Using the Report Browser to organize and manage reports

Using the Report Browser to organize and manage reports

Summary

The Report Browser in the Manager portal lets you run reports, as well as browse and search for existing reports available to you. In addition, you can create new reports and share them with other users who have access to a Manager portal..

The Report Browser also allows you to re-organize reports within categories you define.

Basic Concepts

OverviewThe Report Browser is divided into two sections the left panel displays a search box for finding reports based on keywords, their name, title, or description (see red box below - Search for Reports), and report categories (see green box below). The right panel of the Report Browser at first lists all reports available to you, and then shows you those reports that match your search or are in the category you select.

Creating New Reports and Categories

How to create a new report:

1. Click the () icon to create a New Report.

2. At the dialog, fill out the relevant information: the type of data included in the report, a name, title, and description, and the Personal category to assign the report. The name should not have embedded spaces or special characters. The title will appear in the report header.

3. Click OK to create the report.

How to create a new category:

1. Click the () icon to create a New Category.

2. At the Add/Edit Category dialog, add either a Standard, Shared, or Personal Category, depending on your privileges. These three types of categories are discussed below.

3. Click OK to create the category (or edit the pre-existing category).

Report Categories Standard, Shared, and Personal Types

Report are grouped into Categories to simplify finding the report your want. Shortcuts to the same report can appear under more than one category. Each report category is of one of the following types:

Standard () Reports created by application developers for the use of work managers, and are accessible to all work managers of an application. The categories for Standard reports are pre-defined.

Shared () Reports created to share with other users. They are accessible by the user who created them and by others with the same access privileges as the users who created them. They only appear in report search results for these users. The categories for Shared reports are defined by users.

Personal () Reports created by you for your own personal use and are accessible within the Report Browser only by you.They only appear in report search results for you.

The number of reports in a category is displayed in parentheses following the category name. In the example below, categories exist for Standard, Shared, and Personal reports, but only the Standard Report categories are populated with reports.

Shortcuts

Clicking a category displays a list of shortcuts to reports in that category. Each shortcut displays the title, name, and description of the report, plus the type or class of data for which the report is defined.

In the example below, all the reports are Standard reports. Clicking the Work Management link will display only reports in that category. To display all available reports, click the magnifying glass () with no search text.

Each report can be assigned to multiple categories, so you may see several shortcuts to the same report. You can drag and drop any shortcut to a report into one of your Personal report categories. You can also drag and drop a shortcut to any of your Personal reports to a Shared report category to share it with others.

Right-clicking a report shortcut also lets you:

Delete the shortcut (if it is one of your own personal shortcuts).

Copy the shortcut to a different category any Personal or Shared category.

Edit the shortcut, changing its title or description.

Search

Use the search box in the left-hand panel above the report categories to find reports by entering text and clicking the magnifying glass () under Find Reports. Search is limited to the names, titles, and descriptions of reports to which you have access.

In the image below, a search for the keyword "effort" yields all reports you have access to with the word "effort" in the title and/or description. To display all available reports, click the the magnifying glass () with no search text.

For V5 Reports

V5 reports (base on List View and Summary View rules) open in the V5 report viewer, not the V6 Report Viewer described here. The V5 report viewer provides only limited user interaction capability and no ability to save or share reports.

Using the Report Viewer to define and evolve simple reports

Summary

When you run a Report Definition report from the Report Browser of the Manager portal, results appear in a separate window called the Report Viewer. You can also access the Report Viewer from the Report Definition rule form.

The Report Viewer offers many options for manipulating the displayed report, such as Printing it, Exporting it to Excel, and so on.

The Report Viewer also provides intelligent drill-down and drill-up behavior and offers almost all the functionality from the Design tab of the Report Definition rule form to re-design the report.

Using the Report Viewer, you can:

Change the report title.

Modify filter criteria.

Change column headings, format, and sorting.

Change order of columns.

Add columns.

Save changes to original report, or save changes as a new report.

The Report Viewer features discussed here are available only for reports produced from Report Definition rules in V6.1+. Reports defined in earlier versions are displayed in an earlier version of the Report Viewer, which provides more limited user interactions.

For an overview of V5.X reports, see How to create a report (V5).

Suggested Approach

The Report Viewer is comprised of several key areas which allow for data and display manipulation.

The sample Report Viewer below displays a report on Purchase Orders by Operator Name, including Create Date and Time, Work ID and Work status.

Command Bar and Search

At the top of the window is a Command bar. It features several icons that provide basic commands for manipulating the report.

Using the Command Bar iconsThe Command Bar icons include:

Save: If this is a report that you have created, this command lets you save your changes, which overwrite and replace the previous report definition rule.

Save As: This command lets you save this report, with any changes you have made, as a new Personal report.

Print: Prints the report.

Edit Columns to Include: Provides a global view of the design of the report, and lets you change which columns are included, column order, and all of the column settings listed below.

Append Column: Lets you add a new column to the report. The new column appears as the right-most column.

In the example, the .pyResolvedTime property is appended to the report.

The Resolution TimeStamp column appears at the end of the report, following Work Status.

Edit Report Title: Lets you change the report title.

Add or Edit Chart: Lets you add a chart to the report, or modify the design of an existing chart on the report.

Export to Excel: Exports the data of the report into an Excel workbook.

Export to PDF: Exports the formatted report into a PDF document.

How to Search in the Report ViewerThe Commander Bar also includes a Search box at the upper right. Search from the Report Viewer allows for quick searching of the currently open report.

To perform a search:

Type any text into this box and press Enter or click the Search icon (). Search finds the first occurrence of the text in the body of the report, highlights it, and the cursor moves to that position in the report.

Click the Search icon () again without changing the text moves to the next occurrence of the text within the report, and so on.

Report Header

The report header displays the title of the report, the count of rows displayed in the report, and the filter conditions that determine which rows are included.

The filter conditions (Filters) are displayed as a hyperlink. Click to open the Rows to Include dialog (below). This lets you change the conditions that describe which rows of data to include in the report. This provides the same functionality as the Design tab of the report definition rule form.

Column Heading

At the top of each column is a column heading that describes the information in the column.

Click the column heading to sort the report based on the values in that column.

Click repeatedly on the column heading to change the sorting from ascending (), or descending () order.

Settings on the User Interactions tab

It is also possible to set or restrict many of the Report Viewer capabilities from the User Interactions tab in the Report Definition rule form. Some of the capabilities include: Save, Save As, Print, Edit Columns to Include, Append Column, Edit Report Title, Add or Edit Chart, Export to Excel, and Export to PDF.

Report Definition rules - Beyond the basics

Report definition rules provide power, flexibility, and ease-of-use for report designers and report users, these rules are intuitive, provide an all-in-one-page design interface, intelligent defaulting and pre-defined reusable report elements.

Use a report definition rule to define a report or a personal version of a report. This rule generates HTML that displays selected data in many types of formats, and allows a wide variety of user interactions with the displayed results.

Because the report definition rule is a unified type for all reports, business users can more easily create and organize their own reports.

Suggested Approach

What are Report Definition reports?

Report definition rules are similar to two other types of report rules: list view and summary view. Report definition rules, introduced in V6.1, provide much of the functionality of these earlier rule types, plus new features, and are easier to define than the list view and summary view rules.

Summarized reports similar to Summary View rulesThese reports contain two types of columns. At least one of the columns in the report must be a summarized column. A summarized column contains data that uses one of the following built-in functions: COUNT(), SUM(), AVG(), MIN(), and MAX().

All non-summarized columns on the report are considered "group by" columns. The summarized data is grouped by, or broken down by, display counts of class instances (or record counts) or summarized values based on numeric properties.

In the example below, the summarized data are the number of Purchase Orders per Operator. The information is displayed as a bar chart.

List-type Reports similar to List View rules

These types of reports display unsummarized or detailed data for individual work objects or class instances.

How to Complete the Rule form to create a new Report Definition

Create a new Report Definition rule using the following steps:

1. Use the New dialog box to enter a name for the report that meaningfully describes the purpose of the report.

2. Complete the Design tab (below) to:

Define which properties, functions, or expressions are to be included as columns in the report, and the settings that control how each column appears (heading, width, format, sort order, and so on.) You can define these by entering the appropriate values in the fields below, within the Columns to Include section.Note: You can only show properties that correspond to exposed database columns.

Define filtering conditions in the Rows to Include section. These define which class instances are to be included as rows in the report or in summarized data. The Rows to Include section operates similarly to the criteria section on the List View form.

Define general settings to control the appearance of the report under General Report Settings.

Click Include a Chart and then complete the Chart Definition dialog to add and configure a chart display of the reports data within the Report Viewer. This can only be done for Summarized reports.

At any time while completing this tab, you may click Save & Preview to save the current report definition and display the results in the Report Viewer.

3. Complete the Data Access tab to define joins to other classes, declarative indices, and/or reports.

4. Complete the User Interactions tab to control how users can interact with the report within the Report Viewer, such as:

Whether users can modify the report, print it, export it to Excel, and so on.

Whether SmartInfo icons appear on each row of detailed reports, to display additional information about each row.

5. Complete the Parameters tab to document the name, description, and data type of parameters used in the Report Definition rule.

6. Enter a Full Description on the History tab which explains the report in more detail.

7. Click () to Save the rule or the Save & Preview button to save and preview the rule in the Report Viewer.

Tips and Features

AutoComplete is available when defining properties in the Design tab.

AutoComplete replaces SmartPrompt in rule form and Report Viewer.

AutoComplete shows matches on name or label.

Best Bets are properties used in other reports.

Matches can include properties in other classes.

Click Save & Preview at any time to save the rule and run it in the Report Viewer. You can edit settings from the Design tab in the Report Viewer as well (you do not need to close the Viewer and return to the Design tab).