using the reports module a beginner’s guide catherine jones library systems development manager...

Using the Reports module

A beginner’s guide

Catherine Jones

Library Systems Development Manager

CCLRC

Catherine JonesLibrary & Information Service

Contents

• Access to reports

• Types of Reports

• Maintenance

• Possible problems

• Q&A session


Report organisation

• Reports grouped by module

• Additional groups include administration, text & maintenance


Access to reports

Access control policy for a particular user sets which: – report groups can be seen– reports wizards can be used

Some reports which change data are password protected


Access to reports groups


Access to reports wizards


Overview of Reports Wizards

Three wizards:

• Set-up & schedule

– New reports and templates


Set-up & scheduleHelpers: Sort & Filter; report scheduler & tabs

Reports set up & saved – use for complicated or infrequently used

Commands

Reports owned by the userid that sets them up. Can use ownership to alter this.


Setting up a report

Reports may have the following sections:• Basic information

– Name, heading & description

• Selection criteria– To tailor the results to the items you are interested in

• Sorting criteria– How the results are ordered

• Output options– What type of information will be in the output



Three wizards:



• Scheduled reports

– Reports run on a routine basis


Scheduled reports

Bold items are suspended reports, use Advanced to alter this

This has information on when the report is scheduled, what type of output is automatically set up etc



Three wizards:



• Scheduled reports

– Reports run on a routine basis

• Finished reports

– Results


Finished Reports


Finished Reports

There are two sections to a finished report:

• Log

– Information on how the report ran

• Result

– The required information


Finished Reports - logReport Log for Loans and hold information for users

about to leaveReport userlist scheduled as ral wkleaverA list of CCLRC users. UNICORN user selection v2003 started on Friday, 27 August,

2004, 8:20 AM The user file will be read sequentially by primary key. The user key will be written to standard output. The user name key will be written to standard output. Users will be selected if user category 2 is TEMP-STAFF,

VISITOR, FIXED-TERM, or NON-PERM. Users will be selected if the user's privilege expires not

later than 10/9/2004. Users will be selected if user library is RAL. 1855 user record(s) considered. 16 user record(s) selected.


Finished Reports - result Loans and hold information for users about to leave

Produced Friday, 27 August, 2004 at 8:20 AM

Mrs, Grose CM

id:CCLRC1 library:RAL

*Charges:0

*Holds:0

Miss Jones, K

id:CCLRC2 library:RAL

*Charges:0

*Holds:0


Finished Reports - formatting Item type

BOOK BOOK-REF EXT-ILL-BK ILL JOURNAL

195 4 1 24 50


Finished Reports - formattingBOOK BOOK-REF EXT-ILL-BK ILL JOURNAL

REPORT $<total:U>

.end

$<total:U> 195 4 1 24 50 4278


Types of report

Broad headings

• Counting

• Listing/finding

• Business process

• Editing data

• Administration


Counting

• Current items or historic

• No output options

• Results are part of the log


Counting current information

E.g.– Number of items on loan today

– Number of item of type BOOK

• May want to do this every month to achieve cumulative stats


Counting historic information

E.g.– Number of items loaned in August 2004– Number of ILL requests in the last year

• May use log files and depends on having the data still in the system.

• Usually use reports in the Administrative section

• Output is usually tabular


Finding/Listing things

• Powerful tool

• Be clear about what you want to achieve

• Be clear about the main focus of the result as this impacts on the report you choose to run– Item/user/loan/order/vendor etc

• Lots of output options (usually)


Performing business process

These make Unicorn processes run

• E.g.s marking items late (serials and orders); claim letters; overdues & recalls; pick-up notices etc

• Letters usually have an option to “not count” for testing purposes


Changing data

These make changes automatically

• E.g.s global edits, withdrawals and updating user records

• Don’t use lightly!


System maintenance

• There are reports required to make the underlying systems work. These will have been set up by Sirsi

• Adutext/Correcthesauri/Reorgs (text & authorities) ensures the BRS-Search database is working efficiently

• Statlog/Consolidate ensures the statistics and log files are managed


CCLRC use of reports

• Counting: monthly throughput stats on loans, active users, journal checkins etc

• Listing: Holds, bibliographic checks• Business Process: recalls/overdues; serial claims

& mark claim late• Editing data: Occasional withdrawals• Administration: As set up by Sirsi• One-offs: More stats, input into journal

subscriptions (use/titles ILL’ed)


Reports maintenance

• The finished reports live on the server and if the space fills up then reports will fail to run

• Report logs – these are records of the reports that have been run

• General tidy ups – don’t keep finished reports you don’t need


Possible Problems

• If a system report errors, tell Sirsi ASAP

• If it hasn’t brought back what you expected consider:– Too few/too many: look at selection criteria– Wrong type of output: check output options or

try another report– ERR 111 in the log: found bib records with no

copies


Possible Problems

• Some selection criteria combination not possible: e.g. can count serial controls with certain holding codes but can’t run a list with the holding code on the output

• Not everything is possible with a fixed reporting tool


What you can do about it

• Use the help

• Check with Sirsi

• Suggest a change on the WebForums

• Think of alternative ways of getting the information

• Get API training (brings responsibilities too)


Conclusions

• Understand your data

• Have a feel for what order of magnitude you expect your results to be

• Use the help

• Realise not everything is achievable through the reports module

using the reports module a beginner’s guide catherine jones library systems development manager...

Documents

reports reports

report reports

reports results

reports module

suspended reports

commands reports

user library

required information