Reporter Tutorial: The Basics Refer to the following sections for guidance on using the Reporter: Lesson 1: Overview and Finding Reports Lesson 2: Create Tutorial Training Report and Report Group Lesson 3: Run Report and Set Report Criteria Lesson 4: Report Setup Field List Lesson 5: Report Setup Sort and Group Lesson 6: Report Setup Chart Definition Lesson 7: Basic Reporting Tips This tutorial provides step by step instructions for using the most common features available in the Reporter, building skills as the lessons progress. A single report is used for the lessons. You can use any section independently (such as going straight to Lesson 6 to learn how to set up a chart), but you may need to improvise with your own report as the starting point. For complete reference information on the Maintenance Connection Reporter, refer to the Online Reporter Guide available from the Help Menu. The following additional Reporter Tutorials are available from MC User Connect: Reporter Tutorial Intermediate: Conditional Formatting, Modify Report Criteria Options, Smart Report Popups, Smart Criteria, and Scheduling Reports. Reporter Tutorial Advanced: Custom Expressions, Modify Fixed Criteria, Editable Smart Reports, Custom Group Headers, and Summary Reports. Reporter Tutorial Pivot Reports: Instructions for creating Pivot Reports, an easy to use method for presenting aggregated or summary data. 1 P age
Lesson 1: Overview and Finding Reports The Maintenance Connection Reporter includes over 300 standard reports for your use. These reports can be copied and configured to match your organization s unique needs. This lesson will introduce you to the types of reports available, provide an overview of the two main components of the Reporter (Report Criteria and Report Setup), and show you how to find reports using the Report Lookup. Report Types The Reporter includes several types of reports as described below: List/Detail Reports: These types of reports list records, often grouped with totals at the group level. This tutorial will focus on creating list reports, including the preparation of an accompanying chart. Summary/Pivot Reports: Summary Reports perform calculations such as counts, sums, and averages. A common summary report you can create is called a pivot report, which allows for dynamic aggregations of data along two dimensions. Data can be aggregated by field values such as shop and status, or even by date aggregations such as months, quarters, or days of the week. Instructions for creating summary reports can be found in the following tutorials: Reporter Tutorial Advanced and Reporter Tutorial Pivot Reports. 2 P age
Custom Formatted Reports: Maintenance Connection also includes custom formatted reports that are coded outside of the MC Reporter. In these types of reports, such as the printed Work Order Report, the layout cannot be modified using Report Setup options. When a custom report is selected and run, there is no Setup option available from the Report Preview toolbar. Report Components: Criteria and Setup It is helpful to understand the two main components of reports: Report Criteria and Report Setup: Report Criteria determines WHICH records will be included in your report: Report criteria determines the rows displayed in detail/list reports. If no criteria is defined all records will be displayed in the report! You build your criteria until the desired result set is defined. The more criteria you define, the more filtered your results will be (less records returned). 3 P age
Report Setup determines WHAT data/columns will be displayed (report presentation): Fields/columns to display Layout and formatting Sorting and grouping Charts/KPI Definition Find Reports Using the Report Lookup To access the Reporter, select the Reports icon from the toolbar: The Report Lookup will display, listing reports for the module currently accessed (Open Work Order Reports will be displayed by default the first time the Reporter is accessed during a login session). The Report Group folders on the left organize the display of available reports. Selecting a Report Group folder will open that group, refreshing the contents of the Report List on the right with reports from that group. 4 P age
The icons to the left of the report names, which display a tooltip when your mouse is placed over them, indicate the type of report. Refer to the Reporter Guide for a complete legend of these icons. At the top of the Report Lookup are filter and search controls to assist in locating specific reports. In addition to filtering reports by Repair Center, you can filter by Report Type (e.g., Base Reports that came with the system, or Copied Reports that were tailored for your use). The Search By controls on the right allow you to search for reports by name. As with all MC searches, you can use the % wildcard to search for a report with the specified value anywhere in the report name. In the following example, the system would return all reports with list anywhere in the report name: The Report List can initially appear overwhelming, as there are so many reports from which to choose! Keep in mind, however, that there are many similar reports included in the list. For example, there are many list and count reports. Using the above example, you can see that there are a number of list reports, with different groupings and sorts. If you wanted to create/copy a work order list report, any one of these reports would most likely serve your purpose: The following search strings are helpful to filter to particular types of reports in the Work Order Module: Search Expression %list %count %cost %assignment %labor %material Report Descriptions Work Order Lists, grouped by priority, type, shop, etc. Work Order Count reports, providing total work order counts by priority, shop, problem, etc. Work Order cost reports, summarizing work order costs specified on completed work orders. Work Order assignment reports. Work Order labor reports, summarizing estimated and actual labor costs. Work Order material reports, summarizing estimated and actual material/part costs. Now that we have provided an overview of the Reporter, let s dive in and create a report! 5 P age
Lesson 2 Create Tutorial Training Report and Report Group While you can modify and run any report included in the Reporter, it is wise to create a copy to work with, so that the base reports remain as originally defined. This is especially important during training and initial setup, as many changes are likely to be made. It is also helpful to set up custom report groups to provide quick access to the reports you use most. Create Your Own Tutorial Training Report Let s create a tutorial training report to use so that we do not alter the base reports included with the system: 1. Select the Work Order (Open) Reports folder on the left: 2. The Report List on the right will display all reports currently in the selected Work Order (Open) Reports group/folder. Locate the Open Work Order List and select it. Once it has been selected, click Copy Report: 3. The report will open in the Report Copy window, showing standard options for Report Setup. At the top of the window, enter a name for your report, such as YourName Open Work Orders TEST. It is helpful to put the word TEST (or SAMPLE) in reports used for training, so that they are easily identified later. 6 P age
4. Specify a Repair Center in the Managed By prompt if the report should only be viewable by a particular Repair Center. To make the report viewable by all, select All Repair Centers. The logged in user s Repair Center will be shown by default. 5. Click Apply when you are finished and you will return to the Report Lookup. The new report is likely to display by default, depending on what it was named and the Managed By Repair Center to which it was associated. If your new report does not display by default, modify the filters at the top or page through the Report List to locate it. Create and Manage Custom Report Groups Custom Report Groups allow you to organize your reports for quicker access and provide a defined subset of available reports for particular groups. For example, a Technician report group could be created that included reports such as My Open Assignments and My PM Assignments for This Month, without providing technicians with access to the complete set of Work Order Reports in use at your organization. Let s ensure that there is a Custom Report Group set up for use at your organization and place our new report in that group for easy access. 1. Ensure you are viewing the Report Lookup. 2. Click the Custom Groups tab to the left of the Report List. If custom groups have not been set up for your organization, some defaults may display (e.g., John s Reports): 3. To create a new group for your organization, right click on the first Custom Group displayed, and select New Report Group: 7 P age
4. Enter a desired Report Group ID and Report Group Name for your Report Group. Only the Report Group Name will show in the Report Lookup. In the following example, XYZ Maintenance Reports will display as the Report Group. 5. You must select an initial report to be included in this Report Group. Locate the report you just created, select it, and click the right arrow to move it into the Reports Assigned To Group Box: 6. Click Apply to return to the Report Lookup. 7. Your new Custom Report Group should be listed and available for your use. Tip: Once a report group has been established, you can add or remove reports from it by right clicking on the folder from the Custom Group Tab and selecting Edit Report Group. You can also add and remove individual reports from the group from the Report Setup window, using the Groups/Custom Groups sub-tab. Now you are ready to run your new report and modify the Report Criteria and Setup as needed. 8 P age
Lesson 3: Run Report and Report Criteria Each time you run a report, you are prompted to review or modify the Report Criteria, specifying the records that will be displayed. The report is then presented in the Report Preview window, allowing you to view, print, or email the displayed report. From the Report Preview window, you can also access/modify the Report Setup and Report Criteria. Run Report To select and run a report in the Report Preview window: 1. Open the Report Lookup and select the Report Group on the left to narrow down the list of reports. If you have Custom Report Groups defined, select the group from the Custom Groups sub-tab to find reports you have placed in this group. With your newly-created Custom Group, the report you created earlier should be quite easy to find! 9 P age
2. Once you have located the desired report, click on it to select it and then click Run Report (or simply double click on the report name): 3. The Report Criteria window will display allowing you to modify the criteria for this report: 4. To run this report without changing any report criteria, you would click Apply, which would open the report in the Report Preview window. To continue with the tutorial, however, we will learn more about modifying/setting the Report Criteria. Define Your Report Criteria Report Criteria, which filters the records that will be included in a report, are specified in the Report Criteria dialog. The Report Criteria dialog appears when you run a report (or click Criteria from the Report Preview window): The list of fields available to create your criteria will vary depending on the type of report. 10 P age
Fixed Criteria listed at the top of the dialog is defined by MC (or you) on the Advanced tab of the Report Setup window. Criteria to limit work order reports to only display open OR closed work orders is specified for most Work Order Reports. Open Work Orders: Closed Work Orders: When fixed criteria are defined, the actual SQL expression is shown. In Maintenance Connection, a bit (or checkbox) field called IsOpen is used to track whether or not a work order is open. The value 0 corresponds to false/no, while 1 corresponds to true/yes. As such, WO.IsOpen=1 means the value for IsOpen is true, returning only open work orders. Note: Users with appropriate permission can modify the fields available in the Report Criteria Window or change the fixed criteria displayed at the top. Each row on the Report Criteria dialog allows you to define an expression that will indicate which records to include (or exclude) on the report. The more expressions that are defined, the more filtered your results will be. For each field listed, prompts are provided to create a logical expression to filter your data. Each expression that is used to define your criteria has three parts. The field on which the expression will be based (Target Date in the above example). The value that the expression must meet (Current Year in the above example). The control that defines the relationship between the field and the value ( is within in the above example). This control can also be thought of as determining how the field will be evaluated. Let s build report criteria for the following: Open Work Orders, Not PM, Not On Hold, Targeted in Current Year 11 P age
1. Since we copied the Open Work Order List, fixed criteria will already be defined and displayed at the top for WO.IsOpen=1, ensuring only open work orders will show on the report. 2. To limit the report to exclude work orders on hold, scroll down to the Status field, select is not for the operator, and On-Hold for the value: The resulting expression will be: 3. Locate the Target Date prompt, select is within for the operator, and Current Year for the value. Note: if you have a lot of data in your system, you can set this to Current Month or Last Month. Note: For more information on the options for date fields, see the Date Range Prompts Section of the User Guide. Also note that if you change the operator to is between, boxes appear for you to enter specific dates: 4. Lastly, scroll to the bottom of the list until you see the prompt for Generated, the field that determines whether or not the work order is a Generated PM. Since we do not want PM Work Orders, select is for the operator, and No for the value: 5. To save the changes made to Report Criteria so that they will be honored each time the report is run, click the Save Criteria Indicator in the lower left of the dialog. 12 P age
6. To apply your changes and run this report, click Apply. 7. Your newly-defined report will display in the Report Preview window. The data that will be displayed will depend on the work orders available from your system that match the defined criteria: 8. Once the report is displayed, we can use the Setup option on the toolbar to refine the layout/presentation. Refer to the Online Reporter Guide for examples of the options available for building report criteria expressions for each data type: Text Fields Date Fields Numeric Fields Indicators (Checkboxes) 13 P age
Lesson 4: Report Setup Field List Once a report is displayed in the Report Preview window, you can click the Setup Icon in the toolbar to access the Report Setup window, from which you can modify many aspects of the report presentation. Note: You can also access Report Setup directly from the Report Lookup, but this method does not allow you to toggle back and forth between Report Preview and Setup as you continue to modify and refine the report. The fields/columns to be displayed on the report are listed at the top of the Report Setup window. When the report is shown in the Report Preview window it will include all fields listed in the Display column on the right, in the order shown. Based on the report we copied for this training session, the following fields should be listed: Note: If this base report has already been modified at your organization, the field list may be different. Feel free to improvise as needed! Let s modify this field list: 1. Let s add the name of the individual making the work order request: To add a field, we must locate it in the Available fields list on the left. The fields that are available will depend on the type of report. For example, for work order reports, fields from the [Asset] and [Work Order] tables will be available. In addition, below the [Asset] fields, you will find fields from the [AssetHierarchy] Table. These are the hierarchical definitions in your tree, as defined for your organization in the Asset Hierarchy Configuration Tool. For example, if your organization s asset tree is organized by Site and Building, these options should be available for you in the list, as well as standard options for asset parent information (the parent location of the specified asset). 14 P age
To select the requester, you must scroll down the Available fields list until you access the [WO] fields, and then scroll alphabetically until you find Requester Name. Click on the Requester Name field to select it, and then click on the right arrow to move the field to the Display fields list (or just double click on the Requester Name field from the Available fields list). The field will move to the Display fields list. 2. Now let s replace the Asset ID field with Asset Name (in our example, we will presume that the Asset Name field is more informative for this report): To remove the AssetID field, select it in the Display fields list on the right and click the left arrow (or just double click on the field name): To add the Asset Name field, scroll back to the [Asset] fields at the top of the Available fields list, select Asset Name and click the right arrow: The Display fields list should now appear as follows: 15 P age
3. To reorder fields, the up/down arrows to the right of the Display fields list are used. Let s move the Asset Name field just above Parent Location. Click on the Asset Name field to select it, and then click the up arrow until the field is displayed as you wish: 4. Use the same process to move the Requester Name field to just after the Work Order # field. Our new Display fields list should look like this: 5. Let s take a look at how our report has changed. Click the Apply Button at the bottom of the dialog to return to the Report Preview window: 16 P age
Lesson 5: Report Setup Sort and Group Let s return to Report Setup to modify the order that records in the report are displayed, as well as any defined report grouping: The Sort/Group tab will be displayed by default. The sort displayed will be dependent on your organization s configuration. Records in the report will be ordered in the sort order specified. For each sort order defined, you can designate whether the sort should be ascending or descending. If the Group checkbox is used, all records of the same type (sort value) will be grouped together. Let s modify the sort definition to ensure the report is grouped by Repair Center and Priority and then further ordered by Target Date: 1. Let s start by clearing out the existing sort definition, so we can specify the desired fields. To clear out all defined sort fields, select the first sort field dropdown control, scroll all the way to the top of the available options and select None. All Sort Fields should then be cleared: 17 P age
2. To ensure total values display at the end of your report, it is beneficial to have your first sort be the highest level of grouping in the system. As such, for the first sort field, let s sort by Repair Center. Click on the Sort 1 dropdown and scroll down to the [WO] Repair Center fields. You will notice there are 4 values available. You can sort by the Repair Center ID or Repair Center Name, and you can also specify whether the sort should be ascending or descending. Let s select Repair Center Name, so we will get an ascending sort on this field: 3. Click on the Sort 2 dropdown and scroll down to the [WO] Priority fields. You can sort by the Priority Code (1,2,3) or Priority Desc (HIGH, NORMAL). Let s select Priority Desc, so we will get an ascending sort on this field: 4. To group records by Repair Center and Priority and ensure there is a total count, let s mark the indicators to Group and Total for both Sort 1 and Sort 2: 5. In the Sort 3 prompt, select the [WO]Target Date field, so that the work orders for each priority will sort by target date, with the oldest due dates at the top. There is no need for a separate grouping by this field, since we only want the records sorted by the date. Your sort definition should appear as follows: 18 P age
6. Click Apply to preview this report as now defined. The Report Preview window will display. Notice in the above example for the Convention Center Repair Center, the work orders are grouped by priority, with a count specified for each group in the footer just below the records for that group. In this example, there was only one open work order with a 1-High Priority, but a higher volume for other levels of priority. 19 P age
Lesson 6: Report Setup Charts Return to Report Setup to define or modify the chart displayed: Charts can be used to enhance the appearance of reports and provide a visual indicator of important data. Charts can summarize the same data that is listed in the report, or can provide a different slice of the same data. For example, a report listing (or counting) work orders by priority could include a pie chart that showed this same count. Alternatively, the chart for the report could show a count of the same work orders by type of problem. To define a chart for a report: 1. From the Report Setup window, click the Charts/KPIs tab and select the Chart sub-tab on which the chart is to be defined (typically Chart 1). 2. Select the type of chart that you wish to have displayed on the report from the Chart Type/Format dropdown. For our report, let s start by creating a Pie Chart that is complementary to our report data, showing the percentage of open work orders of each priority: 3. In the control directly to the right of the Chart Type Dropdown, indicate whether the chart display should be a static Image or Flash. The best option will vary based on chart type and data. Generally, Pie Charts handle more slices/labels as an image, whereas Bar Charts handle this better in flash. Charts displayed as an image also have the additional benefit of allowing you to alter the chart format in the Report Preview window. Let s leave this chart as an Image for now. 20 P age
4. In the Chart Size/Position dropdowns, select the desired size and position. We can leave our example as Large, displaying at the Top: 5. In the Chart By dropdown, specify the field on which chart data will be summarized (the legend or series values). Typically, a text field is used, such as priority, status, or an organizational field such as department or shop. In our example, Priority Desc will be used: 6. In the Chart Function dropdown, specify the mathematical function to be performed on the field specified in Step 5. In our example, this can be left at Count: 7. In the Chart Function For dropdown, numeric fields are listed allowing you to select the field on which the mathematical chart function will be performed. For example, to prepare a chart that displays total work order costs, you would select the total work order cost field from the dropdown. In our example, when a count is being performed, None should be selected. 8. Specify a Chart Name/Label for the chart in the prompt provided. The name entered will be displayed directly above your chart on the report: 9. To save the chart definition and view it in the report, click the Apply button at the bottom of the Report Setup window. The Report Preview window will display. 21 P age
10. Since this chart was defined as an image (rather than flash) you can click on the chart in the Report Preview window and scroll through different chart types: 11. Click the Setup option on the toolbar to return to the Report Setup window. Click on the Chart tab and then select Chart 2, so we can define another chart. For this second chart, we will summarize the target hours for each type of problem. 12. Select Bar Chart for the type and Flash for the chart format. For chart size, you can specify Medium: 13. In the Chart By dropdown, select [WO] Problem Name, so that we will have a separate bar for each problem defined. 14. In the Chart Function dropdown, select Sum, so that the target hours for each Problem will be added together. 15. In the Chart Function For dropdown, select the [WO] Target Hours field. This instructs Maintenance Connection to chart target hours along the vertical or Y axis of the chart. 22 P age
16. In the Chart Name field, enter your desired name. The Chart Definition should now appear as follows: 17. Click Apply to return to the Report Preview window and view the chart. 18. There are a few things to notice about this chart, since it was defined as flash: The image is enhanced. Clicking on it will no longer cycle through different formats. Hovering over a particular bar will provide you the summary calculation for that row (10 target hours for work orders with the problem of Equipment Broken ). Flash charts are not designed for inclusion in emailed reports. Tip: The Chart/Type Format control includes options for creating multi-series charts, such as Bar Chart (Multi) and Bar Chart (Stacked). These are advanced charting capabilities for customers familiar with multi-series charting. For further information, refer to the tip in the Reporter Guide for Creating a Multi-Series Bar Chart. 23 P age
Lesson 7: Basic Reporting Tips This lesson will share a few reporting tips that users find helpful: Edit Field Labels Edit the Report Description Drag and Drop Field Columns in the Report Preview Report Layout Indicators Grid Lines and Show Criteria Edit Field Labels The label that describes each field in your report can be modified as needed. Any change specified will only affect the label shown for this particular report. To modify a label, return to Report Setup: 1. From the Report Setup window, select the field on which you want to modify the label. In our example, select the Parent Location field and click the Edit button: 2. The Report Field Options dialog will display. Directly below the default field label is a Field Label (Custom) prompt. Enter Location in that prompt to indicate that you wish the report to display the label Location rather than Parent Location: 24 P age
3. Click Apply to exit this dialog. 4. Click Apply again to return to the Report Preview window and view your change: Edit Report Description MC allows you to create a Report Description that can be displayed directly below the Report Title. Note: In order to modify a Report Description, you must be a member of an access group with access to the Report Setup: Advanced Tab. The Report Description is often used to provide additional explanatory information to recipients of the report. To create or modify a Report Description, return to Report Setup: 1. From the Report Setup window, select the Layout tab and ensure the top indicator to Display Report Description is enabled: 25 P age
2. Click on the Advanced tab and enter your desired description in the Description prompt. Enter any text you would like. For example, you could enter text such as the following: Report created using report tutorial : 3. Click Apply to return to the Report Preview window and view the description displayed directly below the Report Title: Drag and Drop Field Columns in Report Preview In addition to using Report Setup options to change the order of field display, you can dynamically change the field order while reviewing a report in the Report Preview window. To move a field column displayed, click and hold the field label until you see a shadow box, and then drag it to the desired location: 26 P age
The page will refresh with the new order specified. In the above example, dragging the label to the left of Asset Name would result in the following: Report Layout Indicators Grid Lines and Show Criteria The Layout tab on the Report Setup window includes a set of indicators that allow you to quickly modify the display in the Report Preview window. The Display Column Lines indicator lets you determine whether your report should include column or grid lines. The following example shows the same report presentation with and without column lines: 27 P age
The additional Display Indicators let you control how much descriptive information should appear on the report. For example, the Display Report Header indicator controls whether the entire report header section should show on the upper right of the Report Preview window: The Display Report Description indicator more specifically determines whether any description defined on the Advanced Tab should be displayed. With this indicator set off, the above header would appear as follows: Finally, the Display Report Criteria and Display Format Criteria indicators control whether or not these settings should be included in the report display to provide explanatory information to individuals viewing the report: 28 P age