Building Your First Report

This article will walk users through the New Report Wizard and demonstrate how to create a new report.

NOTE. This article will focus on building an Advanced Report. For information on the other types of reports, see Report Types.

The New Report Wizard will come up. The New Report Wizard has five sub tabs. The Name and Categories tabs must be completed while the other tabs are optional.

Name Tab

In the Name Tab, enter a report name and click on the folder where the report will be saved.

The report name can be up to 255 characters long. Avoid special characters such as ? : / \ * “ < >.

The report’s description appears at the bottom of the Main Menu when it is selected. The description text may also be used to search for a report.

NOTE. You cannot create a report inside a folder that is read-only ().

 

The Categories Tab

In the Categories Tab, select the Data Categories that you would like to have access to on the report. It is important to understand two terms: Data Category and Data Field.

Data Category – A Data Category is a data object that has several attributes. E.g. Students is a category; each student has an ID, a major, an advisor, etc.

Data Field – A Data Field is a single attribute within a category. E.g. Students.ID is the numeric value that identifies a specific student.

 

NOTE. When one Data Category is added, other Data Categories that are not joined to it become unavailable by default.

For this report, we've selected Categories and Products.

NOTE. For each category selected, a user can Suppress Duplicates within the data by ticking the check box that appears next to the category name. This will suppress repeated items in the given category for the final report.


The Sorts Tab

In the Sorts tab, specify which Data Fields will be used to determine the order of data on the report.

 

For this report we have Sorted on Categories.CategoryName in descending order.

NOTE. Sorts are not mandatory in order to create a report. Sorts allow for more complex organization of a report but do not bar the Report Wizard from continuing if left blank.


The Filters Tab

In the Filters Tab, create statements that will be used to filter the data when you run a report.

 

There is no limit to the number of filters that can be defined. Filters can be numeric (up to eight decimal places) or alphanumeric.

For this report, an Equal To filter on Category Name has been created in order to limit the data on the final report. 

NOTE. Like Sorts, Filters add complexity to a report but, but their completion is not mandatory.

IMPORTANT. If a filter is chosen, the above fields must be completed or the report will not execute.

The Layout Tab

In the Layout Tab, select the Data Fields that will appear on the report. For each Data Field chosen, the report will automatically create a column header and place the Data Field in the detail section. Additionally, subtotals, grand totals, and a page header/footer can be created.

 

Display Data

Using the ‘Summarize By’ box, you can display subtotals, grand totals, or headers for the values of a Data Field.

Subtotals and Grand Totals

 

Summary Functions:

Data Headers

A checkbox will appear in the Summarize By box for each Data Category in the Sorts tab. To display a header for each value of a Data Field, click on the associated Data Category in the Summarize By box. Click the Data Category name next to the checkbox, and the will appear.

For this report, the Data Fields Products.ProductName, Products.ProductID,Products.UnitPrice, and Products.QuantityPerUnit have been selected. 

 

NOTE. For information on the Toolbar and all its features, see Maneuvering the Toolbar
For ease of viewing, some light styling has been added. (The data present is the same as it would have been without the styling.)