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The business users' blog about business intelligence, document generation and all things reporting

Software Reporting Tools Tips and Tricks, part 3

Third post in a series. Read part 1 here and part 2 here.

Here are more time-saving tips for using the AutoTag software reporting tool.

Wizards

Meet the Windward wizards. They’re a team of helpful guides that accompany you through many AutoTag tasks – and make your life much easier.  So before you try to do a task manually, check to see if there’s a wizard to help, such as:

 

  • The Tag Wizards. The SQL and XPath wizards allow you to easily choose subsets of data without having to write a select statement.
  • The Datasource Wizard. This wizard guides you through creating a connection to a data source.
  • The Template Wizard. This wizard guides you through setting up an Office document as a report template.
  • The Data Wizard. Found when you have selected the chart tag, the Data Wizard walks you step by step through complex series and simple series charting.

The "New Template" Wizard

You’ll find videos and other information about the wizards in our documentation wiki.

Wiki & tutorial videos

Got a question about using AutoTag? We have answers – and lots of them – in the Windward documentation wiki. Head to the wiki to learn everything from what’s new in AutoTag to the lowdown on each tag to which tools and features can save you the most time.

 

In addition, the wiki contains dozens of tutorial videos, including more than a dozen on connecting to data sources and a number on creating charts. And if you have a suggestion about a video you would find useful, feel free to post your suggestion as a comment in the wiki.

Datasets

 

AutoTag datasets make it easier to choose the data you need.

After you’ve connected your template to a data source, you can make it even easier to work with that data by creating a dataset. A dataset is a custom subset of data filtered from the main data source. Once created, it can be used like any data source.

 

For instance, say you want to create a table in a template that involves only new customers, but the main data source contains thousands of customers. You can create a dataset containing a list of customers created in the last month only – so instead of all customers, you have a more manageable set of data.

 

Learn more about working with datasets.

 

Excel to World: “I’m Not Dead”

Rumors of the death of the spreadsheet greatly exaggerated

Think the spreadsheet is dead? Think again.  The spreadsheet, and in particular Microsoft Excel, has been going strong for a couple decades – and it shows no signs of going away.

 

For those involved in enterprise reporting, that’s a good thing. Excel is a strong foundation for a full-fledged reporting tool. And we’ve just released a white paper Excel Aces Report Design showing the top 10 reasons why.

Microsoft Excel: A  Superb Reporting Tool

When you input your data into report templates designed and generated in MS Excel, you see many benefits. Here’s an excerpt from the white paper.

 

The predecessor to Excel's "I'm not dead" declaration?

You save money – lots of it.

The typical reporting process looks like this: A business user needs a report. A developer creates the report template. The business user provides feedback. The developer edits the template. The business user provides more feedback… and so on. The process is slow, expensive and frustrating.

 

But with reporting in Excel, this cycle is eliminated. Because the business user can design reports in the Excel environment, there’s no need for the cumbersome back-and-forth.

You get unmatched report output flexibility.

Excel is an adaptable report output format. Want to arrange data so it’s easier to analyze? Native sorting tools provide you with a wide range of options. Need to manipulate that eye-catching chart? No problem.

 

Excel takes a page from the book of Mark Twain, who famously said, "The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated."

Windward’s Excel solution treats charts as charts and not as static images, so you can format the chart however desired. Easily remove sensitive pieces of information, such as salary figures, from an HR report and then distribute the report to other departments.

You never have to leave Excel – even to access your data.

Is your data stored in Excel spreadsheets? Full-featured Excel reporting solutions allow you to call that data directly instead of forcing you to format or export that data into another data source. This saves you time and eliminates the risk of corrupting your data.

 

These are just a few of the reasons why Windward’s Excel interface is a solid reporting tool. Get the rest of the story by downloading the white paper.

 

Database Reporting Tools Tips and Tricks, Part 2

Second post in a series. Read part 1 here.

Back by popular request, here are more time-saving tips for using AutoTag for database reporting.

Formatting an out tag

There’s a quick and easy way to apply Excel-type formatting to your out tag – and you can do it right from within the MS Word, Excel or PowerPoint ribbon.

 

Just select the out tag and then click the Format Data button in the ribbon. Then choose from among hundreds of preset formats.

 

Easily format your data from within the MS Office ribbon.

Custom functions

Don’t reinvent the wheel – let our custom functions do the work for you. AutoTag ships with a large set of equations and functions for out tags. For example, you can:

  • Automatically calculate sums and averages
  • Add or subtract from a date to adjust for time zones
  • Easily add a time stamp to a report

See our Equations Tutorial for more info.

 

Validate

The AutoTag Validate tool.

Wondering if your tags are formatted properly? Wonder no more. AutoTag’s validation tool will tell you with a button click.

 

Just click the Validate Tags icon in the Tags menu. A list of errors will pop up with links to any offending tags.

 

We’ll be including more tips for using our database reporting tools in future posts, so stay tuned!

 

Should You Buy or Build Reporting Software?

Now that you’re convinced you need new or better reporting software (not convinced yet? download the white paper The Top 10 Reasons Why Reporting Software is the OEM’s Killer App), you’re faced with a big decision: to buy or to build?

 

The argument for building is a strong one. You’re a software company, and software developers write software. With some time and effort, surely you could do it yourself.

 

But that approach comes with a cost. While you’re building the reporting component, you’re pulling valuable engineers away from their area of expertise. And that costs you more in the long run.

Benefits of third-party reporting software integration

Here are just a few of the reasons to buy reporting capabilities:

 

In the race to get your software offering to market, third-party reporting software can give you the edge over your competitors.

Time savings

Report writing is time-consuming. Typically the reporting function gets put off until the end of the project, and that’s exactly when you can’t afford any delays in getting your product to market.

 

Buy the component, and you have access to years of tried and tested development.

Cost savings

To figure out the costs of doing this inhouse, determine how many developers you’d need to pull away from other projects and how much time each needs – and double that estimate. Then add on the hidden costs of using a tool that isn’t full-featured.

 

We’d be willing to bet it’s more than the $7-10K you might spend on a top-notch reporting system.

Ease of Use

Given enough time, your talented developers could write an easy-to-use, fully loaded application. But it isn’t their expertise, and there are numerous programs out there (yes, we think Windward fits into this category) that are easy to use and don’t require you to reinvent the wheel.

 

Want to know more? The white paper “Incorporating Reporting into your Software Offering” explains the buy-or-build debate in detail and busts the three myths of buying reporting software. You can download it here.