The reports menu items provide a variety of options to create and generate reports. The type of report desired (summary, cost, performance, etc.) will determine the option we choose, however the fundamentals for creating a report remains the same. For this exercise we will demonstrate with Accounting Summary Report
To create Summary Reports, click on Reports > Accounting > Summary.
This interface has three (3) main sections that collectively affect the reports you run, modify and export.
The “Prepared data” section is a global filter and defines what data is loaded into the prepared database.
The “Filters” section controls what data is loaded and presented in the report.
The “Reports” section displays a list of built in and created reports.
We will explore each in greater details then look at components of the report wizard.
Prepared Data
The “Select/Create” option allows a wide range of specifications and limitations to your prepared database. Simply click “New” or “Re-create” then construct your prepared database.
TIP: If you right click a checkbox in a section where there are several checkboxes, the system will automatically uncheck the other checkboxes in that section.
NOTABLE MENTION: When generating prepared databases, the "Summarize when loading" option has a popup screen to determine the (site-configurable) level of detail (work order, PO, class, class type, class group, employee, auth package, etc.) to include in the prepared database. This new feature allows for running reports on larger data sets while choosing the level of detail included.
For example, with the settings:
The records loaded in the reports databases will be summarized by WO, PO, and Company. No extra data will be loaded for approvals, classifications, employees, or even work dates. If you’re looking at multiple years of data or a very large result set, this could make your report take much less time to generate, and much less time to run reports against, and avoid issues with database or summary temp limit. However, if you tried running a report by date, or a detailed cost report, it would not break the records apart. Also, you won’t be able to filter on anything that wasn’t included in the summary. Most of the filters (project, project group, expense type, package, etc.) rely on “Work Order” being selected above, since that’s coding that comes from the WO.
The “Quick Create” option is not as sophisticated as the “Select/Create” option and only does what the name suggests – quickly create a prepared database (without any limitation or specification, etc.). Once you set the dates and shift, click “Update” and your prepared database will be created.
After the prepared database is created, the “Details” section will show the components that are included.
Filters
Before running your reports, you can add filters in the “Filters” section to control what is displayed on the report. Just click “Add…” and select the condition from the list of filters.
You can also add a custom filter by clicking the funnel in that field then building your filter(s) to only display records satisfying the specified condition(s). Here you have greater flexibility as you can also add multiple conditions and groups.
Click the + to add a new condition to the group, select the criteria from the dropdown list then enter the desired value. Click the x to remove a condition from the group.
You’ll now see both the text and organized filter criteria and can edit using either mechanism.
Reports
The “Reports” section displays a list of built in and created reports. From this list you can create and save additional reports. You can also add a report to ‘favorites’ (right click report > Add to favorites).
To search for a report, type the name/keyword and only those reports with matching name/keywords will remain on screen. For example, if you are searching for Summary by Company then Purchase Order then Cost Type then Date, you could simply type “type” and quickly pinpoint that report.
The icons to the right of each report depict its source (where the report is saved). The reports with no icons attached are shared with and accessible by others on your network. The ‘gear’ icon represents built in reports. The ‘person’ icon represents user customization reports. Be vigilant when saving reports as “user customization” as they’re not shared with others on the same network or when you log in on a different workstation.
You can also hover over a report to find its source.
Saving Summary Reports
It is beneficial to establish a save/share location before creating your reports.
To establish a location to share/save reports click File > Sites.
Click on the “Reports” tab and select the checkbox beside “Allow storing custom reports in the site database” to store reports in the site database. Click save to save changes.
Afterwards, hover over “Active User/Site” situated in the upper left section of the interface and click on “Set active site” to refresh your active site(s). Once your site is refreshed, return to the reports screen. You will observe that all “Save” options in the reports screens now show dropdowns, allowing you to choose between user customization and site customization.
Creating Reports
There are 2 ways to create a report using the report wizard:
(i) Click the “New Report” button and create the report from scratch.
(ii) Select a report from the list, click “Wizard” and make further modifications.
Reports can also be created or modified using the report designer. Just select a report from the list and click “Preview” then click “Customize” to further modify in the designer.
PLEASE NOTE that the “Wizard” button is only available for reports that are built using the report wizard. If a report is modified or saved in the report designer, it cannot be further modified with the wizard and when selected the wizard button is grayed out.
Components of the Wizard
When you click the “New Report” or “Wizard” button, the report wizard opens, and lets you define what to include in your report and how that information is presented. The wizard has three (3) main sections: “Columns,” “Data Columns” and “Display Options.”
The “Columns” section tailors what information will be presented on the report.
Just click “Add Column” and select the data sources from the dropdown and set their grouping styles. If grouping style is left as ‘Display’ the report width will adopt the size specified in the “Layout” column for that data set.
Other group headings are concealed by default, and can be retrieved, via the “column chooser.” Just right click a group header and select “column chooser.”
A new window (entitled “Customization”) will pop up with the concealed group headers. Drag and place the ones you want to use.
In the same breath, to remove a group header, right click it and select “Hide this column.”
Like almost all other screens in the software, you will observe that there are several ways to accomplish a given task. A good example to depict the versatility in this report is with Group Style, where three different styles are used.
Here Company and Date are set to ‘Display’ and as such a new column with the affiliated records and the allotted width is generated for each data source.
Purchase Order is set to ‘Group row with title’ and as such the title precedes the actual purchase order number (Purchase Order: D123Test).
Cost Type is set to ‘Group row without title’ and as such ONLY the cost type is displayed in the report (Labor).
You also have a great degree of latitude to augment reports to your preference. A good example to depict the flexibility is with String Format, where you can specify how you’d like the date to be displayed. By typing “MM/dd/yyyy – dddd” as my format, the date is set to display: month/day/year – Day of week. Feel free to explore others at your convenience.
The “Data Column(s)” outlines the set of values that are reported on. Just make a selection from the “Column Set:” dropdown then proceed.
This section also allows hiding values, in the event that you don’t wish to report on all items in a given set. Just check the box for the values you wish to exclude.
Since some column sets are larger than others, you’ll want to pay attention to the “Layout” column as it controls the width (in inches) for each set of values displayed on the report. It forms part of the ‘report width’ under “Display options” which allocates 8 inches for portrait orientation and 10.5 inches for landscape orientation on a letter size paper. If the total size exceeds the allotment for either orientation, then the “Preview” and “Save” options are disabled until the report width is less than or equal to the data width.
Similar to the preceding section, other group headings are concealed by default, and can be retrieved, via the “column chooser.”
The “Display Options:” section enables manipulation of specific components of the report.
Here you can select paper size and alternate between portrait and landscape orientation to accommodate report width and/or data width. Please note that the orientation is defaulted to portrait, hence the only available option is to select the landscape checkbox if you wish to switch to landscape.
“Data Width” is the allotted width for the page.
“Report Width” is the size of the report. It is a combination of the total size for both “Columns” and “Data Column(s)” sections.
“Grouping Style” determines whether the report summary is shown at the beginning or at the end of the report.
Once all your settings have been established in the wizard, save then preview your report from the list of reports.
The preview option in the wizard works fine, however it doesn’t offer as much as previewing a saved report.
Previewing (saved) Reports
Upon previewing your report, if needed, use the filter button to make additional modifications.
“Build Filter” allows building additional filters while previewing the report.
“Clear Filters” removes ALL filters applied while in preview and reverts to the original set of data. This will only affect that instance of the report preview (as long as print preview is open).
“Recent” shows the last ten (10) filters applied when building reports in that instance of CT3 (as long as CT3 is open). This allows you to jump from one filter to the other without having to exit, build another filter then preview the report with the subsequent settings.
“Filter” simply displays the current filter being used.
There’s a wide array of additional functions available while in print preview. This includes printing, customizing, exporting and separating reports just to name a few.
