside the existing Custom Reports screens, which still work. The Comment Bank stays under Reports › Custom Reports › Comment Bank, and Report Builder uses the same comment bank.

2. Access and permissions

Report Builder is switched on for each school by Edge. Once it is on, a Report Builder section appears under the Reports menu, and the Teacher Home Result Sheets tab is renamed Results & Reports.

Who can do what

Which class a student is reported under

Each student belongs to exactly one reporting class for Report Builder. Edge picks it in this order: the student's vertical class, then horizontal class, then special class, then subject class. House classes are never used. The reporting class decides:

• which teacher sees the student on the entry and moderation screens;
• the class and teacher printed on the cover page;
• which class the student is grouped under for publishing and ZIP downloads.

Results and other data are still gathered from all of the student's classes.

3. Where to find it

From the Reports menu

From Teacher Home (Teacher Mode)

Open the Results & Reports tab. A switch at the top offers up to three modes:

• Result Sheet Entry: the existing result sheets (only if your school uses Result Sheets).
• Report Data Entry: filling in reports.
• Report Moderation & Generation: the moderation screen. Staff without moderation rights see this as Report Generation, with the review and publish controls removed.

Other places reports appear

• Caregiver portal: published reports appear on the Student Report page.
• Student record (staff): the Caregiver Reports tab on a student shows that student's published reports.
• Email Logs: Admin › Import/Export › Email Logs, filter Report Builder Reports, lists report emails sent to caregivers.

4. The reporting workflow

1. A report designer creates the report: its name, reporting period and year levels, then its layout. See section 6.
2. Teachers enter report data for each student. Typed entries can autosave. Results, attendance and other Edge data appear automatically. See section 11.
3. Teachers submit each report, or several at once. The report's status becomes Submitted (shown as Awaiting moderation to moderators).
4. A moderator reviews the report, can correct comments in place, and then chooses Mark as moderated or Request changes. A request emails the teacher, who fixes and resubmits.
5. Generate creates the PDF and stores it. Staff can download it; caregivers cannot see it yet.
6. Publish releases moderated, generated reports to the caregiver portal. Email sends moderated reports to caregivers as PDF attachments, and does not need the report to be published.

5. Reporting Configuration (school branding)

Reporting Configuration holds the school-wide look of every report. Set it up once before you design your first report.

1. Go to Reports › Report Builder › Report Designer.
2. Click Reporting Configuration at the top right.
3. Change the settings on the left. The Live preview on the right shows the cover and a sample page as you go. You can type a report name above the preview to see it on the cover.
4. Click Save. Unsaved changes shows in the footer until you do.

The school logo and address come from your school's details in Edge.

6. Creating a report

In Report Builder, a report is the design that every student's copy is built from (in other systems this is often called a template). The Report Designer opens on a list of your school's reports, showing the name, year levels, reporting period, status (for example locked), and who created and last edited each one.

Three ways to start

Report Details tab

Open a report and start on the Report Details tab. These settings apply to this report only.

7. Designing the layout

Switch to the Report Layout tab. The screen has three panels:

• Elements (left): the toolbox. Search it with Search elements…, expand or collapse categories, or start from a Prebuilt layout at the top.
• Canvas (centre): the report as it will look. Drag elements here and drag them up or down to reorder them.
• Configure (right): the settings for whichever element you click. Each element has its own options, such as title, which markbook to use, which columns to show, and comment length.

Building a layout

1. Drag a Prebuilt layout onto the canvas for a quick start, or drag individual elements.
2. Use Section elements (in Layout) to group elements under a heading and arrange them in one to three columns. Sections can hold one more level of plain sections.
3. Click each element and complete its settings on the right. Data elements need a source chosen, for example a markbook or assessment, before they show anything.
4. Use Page Break to start a new page, or tick a section's start on new page option.
5. Use the element icons to duplicate or remove an element. Clear Layout empties the canvas but keeps the report's details and your school settings.

Prebuilt layouts

Design and Preview

Use the Design / Preview switch above the canvas. Preview shows the report as it will print. The Preview for list defaults to Sample data, which fills every element with realistic example values so you can judge the layout before any real data exists. Pick a real student to check the report against their actual results.

8. Element reference

Which elements you see depends on your school: Reporting to Parents elements are hidden if your school doesn't use the 2026 assessments, Student Voice is hidden if your school doesn't use it, and Secondary / NCEA elements are for Helix schools.

Signature elements can print a date: none, the date the PDF was generated, the end of the reporting period, or a custom date. The Principal Signature can use the uploaded signature image from Reporting Configuration.

9. Managing reports: save, lock, duplicate, archive

Saving

The footer at the bottom of the editor has Cancel, Save and an Autosave switch. Autosave is on by default and saves every couple of minutes while you work. Cancel drops unsaved changes and returns to the list; All Reports also returns to the list and asks before discarding changes.

Locked reports and unlocking

When the first student's report is approved, the design is locked and a question-mark hint explains why. To change a locked report:

1. Open it and click Unlock.
2. Confirm. The report stays unlocked until another student's report is approved, which locks it again. Remember that approved reports print from the current design, so your edits will change those reports the next time their PDFs are generated.

Archiving and restoring

Archive removes a report from use without deleting it. Turn on Show archived reports on the list to see archived reports and restore one. A locked report must be unlocked before it can be archived.

10. Sharing and starter templates

Report Builder has no option to send a report design from one school to another, or to share it with particular staff members. Sharing works like this:

• Within your school, every report is shared. Anyone with the Design Reports permission can open and edit any of the school's reports, and all teachers see active reports on the entry screen.
• From Edge to your school: Use Edge Template opens a dialog where you Select a template from Edge's library, type a Name for your copy, and click Create copy. The copy is entirely yours to edit. If no starter templates are available you'll see There are no shared templates available to copy yet. The name must be different from your existing reports.
• Within your own library: Duplicate makes a copy of an existing report.

Only Edge staff can add reports to the starter library. If you've built a report that other schools would find useful, tell your Edge contact.

11. Entering report comments

1. Go to Reports › Report Builder › Report Entry, or Teacher Home › Results & Reports › Report Data Entry.
2. Choose a Report. Only reports that cover your students' year levels are useful here.
3. Choose one or more Classes. Student cards appear grouped by class, each with a photo and a status badge: Not started In progress Submitted Changes requested Moderated.
4. Click a student's card to open their report.

The entry screen

The student's whole report is shown as it will print. The parts you fill in are highlighted and tagged Your input. Next to the student's name you can see their status and how many input fields have been filled in.

• Comments: type into the box. If a maximum length is set, a counter shows characters used / maximum, turning orange near the limit and red at it. Some comment boxes have a fixed height so the comment can't spill onto another page; text that doesn't fit is trimmed and a message says so.
• Comment bank: where enabled, a Comment bank panel sits above the comment box. Search by words, filter by category, then choose a comment to insert it at the cursor. Name and gender placeholders such as {Name} or {he/she} are filled in for the student, using they when no gender is recorded. You can insert several comments.
• Lookup lists: pick from a drop-down or click buttons; some lists allow several choices or N/A.
• Key competencies: choose a rating for each item.
• Images: upload a photo, for example of the student's work.
• Dates: where the designer has made a date editable.
• Markbook and achievement comments shown on the report can be edited in place. Changes are saved back to the markbook or achievement area. This is only possible for reports in the current year.

Saving and moving between students

• With Autosave ticked, your typing is saved about two seconds after you stop. Otherwise click Save. The action buttons appear at both the top and bottom of the report.
• Use Previous Student, Next Student or the Select Student list to move around, and Students to return to the cards. You're warned before leaving unsaved changes.
• PDF downloads this student's report as a PDF at any status (see section 15).

Reports that are sent back or approved

• Changes requested: a yellow box headed Your report moderator has requested changes shows the moderator's note. Make the changes and submit again.
• Moderated (approved): the report is shown read-only with a green note. To change it, ask your report moderator to send it back.

12. Submitting for moderation

One student

Click Submit for Approval. Your changes are saved first, then the report goes to the moderator and its status becomes Submitted.

Several students at once

1. On the student cards, tick the students you want, tick a class heading to select the whole class, or use the Select menu (Select all, Select all approved, Select all unapproved). Clear unticks everything.
2. Click Submit selected for Approval and confirm. This button is unavailable if any ticked report is already approved.

13. Moderating reports

Moderation needs the Report Moderator permission or the Report Master role.

Opening the moderation screen

1. Go to Reports › Report Builder › Moderation and Generation, or Teacher Home › Results & Reports › Report Moderation & Generation.
2. Under Choose a report, pick the report.
3. Optionally narrow the list:
   • Show class members: Current (the default), Leavers and Pre-enrolments. Leavers and pre-enrolments only count if they were in the class during the reporting period.
   • Classes and Year levels: show only some.
   • Group by: Class or Year level. Edge remembers your choice.

The summary table

Each row is a class (or year level) showing Completed, Moderated, Generated and Published counts out of the total. An hourglass marks reports awaiting moderation. Rows turn green when every report is completed and moderated, and amber while some are awaiting moderation. Click a class name to see its students.

The student list

For each student you'll see Year, Completed By and Moderated By (with names and dates), a Generated PDF download link with the date it was generated, and Published. Reports sent back show a Changes requested badge. Click Back to classes to return.

Reviewing a report

1. Click the magnifying-glass Review report icon on a student. It's available once the teacher has submitted, or after changes were requested.
2. Read the report. If changes were requested earlier, the last note is shown at the top.
3. To fix a typo, click into a comment and edit it. Markbook and achievement comments can be edited too (current-year reports only). Click Save, or just continue: pending edits are saved before approval.
4. Choose one of:
   • Mark as moderated: approves the report. Its status becomes Moderated and it becomes read-only for the teacher.
   • Request changes: add an optional note explaining what needs changing. The teacher is emailed, the report shows Changes requested, and if it was published it is unpublished (the PDF is kept).
5. Use Previous student and Next student to work through the class without closing the window.

14. Generating PDFs

Generating creates each student's final PDF and stores it in Edge. Staff can download it immediately, but caregivers can't see it until it's published (or emailed).

• One student: in the student list, click the gears icon, Generate this report's PDF.
• A whole class or year level: click the gears icon on the summary row.
• Several classes: tick rows in the summary table, then With selected › Generate PDFs.

A progress window shows how far through it is (see section 19). Generating doesn't require approval, so you can generate draft PDFs to check, but only moderated reports can be published or emailed.

15. Downloading and printing

Report Builder produces PDFs. To print reports, download the PDFs and print them from your PDF viewer.

Files are named Surname, First name - Report name, so they sort alphabetically by surname.

Print-friendly layouts

Set these in the report's Report Details (section 6) before generating:

• Double-sided: each student's report has an even number of pages, so a double-sided print run never starts a student on the back of someone else's page.
• A5 booklet: print double-sided on A4 landscape (flip on the short edge), then fold.
• Add a blank page at the end: a separator between students in a print run.
• Margins are set in Reporting Configuration.

16. Publishing to the caregiver portal

Publishing needs the Report Moderator permission or Report Master role. A report can only be published once it is moderated and generated.

• One student: click the bullhorn icon in the student list. If it's greyed out, hover over it to see why (Report must be moderated first or Report must be generated first).
• A class or year level: click the bullhorn on the summary row. Every moderated, generated report in the group is published; others are skipped.
• Several: tick rows, then With selected › Publish.

Unpublishing

Use the undo-arrow icon (Unpublish — stop sharing…) or With selected › Unpublish. Caregivers can no longer see the report, but the PDF is kept so you can publish it again later. Requesting changes on a published report also unpublishes it.

17. Emailing reports to caregivers

Emailing sends each student's PDF as an attachment to their caregivers. It needs the report to be moderated but not published. Any report without a PDF yet is generated first.

• One student: the envelope icon in the student list.
• A class or year level: the envelope icon on the summary row (Email all approved reports for this class).
• Ticked rows: With selected › Email approved reports.
• Everything: Email all approved reports at the top right sends every approved report for the chosen report.

Only students who are moderated and currently enrolled are emailed. Emails go to each caregiver who is set to receive school notices, isn't blocked from access, and has an email address in Edge. If some caregivers have no email address, you're told how many. Emails come from your school's report email address if one is set, otherwise the school's general address.

Emails are queued and sent within a few minutes. See them under Admin › Import/Export › Email Logs with the Report Builder Reports filter.

18. Exporting report data (CSV)

To review or archive what teachers entered, use the spreadsheet icon on a summary row (Export the entered report data for this class to a CSV file) or With selected › Export report data (CSV). The CSV has one row per student, with columns for each entered field and for markbook and achievement comments shown on the report.

19. Progress dialogs and Recent exports

Generating, downloading and emailing run in the background. A progress window shows the percentage done.

• For most jobs you can close the window and keep working: the reports will finish on their own.
• Tick Email me when this is done to get an email with a link when a long job finishes.
• Recent exports (on both the entry and moderation screens) lists your exports from the last 7 days, with their status and a Download link. Staff with the Master Reports permission see the whole school's exports. Running an identical export again replaces the earlier copy.

20. What caregivers see

• On the caregiver portal, published reports are listed on the Student Report page, and caregivers can open the PDF. Students can see their own published reports on the student portal.
• Emailed caregivers receive the PDF as an attachment, whether or not it is published.
• Staff can see a student's published reports on the Caregiver Reports tab of their record.
• Unpublished, draft and generated-but-unpublished reports are never visible to caregivers.

21. Troubleshooting and FAQ

22. Status glossary

Completed counts on the moderation screen include reports that are submitted or moderated.