There are some things to consider when creating your ad hoc reort. The data may respond in a seemingly "odd" way depending on the columns selected. The following is a list of tips and suggestions to consider when you are customizing your reports.
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Filter Builder: Rules and Groups
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The filter builder allows users to create rules and groups. What is the difference and how are they used?
Users can add as many rules as they want to a report. They just have to select a data field, an operator like "Equals" and then select what value the report should match on for the selected data field. A group is useful as it allows users to group together multiple rules. Generally, this would be done when you want to treat some rules different than others (via And/Or, see below for more details). This is best explained with an example: Groups can give users more inclusive results when they are setup using the "Or" command. Users can have primary rules that they want to apply to their results (like person type) and then create a group to be able to add some variables. For instance, if they wanted to get results for all active officers with a current appointment in Territorial Headquarters or CFOT they could create filters like:
Another example that a group could be used is if users wanted to see active officers that are specific ranks, like Captain or Major.
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Is it an "AND" or an "OR"?
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When creating your report filters it is important to understand how the "And/OR" options will impact your results.
Most reports will just use the "AND" option. One place users will use "OR" often will be in a filter group.  |
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Filters, Filters, Filters
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Always try to define your set of data very specifically. By default, ad hoc reports is going to try reporting on all records serving in the territory and users will need to be careful to limit the results strategically. It is suggested to always start by using the following filters:
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Too Many Duplicate Officers
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The data returned in a report is dependent on the selected columns. When a column is selected the ad hoc report will try to return as much information as possible for the type of data (column). For example, if a user chooses to include the column "Command Name" the report will try to return the command for all appointments for an officer in the territory.
Depending on what is desired there are several things users can do in this example.
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Dependent Listing Duplicates
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If a report is created to show dependents then the results will display results for dependents for each parent. Meaning if a child record is marked as a "dependent" on both parents records it will be shown twice in the results. Once for the mother and once for the father.
One way this could be managed would be to filter on the parent gender. This would mean that the report would only list one dependent result per couple.
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