GREAT discussion on the last question! That question dealt with input (how the data gets into the system), and now I'd like to focus on output for a little bit.
Those of you who have attended my Filemaker workshops have heard me say that all data management systems are built on the basis of input (what data do you have) and output (what do you want to do with it). When you talk about output, you're talking about not only the data (information) itself, but also the format--list, labels, summaries, whatever. Sometimes all I need is the information, and sometimes I need it in a specific way.
Thinking about Blue Ribbon, there are many pre-formatted reports available. On the parameters screen, you can select some filtering options and some format options. That allows you to choose both the set of records you want printed, and to some extent what fields are going to be included, what order, etc.
In some systems, there are unlimited filtering options--you can choose exactly which records are to be included, but fewer pre-formatted reports. After you chose the records you wanted, you would then choose what fields you want (from ALL available fields) and their order, but the data would go out to Word or Excel, and you would do any further formatting yourself. More flexible, less "canned". Advantages and disadvantages both ways.
With all that explanation, the question for discussion today is... if you had to choose your top FIVE report formats to keep as "canned" report formats, what would they be? Disregard anything about mailing labels--those are non-negotiable. I'm thinking in terms of list formats, that kind of thing. Think about ones that would be more difficult to fix up in Excel or Word. You probably have more than five you'd like to keep, but narrow it down to the TOP five. No, we won't be limited to that, but I want to see where we get some consensus, and where there are differences.