Last Updated: March 2026
Your CFO walks into your office with another data request. She needs a list of open sales orders by customer showing their unshipped quantities. The standard reports don’t show it this way. You export data to Excel, build some pivot tables, and copy numbers between spreadsheets. It takes two hours every time she asks.
Here’s the thing. You’re rebuilding the same report manually because your standard reports can’t slice the data the way stakeholders need it. Meanwhile, your ERP system already has all this information. You just need a way to pull it together.
Acumatica Generic Inquiries (GI) solve this problem. They let you build custom reports and data views without writing code. Pull information from multiple tables. Filter how you want and then share it with your team. No developer is required.
What Makes Generic Inquiries Different
GI’s are not standard reports. Think of them as custom database queries you build yourself through a visual interface. Point and click to select tables. Choose which fields to display. Add filters. The system does the SQL work behind the scenes.
You get real-time data. Every time you open a GI, it pulls current information straight from your database. No waiting for nightly report processing. No stale data from last week’s export.
The power comes from flexibility. One inquiry can replace five different Excel spreadsheets you maintain manually. You can tag it, filter it, sort it, export it, build dashboards from it, share it with your team, or just keep it for yourself.
Before You Start Building
Navigate to System > Customization > Manage > Generic Inquiries. This screen is your workspace for building and managing all your custom inquiries.
If you can’t access the Generic Inquiry screen, check with your system administrator before going further. Most companies restrict inquiry creation to power users or administrators, so confirming your security roles upfront saves you from hitting a wall mid-build.
Plan your inquiry before you build it. Write down exactly what data you need. Which tables contain that information? What filters matter? How should results sort? Five minutes of planning saves an hour of rework.
Before you dive in, get familiar with Acumatica’s Inspect Element tool. Right-click any field on any form, select Inspect Element, and the system tells you the exact table name and field name behind that field, which takes the guesswork out of tracking down your data sources.
Creating Your First Generic Inquiry
Click the plus icon to create a new inquiry and give it a clear, descriptive name. Use the Screen ID field to add it to the Acumatica menu system so your users can find it without hunting.
Your next decision is choosing the primary table, which is your main data source and determines what other tables you can pull in. For sales orders, that’s SOOrder; for inventory, INItemSite; for customer balances, ARBalances.
On the Tables tab, your primary table appears automatically. Click Add Row to bring in additional tables, and the system shows you which ones can relate to your primary table based on how the data is structured.
Once your tables are in place, go to the Relations tab to define how each additional table connects to your primary one. Inner joins return only records that match on both sides, while left joins show all primary records even when there’s no corresponding record in the related table. Which one you choose depends on whether you want to see gaps in your data or only confirmed matches.
Adding Fields to Your Results
The Results Grid tab controls which columns appear when someone runs the inquiry. For each field you want to display, click Add Row, choose the table from the Object dropdown, then select the specific field from the Data Field dropdown.
Here are a few good tips: Make sure to pay attention to your column headers. The Caption field is what users actually see, so “Customer Name” is always going to serve them better than “BAccountAcctName.” Also, don’t forget to set the column widths using pixel values and preview the inquiry to make sure nothing looks cramped or cut off.
Easily create calculated fields by checking the Formula checkbox on any row. This is where GIs start to get powerful. Subtract Open Quantity from Total Quantity to show Shipped Quantity, or multiply Unit Price by Quantity to display Extended Amount without needing a separate export.
Setting Up Filters: Parameters & Conditions
The Parameters tab is where you give users the ability to narrow results without touching the inquiry itself. Add parameters for the fields your team filters on most often, such as Order Date, Customer, Item, or Status. Set a clear Display Name for each one so users see plain-language prompts instead of the field codes, and choose data types that match the field so they get date pickers for dates and lookup windows for customer IDs.
The Conditions tab is separate and handles default filters that apply automatically every time the inquiry runs. Use these to keep noise out of the results: exclude closed orders, hide inactive customers, or limit results to specific warehouses. Users see relevant data from the start without needing to set filters manually each time.
Always test with real data before publishing. Click Preview, check that calculations are correct, verify filters work as expected, and look at how results sort. Fixing issues in preview costs minutes; fixing them after users are already relying on the inquiry costs much more.
Making Your Inquiry Useful
A few additional settings determine how far your inquiry can go.
The Sort Order tab controls how results are organized by default. Alphabetical by Customer Name, newest Order Date first, highest Amount at the top. Thoughtful sorting makes data scannable without requiring users to click column headers every time.
The Grouping tab lets you aggregate data when summary-level information is more useful than individual rows. Sum amounts by customer, count orders by status, average quantities by item. Just be careful not to over-group or the results become harder to interpret, not easier.
Field-level security is handled back in the Results Grid tab. If certain users shouldn’t see cost or margin data, uncheck the Visible checkbox for those columns. You control who sees what without needing a separate version of the inquiry.
Finally, check “Expose via OData” if you need API access, “Show in Dashboards” to enable dashboard widgets, and configure mobile access with one checkbox. These settings are easy to miss but they significantly expand where and how your inquiry can be used.
Taking Generic Inquiries Further
Once your inquiries are built and tested, you can share them with specific users or roles, keeping financial data locked down while making operational inquiries available to everyone who needs them.
From any inquiry, users can click Actions > Export to Excel to pull the current results with all active filters applied, no manual data entry required. For teams that want data on their home screen, you can build dashboards by navigating to Dashboards > Manage Dashboards and adding widgets that pull directly from your Generic Inquiries.
You can also schedule automated delivery. Acumatica can email Generic Inquiry results on a set schedule, whether that’s a daily aging report, a weekly sales summary, or a monthly inventory snapshot. Set it up once and it runs without anyone thinking about it.
Making It Work for Your Business
Generic Inquiries exist to replace manual report building. That two-hour data request from your CFO? Build it once, run it in seconds, share the link, and let her filter it herself going forward.
The bigger opportunity is training department managers to build their own. They know what data they need. Give them the tool and the basics, and you reduce the IT backlog while giving people faster access to the information they actually use.
Start simple: one table, five fields, one or two filters. Get comfortable with the mechanics before attempting complex multi-table joins. The tool rewards patience, and the time you invest early pays off every time someone runs the inquiry instead of exporting to Excel.
If you need help building Generic Inquiries in your Acumatica system, contact CAL Business Solutions at 860-485-0910 x4 or sales@calszone.com.
