The purpose of this exercise is to introduce report creation and give a step by step understanding on how to start from the beginning end with a functional report. At the end of this exercise, you will have created an Open Work Orders Report to show all of the Open Work Orders that currently exist in the system.
This exercise covers building a basic report. Additional features of the report writer are discussed in depth in the Help Center and can be found by searching for the ReportingMenu.
1 - AddingaNewReport
As with any other table, the creating a new report requires accessing the table and then adding a new record.
1.1 - AccessingtheReportTable
The report writer can be accessed by (1) selecting the “Reports” tile under My Shortcuts or by (2) choosing “Reports” on the Side Panel Menu. Both of these options will take you to the List View to view all of your reports or take you back to a report that you were already creating.
1.2 - AddingaNewRecord
Each report is considered its own record. Upon adding a new record, you will be able to then determine what elements are needed in order to successfully build your report. You will need to click the “Plus” button in order to add a new report record and begin building the report.
2 - DeterminingtheReportDetails
Now that you have clicked the Plus button in order to Add a New Record, you are ready to name the report and determine how it will be organized within your list view for future private or public reference. Three tabs have appeared on the top right hand side of the screen: Report Details, Report Builder, and Preview
You are automatically taken to to the Report Details, which is where you will need to begin creating the report.
2.1 - ReportDetailsSection
At this time, you will stay within the Report Details tab to determine the report detail and output properties. For this report, the details should be filled out to match the image below:
Description- Title the report “Open Work Orders”
Comments- (Optional) - The purpose of this report is to show all of the Open Work Orders that currently exist in the system
Type- Select “Open Work” from the dropdown menu. If this does not exist, type in “Open Work” and select “Add New Record”
Public - Check off the box next to Public so that anyone with a username can view this report. Note:Electingtokeepthisuncheckedwillonlymakethereportvisibletoyourusername.
ReadOnly - Check off the box next to Private so that only your username is able to make modifications to this report. Note:Electingtokeepthisboxuncheckedwillenableanyuserwithpermissionstomodifythisreport.
OutputType - Select HTML from the dropdown as the default report output
AllowareporttobeseenbyaRequestorontheReportscreen - Keep this box unchecked. Note:CheckingthisboxwilladdthereporttotheReportssectionoftheWorkRequestPortalforRequestOnlyuserstoview
2.2 - OutputPropertiesSection
The output properties will determine exactly how the report will look once you are ready to run your new report.
Alternaterowcolor? - Check this box to alterate the colors of each row when running the report in HTML format.
Alternatecolor 1 - First color defaults to yellow. This can be changed by clicking the magnifying glass next to the color, and will automatically fill in the HTML code for that color.
Alternatecolor 2 - Second color defaults to light blue. This can be changed by clicking the magnifying glass next to the color, and will automatically fill in the HTML code for that color.
Displaylinks? - Check this box, which displays any key field or unique value (e.g. - Work Order Number) as a hyperlink to click and reveal more information on a particular record.
Displaygridlines? - Check this box. This controls whether or not black grid lines as seen in Excel or the eMaint list view are revealed for better visualization of the report.
TopXReport? - Keep this box unchecked. This controls a more advanced feature of reporting which allows for creating Top X report.
TopXcount - Do not make any changes to this field.
TopXType? - Do not make any changes to this field.
2.3 - Auto-GenerationProperties
In this exercise, you will not need to determine any of the auto-generation properties. Checking the “Auto generate?” box will allow for selecting the fields that will ultimately enable auto-sending the report to a specified destination (e.g. - Someone’s e-mail address) on a recurring basis.
3 - ControllingtheOutputintheReportBuilder
After the details of the report have been determined, you will need to move onto the Report Builder tab to view the different areas that will enable determining the actual output of your report
This tab is organized into multiple sections that need to be filled out accordingly so you see the appropriate information on your report. Though this exercise does not require using all sections of the Report Builder, explanations of each are as follows:
SelectedTables - Determines tables that to pull fields from in order display columns on the report and filter by the appropriate data
SelectedColumns - After selecting the tables, any field from those tables can appear as a column on the report
Filter - Area that enables for using the data in the columns to filter for only the information that needs to be seen on this particular report
OrderBy - Determines sorting criteria, enabling for multiple levels of sorting
GroupBy - Allows for selecting fields to group data together, generally to present a high level overview to count or sum up data in the system
GraphProperties - When filled out appropriately, allows for running the report in graphical format
InstrumentProperties - When filled out appropriately, allows for running the report as an instrument
3.1 - SelectedTables
In order to begin building the report, a main table must be selected. Click on on the arrow under the dropdown menu and type “Work Order.” This action will narrow the search criteria, allowing you to easily find the WorkOrders table
Click the Confirm button which will allow for you to begin building the report using data that exists in the fields of the Selected Table.
3.2 - SelectedColumns
Now that you have selected a table, you are ready to pick the fields that will become columns on this report. Click the Pencil Icon under the Selected Columns section to reveal the “Select Report Columns” window. Click the plus sign next to the name of each available column that you would like to select.
This action will move the field from the Available Columns side into the Selected Columns side. These are the columns that will appear on your report. Select the following field to include as columns: WONo., WODate, AssetID, AssetDescription, BriefDescription, JobStatus, and AssignTo
Next, click the “Apply Changes” button to save these selections. Note:Columnplacementcanbechangedbyclickingclickinganddraggingthegraythree-linedicontotheleftofthefieldname, andmovedbacktotheAvailableColumnssectionbyclickingtheminussign.
3.3 - Filter
Now, since your report is called “Open Work Orders” we will need to make sure that the closed (or historical) work orders in the system are not showing on the report. This is done by using the Filter section to determine what we see and do not see on this report.
Click the “Add Rule” button, which will cause a new dropdown box to appear.
Click on the dropdown box to pick the field that holds the information needed. This will reveal three additional columns. In this case, the “Status” or “Open/History” field needs to read “O” so that historical work orders are not included in the report. The field doesnot have to be a selected column in order to use it while filtering.
Fieldselection - This field could be called Statusor Open/History. Select this field from the dropdown.
Operator - Select the “Is equal to” operator. This is the default, so it does not need to be changed.
Procedure - Select “value” under this column. This is the default, so it does not need to be changed.
Criteria - Type Ointo this field, indicating that you want work orders with O in the Status or Open History field. Note:Ifthereisalookupsuchasadropdownonthefield, thecriteriafieldreflectsthoseselections.
3.4 - OrderBy
Finally, click the Pencil Icon under the Order By section to sort your report to reveal the Sort Table Records screen.
In this case, we will want the oldest work orders to appear at the top of the report and newest work orders to appear at the end of the report. Type date into the Search Bar to narrow down to date fields only and then find WODate. Click the Plus button to move the WODate field from Available Columns to the Sorted by Column
Once the WO Date is under the Sorted By column, you will see an arrow inside of a circle. This arrow is in ascending order by default, so you do not need to make any changes. Clicking this arrow will change the sort direction from ascending to descending. Click the “Apply Changes” button to accept the sort criteria.
4 - Preview
The preview option will allow you to see what the report will look like prior to running it. The preview option uses HTML format only to allow to see the data that will be returned on the report.
Now that you have previewed the report. First, click the “Save New Record” button to Save your report.
5 - RuntheReport
After saving the report, the all of the selections that were chosen on the Report Details and Report Builder will be save and the report can be found under the list of available reports in the system. To run the report, hover over the down facing arrow next to the “Run” button and select HTML
