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Classes, Departments, and Locations

Class, department, and location filters for QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, and Xero integrations.

In this article:

Overview

 

If your company file uses Classes, Departments, or Locations, Reach Reporting will sync that data and make it available as a filter throughout the platform — in metrics, statements, and live text.

Xero users: In Xero, Classes, Departments, and Locations are referred to as Tracking Categories. Reach Reporting syncs these tracking categories and displays them in the same way as classes and departments from QuickBooks.

Note: At this time, Reach Reporting does not support filtering by Customer, Job, or Project, filtering by Subclass for Xero integrations, or filtering by Classes, Departments, or Jobs for Myob integrations.

Filtering by Class in Metrics and Statements

When editing a metric or statement, a funnel icon appears at the top of each Data column. Clicking the funnel allows you to filter that column by one or more classes, departments, or locations.

If the funnel icon appears red, it means a filter is currently applied to that column.

Note: The class filter funnel icon is not available on all column types. It will not appear on Actuals vs. Budget/Forecast, Google/Excel (non-date), Custom, or Budget/Forecast columns where the budget or forecast has not been set up by class.

You can also filter an individual row by class by clicking the gear icon next to that row. A row-level class filter will override any filter applied to the column for that specific row.

Note: Filtering an individual row by class in a Statement will require you to Unlock the Statement.

There is no way to apply a single class filter to an entire report all at once — each metric, statement, or live text element must be filtered individually.

Two methods are available for filtering by class in metrics and statements:

  1. Funnel Icon (Column Filter) — This is the most common method. When editing a metric or statement, click the funnel icon above a data column to filter that column by class. This sets a static class filter for that column.

  2. Display Options (Live Filter) — This is a more dynamic option. Display Options allows you to add multiple class filters to a single metric or statement and toggle between them directly on the report or dashboard. The selected class will be retained when the report or dashboard is exported as a PDF. See Display Options: Class/Dept Filter Override for full details.

Multi-Select: Building Columns by Class

When building a new metric or adding columns to an existing metric, you can create actuals columns separated by Classes/Departments with a single click — no extra setup required. This makes it easy to view side-by-side comparisons across classes or departments instantly.

This multi-select class feature is also available when building a statement from scratch.

Filtering Live Text by Class


You can filter live text by class or department in a Report or Dashboard.

In a Report:

  1. Open a report and click Live Text from the left toolbar.
  2. Select your data type (Actuals, Budget, or another comparison type).
  3. Set your desired time frame.
  4. Click the Filter option to select the classes or departments you want to filter by.
  5. Scroll down, find the data you wish to display, and drag it onto the page.
  6. Use the top toolbar to adjust the appearance of the text, just as you would with any other text element.

Filter Existing Live Text in a Report

To update the class filter on existing live text, open the Live Text menu and click Edit > Filters > select classes/departments > select the live text you want to apply changes to > select Apply to Selected:

In a Dashboard:

  1. Open the hamburger menu on the live text you want to filter and select Edit
  2. Scroll down to the Additional Settings and click Add Display Options
  3. Select the Class/Department Filters tab and enable this option
  4. Save changes
  5. Use the funnel icon above the live text to filter by class or department

Important: The dashboard class filter does not persist for live text. When a dashboard is opened, live text will always default to displaying Total data. The class filter can then be applied to change the view, but this selection is not saved — it resets each time the dashboard is opened.

Filtering the Dashboard by Class

Dashboards include a class filter at the top of the dashboard that allows you to filter the entire dashboard view by class, department, or location with a single selection. This makes it easy to switch between class views when presenting or reviewing data.

Important: The dashboard class filter does not persist for live text or metrics on the dashboard. When a dashboard is opened, live text and metric elements will always default to displaying Total data. The class filter can then be applied to change the view, but this selection is not saved — it resets each time the dashboard is opened.

Unassigned Classes

Transactions in your accounting software that have not been assigned to a class, department, or location will not appear when filtering by any specific class. Reach Reporting does not have a dedicated filter for "Unassigned" items (also known as "Unspecified" or "Not Specified", so these transactions will be excluded from any class-filtered column.

To isolate and display the unassigned amount, you can calculate it manually using a custom column:

  1. Build a column with no class filter applied (this represents the total for all transactions, including unassigned ones).
  2. Build a second column filtered by all of your classes and departments.
  3. Add a custom column with an equation that subtracts the unfiltered column from the filtered column. The resulting value are transactions that have not been assigned to any class.

Tip: This workaround is useful for identifying transactions that may have been entered in your accounting software without a class assigned, which can be helpful for bookkeeping cleanup as well as reporting accuracy.

Filtering by Class in Consolidations

If you are working with consolidated companies, classes and departments from each individual company can be brought into your consolidated metrics and statements. You can filter consolidated data by both entity and class/department to get granular visibility across your consolidation.

For detailed instructions on how to filter consolidated data by class, see Filtering Consolidated Data in Metrics and Statements.

Budgeting by Class

Reach Reporting supports budgeting broken down by class or department. This allows you to create detailed, subdivided budgets aligned with your class structure.

For full instructions, see Budgets by Class.

QuickBooks Desktop: Enabling Class Sync

To sync Class data from QuickBooks Desktop, you must enable Classes in the Desktop Connector settings. The Desktop Connector is a downloaded application that runs on your computer and manages syncing for your Desktop company files.

Once Classes are enabled in the Desktop Connector, re-sync your company to bring in the class data.

If you choose to re-sync without classes, it will not eliminate the current class data. In this case, the classes will just not update.

Note: Class syncing is turned off by default in QuickBooks Desktop because syncing class data significantly increases sync time, depending on the number of classes in your company file.

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