There is no report definition in pega constellation?Is there any other way to create a Report in pega constellation?

User Experience
1

There is no report definition in pega constellation?Is there any other way to create a Report in pega constellation?I can see we have explore data but isnt it like a report browser?

2

Pega Platform provides robust reporting capabilities to retrieve application data and present it as traditional reports or modern Insights. In Pega Constellation, Report Definitions are still supported because Constellation changes the UI layer, not the underlying reporting capability. Reports can be created using Report Definitions and displayed in views or tables, often through data pages.

However, Pega primarily recommends using Insights for reporting in Constellation, especially to display records and analytics on landing pages. Insights provide a more interactive and flexible reporting experience, including charts, drill-down analysis, sharing options, and AI-assisted creation through Pega GenAI. They are available through the Explore Data feature across Constellation, Theme Cosmos, and can also be enabled for UI Kit applications.

3

Hey @TanyaS58

In Pega Constellation, the reporting engine remains unchanged, so Report Definition rules continue to be supported. Constellation only modernizes the presentation layer, which means reporting logic still lives in familiar rule types and can be leveraged through data pages and backend queries. These reports can then be rendered in Constellation as lists or tables embedded within views.

What is no longer present is the classic report browser experience used in traditional UI. End users cannot browse, run, or manage reports directly from a report list in Constellation.

For user-facing analytics, Insights are the preferred reporting mechanism. Insights are designed to surface operational data, KPIs, and trends directly within workspaces and landing pages. They offer richer interaction such as visualizations, drill-downs, sharing, and guided creation, and are exposed through Explore Data. This approach is consistent across Constellation, Theme Cosmos, and optional UI Kit implementations.

Let me know if this answers your question

Thanks,

Roshan Raj A K

4

Thanks @RoshanRajAK1 ,I would like to know 1 thing over here like as you stated These Reports can then be rendered in Constellation as lists or tables embedded within views.So in a view what configuration we need to make to call a RD inside a table ?

5

Hi @TanyaS58 - To clarify further, in Constellation a Report Definition is not referenced directly by a View. Instead, the report is first exposed through a Data Page or a List Data Source, which internally uses the Report Definition as its query logic.

That Data Page or Data Source is then selected as the source for an embedded data field, list, or table within a View. This preserves the existing reporting logic while aligning with Constellation’s data‑driven UI model.

Let me know if that answers your question

Thanks,

Roshan Raj A K

6

Constellation UI is built on a prescribed design experience, and the data model is fundamental to any Constellation-based application. To display records in the UI, you must first create a data reference property of type Page List, which is then populated through a data page.

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@TanyaS58 Are you in the User Experience Expert Circle? I would like to move this under that area, so it can be found with other Constellation questions. However, if you are not a member you won’t be able to respond (until you join), so don’t want to just move on you.

Please let me know if you join and i’ll move.

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8

@TanyaS58 you may find this Constellation 101 article useful Advanced Search – List Views vs Insights - its a good summary of the differences between using List Views (data page) and Insights (which is not technically sourced from a single datapage).

Reporting should really come from Explore Data and Insights - enabling that for your Design Time needs would also enable this for your business users, so its valuable for everyone. I’d highly recommend diving deeper into Explore Data. This might be helpful to you as well, Some insights into Insights (and Explore Data)

I am a big fan of Insights both for Design Time and end users. That said, there are times, an old fashioned Report Definition > Data page > List View are useful, so learning both and the differences will really help you on your Constellation journey.

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Hi @RoshanRajAK1 okay so basically what i understood is if we are using a data page then backend a RD is created on its own? And the same data page we can reference correct?

10

Hi @MarcCheong I joined just now.Thanks

11

Hi @TanyaS58

Not Exactly… In Pega Constellation, the behavior is consistent for both Data Pages and Insights:
Report Definitions are never auto‑created by the system.

  • A Data Page can optionally use a Report Definition as its data source, but the RD must be explicitly created and selected. Other data sources can be used as well, in which case no RD is involved.

  • An Insight similarly runs on a defined query or data source. It may be backed by:

    • A Report Definition

    • A Data Page (which itself may or may not use an RD)

    • Direct class/field queries

In all cases, any use of a Report Definition is intentional, not automatic.

Once defined, Data Pages are reusable and can be referenced by:

  • Constellation views (tables/lists)

  • Multiple Insights

  • Other UI components

The key change in Constellation is that the classic report browser UI is no longer available. Reporting logic still exists, but it is surfaced through Insights and embedded views, not through direct report execution by users.

Let me know if this answers your question

Thanks,

Roshan Raj A K

12

Explore Data & Insights is for Developers and End Users:

  1. A Self-Service capability, calling it ‘like report browser’ doesn’t quite do it justice but yes it fulfils that use case for business users
  2. Design Time - Developers, using App Studio, can run Explore Data from that studio (not Preview), and they have additional design time configurations available to create reports (Insights) and Dashboards for business users and cases. (See item 4 below)

Just to further quantify here:

  1. “Reports” can be created two ways (just to reiterate my point earlier):
    1. Lists Views are their own rule type (Rule-UI-View), these are created from the UX tab and backed by a Data Page
    2. Insights are their own rule type (Rule-UI-Insight), these are created from Explore Data
  2. Explore Data > Insights are backed by your default data source defined on the case type / data object (data page). That data page must be queryable and has some other rules you need to follow to ensure Insights reporting works.
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  3. The Insight created from Explore Data on this data object is not back purely from the Data Page or it’s Report Definition, a virtual report definition is created off the back of this and other elements in this class/object (so you will see more than what is just in this data page).
    1. You should set this data object with the properties (relevant records), embedded data (optimised properties) and data references (associations) it needs access too for reporting needs in Insights (see Some insights into Insights (and Explore Data))
  4. IF you want to run Insights directly from a Data Page then you must uncheck queryable and then in Explore Data (Design Time from App Studio) you can source Insights directly from that data page. (But again there are some limitations here, as some Constellation features are uniquely tied to queryable datapages)