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Prerequisites

Before installing and using ReportWisp, ensure your Shopify store is ready for reporting, analytics, data sync, exports, and scheduled reports.

ReportWisp works best when your store data, team responsibilities, reporting needs, and business review process are clearly understood before setup. The following prerequisites will help ensure smoother installation, accurate reporting, and better use of your store data.

1. Active Shopify Store​

You need an active Shopify store to install and use ReportWisp.

Your store should already have the basic commerce setup completed, including products, variants, orders, customers, payment methods, inventory settings, and store locations where applicable.

If your Shopify store is still in the early setup stage, it is recommended to complete the core store configuration first before relying on advanced reporting.

ReportWisp is designed to generate reports based on your store data, so having a properly configured Shopify store helps ensure reports are more accurate and useful.

2. Shopify Admin Access​

You must have administrator-level access to your Shopify store.

Admin access is required to:

  • Install ReportWisp
  • Approve app permissions
  • Approve billing, if required
  • Access the ReportWisp dashboard
  • Start or complete data sync
  • View reports and analytics
  • Export report data
  • Configure scheduled reports, if available in your plan

If you are not the store owner, make sure your user account has the necessary permissions before starting the installation.

3. Stable Internet Connection​

A stable internet connection is required to access Shopify Admin, install ReportWisp, approve permissions, open reports, export data, and manage scheduled reports.

Since ReportWisp works inside the Shopify admin and loads reporting data through the app dashboard, uninterrupted access helps prevent incomplete setup, failed loading states, or interrupted export actions.

4. Understanding of Store Reporting Needs​

Before using ReportWisp, it is helpful to understand what type of reports your store needs.

ReportWisp can help you review reporting areas such as:

  • Executive Store Health
  • Orders Reporting
  • Order Line Item Analytics
  • Refunds & Reversals
  • Products & Inventory Health
  • Customers & Retention
  • Sales Channels & Attribution
  • Payments & Transactions
  • Inventory Locations
  • Payout Reconciliation
  • Gift Cards
  • Disputes & Risk
  • POS & Retail Operations

Understanding your reporting needs will help you choose the right reports, filters, date ranges, exports, and scheduled report workflows.

5. Basic Shopify Data Knowledge​

You should have basic knowledge of how your Shopify store data is organized.

This includes knowing how to:

  • Manage products and variants
  • Identify SKUs
  • Review orders
  • Understand order statuses
  • Review customer profiles
  • Understand refunds and returns
  • Review payment methods
  • Manage inventory tracking
  • Use store locations
  • Understand sales channels
  • Use Shopify POS, if applicable

ReportWisp reports depend on store data such as orders, products, variants, customers, inventory, transactions, refunds, payouts, disputes, gift cards, channels, and POS activity. Accurate store data helps ensure better reporting results.

6. Historical Order Access​

ReportWisp may request access to orders older than 60 days.

This access is important for complete reporting and long-term analysis.

Historical order access helps ReportWisp generate:

  • Sales trends
  • Revenue comparisons
  • Product performance history
  • Customer retention reports
  • Refund trend analysis
  • Period-over-period reports
  • Executive Store Health reporting

If historical access is not granted, some reports may show only recent data and long-term analytics may appear incomplete.

7. Product, Variant, and Inventory Setup Review​

Before using product and inventory reports, review how your products and inventory are configured in Shopify.

Check that:

  • Products are active where applicable
  • Variants are set up correctly
  • SKUs are added where needed
  • Product vendors and product types are maintained
  • Inventory tracking is enabled where needed
  • Products are assigned to the correct locations
  • Stock quantities are updated
  • Unit cost is available if inventory value reporting is needed

For example, if inventory tracking is disabled for a product, inventory-related reports may not show complete stock visibility for that product.

8. Customer and Retention Data Readiness​

Customer reports work best when customer data is available and linked to orders.

Before using customer and retention reports, review whether your store captures:

  • Customer profiles
  • Customer email addresses
  • Customer order history
  • Customer location data
  • Customer tags, if used
  • Repeat purchase activity

If many orders are placed through guest checkout, some customer-level reports may show limited details.

9. Marketing and Attribution Tracking Review​

Sales Channels & Attribution reports depend on the source, channel, referral, and campaign data available in Shopify.

For better attribution reporting, make sure your marketing campaigns use consistent tracking. You may want to review:

  • Sales channels
  • Referring sites
  • UTM source
  • UTM medium
  • UTM campaign
  • Campaign naming conventions
  • Email, paid ads, social, affiliate, or partner campaign links

For example, if campaign links do not use UTM parameters, attribution reports may show limited campaign-level visibility.

10. Payment, Payout, and Finance Data Availability​

Finance-related reports depend on the payment, payout, refund, dispute, and gift card data available in your Shopify store.

Before using these reports, review whether your store has:

  • Payment gateway data
  • Transaction records
  • Refund records
  • Shopify Payments data, if payout reporting is needed
  • Dispute or chargeback data, if applicable
  • Gift card activity, if gift card reporting is needed

Some reports, such as Payout Reconciliation and Disputes & Risk, may depend on Shopify Payments availability and required permissions.

11. POS and Retail Operations Data Availability​

If your store uses Shopify POS, ReportWisp can help with POS and retail operations reporting where data is available.

Before using POS-related reports, review whether your store has:

  • POS sales activity
  • POS locations
  • Retail transactions
  • Staff activity
  • Tender transactions
  • Cash drawer activity, if applicable
  • POS device or register activity, where available

If your store does not use Shopify POS, POS-related reports may show no data.

12. Internal Team Alignment​

Reporting can support multiple teams, including store owners, operations, finance, marketing, inventory, customer support, and leadership.

Before using ReportWisp regularly, make sure relevant team members understand:

  • Which reports they should review
  • How often reports should be checked
  • Which date ranges should be used
  • Which filters matter to their workflow
  • Who is responsible for exports or scheduled reports
  • Who should act on report findings
  • How reports will be used in daily, weekly, or monthly reviews

For example, finance teams may focus on payouts, transactions, refunds, gift cards, and disputes, while marketing teams may focus on customers, retention, channels, attribution, and product performance.

Clear internal alignment helps teams use ReportWisp as a decision-making tool instead of only a reporting dashboard.

Need Help?​

If you encounter any issues while preparing your store, installing ReportWisp, approving permissions, selecting a plan, or starting data sync, contact ReportWisp support at: support@reportwisp.com

When reaching out, include your store name, Shopify store URL, issue description, screenshots if available, and any relevant setup, sync, permission, billing, or report details.