In this guide we’ll look at how to create a Quick Report, including how to add information about Assessments, Attendance and Behaviour as well as an introduction to some of the different Domains you have available to you.
Access: The minimum permissions required to access Quick Reports can be found in the Reporting module from within Config > Setup > Roles and Permissions.
Note: Permissions for individual Report Domains are managed through Report Design Permissions.
See also: How to use Quick Reports to Create a Web Merge Document.
To watch a recording on Assessment Web Merge in Quick Reports see here.
In this guide we will look at:
- Report Design Permissions
- Default View
- Domains
- Column Heading Functions
- Data Items Symbols
- Save/Actions/Close
- Search for Students or Staff to report on
- Advanced Mode
- Add Attendance Summary
- Add Assessment Results
- Add Behaviour Summary
- Add Other Summary Columns
- Add Calculated Column
- Add Group Information
- Add If Then Else Column
- Clone
- Bulk Updates
- Scheduling
- Web Merge
Report Design Permissions
The Permissions to access different domains within Quick Reports are separate from the normal Reporting permissions. This is to ensure that Staff Members only have access to build reports for the information that the Administrators are happy for them to have access to. To review these go to Config > Setup > Roles and Permissions.
Select the Role that you would like to edit the Report Design Permissions for from the drop down, and click Edit.
From the Module drop down, select Reporting.
Then, click on the Report Design Permission button.
In the pop up that appears, open the Domain drop down. You’ll see that there is an option for each of the Domains available in quick reports. The information you want to report on will determine which Domain you need to use in Quick Reports and therefore which Permissions you need to grant. For example if you want to report on how many Detentions a Student has received you may want to use the Behaviour – Student Detentions domain, or to report on Staff Emergency Contacts you would want to use People – Staff. In this example we’ll look at People – Students.
When you select a Domain from the drop down, you’ll get a list of all associated Data Areas. Use the tick boxes on the right to determine what to grant access to. You can pick and choose which areas to give access to by only ticking certain boxes, alternatively you can tick the box in the Access column header to grant access to all Data Areas within the Domain. Once you’re happy click OK.
Once you’ve finished making changes to the role, click Save at the top of the page.
Default View
From the left Menu go to Reports > Quick Report > Quick Report.
Note: For some schools on older versions of bromcom this pathway will be Reports > Adhoc > Quick Report
When you open a new Quick Report it will open to the Students (Basic) domain. This includes Preferred Last Name, Preferred First Name, Admission Number and Year Group Name by default with the Count of Students on the bottom of the table.
Domains
You have multiple Domains available to you within Quick Reports each of which contain different information, so you will need to select your domain based on what you would like to report on.
Select which Domain you would like to use from the dropdown at the top of the page
Students (Basic) and Staff (Basic) are good for reporting on basic Student or Staff information. Students (Basic) also has options for Attendance, Assessment and Behaviour in advanced mode which can be used for most Web Merge Reports.
The Students and Staff domains contain more in depth information about your Students and Staff Members.
Some other domains you might find useful include:
- Behaviour Event Records – Can be used to review a specific students behaviour record, or report on incidents of a specific behaviour event.
- Roles – Can be used to report on which user accounts have which permissions.
- MCAS – Can be used to report on MCAS user account activity.
Column Heading Functions
Right click on any Column Heading to Rename or Remove the Column, or left click to drag & drop the Column to a different position on the Quick Report.
To Filter on Column Headings, select the 3 lines icon
on the Column Heading and select one or more Filters to Filter the report.
Data Items Symbols
There are five symbols visible in the Data Items table these are:
- Add Selected Data Items to the table
- User Defined Fields
- Search
- Favourites
- Maximise/Minimise
Add Selected Data Items to Table: The Data Items already in the table are coloured blue in the Data Items list. Double click on a single Data Item in the list to add it to the Unsaved Report. To add multiple Data Items select more than one and click on the Add Selected Data Items to Table icon.
User Defined Fields: Click on the UDF symbol to show User Defined Fields in the Data Item list. Double click on a single UDF in the list to add it to the Unsaved Report. To add multiple UDFs select more than one and click on the Add Selected Data Items to Table icon.
Search: Click on the Search icon to display the Search box. Type into the Search box to locate items in the Data Items list.
Favourites: Click on the Favourite Star icon to shorten the Data Items list to those that you have set as Favourites.
Move the mouse pointer over a Data Item to show the Favourites Star icon, click on this to add that Data Item to your Favourites. A confirmation pop-up will appear to confirm the Data Item has been added.
Maximise/Minimise: Select this icon to expand the Data Items list to make the Description, Tag and Use columns visible in the Data Items list, click the icon again to Minimise to the Default View.
Runtime options have been added to the Date Interval and the Filters for Quick Reports, selecting the option will allow the User running the Report to select those Runtime options.
Save Actions Close
Use the Save button to Save the Report or use the Actions dropdown to Save As. Give the report a Title and Description and define which report Folder Name you would like the Quick Report to be saved in. Under the Inheritance dropdown chose to either Inherit Folder Permissions or Custom Permissions and choose the Roles that can access to the report. Click Save to complete.
Export Report: On the Actions dropdown select Export Report to Export your report to Excel. The report can then be saved locally. The Export Report function is also available within the Report Field itself with the Download icon.
Export as a List: On the Actions dropdown select Export as a List, this will allow the selected Data Items in the Report to be Exported as a list to Excel in your downloads area. When opened it will show the Exported List with the same information as selected in your Report.
Note: When Student or Staff Photographs are used within a report these will also be Exported to Excel.
Select Close to close Quick Reports. If there are any unsaved changes you will be prompted to Save or Discard them.
Search for Students or Staff to Report On
By default Quick Reports opens in Students (Basic) with all current Students showing in the report.
Select a Domain from the dropdown list to display the Data Items available to display in the report.
Use the Magnifying Glass icon to further Filter the list. Select the required Students/Staff and Done to return to Quick Reports.
Note: the Magnifying Glass icon is only displayed for the Students (Basic) and (Staff Basic) options.
When selecting Students or Staff you also have the option to create a Saved List. Click on the Floppy Disk icon in the top right corner of the Student/Staff Selector.
Give the Saved List a name and these will now appear when selecting the Saved Lists icon when searching for Students or Staff.
Advanced Mode
When first opening Quick Reports the Advanced Mode is not selected, click on the Advanced Mode toggle button to go into Advanced Mode.
Once selected the view will change with the Data Items still visible and the Advanced Mode now selected and visible.
Click the + icon below Advanced Mode, this will display options that can be added, Attendance Summary, Assessment Results, Behaviour Summary, Add Other Summary Columns, Calculated Column, Group Information or If Then Else Column.
Add Attendance Summary
- Column Label – enter a Column Label that will appear in the Quick Report
- Attendance Result – choose either Attendance Meaning or Mark
- Att. Meaning* – click to select one or more Attendance Meanings or Attendance Marks
- Period Type – choose the Period Type/s
- Display Result – as a Percentage or Count
- Interval – choose the Interval from the dropdown, this defaults to Academic Year YTD (Year to Date). If selecting Custom Date Range enter the from and to dates as required
- Relative Year – choose the Relative Year from the dropdown
Click Add to add the column to the Quick Report or Close to return to the Advanced Mode view of Quick Reports.
Add Assessment Results
- The Column Label is system generated dependent on the choices made in Add Assessment Results
- Assessment Type – choose one or more Assessment Types
- Term – choose one or more Terms
- Year Group – choose one or more Year Groups
- Subject: choose one or more Subjects
- Assessment Attribute – select from dropdown list
- Show Grade Colour – shows the Grade Colour
- Insert Order – By Assessment Type to group all the Assessment Type columns for different Subjects together or By Subject to group all the Maths Assessment Type columns together
In this example 2 Assessment Types and 2 Subjects have been chosen so this will add four columns to the Quick Report, grouping the Maths and English together.
Add Behaviour Summary
- Column Label – enter the required name for the Column Label
- Tabs – choose either Events or Detentions
- Attribute – select from dropdown, selecting Event will display the Event* option
- Events – select one or more Events using the Ctrl key or click the <Select All> option
- Summary Type – choose either Count Events or Sum Points
- Interval – choose the required Interval from the dropdown, if Custom Date Range is chosen then select from the Date Range
For Detentions:
- Attribute – choose the Attribute from the dropdown
- Detention Type – select one or more Detention Types using the Ctrl key or click the <Select All> option
- Detention Mark – Choose All Marks, Present (/) or Not Present (not /)
- Interval – choose the required Interval from the dropdown, if Custom Date Range is chosen then select the from the Date Range
Click Add to add the Behaviour Column to the Quick Report.
Add Other Summary Columns
With the Students (Basic) domain selected and in Advanced Mode Add Other Summary Columns, has been added to the dropdown list, when selecting the + icon top right.
Clicking on this will open a pop-up where a Column Label can be entered and the Entity, Interval, Relative Year and Date Range selected from the dropdown lists. This option can also be used to create Summary columns with Count or First Result.
In the example below Incidents has been chosen from the Entity dropdown choices and in the Filters we’ve asked to see Incidents that have the status Open
Add Calculated Column
Select this to reference 2 different Data Items with a chosen Operator. Note the combined Data Items will put 2 Data Items side by side in the same column.
For example the difference between 2 different Attendance Columns for different Periods in the school year to show how Students Attendance has changed.
The option to display the Details of Summary or Calculated columns can be used when viewing a Report, by right clicking on a column Header and selecting the Details option when displayed.
Note: The Details option will only be displayed when not in the Edit view. When in Edit view the Summary or Calculated columns will display Edit or Remove.
Add Group Information
Select this option to add Group Information to a column.
- Group Type – choose from the dropdown Teaching Class, Club, Intervention, Report Group or Withdrawal Group. If Teaching Class is selected, choose the name of the Subject and under Membership Attributes choose from the drop down list.
In the above example this will create 4 Columns as 2 Subjects have been chosen and 2 Membership Attributes.
For all other Group Types select the Name/s of the required Group/s.
Click Add to add the Group Column/s.
Add If Then Else Column
- Column Label – enter the name of the Column Label
- Data Item – choose the Data Item column from the columns present in the Quick Report to apply the If Then Else Formula to
- If Result – define the IF Result from the dropdown choices and enter the Text required for the Then and Else
For example If Greater Than 95 then Above Else Below. This will produce one column populated with either Above or Below dependant on the Data in the Data Item Column in the Quick Report.
Use the White Box with the Red Line to choose a colour if required to colour the Text Background box in the column.
Add further If formulas if required with the Blue + icon
Click Add to add the Column to the Quick Report or Close to return to the Quick Report.
Clone
A Clone option is available when using the Summary or Calculated additional column options. The column is copied and added to the end of the columns with Copy added to the name.
Bulk Updates
The option to Bulk Edit Date Intervals and Assessment Parameters is available by selecting All or specific Data Items, changes can then be made and Saved.
Scheduling
A Quick Report, that has already been created can be Scheduled to automatically run at certain set times, simply select the Quick Report to be Scheduled from Reports > Adhoc > View Reports > Select a Quick Report > Run.
If Runtime Filters have been applied to the report a Schedule button will be displayed on the Runtime Report Filter pop-up. The report can then be Scheduled to Export to DMS or email as an Excel or CSV file.
If the selected report does not have Runtime Filters applied the report can be scheduled by clicking the Schedule button at the top of the page.
Selecting the Schedule button via either option will open the Schedule Wizard.
Selecting a Scheduled report and Manage Schedule from the Actions button will display the Schedules for that report, click on the Schedule Settings button to open the Schedule Wizard to make any changes.
If the Copy to DMS option was selected the Document/s, can be Viewed from the My Documents page, under Profile at any time.
Web Merge
A Quick Report, that has already been created can be used to Web Merge to an already created Document. Select the report from Reports > Adhoc > Adhoc > View Reports > Select a Report.
When the Report opens a Web Merge button is displayed, clicking this will start the Web Merge Process. If the Copy to DMS option was selected the Web Merge Document/s, saved as a Word or PDF file, can be Viewed from the My Documents page, under Profile at any time.
For a more detailed breakdown of how to use a Quick Report to produce a Web merge please see How to use Quick Reports to Create a Web Merge Document.
Note: The Web Merge option is currently only available when using the Staff or Student (Basic) Data Domains.
Note: If there is no data available in the report a message will be given. The report has no data to begin Webmerge.
Tip: Use Create Web Merge from Actions to launch the process without the need to run the report.