Reporting. Course Outline. Notes. Introduction to D-Tools Reports. Introduction to D-Tools Reports. Managing Reports

Transcription

1 Reporting This course provides a review of project reporting in D-Tools SI. All available report types are reviewed including client, management and installation reports. Learn methods of customizing output using report definitions as well as methods for filtering report output Course Outline Introduction to D-Tools Reports o o Types of Reports Report s Introduction to D-Tools Reports o o o Running Reports Project Explorer Running Reports Project Editor Running Reports with Filters Managing Reports o o o o o o Report Categories Report Groups Report Definitions Report Themes Foreign Currency Import/Export Reports Copyright 2016 D-Tools Inc. SI Manual - Reporting - 121

2 Introduction to D-Tools Reports Types of Reports D-Tools SI has four default types of reports: Client, Management, Installation and Excel reports. Client Reports Client reports are typically reports that will be submitted to your clients and are focused on presentation of the project details toward the customer. Client proposal reports have many options for presentation using SI report themes. Proposal Report Varieties Pricing Varieties: o List Price Reports: These present the prices of items as their equipment selling price and does not include any labor. o Install Price Reports: includes Product price + Labor price + product/labor adjustments o Equipment & Labor Price: Displays product and labor price separately in two columns. Images or Large Images Other Client Reports Contract Scope of Work Location Summary System Summary Project Contacts Management Reports Management reports are typically reports that will be used internally to analyze the project s profitability or verify the project hours specified for the project or for other project management related duties. Copyright 2016 D-Tools Inc. SI Manual - Reporting - 122

3 Project Analysis Reports Gross Profit Detail Cost Summary List Blank Items Project Hours Other Management Reports G a t e w a y B o u l e v a r d S u i t e C o n c o r d, C A T e l F a x Check List Pick List Purchase Order Installation Reports Installation reports are used to aid the field personnel with installing the project. Installation reports are things such as wire checklists, equipment checklists and things of this nature. Wiring Reports Brother Wire Label Bulk Wire Termination Report Wire Checklist Wire Connections Wire Labels by Head End Wire Labels by Location Wire Labels by Wire Number Wire Terminal Count Wire Connections Terminal Count Other Installation Reports Avery Walk Thru 5263 Rack Specifications Copyright 2016 D-Tools Inc. SI Manual - Reporting - 123

4 Other Reports G a t e w a y B o u l e v a r d S u i t e C o n c o r d, C A T e l F a x Other reports are any reports that are not assigned to one of the three default report categories shown above. Report categories can be customized and reports can be re-assigned to a different category. Any custom categories and reports assigned to them will show up under Other Reports. Report Groups and unassigned reports will also be displayed here. Report Categories Report Categories are containers for reports. There are three default categories which you cannot change, but additional categories can be added and reports can be assigned to any category you wish. Custom categories can help you better organize reports, especially if you begin customizing reports. Report Groups Report groups provide a way to run multiple reports at the same time. Report Groups will be covered in detail later in the course. Excel Reports Excel reports provide the ability to run a report directly into Excel. The excel reports do not provide the same flexibility and robust outputs as provided by the regular reports. Excel reports utilize the pivot table feature in Excel to group project data mainly for analysis or management purposes. Excel reports can be run on up to five projects at once. Quick Reports There are two Quick Reports that provide an effective and quick solution to pull up a project summary as well as a favorite report you can define. In Report s you can define which SI reports are mapped to these buttons. Project Summary The Project Summary gives a quick snapshot of project financial data including equipment, labor and project totals. It is an excellent tool for quickly reviewing the financial statistics for a project. Copyright 2016 D-Tools Inc. SI Manual - Reporting - 124

5 Quick Proposal G a t e w a y B o u l e v a r d S u i t e C o n c o r d, C A T e l F a x The Quick Proposal is user-definable. In the Report s you can choose which report you would like to have used as the quick proposal. This gives you a one click solution to pull up your favorite or most used report! Proposal Themes SI provides a suite of proposal themes that give users the ability to select from a variety of different colors and styles for their proposal reports. Themes are downloaded from D-Tools and are then configured in Report s to identify which theme you would like to use. You can also create custom themes of your own with images you ve created. Report s Report s give you the ability to set user preferences for various aspects of working with reports. You have access to change these settings from the Control Panel, but also inside the Manage Reports area and from inside the project editor as well. You will likely find that your preferences today may change when you are using the software more regularly. Typical user settings have been defaulted by D-Tools. Change Order Show zero quantity as blank Default Value = True. this to "False" will display a "0" for the quantity vs. a blank space when items are modified (not removed or deleted) between revisions. Contract Display phase breakdown in contract report True/False to display phase pricing breakdown in the contract report. Copyright 2016 D-Tools Inc. SI Manual - Reporting - 125

6 Custom s Summarize tax Summarized Tax description Discount Labor Product adjustment description Misc. parts adjustment description Labor adjustment description Misc. items description True/False: True displays all taxes as one line. If above = True, this description override controls the tax label Change the wording for "Discount" in the project summary. By default the word Labor is used in the project summary. Change it here, perhaps an alternate spelling like "Labour". Change the wording for "Product Adjustment" in the project summary. Change the wording for "Misc. Parts Adjustment" in the project summary. Change the wording for "Labor Adjustment" in the project summary. Change the wording for "Misc. Items" in the project summary. Export Enable shapes in rtf export Export report to folder Default Value = True. This allows jpg images and other graphics to be exported to Rich Text Format. Here you can set the default folder for where you export reports Copyright 2016 D-Tools Inc. SI Manual - Reporting - 126

7 Graphics Cover page and proposal reports image Hide Cover Page Image Proposal report theme Proposal Image report theme Proposal Large Image theme Other Client reports theme Here you can set a default image for the Cover Page report, and for the cover page that prints with all Proposal reports. Choose whether to show the large image in the middle of the cover page (set using property above). Set your default Theme for your Proposal reports Set your default Theme for your Proposal with Images reports Set your default Theme for your Proposal Large Images reports Set your default Theme for other Client reports Groups Display all reports in report groups together Auto page number all reports which are in report groups together. True will run all reports as one report. False will run them at the same time, but will produce separate reports. Allows you to choose to number the reports as one report or leave the numbering separate for each of the reports in the group when they are all run as one report. Copyright 2016 D-Tools Inc. SI Manual - Reporting - 127

8 Legacy Populate phase items Default Value = False. This should only be set to "True" if you find that your legacy SI5 reports are throwing the following error: Populate item taxes Populate proposal items for Excel reports Legacy reports may require this setting to be True for taxes to populate correctly Allows proposal items data set to be used for legacy excel reports Non-Billable List Non-Billable items as separate proposal items Indicate non-billable items with this text at start of product description Choose whether to list non-billable items as separate items or group them along with like items. Whatever text you enter here will be appended to the beginning of the item description used for non-billable items. OFE List OFE items as separate proposal items Indicate OFE items with this text at start of description Choose whether to list OFE items as separate items or group them along with like items. Whatever text you enter here will be appended to the beginning of the item description used for OFE items. Copyright 2016 D-Tools Inc. SI Manual - Reporting - 128

9 Optionals and Alternates Aggregate alternate items price Alternate Add description Alternate Subtract description Alternate description Alternate Forecolor Optional description Optional Forecolor If there are >1 qty of alternate items listed in a proposal report, this option gives True/ False choice on whether you want the price to be each or an aggregated price for the total amount for all qty. This text will override the text used when an alternate item requires a price to be added. Default is Add $xx.00 This text will override the text used when an alternate item requires a price to be subtracted. Default is Subtract $xx.00 This text will override the text used for Alternate Items header This overrides the text color for alternates section in proposals This text will override the text used for Optional Items header This overrides the text color for Optional section in proposals Print Paper Size Print Stock reports in A4 paper size Allow custom printer paper sizes Choose whether to use A4 paper size for stick reports Allows paper sizes to be specified even if they aren t supported by your default printer. Copyright 2016 D-Tools Inc. SI Manual - Reporting - 129

10 Proposals Product Location detail level Select which product description to use from 3 choices: 1. Use long description if available 2. Use short description only 3. Use long description only Default Value = -1. Options are -1 through will display the full hierarchy of your Location Types for a project. Using any number 1-5 will run the reports to the specified level, of the five available Location Type fields. Example: You are using a Location Type Hierarchy as follows: Building->Floor-> Room. You only want your reports to show by Room. Since Room is the third Location Type in your hierarchy you would choose 3 for this setting. Cascade Location Keep accessories with parent item Show packages in proposals True = the location description from each level in the hierarchy above will be appended to the descriptions for sub-locations. For example the Floor location description would be appended to the sub-location descriptions of rooms below it. Default Value = True. Accessories will be listed beneath the "parent" item on Proposal reports. Default Value = True. Packages will display in Proposal reports. Hide Zero Prices Show or hide the price field if the price value = 0 Show optional items subtotals in project summary Default project summary Default quick proposal If True, changes the project summary at the end of proposal reports to include a column for optional equipment, labor and taxes. Default Value = Project Summary. Here you can set what report runs when you click the "Project Summary" button. Default Value = Proposal. Here you can set what report runs when you click the "Quick Proposal" button. The report selected will automatically be run when the button is clicked. Copyright 2016 D-Tools Inc. SI Manual - Reporting - 130

11 Resources Resource 1-4 Configurable drop down list of all your roles as defined in the user s setup. If a specific role is selected for resource 1-4, those data fields can be used on custom reports to auto-populate the corresponding assigned resource s name from project assignments. Ie: if a user is assigned a role called Sales Rep, Resource 1 is assigned to sales rep here, that field can discretely be used on custom reports to pull the assigned sales rep s name. Wire Labels Show all wires in brother wire label Hide brother wire label prefix Show full location name of the item in brother wire label Default Value = False. When set to "False", only wires that are connected to Visio shapes and AutoCAD (schematic) blocks will display for this report. If you wish all wires to show regardless of whether they are connected in a drawing, set this to "True". Hides the brother wire label s default prefix. True/ False choice on whether you want the abbreviated location or the full location string to be used on brother labels. Copyright 2016 D-Tools Inc. SI Manual - Reporting - 131

12 Running Reports Running Reports in the Project Explorer G a t e w a y B o u l e v a r d S u i t e C o n c o r d, C A T e l F a x The Project Explorer is one of two places where project reports can be run. When running reports from the project explorer, you can run reports for various projects without having to open each one of them individually. This can be convenient when you need to run reports for more than one project. Additional functionality is available when running reports from the Project Editor. Exercise: Running a Proposal Report 1. From the Client Reports list select Proposal with Images 2. Expand the selection so we can see the report definitions a. Note: report definitions are various flavors of the main report template. We ll cover these later in the course. 3. Double click on By Location 4. The report previewer opens Exercise: Exporting a Report SI reports can be exported to multiple formats: PDF, Word (RTF), Text (Notepad), XML and Excel. Exporting to these formats is easy using the buttons on the toolbar. 1. From the Report previewer click the export to PDF button 2. Select a location for the report 3. Click Save. Copyright 2016 D-Tools Inc. SI Manual - Reporting - 132

13 Running Reports in the Project Editor G a t e w a y B o u l e v a r d S u i t e C o n c o r d, C A T e l F a x The Project Editor interface is a convenient place to run reports while you have a project open. There are a few additional features available when running reports from inside the project for filtering, making it ideal in some cases. All other aspects of reporting are the same in the editor as they were in the explorer. Exercise: Running Reports with Filters Running reports with filters is an effective way to make reporting more meaningful in many situations. There are many reasons for needing to run reports with filters and it can provide solutions to many business needs. 1. From the Client Reports list select Proposal with Images 2. Select the By Location definition 3. Right Click on it and select Run Report with Filters 4. This opens the report filtering box which has three entries a. Field b. Operator c. Value 5. For this example select a. Phase b. Equal To c. Finish 6. Click Run Report Exercise: Using Multiple Filters You can add multiple filters to reports as well. For example: if you wanted to run a report with the Rough-In phase and all Locations on the first floor your filter would look something like this. 1. Phase Equal To Rough-In 2. AND Location In First Floor NOTE: Use the In operator when you are filtering by location it allows you to select more than just one location. Copyright 2016 D-Tools Inc. SI Manual - Reporting - 133

14 Exercise: Using Project Editor Filters G a t e w a y B o u l e v a r d S u i t e C o n c o r d, C A T e l F a x The Project Editor reporting interface has three additional filters that can be used to make filtered reporting very easy. These tools allow you to use the project editor s excellent filtering tools such as the quick filter and search tools. On the reports toolbar, under Options there are three choices for filtering: 1. Items: This is the default and will print the report for all items 2. Filtered Items: This will print the report for all items currently filtered and displaying in the Editor. 3. Selected Items: This will print the report for all items currently selected in the Editor. Running Reports in Visio/AutoCAD Reports may also be run from the Visio interface when working on drawings. When running reports from Visio or AutoCAD you have the ability to apply different filters that aren t available anywhere else. These filters are: Current Drawing Page Selected Drawing Shapes Drawing Pages This will be reviewed and demonstrated in the Visio courses Copyright 2016 D-Tools Inc. SI Manual - Reporting - 134

15 Arrange Items in Client Reports Projects have an option to arrange items for Client reports. To arrange items go to Project Editor (standard, Visio, or AutoCAD) and click Reports Arrange Arrange Items. The "Arrange Items in Client Reports" dialog appears: Copyright 2016 D-Tools Inc. SI Manual - Reporting - 135

16 By default, items in a project are arranged in alphabetical order. The user can change to a specific order and arrange the items. The Items grid displays unique items in a project. An item could be Equipment, Labor or a Package. The grid supports drag/drop and MoveUp/Down with multiple rows selected. "Include Options" allows you to select which items are arranged and which are not arranged. By default, accessories, alternates, optional, OFE and Labor items are not arranged. If an item has a specific order in a project and the same item is added again to the project, it will get the same order as the existing items. The items grid supports sorting - so users can sort by category or price to get an initial order and then arrange items. Managing Reports D-Tools SI has a dedicated area for managing reports. Some of the features of the reports management are only available in this interface, whereas other features can also be managed simultaneously in the reporting interfaces. The reports management does not provide for running reports, only for managing their organization and output. Report Categories Report Categories are containers for reports. There are three default categories which you cannot change (with the default buttons: Client, Management & Installation), but additional categories can be added and reports can be assigned to any category you wish. Custom categories can help you better organize reports, especially if you begin customizing reports. All reports located in Custom categories will be displayed underneath the Other reports button in the reporting menu. From the Report Management area you can create new categories for your reports as well as Copyright 2016 D-Tools Inc. SI Manual - Reporting - 136

17 edit and delete the existing categories. Report Categories can only be created and edited from inside Reports Management. New: When you create a new category you are prompted to select which reports you would like to include. Edit: This provides the ability to change the reports that are in particular category. Delete: Deletes the category. All reports in the deleted category become Uncategorized. Report Groups Report Groups are a way for you to define a collection of reports that will run together, so that you do not need to run them individually. It can be very beneficial to select your favorite reports and add them into a group. Report Groups can only be created and edited from inside Reports Management. Copyright 2016 D-Tools Inc. SI Manual - Reporting - 137

18 Exercise: Create a Report Group G a t e w a y B o u l e v a r d S u i t e C o n c o r d, C A T e l F a x When creating report groups you are able to select specific reports and specific report definitions within teach report. This gives you the ability to create a very specific report output. 1. From the Report Management toolbar Click Group New. 2. Create a name for your group ex: Sales Reports. 3. Select the specific reports you wish to include. 4. Example: a. Proposal with images by Location b. Gross Profit by Phase c. Detail Cost Summary by Location d. Project Hours by Phase. 5. Click Save Exercise: Running a Report Group Report groups get run just lie any other report, except it runs multiple reports at once. Since reports cannot be run from the report management area, return the Project Explorer so we can test out the report group. 1. Select a Project in the grid 2. Navigate to the Reports tab 3. From Other reports find your report group and double click to run the report. 4. NOTE: If you right click you can run report groups with filters applied. Configuring Report Group Output You have a few choices when it comes to report group outputs. Global s: you have global report settings to govern how you want the reports to function in groups. Report Group setting overrides: each report group can override the default settings. There are three ways for report group reports to be generated: As a single report with auto page numbering As a single report without auto page numbering As separate reports Copyright 2016 D-Tools Inc. SI Manual - Reporting - 138

19 Report Definitions G a t e w a y B o u l e v a r d S u i t e C o n c o r d, C A T e l F a x Many reports have the ability to be run with custom grouping and parameter options that you can define and save. These stored options are called Report Definitions. Report Definitions essentially give you the ability to configure your reports to work the way you want them to! Exercise: Edit a Report Definition Edit Existing Definition 1. From the Reports Management screen, select the report = Proposal. 2. Expend it out so you can see the definitions 3. Right Click on By Location definition 4. Choose Edit Report Definition Grouping Choices For proposal reports you can setup up to three grouping levels for the data to be organized. I find that 1-2 groups is about right. Three groupings can make the data difficult to read/understand. Other reports may use fewer groupings depending on how the report was designed. 1. : this is the definition s name. 2. Grouping: Location is already from the drop down list as we re editing. 3. Click on the parameters tab Report Parameters This is where you can set some report specific parameters defining the behavior of certain aspects in the report. Some reports may use different parameters than others. Parameters are a very effective way of telling the report exactly what you want it to do and provide you with a lot of flexibility. Below is a listing of all the parameter choices and a description of their purpose: Show labor by Phase in the Summary: This option (if selected) will show the labor broken out for each phase as well as management and design. If not selected it will display labor as one line labor price. Show Page Headers and Footers: Show or hide the page headers and footers. Copyright 2016 D-Tools Inc. SI Manual - Reporting - 139

20 G a t e w a y B o u l e v a r d S u i t e C o n c o r d, C A T e l F a x Show Labor Items in Report: This option (if selected) will show labor line items in the report on a line by line basis. If not checked, it will just add the labor from labor line items into the labor totals in the project summary. o NOTE: if running a list price report, your displayed labor items will have a zero price. Summarize Packages: Choose how you want to display packages from three choices: o All Summarizes all package detail, regardless of individual package setting. o By Item Shows or hides the package detail based on the individual package setting. o None Displays all package detail regardless of individual package setting. Summarize Accessories: Choose how you want to display accessories from three choices: o All Summarizes all accessory detail, regardless of individual parent item setting. o By Item Shows or hides the accessory detail based on the parent item setting. o None Displays all accessory detail regardless of individual parent item setting. Show Manufacturer: Show or hide the manufacturer name. Show Model Number: Show or hide the model number. Show Part Number: Show or hide the part number. Show detail prices: Show or hide the prices of accessories or items in packages. Show item prices: Show or hide the prices of packages or individual and parent items. Show Product Price: Displays the price of the parent item only (does not include the price of accessories in the parent item price). Show quantity & price in aggregate for packages and accessories: Displays the total price for multiple quantity items used as accessories. Use Theme: Report will use the default theme selected. Keep Together Group: This choice forces dynamic groups in the report definition to stay together if they cannot be completed on the current page. This will cause a group to start on the next page in this case. Hide Cover Page: Show or hide the cover page. Typically the cover page is hidden when the proposal is being used as part of a report group with other reports in front of the proposal body but after the main proposals cover page. Show Discount amount in project summary section: This allows the equipment discount to be shown (shows pre-discounted equipment price and discount line item in summary) or hidden (shows discounted equipment amount and discount is not displayed). Show Dynamic Group Totals: Show/hide the totals for the dynamic group sections. Copyright 2016 D-Tools Inc. SI Manual - Reporting - 140

21 Hide Optional Items: Show/hide options in proposals. Hide Alternate items: Show/hide alternates in proposals. Show equipment and labor subtotal separately: This option, available on installed price reports, allow for the equipment and labor to be displayed separately or lumped together as a single price. Default Report Criteria: Sets the report definition to be run when the report template is double clicked (rather than a specific definition being chosen.) Update Parameters to All Report Definitions: updates the settings to all definitions without each being edited individually. Add New Report Definition 1. From the Reports Management screen, select the report = Proposal. 2. Select the text on the report itself (this is the report s template) 3. Right Click New Definition Report Themes SI provides a suite of proposal themes that give users the ability to select from a variety of different colors and styles for their proposal reports. Themes are downloaded from D-Tools and are then configured in Report s to identify which theme you would like to use. Exercise: Map Themes 1. From the Reports Management screen, select the Themes button. 2. The drop down shows the 4 report types which themes can be configured for. 3. Select Proposal Theme. 4. This brings up the themes selection box where you can preview the various themes. 5. Once you ve selected one Click Save. Copyright 2016 D-Tools Inc. SI Manual - Reporting - 141

22 Exercise: Adding Custom Themes G a t e w a y B o u l e v a r d S u i t e C o n c o r d, C A T e l F a x Custom themes allow you to upload your own images and use them on client reports without having to use the report designer. 1. Select a specific type of theme to map (Proposal, Proposal w/ Images, etc.) 2. Click the Plus icon to add a new theme. 3. Name your theme. 4. Add an image for the top header (800x114 pixels). 5. Add an image for the dynamic group header (800 x 48 pixels). 6. Click Save. Foreign Currency D-Tools has provided a utility which allows you to run a report with a foreign currency applied to it. If your project data is entered in USD ($) for example, the utility provides a method for changing the report output to a different country s currency as well as to enter an exchange rate multiplier for the currency to be calculated. This can only be configured from the project Editor Interface and does not change the pricing in the project, it merely applies a multiplier for the pricing displayed in the report. Copyright 2016 D-Tools Inc. SI Manual - Reporting - 142

23 Importing and Exporting Reports G a t e w a y B o u l e v a r d S u i t e C o n c o r d, C A T e l F a x SI provides the ability to import and export custom reports from the manage reports interface. This is used to share custom reports with others in your company as well as import reports created by others. Standard reports cannot be exported/ imported. Exporting reports to the server allows for much easier communication of reports to your other users. There is a new setting which allows the users to be prompted advising them when a new or updated report is available on the server. Export Reports When exporting reports you have two choices: 1. Export to a file (typically to it to someone or archive a report for backup). 2. Export to the server. Exporting to the server allows others in your company to import that report from the server. This is an excellent way to distribute reports within your company. Import Reports When importing reports you have two choices: 1. Import from a file (when someone has ed you a file or you re downloading one from D-Tools, etc.) 2. Import from the server. Allows you to import the latest reports from your company s servers. When importing from the server it will allow you to filter for only new and updated reports or all reports. Copyright 2016 D-Tools Inc. SI Manual - Reporting - 143