Administering ad hoc reports

This section details the procedures for administering ad hoc reports, specifically:

• Creating an ad hoc report

• Adding columns to an ad hoc report

• Applying a master filter to an ad hoc report

• Applying a master sort order to an ad hoc report

• Defining the default number of records per report page

• Saving the definition of a report as default

• Editing the properties of an ad hoc report

• Cloning of an ad hoc report

• Sharing an ad hoc report

• Deleting an ad hoc report

Creating an ad hoc report

To create an ad hoc report, proceed as follows:

1. Open the "Analysis" component by clicking the icon in the navigation bar.

2. Click the "Ad Hoc Reports" folder. Do not expand the tree.

3. In the center panel, click Create Ad hoc Report. The "New Ad hoc Report" contextual window is opened, as illustrated in the following figure:

Ad hoc report creation

4. Enter the parameters of the new report:

   • Name: give a descriptive name for the report

   • Description: enter a description for the report, for instance, to detail its purpose

   • Model: select a data model in the list of available models. Models are defined by the system administrator. For more information, consult with your administrator.

5. Click Create Report. The new report is created in the system and is available in the object tree.

6. Configure the columns of the report (see Adding columns to an ad hoc report).

Adding columns to an ad hoc report

Once a report has been created in the "Analysis" component of the beqom application (see Creating an ad hoc report), columns need to be added to the report for you to be able to start seeing and exploiting report data.

To add columns to an ad hoc report, proceed as follows:

1. Open the ad hoc report that you want to configure (see Viewing an ad hoc report).

2. Click Columns in the report toolbar. The "Columns" tool is opened.

3. Click Show Available Columns at the bottom of the tool. A secondary panel is opened on the right of the "Columns" tool, as illustrated in the following figure:

Report column Configuration

4. Click Add at the right of the columns that you want to add to the report. If numerous columns are available, use the Search field to find the columns that you want to use. Available columns depend on the data model that you have selected at the time you created the report.

5. Click Hide Available Columns, in the left panel of the tool. The "Available Columns" panel is closed.

6. Click Apply in the lower-left corner of the columns tool. Your selection is applied and the report is configured accordingly.

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When you have added columns to the report, you can define their order and freeze certain columns (see Reordering the Columns of a Data Grid and Freezing Columns in a Data Grid in Managing the columns of a data grid).

Configuring ad hoc report columns

The v10 application offers the possibility to configure specific parameters of ad hoc report columns, namely:

• The column display name

• The decimal precision (for numeric columns only)

This feature is particularly useful if, for instance, the column names from the data model on which the report is based are not very explicit.

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In order to perform such configuration, you must be the owner of the ad hoc report.

To configure the ad hoc report columns, proceed as follows:

1. Open the ad hoc report that you want to configure (see Viewing an ad hoc report).

2. Click Column in the report toolbar located above the report grid.

3. Chose the column you want to modify by clicking the icon situated at the right of the visibility toggle, as illustrated in the following figure:

Column configuration icon

4. In the column properties window, change the display name or the decimal precision (drop-down) according to your needs, as illustrated in the following figure:

Editable column parameters

5. Click OK.

6. Click Apply to save your changes. Your configuration is immediately applied to the relevant grid columns, and is also reflected in the "Column" tool (specifically the new column name).

Defining the default order of the ad hoc report columns

Once you have selected to the columns that you want to display in the ad hoc report, you can specify a default order for the columns.

To do so, proceed as follows:

1. Open the report with which you want to work.

2. Click Columns in the report toolbar. The "Columns" tool is opened.

3. Click at the left of the column that you want to move, and then drag and drop the column in the desired location. If you want to freeze a column (i.e. stick it to the left and make it non-scrollable), move the column above the horizontal line, as illustrated in the figure below. In this example, the "check box" column will be frozen:

Freeze columns

4. Repeat the operation until you obtain the desired column order.

5. Click Apply.

Defining the default column visibility

Once you have added columns to your ad hoc report, you can define the default visibility of the ad hoc report columns. By doing so, columns that are part of the ad hoc report will be hidden from the default report view.

To do so, proceed as follows;

1. Open the ad hoc report in which you want to work.

2. Click Columns in the ad hoc report toolbar, located above the report grid. The "Columns" tool is opened.

3. Toggle the button of the columns that you want to display/hide:

   • Toggle the All Columns button to select/unselect all the columns of the grid.

4. Click Apply.

Removing columns from an ad hoc report

To remove a column from an ad hoc report, proceed as follows:

1. Open the report that in which you want to work (see Viewing an ad hoc report).

2. In the report toolbar, click Columns. The "Columns" tool is opened.

3. Locate, in the list of columns, the column that you want to remove, and then click " x " at the right of the column name, as illustrated in the following figure:

Column removal

4. Repeat the operation for each column that you want to remove from the report.

5. Click Apply in the bottom-left corner of the tool. The new parameters are applied to the report.

Applying a master filter to an ad hoc report

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This section describes the new implementation of the ad hoc report filter tool. The documentation of the legacy implementation (without Feature Flag) is available here.

When configuring an ad hoc report, you have the possibility to apply a master filter to the report. When a master filter is defined, all users with whom the report is shared will see the report with the master filter applied, without the possibility to change it.

To apply a master filter to an ad hoc report, proceed as follows:

1. Open the report with which you want to work.

2. Click the Filter button above the report grid. The filtering tool is opened, as illustrated in the following figure:

Filter tool

3. In the first drop-down list, on the left, select the column on which you want to apply the filter.

4. In the second drop-down list, in the middle, select the operator that you want to use for the filter. Please note that the list of available operators depends on the type of column (date, text, number, etc.).

5. In the third field, enter or select the value that you want to apply to the filter.

6. Click Apply. The filter is applied to the grid and an indicator badge is applied in the grid toolbar, as illustrated in the following figure:

Filter badge

You can add as many filters as you want by clicking the Add Filter button and repeating the procedure above. However, please keep in mind that the "AND" operator is applied by default. In other words, when the filters are applied, the report will display only the records that match all of the defined filters.

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You can define a filter on several values of a single criterion using the "in" and "not in" operators, and specifying exact values separated by a comma, or by using the same column in the first drop-down list of the filter tool.

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To remove master filters from the report, refer to Removing Individual Filters from an Ad Hoc Report and Removing All Filters from an Ad Hoc Report in Filtering ad hoc reports.

Removing individual master filters from an ad hoc report

To remove individual master filters from an ad hoc report, proceed as follows:

1. Click Filter in the report toolbar. The filter tool is opened.

2. In the list of defined filters, locate the filter that you want to remove.

3. Click the " X " icon at the right of the filter, as illustrated in the following figure:

Individual filter removal

4. Click Apply in the lower-right corner of the filter tool. The tool is closed and the filter is removed.

5. Click Save as Default in the lower-right corner of the page to save the master view.

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You can remove all the master filters applied to ad hoc report by repeating step 3 until all filters are deleted and then clicking Apply. To remove all filters in one click, see Removing All Master Filters from an Ad Hoc Report in Filtering ad hoc reports.

Removing all master filters from an ad hoc report

To remove all master filters from ad hoc report, proceed as follows:

1. In the report toolbar, click the " X " icon located at the right of the filter indicator badge, as illustrated in the following figure

Complete filter removal

2. Click Save as Default in the lower-right corner of the page to save the master report view.

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You can remove individual filters by following the procedure described in Removing Individual Filters from an Ad Hoc Report in Filtering ad hoc reports.

Applying a master sort order to an ad hoc report

A master sort order is a default sort order that the report owner can apply to the ad hoc report as part of the report configuration. When a master sort order is applied, users with whom the report is shared will see the report with the sort order applied, without possibility to change it.

To define a master sort order, proceed as follows:

1. Open the report in which you want to work (see Viewing an ad hoc report).

2. Click Sort in the report toolbar. The sort tool is opened.

3. Click Add a Sort.

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For more information about the default sort, hover your mouse cursor on the padlock icon at the top left of the window, as illustrated in the following figure:

Master sort information

4. In the line that is added to the section, select a criterion (column) in the left-hand drop-down list.

5. Select a sort direction (ascending or descending) in the right-hand drop-down list.

6. If required, add another criterion using the same procedure.

7. Click Apply at the bottom of the tool. The definition is applied to the report.

8. Click Save as Default to save the master report view.

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If you define several sort orders, they are by default applied in sequential order (top sort first, etc.). You can however change that order by clicking at the left of an item and then dragging-and-dropping it at the desired place.

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To remove a sort order, click " X "at the right of the corresponding line and then click Apply.

Defining the default number of records per report page

As part of the configuration of the ad hoc report, you can define the default number of records that will be displayed per report page when the report is being viewed by a person with whom the report has been shared.

To define the default number of rows per ad hoc report page, proceed as follows:

1. Open the report with which you want to work.

2. Click the pagination item located in the report toolbar. The pagination tool is opened, as illustrated in the following figure:

Default page size

3. In the Element Per Page field, enter the default page size that you want to use for the report.

4. Click Save.

Saving the definition of a report as default

Once you have configured your report according to your preferences, you can save the definition as the default view for the report. This means that, when the report is shared, users who open the ad hoc report will by default see this view, with limited possibilities to change it.

The default view for the report includes:

• Displayed columns (see Adding columns to an ad hoc report)

• Column properties (see Configuring ad hoc report columns)

• Column visibility (see Defining the default column visibility)

• Column order (see Defining the default order of the ad hoc report columns)

• Master filter (see Applying a master filter to an ad hoc report)

• Master sort order (see Applying a Master sort order to an ad hoc report)

• Default page size (see Defining the Number of Rows Displayed Per Report Page in Viewing an ad hoc report)

To save the definition of the ad hoc report as the default report view, simply click Save as Default in the lower-right corner of the application window.

Editing the properties of an ad hoc report

Once a report has been created, you can still edit its properties. To do so, proceed as follows:

1. Open the report in which you want to work (see Viewing an ad hoc report).

2. Click icon located in the upper-right corner of the application. The "Report Properties" panel is opened on the right of the screen, as illustrated in the following figure:

Ad hoc report properties

3. Edit the properties of the report. You can only change the name and the description of the report, you cannot change the data source.

4. Click Save at the bottom of the panel. The panel is closed and the new properties are saved.

Cloning an ad hoc report

For quicker flows and a greater ease of use of reports, you have the possibility to clone an existing ad hoc report.

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You can clone only the ad hoc reports that you have created.

Only super admin users can clone reports that have been shared with them.

When an ad hoc report is cloned, its properties (name, description and data model selection) are copied. However, only the name and the description are editable; the selected data model cannot be changed.

To clone an ad hoc report, proceed as follows:

1. Open the "Analysis" component and then expand the "Ad hoc Reports" folder. The list of ad hoc reports currently available to you is displayed in the object tree.

2. Locate in the tree the ad hoc report that you want to clone. Keep in mind that the report can be in a sub-folder. For more information about the search the object tree, refer to Working with object trees.

3. Open the ad hoc report by clicking the corresponding item in the tree. The report is opened in the center panel.

4. Click the icon located in the top right corner of the center panel. The "Report Properties" panel is opened.

5. Click the Clone button located at the bottom of the panel. A pop-up window is opened.

6. In the "Clone Ad hoc Report" window, edit the basic parameters of the cloned report. beqom recommends that you at least change the name of the report to a descriptive name.

7. Click the Save button located in the bottom right corner of the "Clone Ad hoc Report". A success message is displayed and the cloned report is visible in the object tree.

Sharing an ad hoc report

In order to facilitate communication with other users, ad hoc reports can be shared within the application. This functionality can only be used if your profile has been granted the correct rights. For more information about ad hoc report export permissions, refer to your administrator.

To share an ad hoc report, proceed as follows:

1. Open the ad hoc report that you want to share (see Viewing an ad hoc report).

2. Click the Share button, located in the bottom-left corner of the report panel. The current view has to be saved as default before the report can be shared, otherwise a message inviting you to save the default view is displayed, as illustrated in the following figure:

Default view error message

3. In the Teams drop-down, check the box(es) corresponding to the team(s) with which you want to share the report, as illustrated in the following figure:

Teams drop-down list

4. Click out the list. The selected teams are displayed in the "Share Ad hoc Report" contextual window.

5. If you want to share the report for a limited time period only, click Add an optional date range in the tile corresponding to the team of your choice (you can define a time range for each selected team).

6. Pick a date range using the calendar tool.

Date range option

7. Click Save. The report is shared to the selected teams, for the defined time range(s).

Deleting an ad hoc report

Provided that you are the owner of an ad hoc report, you have the possibility to delete it from the "Analysis" component.

To delete an ad hoc report, proceed as follows:

1. Open the "Analysis" component and then navigate to the Ad hoc Reports folder.

2. Locate the report that you want to delete and then click the name of the report in the tree.

3. Click the icon located in the upper-right corner of the application window (see Editing the properties of an ad hoc report). The "Report Properties" panel is opened.

4. Click delete in the lower-left part of the panel, as illustrated in the following figure:

Delete ad hoc report

A confirmation message is displayed.

5. Click Delete in the "Delete Report" message. A success message is displayed and the report is removed from the list.