Reports Overview - Which Report Should I Use?

Nowsta offers several report types designed for different use cases - payroll, attendance tracking, event staffing, performance, and planning. This guide explains what each report is best for so you can quickly choose the right one.

🧾 Payroll CSV

Payroll reports focus on hours, pay rates, and payouts. If you need anything related to payroll or compensation, start here.

You can choose a report breakdown, apply filters such as worker or department, and download the data as a CSV.

The Report Breakdown option determines how payroll data is grouped (for example, by employee, position, or shift).

Each breakdown serves a different purpose, depending on whether you need a high-level summary or detailed, shift-level payroll information.

🔍 Payroll CSV Report Breakdown Comparison Table

Report Breakdown	Best Used For	Shows Pay Rates	Shows Hours	Shift-Level Detail	Includes OT / Double OT	Notes
Employee Totals	High-level payroll summary	❌ No	✅ Yes	❌ No	✅ Yes	Best for quick totals by employee
Employee Totals by Position	Payroll by role/position	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	❌ No	✅ Yes	Useful for FOH vs BOH analysis
Employee Totals by Shift	Detailed payroll auditing	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	Most detailed payroll report
Position Totals (by Pay Code)	Payroll totals by pay code	❌ No	✅ Yes	❌ No	✅ Yes	Good for accounting summaries
Event Department Totals	Payroll totals per department/event	❌ No	✅ Yes	❌ No	✅ Yes	Event-level department costs

👉 Tip:

Use Employee Totals for quick totals
Use Employee Totals by Shift for audits, rates, and payouts

⏱ Time & Attendance CSV

Use these reports to track schedules, clock-ins, punches, and attendance behavior.

Best For:

Viewing clock-in / clock-out times
Tracking no-shows, callouts, late starts
Reviewing timekeeping (not pay rates)

Includes:

Employee name
Event/Shift date and time
Event Scheduled Cost, Actual Cost and Bill Rate
Department and position
Clock-in / clock-out punches

❗ Does not include workers pay rates or audit trail of edits

🎟 Event Reports

Event Overview CSV

Best for understanding details of each event.

Use this when you need to see:

Events by date, venue, or client
Positions needed and assigned
Staff names per shift

Event Costing CSV

Best for budget and cost analysis of the event, not staffing.

Shows only:

Projected vs actual hours
Projected vs actual labor cost
Client billing totals
Cost variance per event

❌ Does not include staff names or positions

👥 Staff Performance & Statistics Reports

Staff Performance CSV

Use this to review worker ratings.

Includes:

Worker name
Contact info
Average rating
Review

Staff Stats CSV

Best for analyzing worker reliability and behavior.

Includes:

Total requests
Accepted / Declined / Unresponded %
Callouts and no-shows
Average response time
On Time within 15 minutes
On Time within 5 minutes
Clock ins later than 5 minutes
Clock ins later than 15 minutes

👉 This is where you’ll find acceptance rates.

👷 Worker Allocation Reports

Worker Allocation CSV

Best for staffing planning and gap analysis.

Use this when you need to see:

How many workers were assigned and requested per event
How many are confirmed
How many declined
How many slots are still open
Staffing coverage by event and position

❌ Does not list worker names (counts only)

📆 Worker Availability & Utilization Reports

Best for understanding:

How often workers are scheduled
How often workers applied
Schedule Summary
Availability Summary

🧠 Common Questions: Which Report Should I Use?

Need	Best Report
Total payroll hours	Employee Totals
Hourly pay rates	Employee Totals by Shift
Overtime & double OT	Employee Totals by Shift
Attendance & punches	Time & Attendance CSV
Daily event staff list	Event Overview (PDF/CSV)
Open/unfilled shifts	Worker Allocation CSV
Worker confirmation rate	Staff Stats CSV
Event labor cost	Event Costing CSV
Worker ratings	Staff Performance CSV

If you’re unsure which report fits your use case, feel free to reach out to Support—we’re happy to help you choose the right one!