Report Design: Custom Group Report (Content and Design)

Once a report’s availability and access is set up, you can organize the content and display of the report itself.

Editing a Custom Group report

The editing space includes these main areas…

• Items toolbar: left-menu with visual drag and drop style interface.
• Report body workspace:
  • Designer tab … displays the report body, with its main elements.
  • Preview tab … provides a quick preview of the report thus far.
  • Scheduling and Subscription (calendar icon) … see Report Scheduling and Subscription
  • Source tab … if you like to dig into the JSON code directly, you can do so here.

Report Elements

A Custom Group report uses the following structure.

Header

The Header displays the report title, and other optional information. Click the green “Options” tab to access Report Header Settings. (Note: When designing a Module level report, before designing report elements, scroll down to Data Settings and make sure you choose the variables to include.)

• Header Options  …
• Report Title
  • Subtitle … (optional)
  • Report Icon … Displayed on the left side of the header.
    • Bar chart (default)
    • Line chart
    • Pie chart
    • Area chart
    • Document
    • Observation
    • Flag
    • Info
    • No Icon
  • Background Color … sets a custom header background color (defaults to dark blue)
  • Text Color … sets a custom header text color (defaults to white)
  • This section describes defining who the subject of the report will be. (reports designed for the Module and for the Instance level offer different options).
  • Target people from the following roles … determines the initial picklist for the report.
    • It will also be used by some report elements to determine averages against the population (the population will be determined by the intersection of the user’s roles and the above selections).
    • Leave blank to include everyone.
  • Include People … on by default; toggles whether or not People are included.
  • Include Objects … off by default; toggles whether or not Instance objects are included.
  • Include Role Objects … off by default; toggles whether or not Role objects are included.
  • Include Team Objects … off by default; toggles whether or not Team objects are included.
  • Show Team Selector Panel … Available at the Instance level only, displays a list of available teams on the left in order to quickly switch between them and filter the included people.
  • Section Display … determines the visibility of the sections of the report upon initial load (and when printing or exporting to PDF).
    • Use section settings
    • Expand all sections
    • Collapse all sections
• Profile Name Options … Available at the Instance level only, select either Display Person’s Name or Display Person’s Identifier
• Report Parameters (Beta) … Report parameters can be used to present choices to report viewers to control report data. They can be used for filtering datasets in Behavior Lists, Detail Data Grids, Pivot Grids, and Line Charts. Other report visualizations are based off single value variables (Scores, Descripives, etc).
  • Add Parameter …
    • Name … This is the parameter name referenced elsewhere in the report (i.e. not displayed); cannot contain spaces or special characters.
    • Prompt … This is the text displayed at the top of the report.
    • Type … Select the type of parameter from the drop down list:
      • Text
      • Numeric
      • Date
      • Date Range
      • Picklist
      • Roles
      • Observation Events
      • Surveys
      • Status
      • Descriptive
      • Score
    • Options … For use with Picklists, Observation Events and Surveys. List possible responses, using the pipe (|) to delimit values.
      • For Surveys and Observation Events, you can use value like a filter. (e.g. enter ‘Peer’ to list any surveys with ‘Peer’ in the name).
    • Default Value … Sets the parameter’s value upon initial report display.
    • Placeholder … This is text that can be displayed in the drop down list or text field as a kind of prompt for the viewer (e.g. “Select start date”).
    • User Prompt? … defaults to ‘on’; toggles visibility of the parameter.
    • Click Save.
    • To change the order of the parameters drag the row using the blue double-sided arrow.
    • To remove a parameter click the red trash can icon in the corresponding row.

Section

Sections group Items together. Click the green “Options” tab to access Section Settings.

• Each Section spans the entire width of the report, and supports four columns. You add Items to a Section, and define how many columns each Item should occupy.
• Sections are required, and they can be collapsed/expanded when the report is displayed to the viewer.
• Each Section can be named in order to organize the data presented into logical groupings (e.g. you can have Sections named “Physical”, “Technical”, “Behavioral” and so on).
• Click “Add New Section” to add a new Section.
• To change the order of Sections, grab the top left corner (the folder icon will change to cross-arrows) and drag and drop it where desired.
• To delete a Section, grab the top left corner and when you begin dragging the item list will change to a single trash can icon. Drag and drop it on the trash can.

Variables

The Module level version of the Custom Group report handles variables differently from the Instance level version. Instead of picking an individual variable from a list of all the variables for each report item, you have to determine the variables beforehand in the report settings work panel. After all the scores, ranks and descriptives are selected, adding them to report items is fairly straightforward.

Items

These are the various visualizations of data (e.g. grids, gauges, scales, etc) that can be dragged and dropped into containers to design the content and layout of the report:

Report Item: Image

Report Item: Text

Report Item: Comment (Instance level only)

Report Item: Detail Data Grid

Report Item: Pivot Grid

Other:

Report Item: Detail Data Chart

Report Item: Liquid Fill

Report Item: Gauge

Report Item: External Content

Report Item: Decision Tree

Most Items also have a set of Misc. Options, including…

Title … Displayed at the top of the item, and offers an option to link to another report.

Name … Displays on the item itself in the report designer; not displayed to the report viewer.

Notes … Where save notes about this item; only viewable when editing the item in the report designer.

Only show when the target is in: … Displays this item only for the selected Role(s).

Cut/Copy/Paste

Containers and Items can be copied and pasted…

• Click to select the item or container. It should turn yellow.
• Use the common Windows and Mac keystrokes (right-clicking your mouse will not work):
  • (Windows) Control+C = copy, Control+X = cut, Control+V=paste.
  • (Mac) Command+C = copy, Command+X = cut, Command+V=paste.
• Select the target area and paste (Ctrl+V/Cmd+V).

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Version(s): GideonSoft 2021 Release 1 and later