What is a key activity before running a custom report?

The key activity before running a custom report is formatting the report. Proper formatting ensures that the report is presented clearly and is easy to read and interpret for the intended audience. This includes adjusting the layout, selecting appropriate fonts, adding headers or footers, and ensuring that the data is organized logically. By formatting the report effectively, users can emphasize important information and improve the overall utility of the report when it is generated.

Other activities, such as collecting external data, distributing the report, or consulting user groups, may be important in other contexts but are not fundamental steps that need to be completed before a report is run. Collecting external data might be relevant if the report requires data from outside the system, but it is not an inherent requirement for formatting and executing a report within the SuiteAnalytics framework. Distributing the report is a follow-up task that occurs after the report is generated, and consulting user groups might inform the report's content but is not a prerequisite for executing the report itself.