There are some software packages that are ideal for complex or multi-layered reports. A program such as Crystal reports should enable you to include several different elements that would normally come from different software for each part. For example, when reporting on a budget, you'd provide a chart from Excel along with a cash flow statement, a list of project goals made and completed from Project (including its own report on the budget), and Word for the full written report on how the money was spent. You can incorporate all these elements into Crystal reports.

Think about organising the information in the report. The key elements you'll be applying in Crystal reports is that you want the end result easy to read. Remember to use all tools at your disposal such as breaking up main text with bullets and subheadings, highlight sections that you want your audience to pay particular attention to (could you use a web feature to publish it that way, too?). Make sure you organise your report into broken down lists and easy, bite-size information. It should be clear how the money was spent and where.

Bring in visual elements. Being a Crystal report document and not an Excel chart, you will have more flexibility when producing something that is interesting and engaging (and let's face it, most budget reports aren't). Can you animate parts of it like PowerPoint and produce a spend graph like you would in Excel? Can you display - with pictures and not words - what the money went on, where, and when you went above or below budget? The flexibility of a program such as Crystal will let you break this information down more than a standard report - you can see which parts went over budget and also include notes for improvement on the next year's allowance.

Make it personal and show rather than tell. Being a specialist piece of software, Crystal Reports may not be widespread throughout the organisation or with external contacts or suppliers who also need the information but don't have a software reader to accept the file. Can you print and distribute the report via email, export it as a PDF or just use the report as a basis for a presentation to the board? If other people are using the software, make sure that you've set your report out clearly - if it looks jumbled to you, the owner of the data - it's not going to make much sense to an outside reader.

Despite the complexity at hand, keep it simple!

There is one drawback to having a flexible and powerful reporting package - you might overcomplicate something that is essentially simple. Yes, you can have a flashing graph complete with text in bullets and organised in a fun way - because you can - but the software is there to make the report easier for you to compile, not fog the information by the way it's presented. Learning simple design tips while bearing in mind that they don't all have to be used at once is the best way forward when using Reporting software. .