Creating a List Report A list report shows selected student or other data in a row and column format with optional sorts and page breaks. To create a list report, follow the steps below. Please note that you need sufficient access privileges to create a list report; otherwise the option will not appear on your screen. Chapter 2 Step 1: Log in and select Standard Reports from the Reports menu. If this option does not appear, you do not have the necessary access privileges. Step 2: Click New List Report. 8
Step 3: Enter a unique name for the report that ideally makes it clear what information will be presented in the report. Step 5: By default, the report focuses on students. You can change it to focus on staff, locations, etc. Step 4: Depending on your security privileges, you could have the option of creating a public report and/or a private report. When creating a new public report, you can select an existing category for the new report, or you can create a new category by selecting (new category) (see the notes below). The judicious use of report categories can make reports much easier to find. FYI About Report Ownership: Depending on your access privileges, you could have the option to create a private and/or public report. Private reports can only be viewed by their creator/owner. If you elect to create a public report, you will be prompted to specify which security groups can access that report. FYI About Report Categories: When creating a public report, the report can optionally be placed into a category (e.g. NCLB Reports ). Categories are used to organize public reports into groups making them easier to find for users. Reports that are not placed into a specific category are displayed in a generic category such as Student List Reports. FYI About Report Categories: When creating a public report, the report can optionally be placed into a category (e.g. NCLB Reports ). Categories are used to organize public reports into groups making them easier to find for users. Reports that are not placed into a specific category are displayed in a generic category such as Student List Reports. 9
FYI About Selection Criteria: To specify the selection criteria that determines what data will appear in the report, you will prepare a formula. Formulas are one of the most powerful features of PowerSchool Special Education, but can be challenging to enter manually from scratch. Therefore several forms of assistance are available that vary in simplicity and power: Quick Formula: The Quick Formula link is the easiest to use and is very useful to prepare a more simple formula or to prepare a first cut of a formula that might be expanded in complexity later. This is the approach that is illustrated in the procedure that follows below. Because this feature is so simple, it cannot be used to edit existing formulas or prepare formulas that contain nested logic. Formula Builder: The Formula Builder is good for editing existing formulas, or for preparing more complex criteria that have nested logic. The Formula Builder is described in the Error! Reference source not found. section on page Error! Bookmark not defined.. Step 6: Next you will prepare a formula that selects the overall set of student or other profiles that will appear in the report. To get help preparing the formula, you can click either the Quick Formula link or the Formula Builder button. The Quick Formula link is the easiest to use and is very useful to prepare a simple formula or to prepare a first cut of a formula that can be expanded in complexity later. In this example, we will illustrate Quick Formula. The Formula Builder is described in the Error! Reference source not found. section on page Error! Bookmark not defined.. 10
Step 7: The Quick Formula feature is based on the assumption that you are familiar with the quick search form and/or the other data forms for the student or other information you are reporting. By default, the quick search form is selected. If the fields you are interested in are not on the quick search form, you can use this drop down menu to select another form. This example involves selecting students in seventh or eighth grade. Since Grade is on the quick search form, we can leave the quick search form selected. Step 8: In this example, we want to select both seventh and eighth grade. To select multiple items, go to the bottom of the dropdown menu and choose (Select Multiple ). 11
Step 9: The dropdown menu changes to a list box so that you can select multiple items. If you are using Windows, your browser requires that you hold down the Ctrl key while clicking to select multiple items. If you are using Apple Mac, use the Command key instead. Step 10: Now go to the next field that you want to include in the selection criteria. If the field is not on the currently displayed form, click the Update Formula From Form first and then switch forms. 12
Step 11: Whenever you click Update Formula from Form, the formula you see at the top will be updated to match your field selections. When you are done, click Update and Accept Formula to save the formula. FYI: The formula created with the formula builder appears in the text box. Step 14: Click Accept to continue. Step 13: Depending on the type of information being reported, other options may appear here that allow you to restrict the selection further. 13
FYI: After reviewing the students that appear in the report, you might decide to modify the selection formula. Click the edit (pencil) icon here to edit the formula. Step 15: The report appears with a default set of columns. You can insert additional column(s) by clicking the insert (plus arrow) icon at the position where you want to insert the column(s). Step 16: Click Select Field to select the field to be shown in the new column. 14
Step 17: This popup screen allows you to find a field based on your familiarity with profile forms. Just select the form containing the desired field from the dropdown in the tool bar and click the field. Alternatively, if you click Use List in the toolbar, you will access a search feature that allows you to search for a field by name, data type, and/or other characteristics of the field. FYI: You can optionally click More Options to access more advanced formatting options for the column. Step 18: Specify the title that will appear at the top of the column. Step 19: Click the green Accept button to add the column and return to the report, or click Accept and Add Again to add additional column(s). 15
FYI: The new column appears where you inserted it. Step 20: By default, the report rows are sorted by name. You can specify additional sort values by clicking the edit (pencil) icon here. About Sort Fields: You can specify up to three sort fields. Sorting by name is implicit; therefore do not explicitly specify Name as a sort field. Step 21: Click the Select Field button to select a sort field. 16
Step 22: If the sort field has a limited number of possible values, you may want to specify a page break so that each sort value appears on a new page. You can also specify a descending sort. FYI: You can specify a second or third sort field, or you can leave them blank. Step 23: Click Accept to save the changes. Step 24: Scroll through the report and see how the sort has been applied. If you specified a page break, you will notice that the report now has a separate section for each value of the sort field(s) and a sub-total for each section. 17
Step 25: By default, the report page header is the same as the name of the report. If you specified a sort with a page break, you can modify the header to show the sort values. Click the edit (pencil) icon next to the header to edit it. Step 26: Click the Insert Sort Level button to insert a placeholder for the sort value into the report header. The placeholder takes the form of {S1}, {S2} or {S3}. Click Accept to save the change. 18
Step 27: When a public list report is ready for end users, you will want to enable one or more security groups to access the report. Click Security here. FYI: The header for each section of the report now shows the corresponding sort value. Step 28: Select the security groups that should be able to access the report and click Accept. 19
Step 29: Click Finish Editing Report. 20
List Report Calendar View: List reports with date or date/time columns can be enabled to allow the list report to be viewed with a calendar format. To enable the calendar view for a list report, make sure you are in edit mode and click Report Properties. Enable the Allow Display Report as Calendar checkbox and accept the change. Switch out of editing mode. A dropdown menu appears that allows one to view the report as a calendar. Each row of the list report becomes an item on the calendar, and one can select any month for which such items exist. Colorizing Rows: You can colorize rows in your list report by adding a special color column that computes the desired color for each row. To add the color column, make sure you are in edit mode and then select Add Row Colorization Column from the More dropdown menu. As shown below, a popup will appear with pre-populated information for the color column. Notice that the column title is pre-populated as @COLOR. The color column must have that title to be recognized as the color column. You will need to modify the column value formula to specify the colors. As an example, if the report lists students of various grades, and you wish to show first graders in orange, second graders in yellow and any other grades in blue, the formula would be SELECTCASE( Grade=01:'orange', Grade=-2:'yellow':'blue'). When in edit mode, the @COLOR column data will be visible, but when you leave edit mode, the color column will be hidden. 21
About allowing a public list report to be subscribed and shown as data directly on a user s home page: When subscribing to a public list report, a user will be able to show it directly on their home page, but only if the option that allows this is enabled in Report Properties as shown below. FYI: This option in Report Properties controls whether an end user can show the report directly on their home page when subscribing to the report. 22