You are here: Chapter 8: Using FootPrints > Searching and Reporting > Reporting > Custom Reports

Custom Reports

The Custom Reports feature allows you to create report templates based on any combination of criteria, with many formatting options.  Formatting options include headings, columns, sorting, and color graphs.  Single and two-level metrics based on any fields can be included.  Report output can be exported to another application (such as Excel) and can be scheduled to be run on a regular basis.

Report Options

Note

The names of many of the fields in FootPrints can be changed by the administrator (Title, Priority, Status, Description, etc.), as well as the name of the records (Issue).  Custom fields can also be created.  For clarity, this manual always refers to FootPrints records as “Issues” and uses the default terms for the other field names.

To create a custom report, select Reports | New Report from the FootPrints Toolbar. The Custom Report Wizard is displayed:

  1. Style tab—Select the output style of the report.  Choices are:
  1. Click GO to display the rest of the report options. The steps on the next page depend on the report style selected in Step 1.

  2. Heading tab—Define what is included in the heading at the top of the report output. Available for all styles except Export. Options include:
  1. Formatting tab—There are two sets of options for the Formatting tab. One is for column and wrapped reports and the other is for metric reports and combo reports.

Note

This section only determines which fields to display; it does not determine the selection criteria for the report.  The criteria are chosen later in the report.

  1. Issue Criteria tab—Select the criteria, using issue fields, for the report. Only select the criteria you want to search on. It is important to understand the meaning of relative periods and aging in order to obtain accurate information, especially as the searching and reporting functions of FootPrints rely on the same types of criteria.  If a search is requested on Issues for "the previous three months," and the date is the 15th of May, then the period searched or reported on will be from February 15th through May 14th, inclusive.  That is, the report or search will exclude the current date and give the three month period prior to the current date.  This is to ensure that reports and searches yield consistent results.  If reports and searches included the current date, then the results might differ depending on the time of day at which the search or report was performed.
  2. Contact Criteria tab— Select any additional criteria, using address book fields, for the report. Only select the criteria you want to search on.
  3. Advanced Criteria tab— The FootPrints Advanced Reporting criteria section uses the same mechanism as the Advanced Search. Refer to the topic on Advanced Search for detailed explanation of criteria.

NOTE

It is important to understand the meaning of relative periods and aging in order to obtain accurate information, especially as the searching and reporting functions of FootPrints rely on the same types of criteria. If a search is requested on Issues for "the previous three months," and the date is the 15th of May, then the period searched or reported on will be from February 15th through May 14th, inclusive. That is, the report or search will exclude the current date and give the three month period prior to the current date. This is to ensure that reports and searches yield consistent results. If reports and searches included the current date, then the results might differ depending on the time of day at which the search or report was performed.

  1. Save/Run tab—Click GO to run the report. To save the report, enter a name before you run it.  Select Personal to save the report for yourself.  Select Shared/Internal to share your report template with other internal FootPrints users. Shared/Public reports are available to all users including customers (the report only contains data the user is allowed to see).  Shared/Public reports appear on the customer Pre-Defined Reports page.  Each time a saved report template is run, it returns the latest matching data.

Note

Saving the report here only saves the report formatting options and criteria chosen in this form, not the results of the report.  This feature can be used to run the same report in the future, for example, once a week.  Each time the report is run, it returns the latest data from the current Workspace.  Saving report output is covered in the topic on Saving and Printing Report Data.

After you click GO, the report is displayed in a separate browser window.  Large reports sometimes take a few minutes to run.  To view the details of an Issue, click the Issue number (or whatever field is in the first column) in the report.  This displays the Details page for that Issue in the main frame.

The report can be saved or printed from the browser window.  If the Export style was selected, a Save As dialog box is displayed.  Save and name the report to your local hard drive.

Note on Permissions

Reports can be restricted based on a user's RoleClosed. Custom Reports may not be available or some options may not appear if your role does not allow access.  Please consult your FootPrints administrator for more information.