Crosstab Reporting. FMUG April 4, 2008

Transcription

1 Crosstab Reporting FMUG April 4, 2008

2 Reporting in FileMaker Both Data Entry and Reporting use FileMaker s Layout feature, so it can confusing sometimes to distinguish between the two. But reports are: Not so interactive: when the report is generated, you re not going to edit its final contents. You re probably going to print it. If you do any data entry in a report, it s for the purpose of assembling the desired data, not updating any of the records Reports range from basic information to analysis tools: List all records Record sub-sets Do a Find, and view record list Grouped data (aggregate data) Summary report Crosstab

3 List Reports May have no formatting at all Useful for inspecting small datasets May be simply formatted Staff List May have special formatting Mailing labels

4 Data Subsets Still a list, with exactly the same data, but now: By virtue of doing the Find, the dataset itself has meaning separate from the included fields, based on the Find parameter

5 Grouping Data Summary Reports Are native to FileMaker Easy to create Layout wizard to walk you through Combine grouping and optional listing Usually involve group subtotals and grand totals Can include lists within the groups

6 Aggregate Data Just grouping No body parts No individual record data Used for analysis and evaluation more than direct operation support

7 Crosstab Reporting All aggregate data Subtotals by two pre-defined variables Statistic, not atomic Laid out more like a spreadsheet than a list One variable broken out in columns; the other in rows Group totals or counts appear in the intersection of the columns and rows

8 Crosstab Example

9 How to build a Crosstab Report Crosstab reporting is not native to FileMaker There is no wizard in Layout mode Determine which variables you wish to report on Should be attributes where values will cluster for subtotaling e.g., department, cost object NOT attributes that will have mostly unshared values like name Not attributes that will only have one or two records in each category You will need to define 2 additional fields for each of your column variable values Choose your column variable based on fewer possible values and the likelihood that those values can be known and will persist e.g., month, student year, fiscal quarter *See FileMaker Training Series, Module 7: Reporting

10 Before you start Determine if there are any oddball values for your column categories Create and run a summary report that will group on your column variable Identify any unexpected groupings and decide how you want to handle them

11 Your Column Fields Create a calculation field for each of the possible values for your column field You want to capture a count or total for every record that would fall into this category e.g., Undergrad Student Year would result in 4 calculation fields, one each for first year, sophomore, junior, senior example Senior field definition» Case (STUDENT_YEAR = "4" ;"Y" ; "" ) Make sure a value appears in the appropriate calculation for each record Create summary fields that counts or totals all the values for each of the calculation fields

12 Create Your Layout Sub-summary part, sorting on row variable Trailing grand summary Column summary fields by row value Grand total summary fields by column Total summary field counts/totals all records in each row Grand total summary field counts/totals all records in found set

13 Create your script

14 When Using This Technique You will be creating 2 new fields for each column value You should use column variables with known, fixed values Be aware of missing records in your report Values that don t fall into the known column categories Records with no values in that field You MUST do something with these records

15 Another Approach Instead of a separate calc for each column category you can use one repeating field that will have as many repetitions as possible values Field definition example: Case (Get (CalculationRepetitionNumber ) = Extend(STUDENT_YEAR);1) Then you create a summary field that summarizes the repetitions individually This field, displaying all its repetitions goes on the summary layout in the sub-summary part with the break field * This technique courtesy of Mikhail Edoshin

16 Field Definitions

17 Repeating Field Crosstab Sub-summary part, sorting on Course Trailing grand summary Repeating summary field Total summary field counts/totals all records in row

18 Resources FileMaker Training Series: Repeating Field Technique: Creating Summary Reports: