12 Creating Custom Reports - BusinessObjects

In addition to the preformatted standard reports, Argus Insight provides the Report Writer tool that you can use to create custom reports for ad hoc/special reporting requirements.

Report Writer is used to create a custom report by directly selecting data mart fields and applying filters on them. The report output can be displayed in various layouts and can be saved in file formats, such as PDF, XLS, or CSV.

This chapter, which explains how to use the custom report tools, includes the following topics:

• General Report Writer Information
• Creating a New Report
• Editing Reports
• Turning the Report Layout into a Table or Chart
• Saving and Accessing Reports
• Using SMQs in Report Writer
• Creating AdHoc Reports

General Report Writer Information

In this version of Argus Insight, Report Writer uses the features of BusinessObjects XI to let you create custom reports by directly selecting data mart fields and viewing the customized results (report output). The Report Writer interface provides a list of database fields organized in a tree structure. To create a report, expand the trees corresponding to the required database fields and select the fields to be displayed as columns in your report.

Once you have created your report, you can edit the report, change the report layout, run the report in specific formats, and save the report.

When you finish using the Report Writer to create, edit, and save custom reports, you must log out of the BusinessObjects application. If you do not log out of BusinessObjects but you do log out of Argus Insight, another user logging in to Argus Insight has access to BusinessObjects with your user credentials. The system does not prompt the new user to log on to BusinessObjects.

Creating a New Report

To start Report Writer and create a new report:

1. Navigate to Reports, Report Writer, and select New. The BusinessObjects InfoView logon window opens.
2. Enter your user name and password, and click Log On. The home page for BusinessObjects InfoView opens.
3. Click Document List.
4. Open the New menu and select Web Intelligence Document.
5. Scroll through the list of universes and select Report Writer. The BusinessObjects XI report panel opens. In the left frame, the Data tab lists all the fields that you can use as the filtering criterion for data analysis. The fields that you select here are displayed as columns in your report output.
   
6. Expand Report Writer and then expand the Case Series folder.

Note: Select the active case series filter before selecting data mart fields for your report. This prevents Report Writer from querying the entire data mart and slowing down the report output generation. To view the active case series, navigate to Case Series, Open Case Series, and select Active in Argus Insight. To make a different case series active, navigate to Case Series, Open Case Series, and select Library in Argus Insight. When the CASE SERIES LIBRARY page opens, select the case series you want to make active and click Make Active.

1. Expand Report Writer.
   
2. Select the fields, as appropriate.

WARNING: If your report consists of fields from the Event and Product tables, it will only display data for those cases where event assessment has been done. This is because event assessment is the only way of defining relationship between an event and a product.

Tip : To select multiple fields, hold down the CTRL key and select the fields. Then drag the field entities to the report output area (in the right panel). To delete a column from the report output, right-click the column and then click Remove from the menu. To revert an action you perform, click Undo on the toolbar.

The Report Writer queries the data mart, automatically executes the query for every field you selected, and displays the data for the selected fields. The fields you selected are displayed as columns in the report output.

For example, Figure 12-1 shows a sample custom report.

When you finish using the Report Writer to create, edit, and save custom reports, you must log out of the BusinessObjects application. If you do not log out of BusinessObjects but you do log out of Argus Insight, another user logging in to Argus Insight has access to BusinessObjects with your user credentials. The system does not prompt the new user to log on to BusinessObjects.

Figure 12-1 Sample Custom Report

Editing Reports

To access the report editing options provided by BusinessObjects, select Edit Query . The report editing options let you control what data appears in your report as well as how it is formatted, calculated, and sorted. None of the edit operations you perform are stored in the database.

Filtering Data

To use the filtering option to reduce data in your report:

1. Click Edit Query to view the Data tab (objects) and the Result Objects panel.
2. Expand Report Writer in the Data tab.
   
3. Drag and drop the data fields from the Data tab into the Result Objects panel.
   
4. Drag and drop the filter criterion from the Data tab into the Query Filters panel.
   
5. Select the operator type from the drop-down list. For example, if you select In list as the operator, the filter is limited to any one or all of the values defined in the list.
   
6. Click the icon next to the text field to select the values associated with the selected operator.
   
7. Define the value by selecting the term/word to be used as a filtering criterion.
   
8. Click OK to confirm the action. The Query Filters panel refreshes automatically to display the complete filtering criterion.
   
9. Click Run Query to execute the query. The example in the following illustration shows those cases that have been filtered and limited to female patients. For each female patient, the report includes the case number and whether the patient overdosed.
   

To modify or remove a filter, click the Edit Query tab. Drag and drop the data fields (as the filtering criterion) from the Result Objects panel into the Data tab.

Repeat the procedure to add new data fields and filtering criterion, and then execute the query.

Sorting Data

To change the sort order in your report:

1. View your report.
2. Select the column values that you want to sort for the report output. The selected column is highlighted.
3. Right-click in a data cell of the selected column.
   
4. Click Sort and then select the required sorting option. For example, you can select an ascending or descending sort order. The system refreshes the report and displays the sorted output.

Summarizing Data

Use the predefined summary options to calculate the total, count, maximum, minimum, average, and percentage of the values in columns of your reports.

The summary options available to you depend on the type of data in the column you want to summarize. For example, you can only use the Count option if your column contains text data whereas you can use total, maximum, minimum, or average options if the column contains numeric data.

To summarize data:

1. In the Report Title section, click the column that you want to summarize. The selected column is highlighted.
   
2. Click the Insert Sum icon in the toolbar, and select the required summary option from the list. For example, count, average, min, max, or percentage, The options available depend on the type of values in the column you selected.
   The report output displays the column summary at the bottom of the report.

To remove summary information, right-click the cell that has the summary information, select Remove, and then select the appropriate option from the menu.

Formatting Data in Reports

You can use predefined formats to change the appearance of text, numbers, currency, dates, and times in your report. Formatting does not change the underlying data. Table 12-1 describes the available formatting options.

Table 12-1 Formatting Options for Data in Reports

The default format is the format of the report item before any formatting is applied. Use default to remove formatting.

Use the number format to change the number of decimal places, to specify whether to use a thousands separator, to choose different symbols to represent negative numbers, and to scale large numbers.

You can choose from many world currencies. Use either the currency symbol or the international code. For example, the currency symbol for the euro is € and the international code is EUR.

In addition, you can change the number of decimal places, specify whether to use a thousands separator, choose different symbols to represent negative numbers, and to scale large numbers.

You can choose from a list of date and time formats, including the 12 or 24 hour clock.

You can choose from the true/false values.

To change the format of the data in a report:

1. Display the report output.
2. Click within the header of the column that you want to format. The selected column is highlighted.
3. Right-click the highlighted column, select Format from the menu, and then select the appropriate option from the list.
   
4. Set the data format properties from the Properties tab, as appropriate.
5. Click OK. The report output is refreshed and displays the formatted data.

Turning the Report Layout into a Table or Chart

To access the report layout options for BusinessObjects, use the Turn To context menu option. The layout options let you change the appearance of your reports without changing the underlying data. For example, you can convert your report into a chart or group the report into crosstab column headers.

This section describe the basic layout operations. For detailed information, see the documentation supplied with the your BusinessObjects products.

To turn the report layout into a table or chart:

1. Display the report output.
2. Right-click the report and select Turn To from the context menu. The Turn To dialog box opens.
   
3. Select the appropriate tab and the appropriate option depending on the type of report format you want. You can select an option from one of the following tabs:
   • Tables
   • Bar Chart
   • Line Chart
   • Area Chart
   • Pie Chart
   • Radar Chart
4. Click OK. The report output refreshes and displays in the selected layout. For example:
   

Saving and Accessing Reports

Use the Save menu option to save the reports you create by using Report Writer. You can save your reports in either Personal or Public folders.

The reports you save are not a snapshot of the data displayed in the report output. Instead, the system stores the specific set of instructions (data mart fields you select) for extracting data from the data mart when you run the report. For example, if you run a report that you saved a week ago, the data in the report reflects any changes in the data mart as a result of the ETL process.

Saving Reports

To save a report:

Click the Save icon in the toolbar. The options for saving the report appear.

• Select the Public Folders, Report Writer folder if you want all users to be able access the report.
• Select the My Folders, Favorites folder if you want to save the report as a personal document.

Accessing the Report Writer Library

To access the reports you save in the My Favorites folder, navigate to Reports, Report Writer, New, BusinessObjects InfoView home page, and then select My Favorites. You can access the saved reports from the following page:

The Reports, Report Writer, Library menu is no longer available in Argus Insight.

Right-click a report and select Modify to edit a saved report. The report opens in the BusinessObjects XI web intelligence interface. After you edit the report, you can save it by another name by using the Save as option in the Save menu.

Using SMQs in Report Writer

If you select a SMQ, the system displays all the cases based on that SMQ.

To use SMQs in Report Writer:

1. Navigate to Reports, Report Writer, and select New. The BusinessObjects InfoView logon window opens.
   
2. Enter your user name and password, and click Log On. The home page for BusinessObjects InfoView opens.
   
3. Click Document List.
4. Open the New menu and select Web Intelligence Document.
   The following page opens:
   
5. Click Report Writer.
6. Click the Data tab.
7. Navigate to Events - Event Information , and drag and drop Event SMQ (Broad) into the Result Objects panel.
   
8. Click Run Query.
9. Click Edit Query.
10. Navigate to Events - Event Information , and drag and drop Event SMQ (Narrow) into the Result Objects panel.
11. Click Run Query.
12. Navigate to Events - Event Information , and drag and drop Case Number into the Result Objects panel.
13. Click Run Query to display all the case numbers that correspond to the selected SMQ.

Creating AdHoc Reports

This section describes how to use BusinessObjects InfoView to save the customized reports under the AdHoc Reports menu. AdHoc Reports is a repository where all the customized reports are saved. Reports can be shared among different users.

To save AdHoc reports:

1. Log in to Argus Insight.
2. Navigate to Reports, Report Writer, and select New.
3. Log on to the home page for BusinessObjects InfoView.
   
4. Click Document List.
5. Open the New menu and select the type of document you want to create.
   
6. Copy or save the selected item to the folder structure corresponding to the Argus Insight menu. You must use BusinessObjects InfoView to access your saved ad hoc reports that you create using BusinessObjects InfoView. You cannot access these reports from Argus Insight.