Developing Custom Reports
For those of you who customize reports in Abecas Insight using the Report Builder interface, I have a couple of suggestions you may wish to use during the customization process.
First, I highly recommend that you do your customization in the Practice database. It is helpful to have a Practice database with current data, so you may wish to restore the Practice database from a recent backup of your live database, which will provide plenty of familiar, real world data for you to run your reports against.
Second, if you haven’t already done so, or have not done so recently, I suggest you visit the Argos Software Support Web Page to review the available topics relating to working in Report Builder.
The Support Web address is: http://support.abecas.com
After logging in to the site, click the Downloads link near the top of the page. There you will find a number of Webinars and How To files on various topics. There are currently four Webinars relating to Report Builder in Abecas Insight and fourteen ‘How To” documents.
In order to create a custom report, you will need to begin with one of the Standard Abecas formats for the type of report you want to create. Go to the report type that you want (Bill of Lading, for example) and select a Standard Format that approximates the report you want to create. Check to make sure that it contains the primary data fileds that you want and that the report can run against the level of data that you desire (Lot, Sublot, Serial Number, etc.). Select a limited range of data in the Range Selection dialog and run a Print Preview to compare the available formats. Even if there is only one Standard Format, you should run a preview against a limited selection of data as this data will display in your design preview as you work in Report Builder and a limited set of data (one or two pages) will enable each preview page to load quicker.
Bill of Lading Record Range Selector
Once you have decided upon the Standard format which you will use as your basis for your custom report, click the Customize button in the top line menu of the Record Range dialog and click the ‘Create New Report Format’ option. This will create a copy of the standard format you selected. You should give this report a name which will be meaningful to you and your users, e.g., ‘Bill of Lading for ABC Account’ and type the name of the original standard report format in the comments area of the naming dialog, along with any other comments you deem important. When you click OK, the Report Builder interface will launch and you can begin your customization.
As you make changes, it is a good practice to save your changes regularly by clicking File, then Save. It is also a good idea to save you reports to a file folder where you can access them when you want to move them to your live database. On the support web page there are two ‘how to’ articles that will tell you how to Save an RTM and how to Import an RTM (the saved report template).
Doing your development in the Practice database will ensure that you do not effect the integrity of any data in the live database, so if you changes the stage of a transaction or generate an invoice or create additional test data, you will not negatively impact on-going operations. Also, your users will not be able to run your new format until you have completed it, tested it and loaded it into the live database.
The ability to save and import custom reports also gives you an opportunity to work with other users and exchange formats that you have developed should you choose. With other users, you can work cooperatively to develop custom reports and share your knowledge and results to the benefit of both users.