Report Creation

The following section describes the properties that can be configured against a report. The properties discussed here are displayed when creating a new report or editing an existing report.

To create a new report, press the 'New Report' button above the reports accordion#list on the reporting page. To edit a report, hover over a report and press the edit icon ( ) or press the more icon ( ) and select Edit form the menu.

About the Report

Each report that is configured on the system requires a template to be selected. This template tells the report about the type of data that is being returned, the available columns for the report and whether the data is grouped or not. Once a template has been selected, the name and category properties must be configured before navigating to the columns section:

Name - User definable name that will be used to identify the report for running or adding to schedules.
Category - Defines where the report will appear on the website. Categories are used to group similar reports together to aid user access to them. Either select an existing category or type in the name of a new one.
Description - User definable description, this can be used to store more detailed information about the report and what it is for.

Changing the template of an existing report will cause the selected columns to change to the default ones for the selected report.

To cancel the changes being made to a report simply navigate away from the current page without pressing the 'Save' button.

Refer to the Report Templates section for information about each of the different templates available.

Columns

The column selection screen is split into three sections:

Available Columns

This section outlines each of the available columns for a specific report template. To add a column to the report, simply click on the column. Each of the columns available is displayed in a different category to group similar columns together and aid user navigation. Clicking on a category name will display the columns in that category. For a brief outline of what the data in the column represents, hover over the column with the mouse to get a tooltip.

Any columns that have already been added to the report will show grayed out and in italics.

A maximum of 50 columns can be added to a report.

Chosen Columns

This section shows all the columns that will currently be displayed on a report. Columns will be displayed in the order in which they are visible in this list. To change the order of the chosen columns, simply left click on the column and drag it to a new location in the list.

If the data returned by the report template is grouped in any way, the columns the report will be grouped on will be displayed in blue in the chosen columns list. These columns can be re-ordered but cannot be removed from the report. To remove other columns from the report simply press the red cross next to the column name.

To change the column on which the report is grouped, a different template must be selected.

Column Options

Each column has settings that can be configured including Header, Cell Width and in some cases Display As (display format).

The header setting is the name that will be displayed as the column header when the report is run. All columns have a default header name configured which is generally much shorter than the column's full name so that it will fit better within the report header.

The cell width option outlines the width the column should have within the report. All columns have been given a default width that suits the data type however these may need to be changed, especially if trying to fit a large number of columns onto a single report for exporting.

If a column contains a date or duration of some kind then the display format option will appear. The following date formats are available:

Call Time (Start Time, Answer Time, End Time etc..)

Date and Time -> dd/MM/yyyy HH:mm:ss
Date Only -> dd/MM/yyyy
Time Only -> HH:mm:ss
Week -> dd/MM/yyyy (Mon) (The date rounded to the previous Monday)
Month -> MMM, yyyy

Duration (Call Time, Talk Time, Hold Time etc..)

Hours, Minutes and Seconds -> HH:mm:ss
Total Seconds

Refer to the Report Grouping section for more information on these display formats and how they affect grouped reports.

Refer to the Statistics section for more information on the columns available for each template.

Filters

The filters page provides a way to configure the initial filter and date range that will be used when the report is first run. These properties can be changed after the report is run using the ad-hoc date range and filter drop downs on the report viewer.

In addition, the time range on a day by day basis can be configured so that data outside this range is ignored.This is very useful for ignoring calls outside of working hours. For example, if a report is configured to run a display data over a week, the time range could be limited to between 9am and 5pm so any calls outside of these hours on any day of the week included in the report would not be shown.

Sorting

The sorting page provides a way to control which column(s) within the report are used to sort by when displaying the data. By default a sort column and direction will be defined in the template but this can be changed as required.

Reports can be sorted by more than one column by adding another column from the available columns list.

Saving a Report

Once all the properties have been configured, press the 'Save' button to implement the changes. If a new category has been entered for the report it will be created at this time.

If the report saves successfully it will be run immediately and display on screen. If there are any problems when saving the report, a message box will appear in red outlining the problem and suggesting changes that need to be made.