Web Enrollment Discussion Question 2
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.
Comments
Hey Becky! First of all, thanks for doing this blog! it's helps out, even if you don't get any comments... but since you asked a direct question and sent an email... i realized that i need to comment on this one, so here it goes!
Top one...
1. More user friendly to export info about youth and adults into Excel (more like File Maker Pro.)
Posted by: Katherine Bowman | May 8, 2008 03:04 PM
I had to put some thought into this and here are some of the reports that I like to use:
1. 4-H members in each club
2. All of the kids in 4-H in the county with address, club name, parents name, phone
3. Member/Leader Report with complete info
4.Complete Parent Report
These are the reports that I refer to the most and any others I just go on Blue Ribbon and get them. Maybe others use the reports more than I do but thought I would be the guinea pig.
Steph
Posted by: Steph Erpelding | May 8, 2008 03:04 PM
Not sure which is number one, but the reports I probably use most are:
4-H'er by project
4-H'er by school
4-H'er by grade
4-H'er by activity
4-H'er by sex
Posted by: Vickie Beyer | May 8, 2008 03:15 PM
The five I use the most are: Member/Leader by club,
Literature report, Data Files, Project report, and Parent list
Jan
Posted by: Jan Henningsen | May 8, 2008 03:16 PM
Apparently my "clear as a bell" writing style isn't working for me today! Let's assume that you can get all the information you need--the lists of kids by project, or by club, or any other way. You would control which kids print, AND the fields (information) that would print--you could choose phone, or address, or gender...absolutely any field you want. It's just that the report would be an Excel file instead of printing out of the program like it does now.
Some reports you might like to keep "canned"--the fields just as they are, the format and look of the report just as it is now (in Blue Ribbon). I'm kind of assuming that the "complete report" would be one of those.
What other ones are important to keep a standard formatting style?
Posted by: Becky | May 8, 2008 03:31 PM
Thanks for asking and for this blog! It's a good way to communicate. The only canned BR reports I ever use are the literature reports and member by project. I would probably use some of the others if they could be condensed & without extraneous information. For everything else, I use FmPro.
Thanks!
Posted by: Sheri Postma | May 8, 2008 04:01 PM
The canned reports I use the most are probably: Complete report, the literature reports, the condensed project report, the parent report and data reports. I export to Filemaker for fair stuff, but tend not to do that much the rest of the year. I always find myself spending too much time "prettying up" in Filemaker. I seldom export to Excel, but that's because I don't use it as much. I tend to stick with what I'm familiar with.
Posted by: Carole Gorham | May 8, 2008 05:58 PM
Most of the time I end of saving the BR reports as an rtf to make a few adjustments, especially to reduce the amount of paper required. The complete report with the parent info line (with cell phone #'s added) is my only request.
Posted by: Tessa Pugh | May 20, 2008 12:40 PM