Report Designer
Operational data on the state of the enterprise
To make decisions on enterprise management, managers use various reports that are compiled, generated, and provided by employees-users of the ERP-system IT-Enterprise. The process of preparing and delivering a report to the head is quite time-consuming. The disadvantages of this solution are that the result depends on the availability of performers, and the work itself is routine and requires manual action.
The "Report Server" module takes on the task of automating the process of generating and receiving a report by the end-user. Functionality allows you to use a fundamentally new technology: scheduled reports are delivered on schedule at a convenient time for the recipient and in the specified way (usually by email). Thanks to up-to-date information, the head of the enterprise makes informed decisions without the need to turn to a computer.
To implement this technology of working with reports, it is necessary to use the capabilities of the Designer of regular reports and views (provides the creation, configuration, and generation of reports in batch mode); Report Server (provides a user-friendly interface for setting up the distribution of the required report); as well as a report delivery system that generates reports, sends them in the form of an email message or publishes them on an Internet resource.
Report Designer
The report designer is designed to create, adjust and print multi-column reports on tabular data, as well as to maintain a single list of reports for each data table in the IT-Enterprise ERP system. The report designer can be used to export data in the structure specified by the report with the transfer of data to external software, as well as to change the appearance of the data in the table.
The designer allows the user to compile a report on the indicators of the currently analyzed table and the indicators of the tables associated with the current table. For more convenient work with reports, they can be grouped into folders.
User-generated reports can be downloaded in almost any popular format: in MS Office document formats (Word, Excel), HTML, TXT, XML, as well as in FRX format - MS Visual FoxPro report.
All users who have the spreadsheet feature configured can work with reports based on the data in this spreadsheet. This way, all users work with a single list of reports.
The designer supports three types of reports to differentiate the authority to adjust them: system reports (compiled only by the developer); administrator reports (compiled by the system administrator and the developer), as well as user reports.
For all types of reports, you can disable the entry of arbitrary expression fields in the report and query designer.
A regular report in the form of a table by default supports the ability to calculate only one total (usually the sum of the column in the last row of "Total"). When the task arises to calculate the results for different groups, you can use the tool "Multilevel results". To configure multi-level totals, you must describe the internal structure of the report, then set the "Multi-level totals settings" flag, and describe the totals (levels 1 to 3) by specifying the column numbers of the internal report as the grouping key.
The IT-Enterprise ERP system includes a set of developer-preset display types and reports. Usually, these reports meet the needs of the customer, but sometimes it is necessary to make minor changes to existing reports: change the order of the columns, change the color or name of the column; add a new column.
This problem can be solved by creating a custom window type on the model of the system and making the necessary changes. But this approach has its drawbacks. Therefore, this problem can be solved by modifying the system types of display and reports by the customer (specialists of the ASUP department).
Reports of arbitrary structure
The standard report of the report designer has a clearly defined structure: it consists of a title, table and basement. The following tools are provided for creating reports of another structure:
- Random Structure Reports tool.
- External Reporting Tool (RDL).
- The mechanism for setting up reports of any structure is simpler from the point of view of the report developer, in addition, it allows you to use the rich formatting capabilities of MS Excel.
Using the reporting mechanism of any structure, you can perform data adjustments in the IT-Enterprise ERP database. To do this, the system developer or administrator configures the report, the report is uploaded in MS Excel format and passed to the user. After the user has made the necessary adjustments, the changes are reflected in the database.
This feature is useful in cases where it is necessary to perform mass data entry (for example, the names of departments), as well as in the case of the need to enter data by an employee who is not a user of the system.
Chains of reports
The system provides a tool with which you can generate almost any report without much effort. As a result of merging, several reports can be placed on one page, or merged reports at the data level. In the latter case, one report will present data generated by different algorithms and obtained from different sources. When visually forming a chain of reports, you can add individual columns, rows, or the entire report.
Multi-copy reports
The multi-instance reporting engine is designed to generate consolidated reports based on multiple instances of IT-Enterprise. The copy of the data of each instance must be stored on one SQL server. Typically, this is achieved by replicating the database to the head office.
The need for multi-instance reports may arise when a geographically distributed enterprise uses separate sets of IT-Enterprise ERP systems at its locations in different locations, each of which has its own database. Thanks to this mechanism the problem of coordination of data from various sets of IT-Enterprise is solved.
Designer of regular reports and mappings
The IT-Enterprise system contains a powerful constructor of tabular and cross-tabular ("chess") reports, built into all user modes. This designer is a flexible and simple way for users to create their own forms of printing and analyzing information based on a data dictionary.
The designer allows:
- compile reports on one or more related tables;
- include table fields and computed expressions from the data dictionary in the reports;
- use any subqueries and procedures to obtain a sample;
- to integrate with reports requests for the sampling of the information constructed by the designer of inquiries, to use parametrization of the built-in inquiries;
- calculate general and interim results in reports;
- determine the order of sorting and grouping of data in reports, etc.
- present information in tabular form, in the form of matrices, graphs, charts, sensors, etc.
The system implements the ability to automatically upload any report in PDF format, MS Excel spreadsheet, MS Word document, HTML-document, XML format, Open Office spreadsheet.
The report is standardly presented in tabular form or in the form of detailed information.
The report template is automatically built-in Report Definition Language (RDL) format using an internal wizard. The report created in this way can be easily modified by the user in the SQL Server Report Builder environment. The result can be printed or uploaded in Excel / Word / PDF / HTML format.
The constructed multi-column report can also be easily converted into a cross-tabular report ("chess"), specifying lists of report fields for rows, columns, chess body, left and right constants, summary expressions. The cross-tabular report can also be downloaded in any of the supported formats.
In addition to Microsoft office products, free office products are also supported. In particular, reports in Open Office formats, distributed free of charge, are easily obtained. A hierarchical archive of reports submitted with the system and reports previously compiled by users is supported. The system allows you to easily and quickly create a complex report on the model of a standard report on the delivery of the system.
It is worth noting that the report designer is combined with the designer of business charts, which allows you to present graphical information from a tabular report using diagrams of different types - histograms, bar, graph, dot, with areas, circular, surface, and others.
Irregular structure report designer
The user can create a report form of an arbitrary structure with a fixed set of calculated indicators, using the report designer of an arbitrary irregular structure. This designer allows you to specify in any Excel-table cells, the values of which will be calculated by means of the IT-Enterprise system. For these cells the methods of calculation on the information base of IT-Enterprise or on a database of already calculated indicators of earlier made similar reports are described. The designer performs calculations of indicators, puts values in the Excel table, and deduces the table for viewing. The user can use all the variety of Excel features for further data analysis. The indicators calculated by the designer are not only inserted into the table cell but also stored in the database of indicators. In other reports, you can reuse these metrics by providing links to the code and type of report, period, department, etc. The calculation of matrices is supported - you can calculate not only one value, but also many values of one indicator and display the data in tabular form. The user can add to the designer their methods and functions of retrieving information from the system for use in reports.
Along with Excel spreadsheets, irregular structure reports can be compiled in text form or in the form of spreadsheets of the free office suite Open Office Calc.
Chains of reports
To combine disparate reports into one document, the "Chain of Reports" mechanism is used, which allows you to combine several disparate reports created in the report designer in one consolidated report.
In any function of the system, the report is described in the composition:
- data acquisition rules;
- data grouping algorithms;
- output format, etc.
"Chain" combines several reports. A single data presentation format is accepted for all reports: - HTML.
- Excel spreadsheet.
- Word document.
- Open Office document.
- Text format.
Chain reports can be combined according to different rules. The next chain report can simply be added to the end of an existing report, or placed on a separate Excel sheet. The result data can be grouped: - Add to the end of the previous report.
- Add columns to the right of the previous report.
Thus, it is possible to combine disparate information into a single report.