Custom reports are used when you need to report on a very specific set of records. When you just need a simple report covering a date range it's easier to use a standard report.

The standard report mode only lets you set the date range. Use the custom report mode when you want to include a more specific set of records in your report. Some examples are listed below.

Create a custom report which only includes:

Custom reports are a powerful tool for extracting the data you need most.

Custom reports work just like standard reports. The only difference is that you have to select or search for the specific records that you want first. Let's run through an example. Assume we want to create a summary report containing all the deployments for a specific requesting agency last year.

Step 1: Search for the records you want

We need all deployments for a specific requesting agency. To do this, we'll expand the search form, set the search criteria and click Search Records. The record list now shows the specific records that we want to report on.

Step 2: Choose your reporting parameters

Click the Create Report button to open the reporting dialog. Note that the custom report mode is already selected for you. PACKTRACK knows that you ran a search on the Records page. Now you just need to set the report type. The bottom of the dialog shows the number of records which will be included in the report.

Step 3: View your report

Click the View button to see your report. It will only include the records for the specific requesting agency and time period that you entered in your search. Use the report viewer to scroll through the report pages, print or save your report.