Create reports

You can create reports using Report Builder in the desktop client.

In this topic:

Create report

Use Report Builder to create a report in the desktop client. To create a public report, you need the Manage Public Reports privilege.

To create a report:

1. In the desktop client, navigate to View > Reports and Lists.

2. In the Reports and Lists window, right-click My Reports or Public Reports and select New. Then select an object class report to create. For example, Items Report or Baselines Report.

   If a report of the appropriate object class has already been created, you can right-click that object class tree node and select New <object class> Report. For example, New Items Report.

   Note: The desktop client supports more object classes for reports than the web client. Certain object class reports created in the desktop client may not be visible in the web client.

3. In the Report Builder dialog box, set up the report generation criteria. For details, see Enter reporting criteria.

4. Click the Run button to generate a preview of the client report. For details, see Test run your report.

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Enter reporting criteria

Your reporting criteria is based on the attributes and/or relationships you select.

To enter your reporting criteria:

1. Enter a report name and specify whether it is a public report:

   Is public option selected	After the report is created, it is added to Reports and Lists > My Reports in the navigation pane for the appropriate object class. Only you can see the report in the navigation pane.
   Is public option cleared	The report is available to others. After the report is created, it is added to Reports and Lists > Public Reports in the navigation pane for the appropriate object class. All users can see the report in the navigation pane.

Note: To clear your currently entered reporting criteria and reset them to the defaults for this object class, click the Clear Report button.

2. In the Context menu area:

1. Select a product or <ALL PRODUCTS> from the Product list.

2. From the Type Filter, select the object class types to include in the scope of the report. The types available for selection depend on the class of Dimensions CM object and product selected earlier.

3. In the Report Type menu area, select the following options:

   Option	Description
   Type	Select the report type. Depending on the report type, selection in the additional Then by fields may be disabled. Selection in the additional Date span field depends only on the attribute selected in any of the Group by fields. If at least one of them is a date attribute, the Date span field is enabled regardless of the selected report type.
   Group by (if available, Then by and Date span)	Select the attribute type for grouping the elements of the generated report. If available, specify in which order, ascending or descending, to display the grouping. By default, the elements are displayed in ascending order.

4. In the Attributes to Display menu area, select system attributes to be included in the report.

   Note: For report types that support subsequently generated child drilldown reports, these attributes are displayed in the child drilldown report. Otherwise, the attributes are displayed in the generated report itself.

   In the Available list, expand System Attributes to display a tree of attributes available for adding. One by one move attributes from the Available list to the Selected list, as needed.

   To change the order of attributes in the Selected list, use the Up and Down buttons.

5. In the Filtering menu area, specify which attributes and/or relationships to include in the Selected list. For details, see Manage filtering.

6. In the Sorting menu area, specify the sorting options:

   Note: The Sorting menu is available only for a listing report and a drilldown list.

   1. In theSorted by field, select the attribute type. To specify how to sort the attributes in the elements of the generated report, click Ascending or Descending.

   2. In subsequent Then by fields, further refine your attribute sorting criteria.

7. Test your report before saving it or modifying your reporting selections. For details, see Test run your report.

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Manage filtering

In the Filtering area, you can apply sophisticated Boolean filtering criteria to attributes and relationships to include in the report.

To set the filtering criteria for attributes and relationships:

1. In the Filtering menu area, expand System Attributes, User Attributes (if present), and/or Relationships in the Available list. This displays a graphical tree of all available attributes and/or relationships for a specified object class.

2. Select an attribute or relationship in the Available list and click the right-arrow button.

   For an attribute, a value specification dialog box is displayed. For date/time attributes, there is an associated find button.

   For a relationship, a relationship specification dialog box is displayed. For most relationships, there are an associated find button and an associated keywords buttons.

3. For a system attribute or user attribute (if present), specify the following options:

   1. If available, select a logical operator from the Date must be or Value must be list. The logical operator determines how to filter with respect to this date/time or this value field. For example, you can filter to display all Titles that match (Equal to) or do not match (Not equal to) the entry in the Value field.

      The following logical operations are available:

      Attribute type	Operations
      Date/time attributes	equal to, not equal to, before, after, not after, not before, is null, is not null
      Other attributes	equal to, not equal to, less than, greater than, less than or equal to, greater than or equal to, is null, is not null

   2. Provide an attribute value by one of the following means, and click OK:

      • Directly enter a value in the this date/time or this value field. For text fields, you can use “&” or “*” as wildcards. This works when the logical operator is equal to or not equal to and therefore is equivalent to the expressions like and not like in some other query syntaxes. For details, see Report notes and examples.

      • Select one of the prepopulated values from the this date/time or this value list. Depending on the attribute, you can select certain special values, for example:

        <Query at Runtime>	A variable that lets you specify the value at the time the report is run. Note: You can select <Query at Runtime> for only one attribute.
        <Today>, <Today>+ 7, <Today>-7, <Today>+30, <Today>-30, <Today>+365, <Today>-365	Variables for date/time attributes.

      • For date/time attributes, click the find value button to open a calendar and select a date.

      The selected attribute with specified value is included in the selected list. To include this attribute value in a NOT logical relationship, click the NOT button.

4. For a relationship, provide a relationship value by one of the following means, and click OK:

   • In the <Object_class> object to relate to field, enter the required relationship.

   • Click the find relationship button to open the Find dialog box.

   • Click the keywords relationship button to select one of several prepopulated relationship values.

   • Depending on the attribute, you can select certain special values, for example:

     <Query at Runtime>	A variable that lets you specify the value at the time the report is run. Note: You can select <Query at Runtime> for only one relationship.
     <Current <Object Class>	A variable for the current object class, for example, <Current Project>.

   The selected relationship with specified value is included in the selected list. To include this relationship value in a NOT logical relationship, click the NOT button.

5. Build up the compound filter criteria in the Selected list:

• To add a filter criterion, complete steps 2–4. By default, each new filter criterion has a logical AND relationship with the previous criterion. To change the relationship, click the relationship and the appropriate button:

  Button	Description
  AND	Click to change the logical relationship back to the default AND.
  OR	Click to change the logical relationship to OR.
  NOT	Click to logically negate the currently selected expression.
  ADD	For certain attributes, when you select an attribute in the Available list, the AND button changes to the ADD button. The ADD operation places the attribute value specifically into a logical AND relationship with the last relationship in the Selected list.
  OR>	For certain attributes, when you select an attribute in the Available list, the OR button changes to the OR> button. The OR> operation places the attribute value specifically into a logical OR relationship with the last relationship in the Selected list.

• To delete a filter criterion, select the criterion and click the left-arrow button. To delete all filter criteria, click the << button.

• To modify a filter criterion, select the criterion and click the Edit button. Modify the system attribute value or the relationship, as needed.

• To move an attribute or relationship criterion up the Selected list, select it and click the Up button.

• To move an attribute or relationship criterion down the Selected list, select it and click the Down button.

After specifying the criteria for attributes and relationships, proceed to the Sorting menu area, as described in Enter reporting criteria.

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Test run your report

When you are finished creating your report, click the Run button to generate a preview. The preview is displayed in a right-hand desktop client view, inheriting the standard functionality for such views.

The preview displays the client report or summary report to be generated based on your selections. For details, see Drill down into client report.

The preview contains a set of toolbar buttons that enable you to edit or save the preview report, or export it to a file:

• If you are satisfied with the preview, click Save. The report is added to the Reports and Lists node in the navigation pane.

• To refine your report, click Edit and change the reporting criteria, as needed.

• To export the report, click Export. The formats into which you can save the report depend on the report type. The available formats are a comma-separated variables file (CSV) or an image file (BMP). For details, see Export client report.

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Report notes and examples

When entering report details, take into account:

• Your filter criteria are optimized by the Dimensions CM desktop client. The criteria may be displayed in a slightly different format than the one specified, but it doesn't affect client report results.

• For item reports, the retrieved items are restricted to the selected project. But items can belong to more than one project, so the number of retrieved item revisions may be greater than the one displayed when you run the report.

Example 1: 

To create a report to find CR requests that are not closed and are critical or severe, or CRs that are raised, use this filter:

Status <> [CLOSED]
AND
Severity/Priority = [1_critical]
OR
Severity/Priority = [2_severe]
OR
Status = [RAISED]

Example 2: 

To create a report to find all the zip files  that do not contain the string “output” in the file name and are owned by JSMITH, use this filter:

Filename = [%.zip]
AND
Filename <> [%output%]
AND
Owner = [JSMITH]

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See also:

• Run and use client reports
• Modify or delete reports