Reports Wizard
The Reports and Charts wizard contains different tabs depending on the report format. Initially, only the General and Type tabs are visible, but after selecting the report output, the relevant wizard tabs appear.
General
The General tab is where you name your chart/report, select which table or subtable it applies to, give it a description, and select the output format. Multiple output formats are available; the format you select determines the tabs that open once the Type has been selected. For more information, see: Report Outputs and Types.
The following tabs are specific to each selected format type:
- Graphical charts - Chart Type, X Axis, Y Axis, Reports Wizard
- HTML - Report Template
- Excel - Customize Excel
- Custom Summary Report - Custom Summary
Type
The Type tab defines the type of chart/report being created. For more information, see: Report Types.
Chart Type
For graphical charts, the Chart Type tab enables you to select the visual output, such as a pie chart or a segmented line chart. See: Graphical Charts.
Chart types include:
- Multiple Axes Chart
- Column Bar Chart
- Segmented Column Bar Chart
- Line Chart
- Segmented Line Chart
- Pie Chart
- Multiple Pies Chart
- Funnel Chart
- Multiple Gauges Chart
X and Y Axis
For graphical charts, these tabs control what is shown on the X (horizontal) and Y (vertical) axes of the report. The X axis determines the first level of grouping if there is an associated report, and the Y axis determines the second level.
The X Axis options include the field to report on, and the sorting and ordering options for the grouping of data.
The Y Axis options include the options to segment the X axis by, whether to use a custom label, and whether to display the segments by number or as a percentage of the total in that segment.
There are four ways to segment the vertical axis:
- By the number of records in the table
- As a function of a selected field - for example, the Maximum of Field A records
- As a computation between two fields - for example, the Average obtained by adding Field A to Field B
- As a formula
Filter
Reports can optionally be configured to show records filtered based on custom criteria or pertaining to data created or modified within a selected date range.
Date ranges can be either of two options:
- A relative time period - for example, the date of the earliest record from a month ago, until today
- An absolute date period - for example, 20 January 2015 - 15 March 2017
In addition, you must select the field to base the date range on, or base it on the History field; and which records to display from the date range selected.
You can also apply a saved search filter to the report, and select whether the report should display current data, or historic data that was in place at the time when the filter criteria were met.
Formatting
Formatting options are used to customize the look and feel of graphical charts, including:
- Three dimensional effects
- Whether to display numeric values
- Legend
- Title
- Generation date
- Size of the chart
Grouping/Summary
Summary - Reports can include an overall summary, displayed at the beginning of the report. They can also include any number of groupings and each grouping may have an optional summary displayed on a separate line above the grouping.
- Click New or edit a summary to open the Summary screen, where you can create a summary function. Summary options are similar to those in the Y Axis.
Groupings - a grouping allows you to see a particular aspect of the data included in the report. For example, you might want to group the records based on their Priority and calculate the average cost for each set of data with a certain Priority. This data can also be included with the summary information for the whole report.
- Click New or edit a grouping to open the Grouping Chart Data wizard. Here you can create custom groupings, similarly to those for the X Axis. In the Grouping tab, define a field to group the data by and optionally create a summary to display on top of the grouping, and select whether to add a page break before each new group. In the Sorting tab, define the order to sort the grouped data by, and whether to show the results in ascending or descending order.
Customize Excel
Excel reports can be customized by creating an Excel template in your knowledgebase. Customization can include elements like pivot tables and custom charts. For more information, see: Excel Reports.
- Click Formula Help to open the Formula wizard and see an overview of all formulas that can be inserted into your Excel report.
Report Template
The Report Template tab contains an HTML editor, where you can customize HTML reports. Use the WYSIWYG editor or edit the source HTML to control the appearance, colors, and formatting of HTML reports.
Custom Summary
For more information, see Summary Reports.
Schedule
The Schedule tab enables you to set a schedule for the system running the report. This should be managed to avoid overloading the system during peak hours. For more information, see Scheduling.
- Reports/charts can be run at a specified frequency and time, and either distributed by email or written to disk.
Preview
The Preview tab allows you to see all versions of the current chart or report configuration, either for the current user or another specified user. Each report/chart output will display in a separate tab when you click Preview.
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