Ok, so we had a good discussion the other day with a lot to think about. I’m not sure we’re arriving at a concrete plan yet, but we can discuss the outline a bit more. I’ll add the three main use-case categories here, which I think is a good starting place. I’ll summarise without the pros and cons for now.
Use-Case Categories
“IN-APP” REPORTS
This includes things like packing sheets, tax reports, products sold per order cycle, etc. The reports should be able to be rendered as HTML in the browser, as well as exported in multiple formats like plain CSV, ODT (OpenOffice), XLS and XLSX (Microsoft), etc.
DATA EXTRACTION
Improvements to the API could bring a lot more oportunities for improving integrations of all kinds, for example; automating user billing with Zapier, exporting enterprise sales data to external accounting software, etc.
BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE
This would include custom reports and data visualisations, and could be used internally by instance managers as well as by enterprise users. In terms of BI as a product, this might be something aimed at a small subsection of enterprises that have larger turnover and more complex business models, provided as a paid service.