Reporting Functional Analysis

Owned by Megan Forbes
Last updated: Mar 30, 2011Version comment
2 min read

Reporting Overview

The reporting section allows users to export data from the CMS into .xls or html format. The two tabs in this section denote the two steps to running a report. The "Set Up" tab (right) is where users select the fields they would like to include in the report (this selection of fields is called a "report format"). The "Reports" tab is where users define the search terms that will determine which objects are included in the report. Thus, a user can use the same report format to run several different reports, each on a different group of records defined by different search terms.

Set Up tab

Lists saved report formats. Allows users to create and save new report formats. Allows users to edit previously saved report formats.

Use: Frequent

Notes:

  • Fields must be added to each report one-by-one in a three-click process. It would be good to be able to add fields more easily and quickly to a report format.
  • Upon creating a new report template, the user chooses the format name and type (Objects, Lots, Entities, Place Names, Occurrences, and Collections) before saving. It is impossible to make a report that includes records from more than one of these categories (e.g., one cannot run a report on ALL authority terms at once, but can only run separate reports on Entities and Occurrences).
  • When creating a report for "objects," fields that belong to "Entities" and "Occurrences" still appear on the list of available fields. When the user adds these fields to an "objects" report, the entities to which these objects are related and the relationship types will repeat in these fields. The entities are lumped together into one cell and separated by semicolons (see this example).
  • When creating a report for "entities" or "occurrences," the fields for "objects" still appear on the list of available fields to add tot her report. When the user adds these fields, the objects to which the entities are related repeat in these fields separated by semicolons. Because of the large number of objects related to many entities, in many cases the list of related objects is not complete because the list maxes out at the maximum number of characters that can be put in one cell in an Excel doc. (see this example).
  • A few fields exist in the data map that are not available to add to one's report. These are:
    • In "Objects > Basic": admin_lot_id (hidden)
    • In "Objects > Representations": Original file name, dimensions, format.
Reports tab

Lists saved reports (with formats listed after in parentheses). Allows users to create, save, and run new reports. Allows users to edit and run previously saved reports.

Use: Frequent

Notes:

  • To create a report, the user must select a report format from a drop-down menu.
  • The report is created based on a text search only. The text search searches all fields included in the report format the user selected. There is no way for the user to limit which of the reported fields she would like to search.
  • Running a "Tab-delimited" report will create an Excel document. Running an "HTML" report will load a spreadsheet-formatted HTML document in the user's browser (see screenshot).