Report Wizard

Using the Report wizard, there are many customization options you can choose from before executing the report. The Report wizard walks you step-by-step through each of these settings and makes it easy to generate the exact kind of report you want. Because you may want to run the same report on a regular basis, the Report wizard lets you assign a name to the report and then save the settings so you can re-use it any time.

Generating a basic report

The following example demonstrates how to modify reports using the Report wizard. It is based on an asset repository that includes standard asset data for a company's desktop computers, including manufacturer, model, serial number, processor, location, cost, purchase date, etc. We will use this example first to generate a basic report, and then walk through the different steps and introduce some of the options for further customizing reports. Finally, we will show how to use reports to quickly perform both single-record updates and bulk updates to the repository.

NOTE: Since several of the illustrations below are based on testing data and not on actual data from your repository, the scenario described in these examples is only hypothetical. You would need to have the same or similar data in your asset repository in order to generate the exact reports described below. In addition, most of the steps below are not necessary for many types of reports. The purpose of the examples below is to give you a basic understanding of how the Reports wizard works and describe a few of the customization capabilities you can use.

Before doing any special filtering or other customization, we'll generate a full report for the company's desktop computers.

1. Select the Asset tab or the Process tab.
2. Click Reports to open the Reports Explorer in the navigation pane.
3. Click to expand the Asset folder in the Reports Explorer.
4. Expand Assets by type, then expand Computers.
5. Select the report template for All computers.
   
   
   The Report wizard generates a report based on the current settings for that report, which is for all desktop computers at any of the company's offices, regardless of their current lifecycle state. The report also shows the Asset ID, name, tag, manufacturer, owner, and cost.
   
   
6. Click Settings to open the Report wizard and make some changes to the settings.

The Report wizard opens. When using the Report wizard, if you are editing or viewing the settings for an existing report, the wizard goes directly to the Columns pane. When you are creating a new report, the wizard begins at the General pane.

General pane

1. Click General to open the General report settings pane.
   
   
   
   The General report settings pane is used to assign a name to the report and to select a report view. The Available report views window is also displayed, but is dimmed because a view has already been selected.
   
   
2. Type the name you want to assign to the report.

Columns pane

1. Click Columns to open the Columns pane.
   
   
   
   The Columns pane lets you choose which columns (fields in the asset records) you want to include in the report. The Available Columns list includes columns you can add to the report. The right column lists the columns that are currently included in the report display. We don't need to include the Asset Type and Asset tag fields, so we can remove them.
   
   
2. Select Asset Type and Asset tag in the Display columns list.
3. Click [ < ] to remove them from the Display columns list.

Filters pane

1. Click Filters to open the Filters pane.
   
   
   
   The Filters pane lets you focus the information you gather by only including the data that is relevant to what you want to show in the report. For this exercise we want to include only computers that are currently on order for the South Jordan office.
   
2. In the Report filters area, on row 1, select Location for the Report column, [=] for the Operator, and South Jordan for the Value.
   
3. Click the [+] button to add the formula to the filter.
   
   You can include additional or alternate filters by inserting them as you create the formula. The example below would list all laptops that are currently on order for the Los Angeles office, and those that are either on order or available in Denver.
   
   
   
   You can click the Verify formula button to check whether your formula is valid.
   
4. On row 2 in the Report filters area, select Lifecycle state for the Report column, [=] for the Operator, and Ordered for the Value.
5. Click the [+] button to add the formula to the filter.
   
   

NOTE: If users who are unfamiliar with database syntax are given rights to create, modify, or run reports, they may need to be reminded to expect or use "1" for True and "0" for False when interpreting report values generated from the database or when responding to user prompts that appear during report generation. For example, a checkbox that has been selected equals 1 (or "True") in the database; an empty checkbox represents 0 (or "False") in the database record.

Sorting pane

1. Click Sorting to open the Sorting pane.
   
   We want to arrange the report so that the items are sorted by cost and listed in descending order.
   
   
   
   
2. Select Cost in the Columns box.
3. Select Descending in the Sort order box.
   

Groupings Pane

1. Click Groupings to open the Groupings pane.
   
   We want the data to be grouped by Manufacturer. Since the data includes several different manufacturers, this will result in separate reports for each manufacturer. Because the report data is grouped, ALM will also include a bar chart and a pie chart when the report is generated. To create a single report that does not group by manufacturers, skip this section and move directly to the Summation pane.
   
   
   
   
2. Specify Manufacturer name in the Grouping text box.

Summation pane

1. Click Summation to open the Summation pane.
   
   The Summation pane lets you choose options for the summary page of the report. We will set the report to include a summation total for the Cost column.
   
   
   
   
2. For the Cost column, click the checkbox for Sum.

Settings pane

1. Click Settings to open the Settings pane.
   
   The Settings pane gives you several options that make it easy to view and update the data in the repository directly from a report you have generated.
   
   
   
   

• Allow links adds a hypertext link on the main report page for any columns you want to include. In the generated report, you will be able to click on any underlined field for which you checked the Allow links checkbox, and jump directly to that asset record to view the data, or with rights, to edit it.
• Allow bulk update makes it easy to make changes to a given data field for multiple asset records. For example, you can change all records you specify from "Ordered" to "Received". In the "Allow bulk update" section, checkboxes that are shaded gray (as "Asset Instance ID" above) represent fields for which the bulk update feature is not available; these fields cannot be bulk updated because of their subordinate relationship to a parent field. Only controls at the main (or "parent") level are available for bulk updating.
• To include a button to quickly make a state change to data on a generated report, you can click the arrow next to Show change state buttons for column, specify the column in which you want to make the change, and then specify the new state. You can also define your own button label to more clearly identify the change that will be made.

2. In the Allow links area, select Asset Instance ID, Location name, and Manufacturer name.
3. In the Allow bulk update area, select Asset name, Lifecycle state, and Location name.

Security pane

1. Click Security to open the Security pane.
   
   The Security pane lets you assign rights to read or modify the report based on user IDs, group names, or roles you have previously assigned. See Asset Lifecycle Manager roles for more information.
   
   
   

2. 	Click Add contact to choose additional users, groups, or roles.
   	Select the type of rights you want to allow to different types of users, groups, or roles. Click [-] to remove a role completely.

2. Make any necessary changes to set the desired permissions for the report. When all options are set the way you want them, the report is ready to be executed.
3. Click the green checkmark button to generate the report.
   
   

Understanding the Report Data

In the example described above, we generated reports that included the following criteria:

• The report data was defined based on the All computers template.
• We removed two columns, Asset type and Asset tag, from the existing report settings.
• We indicated that we only wanted to show computers that are currently on order for the Los Angeles office.
• We sorted the report data by Cost and in Descending order (most expensive at the top).
• We grouped the data by Manufacturer. This resulted in separate reports for each manufacturer. The different reports are listed on the summation page.
• We specified that the summation page would list the total cost of the computers in each report.
• We specified three fields to include hyperlinks to go directly to the asset record and three other fields that will let us do an instant "bulk update" directly from the reports to the asset repository.
• We assigned role-based (read and modify) rights for access to the reports.

Summation page - one report for each manufacturer

	Click Settings to return to the wizard if you want to make any changes to the report.
	Grouping by Manufacturer name resulted in a separate report for each manufacturer.
	Click on the name for the report you want to view.
	Because the report data is grouped, you can click the graph icons to display a bar graph or a pie chart that summarizes the data in the report.
	You can also print reports, graphs, and pie charts.
	Settings on the Summation pane requested that the total cost be calculated for each group’s report.

Generated report

Each individual manufacturer report includes the requested data, which has been arranged, sorted, and displayed based on the specified settings. To create a single report that does not group by manufacturers, skip the settings on the Groupings pane.

	Summary report for all computers for the South Jordan office, that are currently on order, sorted in descending order by price.
	We specified that the report allow the bulk update option.
	By selecting the items that have been received, their records can all be updated at once in the repository.
	Underlined data fields are hyperlinks that jump directly to the asset record.