Who uses it: whoever must answer a specific question with numbers — an accountant at close, a buyer checking open commitments. How often: on demand, and on a schedule someone else set. What "done" looks like: the result is on screen, printed, or exported, and the parameters that produced it are visible beside it. A report is run: you choose parameters, it executes, you read the result. Not for monitoring — a screen you leave open to watch the business is the reporting dashboard; this one answers one question, once, with stated inputs. Not a list screen either: list report finds documents to act on, a report produces figures to read.
| Document | Vendor | Due | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| INV-10234 | Acme Supply Co. | 15 Aug 2026 | $4,208.00 |
| INV-10235 | Globex Industrial | 28 Aug 2026 | $18,940.50 |
| INV-10236 | Initech GmbH | 02 Sep 2026 | $730.25 |
| INV-10238 | Stark Components | 11 Sep 2026 | $56,000.00 |
| Total · 4 documents | $79,878.75 | ||
Printed from busy-office ERP · page totals repeat on every page.
The parameters stay on screen beside the
result and print into the header line — a printed figure whose
inputs are unknown is not evidence. Try Ctrl P on this page: the form disappears
(.bo-u-print-hidden), the run-line stays, and the
print-only footnote appears.
<!-- 1. Parameters: an ordinary form, hidden in print. -->
<form class="bo-form-section bo-u-print-hidden">
<div class="bo-form-row"> …fields… </div>
<div class="bo-form-actions">
<button class="bo-btn" type="button">Run report</button>
</div>
</form>
<!-- 2. Result: wrapped in .bo-print-report so absolute links print
their destination, and the run-line survives to paper. -->
<article class="bo-print-report">
<header class="bo-u-avoid-break">
<h3>Open items · CC-4021 · period 2026-07</h3>
<p class="bo-byline bo-byline--compact">Run by J. Kim · 22 Aug 2026 08:31</p>
</header>
<table class="bo-data-table" data-density="compact"> …result… </table>
<p class="bo-u-print-only">Printed from busy-office ERP</p>
</article>.bo-u-print-hidden: the inputs are how you got the
figures, not part of them..bo-form-actions; running is an explicit act, never a
keystroke-triggered refetch (a report is expensive by definition)..bo-print-report wrapper, with a
<tfoot> total..bo-u-print-only for the paper footnote,
.bo-u-avoid-break so the header never splits from its
first rows, .bo-u-break-before if the report has
sections that must each start a page.| Request | Returns / on failure |
|---|---|
| POST /reports/open-items | the result fragment INCLUDING its run-line; parameters echoed back so the header cannot disagree with what ran. 422 → the form re-rendered with field errors, result region untouched |
| GET /reports/open-items?cc=…&period=… | the same result, addressable — a report you cannot link to cannot be cited in an email; an agent re-runs it by URL |
| GET …&format=csv|xlsx | the export, same parameters, same figures; export is a format of the SAME request, never a second query that might disagree |
| long runs | 202 + a job id → the run appears in the notification surface when it finishes; the screen never spins indefinitely |
The AI-manages / human-monitors split, stated: an agent runs reports by URL and consumes the export format; the human's channels are the run-line (who/when/basis), the on-screen parameters, and the printed artefact. The rule that keeps both honest: the parameters that produced a number travel with the number, on screen, in the export, and on paper.
| State | What ships |
|---|---|
| Not yet run | the result region says so plainly ("Choose parameters and run") — never an empty table that looks like a zero result |
| Running | the run button goes aria-busy; long runs return 202 and hand off to notifications rather than holding the screen |
| Empty result | "No open items for CC-4021 in 2026-07" — the parameters restated, because an empty report is a finding and the reader must see what was asked |
| Too many rows | state the cap and offer the export ("12,480 rows — showing the first 500; export for all"); never silently truncate |
| Parameter error | 422 re-renders the form with field messages; the PREVIOUS result stays on screen, clearly still labelled with its own run-line |
| Stale result | parameters edited but not re-run → the result keeps its original run-line; a figure never re-labels itself with inputs that did not produce it |
| No JS | fully functional — this page has no JS dependency; it imports no @busy-office/ui/js behavior at all, and every field is a plain, native form control |
complexity 2 of 4