Creating simple reports using Report Builder

Imagine that you needed a tool that could create data that you could import back into the learning platform and make your life so much easier when assigning courses to people? And then export even more data back out again, so that you could send it to the people who need to know how well everyone is doing!

Well, the good news is that you don’t need to imagine it - Report Builder is already here for you!

In the next few minutes, we’re going to walk you through 3 scenarios:

· Create a short list of location names

· Create a short list of people's usernames

· Create a simple compliance report

And it all starts from the Reporting menu, pick Overview:

Pick Report Builder:

This is a powerful tool, so you need to think about what report you want to create before you start.

Let’s stop a second and recap why we’re creating this first report.

We want to generate a file that we can use within other areas of the learning platform, specifically so we can assign content based on where somebody works. And we do that using a location attribute. When we want to assign an attribute to lots of locations in one go, we achieve this by importing a list as a csv file. So let’s go and create that list! And in the process, we’ll introduce the concept of: adding a data field to your report, adding a filter, and then creating that report.

We’ll start by creating a new report:

… and we need to give it a name and then press Create Report:

… which is why it’s a good idea to have some idea of what report you’d like to create before you start.

(There is a glossary coming next, which will help you get some idea from the reporting field names as to what kind of report you want to build … and yes, I do know there’s a typo – more on that another time!)

Press Manage Columns:

You can see that the columns are grouped under people, locations, and courses. Our ultimate goal is to create a file that can be opened with your preferred spreadsheet tool.

We want to get a list of locations, so pick location:

and flip the slider on Location Name:

See the report building already!

We don’t want to see all of the location names, so now’s a great time to show you how the filters work. Press Filters:

Each time you filter your report, you get a filter for free, allowing you to report on active individuals. You can change it, of course, but this also gives you an idea of how we're going to start to use the filters.

Before we do that, let’s set the context a little… Using Manage company structure, you can see that we are going to reduce our list of locations to only those locations that sit within “Deli (South West)”, which is the name of one of the areas in our fictional learning platform, Rise and Dine.

In reporting parlance, “Deli (South West)” is the “parent” of the locations that we want in our report.

We can now Add a filter:

Open the Column selector, scroll down to the Location section and pick Location Parents:

Press Add Filter:

Next up, we need to refine our filter so that we only bring back the Location Parents that we actually want - and they’re called “Deli (South West)” which is great because we can paste this as text!

Pick Include if Text Contains:

Copy and paste “Deli (South West)” (or type it in, it’s your choice) into the Include items box and press Save:

We now have our report, filtered to just the 5 locations we need, and we’re now ready to Export:

In this example, I'm just going to click the Export button (you really can’t break stuff like this, so sometimes it’s great just to press something and see what happens, be bold, give it a go!)

You see that your report has been scheduled, so give it a short while (not enough time to grab a coffee though!) and then you can download it:

And here is the file:

Okay, so that’s one report ticked off my to-do list, let's crack on with the next scenario with a quick reminder!

I want to assign courses to a few people who are in Edinburgh Deli, so I’m going to use Report Builder to do it (because I can!)

So, when it comes to filtering on a location, we know it’s called “Edinburgh”.

You’ve just been through a few of these next steps already, so we’ll up the pace a bit…

Create a new report with a suitable name:

Pick User:

… then Username (so that I can use this to import a CSV file for personal attributes):

Add filter and filter on Location Name:

Include if Matches:

“Edinburgh” and then press Save:

Let’s explore our other export options by picking Export, flip the Email slider so it’s green, enter a valid email address (or multiple email addresses) and then Exporting it this way to see what happens:

And behold, an email duly appeared with a shiny big Download button:

Go on, press it, you know you want to!

That’s two down!

Next, we’re going to create a simple course report:

I want to know who has not completed their mandatory courses across all the locations in the business – and so do you, so here goes…

Start with location:

Add location parents first, followed by Location Description:

Pick first name and last name and watch the report appear before your eyes:

And I now want to see if the course is mandatory or not, the name of the course, and its course status:

So that I can filter the report on Course Mandatory:

Pick a True or False filter:

... and only bring back mandatory course data if it's true:

One more filter to add from the course section, Course Status:

… and we’re going to Exclude if Matches:

“Completed”.

So in “report speak” you can see we have filtered our report to show us:

Which in human speak means “Show me all active people who have not completed their mandatory courses”!

Here’s your simple course report, which you can now export however you wish:

… and you have some great data which you can use to help those people shine (and improve your completion results which’ll help you shine too!)

That’s it for now, your three simple reports created, exported and distributed with Report Builder!