Using the Reports module A beginner’s guide Catherine Jones Library Systems Development Manager CCLRC

Catherine Jones Library & Information Service Contents Access to reports Types of Reports Maintenance Possible problems Q&A session

Catherine Jones Library & Information Service Report organisation Reports grouped by module Additional groups include administration, text & maintenance

Catherine Jones Library & Information Service 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

Catherine Jones Library & Information Service Access to reports groups

Catherine Jones Library & Information Service Access to reports wizards

Catherine Jones Library & Information Service Overview of Reports Wizards Three wizards: Set-up & schedule –New reports and templates

Catherine Jones Library & Information Service Set-up & schedule Helpers: 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.

Catherine Jones Library & Information Service 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

Catherine Jones Library & Information Service Overview of Reports Wizards Three wizards: Set-up & schedule –New reports and templates Scheduled reports –Reports run on a routine basis

Catherine Jones Library & Information Service 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

Catherine Jones Library & Information Service Overview of Reports Wizards Three wizards: Set-up & schedule –New reports and templates Scheduled reports –Reports run on a routine basis Finished reports –Results

Catherine Jones Library & Information Service Finished Reports

Catherine Jones Library & Information Service Finished Reports There are two sections to a finished report: Log –Information on how the report ran Result –The required information

Catherine Jones Library & Information Service Finished Reports - log Report Log for Loans and hold information for users about to leave Report userlist scheduled as ral wkleaver A 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 user record(s) considered. 16 user record(s) selected.

Catherine Jones Library & Information Service 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

Catherine Jones Library & Information Service Finished Reports - formatting Item type BOOK BOOK-REF EXT-ILL-BK ILL JOURNAL

Catherine Jones Library & Information Service Finished Reports - formatting BOOK BOOK-REFEXT-ILL-BKILLJOURNAL REPORT$.end $

Catherine Jones Library & Information Service Types of report Broad headings Counting Listing/finding Business process Editing data Administration

Catherine Jones Library & Information Service Counting Current items or historic No output options Results are part of the log

Catherine Jones Library & Information Service 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

Catherine Jones Library & Information Service 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

Catherine Jones Library & Information Service 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)

Catherine Jones Library & Information Service 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

Catherine Jones Library & Information Service Changing data These make changes automatically E.g.s global edits, withdrawals and updating user records Don’t use lightly!

Catherine Jones Library & Information Service 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

Catherine Jones Library & Information Service 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)

Catherine Jones Library & Information Service 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

Catherine Jones Library & Information Service 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

Catherine Jones Library & Information Service 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

Catherine Jones Library & Information Service 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)

Catherine Jones Library & Information Service 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