Jason Zander
01-06-2010, 12:34 PM
This will show you how to break down the reports into manageable pieces and hopefully will help you to get reports specific to your needs.
For example, say I am looking for the following:
A report for all checks printed on a specific (or range) of date(s).
Here I am going to break down the report process into separate parts to show how to use the Report module effectively.
Step1: Find a report that displays the information you need. This includes if you are looking for quantities of items, titles, dollar amounts, etc. Once I decide on all the information I want, I look for a report that will output what I'm looking for. The actual report files can only output specific information in them. So if you want to add Extended Description (for example) it would have to be customized as it is not available on a report you want to use.
Hint, to preview the report and see what information is output, hover the mouse over the Sample icon:
<img src="http://resaleworld.com/videos/jason/2010-01-06_1313.png">
Step2: Determine criteria needed to narrow down my results.
Step3: Figure out how much detail I actually want to see. If I only want a summary of numbers, I know I will have to suppress certain information (such as the Detail Info or Group Header/Footer).
Step4: Run the report (I recommend previewing the report prior to printing to make sure it is exactly what you want).
Thats it. Now for my case above, here is the process I followed:
Step1:
I know I want to see payout information. So I know I will need to look in the Payouts section. I dont need to see the full item description for each item so the Check/Payout Detail will suffice.
Step2:
So now that I have determined which report to use, I next need to narrow down the results. For my case, I only want to see information for checks that were printed this month. This is where the criteria comes into play.
For my case, I will choose the Payout Date for this month. Once I select the criteria I know I want, I also take a look at other criteria is available. I may look at another criteria and decide it would be helpful to narrow my report even further. An example for this would be if I really only wanted to see Checks that were written and not any cash payouts. I can then use the Payment Account criteria to filter the results even further. Even though I didn't think about this originally, seeing that criteria makes more sense for what I'm looking for.
Step3:
The next step is to determine how much detail I actually want.
If all I want is a summary, then I want to suppress the detail info. Since this is a months end summary report, it makes sense to just give me the highlights. If I believe there is an issue with something, I can always run it later with full detail. The detail and groups differ from report to report, so if you are not sure what the report will give you if you suppress the detail; give it a try and preview it. If you dont like the change, then close that report and re-run it without suppressing the detail. For the Check/Payout Detail report, the detail info is each individual transaction. Since I am not interested in that at the moment, I will be sure to suppress it. I do however want to see each account, so I need to leave the group header checked. (Again, if i didnt know what the group gave me; I would need to try it with and without it checked to see what part of the report is taken out)
Step4:
Now that I have my options selected, I am ready to preview the report. If the preview looks good and I want a hard copy archival purposes, then I can go ahead and print it. If I just needed to look for a specific dollar amount, then there may not even be a need to print it.
For any reports you are not completely familiar with (or to be safe in case someone changed criteria without you realizing) it is a good idea to preview the report prior to printing. This way you can prevent yourself from printing a full detailed sales detail report for an entire year and waste a whole ream of paper.
Summary:
There are 4 steps I typically take when looking for a specific report. Step1, look for a report that shows me the information I am looking for. This often just involves looking through all the reports to find one suitable. Step2, narrow down the results by specifying criteria. Step3, suppress detail as needed. Step4, run/preview the report.
While we do run across the occasional bug with a report, many times reports dont return back the information we are looking for because criteria is selected incorrectly. The software will in fact give back exactly what its told to do. So either there is a programming glitch somewhere, or a user error that selected the wrong report or criteria.
Dynamic Help Hint:
Built into the report module, is a Dynamic Help Section. If you hover your mouse over certain items in the module, it will display Help information about that item.
Here is an example when hovering over the Check/Payout Detail report
<img src="http://resaleworld.com/videos/jason/2010-01-06_1337.png">
Here is an example when hovering over the Payment Account field under criteria
<img src="http://resaleworld.com/videos/jason/2010-01-06_1338.png">
So if you aren't quite sure what the Payment Account field will do, you can get a description of it in the Dynamic Help Section.
For example, say I am looking for the following:
A report for all checks printed on a specific (or range) of date(s).
Here I am going to break down the report process into separate parts to show how to use the Report module effectively.
Step1: Find a report that displays the information you need. This includes if you are looking for quantities of items, titles, dollar amounts, etc. Once I decide on all the information I want, I look for a report that will output what I'm looking for. The actual report files can only output specific information in them. So if you want to add Extended Description (for example) it would have to be customized as it is not available on a report you want to use.
Hint, to preview the report and see what information is output, hover the mouse over the Sample icon:
<img src="http://resaleworld.com/videos/jason/2010-01-06_1313.png">
Step2: Determine criteria needed to narrow down my results.
Step3: Figure out how much detail I actually want to see. If I only want a summary of numbers, I know I will have to suppress certain information (such as the Detail Info or Group Header/Footer).
Step4: Run the report (I recommend previewing the report prior to printing to make sure it is exactly what you want).
Thats it. Now for my case above, here is the process I followed:
Step1:
I know I want to see payout information. So I know I will need to look in the Payouts section. I dont need to see the full item description for each item so the Check/Payout Detail will suffice.
Step2:
So now that I have determined which report to use, I next need to narrow down the results. For my case, I only want to see information for checks that were printed this month. This is where the criteria comes into play.
For my case, I will choose the Payout Date for this month. Once I select the criteria I know I want, I also take a look at other criteria is available. I may look at another criteria and decide it would be helpful to narrow my report even further. An example for this would be if I really only wanted to see Checks that were written and not any cash payouts. I can then use the Payment Account criteria to filter the results even further. Even though I didn't think about this originally, seeing that criteria makes more sense for what I'm looking for.
Step3:
The next step is to determine how much detail I actually want.
If all I want is a summary, then I want to suppress the detail info. Since this is a months end summary report, it makes sense to just give me the highlights. If I believe there is an issue with something, I can always run it later with full detail. The detail and groups differ from report to report, so if you are not sure what the report will give you if you suppress the detail; give it a try and preview it. If you dont like the change, then close that report and re-run it without suppressing the detail. For the Check/Payout Detail report, the detail info is each individual transaction. Since I am not interested in that at the moment, I will be sure to suppress it. I do however want to see each account, so I need to leave the group header checked. (Again, if i didnt know what the group gave me; I would need to try it with and without it checked to see what part of the report is taken out)
Step4:
Now that I have my options selected, I am ready to preview the report. If the preview looks good and I want a hard copy archival purposes, then I can go ahead and print it. If I just needed to look for a specific dollar amount, then there may not even be a need to print it.
For any reports you are not completely familiar with (or to be safe in case someone changed criteria without you realizing) it is a good idea to preview the report prior to printing. This way you can prevent yourself from printing a full detailed sales detail report for an entire year and waste a whole ream of paper.
Summary:
There are 4 steps I typically take when looking for a specific report. Step1, look for a report that shows me the information I am looking for. This often just involves looking through all the reports to find one suitable. Step2, narrow down the results by specifying criteria. Step3, suppress detail as needed. Step4, run/preview the report.
While we do run across the occasional bug with a report, many times reports dont return back the information we are looking for because criteria is selected incorrectly. The software will in fact give back exactly what its told to do. So either there is a programming glitch somewhere, or a user error that selected the wrong report or criteria.
Dynamic Help Hint:
Built into the report module, is a Dynamic Help Section. If you hover your mouse over certain items in the module, it will display Help information about that item.
Here is an example when hovering over the Check/Payout Detail report
<img src="http://resaleworld.com/videos/jason/2010-01-06_1337.png">
Here is an example when hovering over the Payment Account field under criteria
<img src="http://resaleworld.com/videos/jason/2010-01-06_1338.png">
So if you aren't quite sure what the Payment Account field will do, you can get a description of it in the Dynamic Help Section.