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

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

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

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

4. 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

5. Access to reports groups Catherine Jones Library & Information Service

6. Access to reports wizards Catherine Jones Library & Information Service

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

8. Set-up & schedule Helpers: Sort & Filter; report scheduler & tabs Reports set up & saved – use for complicated or infrequently used Reports owned by the userid that sets them up. Can use ownership to alter this. Commands Catherine Jones Library & Information Service

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. Finished Reports Catherine Jones Library & Information Service

14. 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

15. Finished Reports - log Report Log for Loans and hold information for users about to leave Reportuserlist 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. 1855 user record(s) considered. 16 user record(s) selected. Catherine Jones Library & Information Service

16. 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

17. Finished Reports - formatting Item type BOOK BOOK-REF EXT-ILL-BK ILL JOURNAL 195 4 1 24 50 Catherine Jones Library & Information Service

18. Finished Reports - formatting BOOK BOOK-REF EXT-ILL-BK ILL JOURNAL REPORT $<total:U> .end $<total:U> 195 4 1 24 50 4 278 Catherine Jones Library & Information Service

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

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

21. 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

22. 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

23. 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

24. 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

25. 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

26. 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

27. 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

28. 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

29. 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

30. 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

31. 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

32. 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 Catherine Jones Library & Information Service