Toolbar

The toolbar contains buttons for the more commonly used report-editing functions and is organized with the following tabs.

Some of the items available on the toolbar also are available by right-clicking in the Report pane. The critical functions available on the toolbar are:

Document – (Properties tab) Contains functions for editing and saving documents.

Find – (File tab) Searches the contents of a report.

Undo – Undoes the last change made to the report (same as the Microsoft Windows <CTRL> + <Z> function). This button is useful when modifying reports.

 Page Navigation – Navigates the contents of a report.

The formula field is located just above the report contents.

If the formula field is not visible, right-click in the toolbar and select Formula Bar. The formula field contains buttons that reflect the contents of cells:

Create a Variable – Allows the creation of custom variables. Custom variables are described in Adding Custom Variables.

Formula Editor – Opens the Formula Editor dialog box to modify the contents of a cell(s).

Validate Formula – Checks the formula in the selected cell for syntax or other logic errors.

Cancel Formula – Cancels the effects of the formula in the selected cell.

Modify Formula – Displays the contents of the selected field. Typically, this text box shows the name of the selected object or variable. For column headers or text boxes, the field shows the text contents. For these types of objects, the field may be edited directly to add or modify the contents of these objects.

Edit Pane

The Edit pane contains a number of views with useful report information. To change the view in the Edit pane, select the desired view by clicking the buttons at the bottom of the pane.

Views include the following:

Document Summary – Contains document creation information (mainly who and when).

Report Map – Contains report information in the document.

Input Controls – Manages the input controls in the current document.

Web Service Publisher – Publishes content to a URL

Available Objects (default view) – Contains all of the available report objects selected from the Query Panel.

Document Structure and Filters – Displays the document structure and filters.

Chart and Table Types – Contains drag-and-drop elements that can be added to the report, such as a new table or chart, plus special cells such as those used for page numbering.

All Edit pane views can also be accessed from the top menu.

Report Pane

The Report pane contains the data from the report. The bulk of the editing of the finished report, including report formatting, occurs in this pane.

Formatting Reports

You may need to change the appearance of the report to better organize the data to make it more readable or to match company standards.

Sorting Data on a Report

When a report is initially created, the data is sorted by the first column in the report results table. While this default behavior is usually desirable, it is sometimes necessary to sort data by another column on the report.

To Sort Report Data:

On the Edit Report panel, right-click anywhere within the desired column, select the Sort submenu, and select the appropriate sort type value from the submenu.

The available sort options are:

• Ascending – lowest to highest
• Descending – highest to lowest
• Advanced… – user-defined order

Once you have sorted a report, you select Remove All Sorts to return to the default sort order.

Note also that the Edit Report panel supports multi-level sorting, so that data can be sorted by multiple columns in the report results. To use multi-level sorting, simply apply the sorting on columns in the order you would like the sorts to occur.

For example, generate a matter list with the Matter Name, Matter Type, and Open Date. In order to sort the matters first by Matter Type and then by the Open Date, right-click on the primary sort column (Matter Type) and select Sort – Ascending. Then, right-click on the secondary sort column (Open Date) and select Sort – Ascending. Note that setting the secondary sort does not remove the initial sort; instead, the secondary sort is applied after the primary sort, so that the matters are grouped (sorted) by matter type then, within the Matter Type group, listed by open date.

Removing Data from a Report

Often data needs to be moved to another location on the report or removed altogether. Relocating a column of data is as simple as removing the column from the report then re-adding it in the appropriate location.

To Remove a Column from a Report:

Right-click on the appropriate column, select the Delete submenu, and from the Remove dialog box, choose which option you want.

To add the column back to the report, click on the object in the Available Objects pane, and drag-and-drop to the new position on the report.

If you have applied a sort order to the column prior to removal, you will need to re-apply the sort order when you add the column to the report.

Filtering Data on a Report

The Creating a Query section describes how to create a basic report, including the addition of parameters to filter the report data in Adding Filters to a Query. Alternatively, you also can filter report data on the Edit Report panel after running the query.

When entering report filters on the Query Panel, the filter options are added to the query Analysis Center uses to retrieve report data from the database. Filtering at this level retrieves only the desired data, so the query will perform faster. Filtering on the Edit Report panel does not affect the actual records returned from the database, so initial report population will take longer. The primary advantage of filtering report data is the ability to do “on-the-fly” analysis of the data in the report. If the report should contain only a subset of the data, adding the filter on the Query Panel is recommended.

The example below uses a report containing matter information from the Matters - Base info tab.

To Filter Data Using the Edit Report Panel:

1. Create a new Analysis Center report by adding the Matter Name, Matter Number, Matter Type, and Matter Status objects.
2. Click the Run Query button.
3. On the Edit Report panel, right-click on the Matter Type column, select the Filter submenu, and select Add Filter.
4. On the Filter dialog box, select the value(s) from the list of available values and click OK.
   

The report results now filter on the selected values.

If you need to edit the filter, right-click the column that is filtered and select Edit Filter. To delete a filter, right- click the column that is filtered and select Remove Filter. Note that just as sorting could apply multiple sorts, additional columns may have filters applied as well.

Saving a Report

Once a report has been created, you can save the report as private or public. Private reports are only available to the creator, whereas public reports are available to all users. Selecting a category for a public report makes it available to the Reports module.

To Save a Report:

1. On the Edit Report panel, click the Save button.
2. In the Name field in the Save Document dialog box, type a name for the report.
   The following special characters cannot be used in the report name: colon (:), double-quote (“), less than (<), greater than (>), pipe (|), forward-slash (/), ampersand (&), single quotation mark (’), back quote (`), question mark (?), pound-sign (#), or asterisk (*).
3. Click on the Public Folders tab.
   
4. Navigate to the desired directory.
   Note that Analysis Center reports may reside in a nested directory structure following these conventions:

• The root folder as defined by the Root BO Directory value in the Suite Manager BusinessObjects system settings (for example, bridgeway)
• A subfolder of the root folder from above matching the unique database identifier as defined by the Database Identifier value on the Database Properties Administrator page for Suite (for example, Suite8)
• A subfolder of the previous folder named Analysis Center
• A subfolder of the Analysis Center folder matching either the user's Suite login name (for private reports) or Shared Reports (for public reports)
• A subfolder of the previous folder matching the Suite application (either eCounsel or Secretariat)
  After it has been saved, the report can be further modified. The report should be resaved after any changes are made to the report.
• Following is an example of a directory that would be used for a public report.
  
• Following is an example of a directory that would be used for a private report.
  

Check with your system administrator if you have any questions regarding which server to use, and-or which directory you should to use for either type of report.

To Run a Saved Report from Analysis Center:

Once a report has been saved, it may be re-opened and reused at any time. On the Analysis Center dialog box, click on the report name in the appropriate section.

The Analysis Center report appears with data pre-populated from the time the report was previously run.

Important Note: The report opens with the data from the last time the report was run. Click Refresh Data to load current data into the report.

To Edit a Saved Report:

Once a saved report is opened, it may be modified.

1. Switch to Design mode by clicking the arrow next to the Design button and selecting the With Data option.
   The report is now open in edit mode and formatting changes can be made to it.
2. To change the data elements used on the report, click the Edit Query button.
3. On the Query Panel, add or remove data elements as desired, then click the Run Query button.
4. To overwrite the existing report, click Save on the Edit Report panel. To retain the original report, click the Document menu and select Save As. On the Save Analysis Center Report dialog box, save the report as described above.

Printing a Report

The Analysis Center print function on the Edit Report panel allows you to print to any device you have installed on your system.

To Print a Report:

1. In Analysis Center, run a report.
2. On the Edit Report panel, click the Print button.
   
   Choose the appropriate settings. You will most likely want to change the page size (the default is the European A4 size).
3. When you are ready to print, click OK.

Exporting a Report

Finished reports commonly need to be distributed in electronic format to other individuals for analysis or saved on a shared network resource for archival purposes. In these cases, the report should be exported and saved in a supported file format. Analysis Center can save reports in Microsoft Excel (versions 1997-2003, or 2007), Adobe Acrobat PDF, a text file, and comma-separated value (CSV) formats.

To Export a Report:

1. In Analysis Center, run a report.
2. On the Edit Report panel, click the Data Access menu and then the Tools sub-tab. Select the  Export Data button and then choose the export method.
3. If you choose to export the report as a CSV file, you can format it with the following options.
   
4. Choose a location for the document, name it, and click Save.
5. On the Save As dialog box, select a location to save the file, change the filename if needed, and click Save. You will not receive a confirmation when the export is complete.