Advanced Search with Custom Reports Brandywine School District Data Service Center www.dataservice.org 478-8957 October, 2004
Table of Contents Advanced Search... 3 Customizing the Criteria... 4 Customizing the List Fields... 5 Customized Reports... 6 Examples to Try...7-2 -
Advanced Search The Advanced Search feature of eschoolplus can be used to search for specific students based on criteria that you define. When performing a default Advanced Search, a listing of students containing the following fields will be generated: Student Name, Student ID, Building, Grade, Gender, House/Team and Counselor. Once an Advanced Search has been performed, there is an option in which you can generate a Custom Report. Custom Advanced Searches allow you to generate custom reports/lists in which you define the fields to be included. You can also save these searches and use them at anytime. Reports generated using the Custom Advanced Search facility in eschoolplus allow you to sort on the fields you have chosen and can be saved as PDF files (Acrobat Reader) or Excel files. Creating a Custom Advanced Search To access Custom Advanced Search, perform the following steps: Click on the Student Center folder from the Centers area of the eschoolplus Homepage Click on Search; the Student Search page will appear Click on the Advanced Search tab, the following will appear - 3 -
Customizing the Criteria Advanced Search allows you to search for a student based on an area, field name, condition and value using the Custom Search Criteria section of the screen. For each item of this area, except for the Value column, you will select choices from drop down menus. In order to use the advanced search feature effectively, you will need to know which area the data you are interested in is located such as Demographics, Academic, Contacts, etc. Another tip for using the Advanced Search effectively is to know the value of the field on which you are searching. There are 4 parts of each criteria line that must be filled out to accomplish a specific search. Note: eschoolplus remembers the criteria you used the last time you did a search. Therefore, if you are generating a list and it does not contain the information you expect, go to the Advanced Search tab and click on the Clear Criteria button to start a new Advanced Search. Try the following example: To find all active 10th grade students whose last name starts with W, you will enter the following in the Custom Search Criteria section of the Advanced Search screen. And/Or Area Field Name Condition Value Demographic Current Status = (equals) A And Demographic Grade = (equals) 10 And Demographic Last Name Starts With W A list of students with matching criteria will be returned to you. For more practice with Advanced Search, try the following examples. Remember to click the Clear Criteria button before starting a new example. Example 1: Find all active females in 9th (high schools), 8th (middle schools) or 3rd (elementary schools) for your building. Example 2: Find all active students in your school whose last name contains smi. - 4 -
Customizing the List Fields The List Field Display Selection of the Advanced Search is located toward the bottom of the Advanced Search screen. The List Field Display Selection area allows you to either use the default fields or define custom fields. The default fields are: Student Name, Student ID, Building, Grade, Gender, House/Team and Counselor. The custom fields are those you define plus the Student Name and Student ID. In defining fields, first click on the radio button next to Custom. Upon doing this you will see a section open up where you can select an Area (from a dropdown selection) which will then allow you to select a Field. The Areas option contains items such as, Demographic, Academic, Student/Contact Relationship, etc. Within each Area there are specific data Fields which pertain to students, teachers or buildings. After working with this function for a while you will become familiar with the Fields and in which Area they are located. To create a student list that includes the Student name, Student ID, Homeroom, Grade and Ethnic code for each student, perform the following steps: Note: When performing any Advanced Search, you will select your search criteria first. After the Custom button has been selected, click on the down arrow to select the Area from the List Field Display Selection area of the screen Click on Demographic Click on the down arrow to select a Field Name Click on Homeroom Primary Click on the down arrow to select the next Area - Demographic Click on the down arrow to select the next Field - Grade Click on the down arrow to select the next Area - Personal Click on the down arrow to select the next Field - Ethnic Code Click on the Search button located at the top or bottom of the Advanced Search screen The Custom List that you created will appear on the screen. Notice that each name on the list is a link that, when clicked, will take you to the Student Summary screen. At this point, if the report is not exactly what you need, click the Search button to return to the Student Search screen. From there, go to Advanced Search area, modify your fields, and click search again. Saving the Custom Advanced Search If you feel that this search is something you will do often, you can save it as a Favorite on the Student Search screen. To do this, enter a report name in the Custom Search Name field located at the top of the Advanced Search screen then click the Search button and your search is saved. Once saved, you can go back to this custom search any time you want without having to select the fields or the criteria again. - 5 -
Customized Reports Creating a Custom Report Once you obtain the desired search results, you can generate a Report by performing the following steps: Click on the Report button, this will take you to the Student List Report screen Click on the radio button for either PDF File (Acrobat Reader) or Excel File on the Report Options section of the screen The next section is the Sort and Break Setup section. The default is for reports to sort on Student ID. However, in this section you can define on which field(s) you would like the report to be sorted. You can also select whether you want it sorted ascending or descending and if you want the report to insert a page break based on the selected field. For this example, choose the following: Select Table - Personal Select Column - Ethnic Code Select Sort Order - Ascending Click in the Break box Click the Run button Note: Once the report is run, the Sort and Break options you select will be reset to the default setting which is blank. Once you click on the Run Button and the report is generated, eschoolplus will automatically return to your HomePage. The new report will be listed under the My Reports section of the HomePage. Click on the report to view it as either a PDF or Excel file. The reports generated from the Custom Advanced Search option will appear in the My Reports area using the same name - Student List. The date and time of creation will be different, however. Your reports will reside in this section until you mark them for deletion and click the Delete button. Note: If you have created an Excel file, you can either right click and open in a new window to save as an excel file on your hard drive or open it and copy and paste the information into the Excel application as all of its functions will not be available through the eschoolplus Excel interface. - 6 -
For additional practice with Custom Reports, try the following examples: Example 1: Customize a report that includes the student's Grade, Birthdate and Homeroom, sorting on birthdate. Try refining your custom report by defining search criteria which selects students with birthdays within a specified month. Hint: In the Custom Search Criteria area, select the following: Area - Demographics; Field name - Birthdate; Condition - is in month of; Value - 09 (September) Example 2: Customize a report that shows all students with their Gender and Ethnic Code, sorting and breaking on Ethnic Code. Try refining your custom report by defining, search criteria which selects only those students with an Ethnic Code of Hispanic (4). The Custom Reports feature, allows you to create a multitude of specialized reports. Custom Reports, as well as any other feature of eschoolplus, is fully supported by DSC. If you have any questions please feel free to contact DSC Support at 478-8957. - 7 -