A summary table presents aggregate or summary information in a report, providing users with a concise view of the data at a glance. The aggregate information displayed in a summary table is typically displayed in the table header or footer, or the group or section header or footer in a detail BIRT report. A summary table is particularly useful when a user needs to work with large volumes of data, because the calculations are made at the data source level, making only the computed data visible to the user. Report developers can create a summary table using Actuate BIRT Studio or BIRT dashboards by simply selecting the relevant data fields in the correct order, and inserting them into the report design. A summary‑table report can provide users with information such as sales by territory, or sales by employee, or sales by employee, by territory.

Although hiding details for a group in a detail table can achieve the same presentation of aggregate information as a summary table, improved performance and reduced server load are a few unique benefits of using a summary table over hiding the details in a detail table.

You can use Interactive Viewer to edit and format data in a summary table, organize data columns, create filters for column data, and save a modified summary table. In addition, you can use both viewers to export a summary table, export data in a summary table to supported flat file formats, display a table of contents, and print a summary table.