Helpful Tips
April 2003
How can I set up reports for a particular date range?
The internal reporting engine included as a standard component in Journyx Timesheet provides a variety of methods for filtering data for report output - including multiple date range options for defining the timeframe of the report. Date range options can be selected on the modification screen for any selected report.
The first timeframe option is a free-floating date range. If you select free-floating from the report modification screen, then there is no need to set up any of the other date range options. Reports with the free-floating option selected will always prompt you to define the date range at the time you run the report. There are two ways to enter the free-floating timeframe at the time you run the report. The first option requires the entry of both a specific start and end date for the report. The second option requires the entry of a specific start date and the selection of an interval (i.e., selection of start date April 14, 2003, and an interval of 2 weeks would produce a report with results from April 14 to April 27, 2003). You can also save the results of a free-floating report in order to preserve the data from a particular timeframe without having to designate the dates again at run time.
The second timeframe option is an anchored date range. If you select anchored from the report modification screen, then you will need to choose period and start parameters from the tables below the anchored selection. Periods include days, weeks, months and years. You can also choose the number of periods (i.e., 3 months for a quarterly report). Numbers less than 1 (0.25 and 0.5) only apply to year periods. After selecting the number of periods and period type, you can select the start parameters based on the period type:
- For the day period, no start parameter is needed (defaults to the date it's run)
- For the week period, you can select the start day (the report will default to the Monday that has just past if Monday is selected as the start day and the period is 1 week, the report will default to the Monday two weeks ago if the period is 2 weeks, etc.)
- For the month period, you can select the start day of the month (the report defaults to the 15th of the current month if 15 is selected as the day of month and the period is 1 month)
- For the year period, you can select the start month and start day of the month (the report defaults to the month and day that has just past)
Only anchored timeframe reports can be scheduled for automatic generation at a particular time because free-floating reports require input in order to continue to completion at the time they are run.
How do I view a report in a particular output format or change the format of a report I am currently viewing?
When you select a report to run, you can designate the output format by selecting from the following options in the Select Output Format drop-down menu before clicking on the Run button:
- HTML (regular) - optimized for viewing in a web browser
- HTML (printable) - optimized for printing to a printer
- Cube Report - dynamic format that allows you to re-arrange data on-the-fly*
- Plain Text (exported) - tab delimited output optimized for export/import
If you select the output format before clicking on the Run button, the report will automatically be presented in the selected format. If you do not select a format, the report will default to HTML optimized for viewing in the browser. You can change from one format to another after the report has been run by selecting the new format from the drop-down at the top of the report and clicking on the View As button. After you have clicked on the button, the output format of the report will be changed to the new selection.
*Learn more about what you can do with cube report output.
