Reports
Reports provide analysis of current activity and shipment statuses. Reports can also be used to alert parties to activities or status changes.
Introduction to Reports
Reports are a mechanism to produce a summary of shipments (or orders) that meet specific conditions. When a report is produced, every shipment (or order) that meets the conditions (at the time of the report) will be included. By scheduling the reports to be produced automatically, the reporting system can be used to notify individuals when the specified conditions arise and which shipments (or orders) are affected.
Creating a New Report
To create a report, navigate to Administration | Database | Reports and click Create New Report.
The report is defined by several properties:
Various other settings defining the structure of the report
A selection of one or more Flags to identify the covered shipments (or orders)
The selection of one or more columns of data to appear in the report
The recipients of the report (when transmitted by e-mail)
The first section defines the name, description and report structure.
The Report Name is used in the report title and e-mail titles. The "Description" can be any explanative text and will accompany the report by e-mail. This field should be used to describe the report so that the receiver is clear regarding what the report represents and any actions that should be taken.
The Display Order Data checkbox applies to Shipment reports and determines whether order data is provided rather than just the shipment summary.
The Order Report checkbox determines whether each line in the report represents a shipment or the individual orders. Essentially this determines if the report is a Shipment report or an Order report.
The Display Shipment Headers checkbox, if checked, specifies that each set of orders for a shipment is preceded by a shipment header (identified by Lot number).
The Send Empty Reports checkbox determines whether an automated report is sent if no shipments or orders match the selected flags. This important feature allows the report to be used for alert purposes.
Conditions and Flags
Reports include shipments (or orders) based on whether or not they are selected by the specified Flags. Note that the flags are independent of the report and changing the properties of flags included in a report have an immediate effect on the report itself.
Flags are selected for the report by checking them in the available Flag list when editing the report. The selection is similar to the image below:
One or more of these flags can be checked to include them in the report.
Report Contents
The next section determines what data will appear in the report.
The Format determines whether the report is an attachment (in one of the specified formats) or only an in-email table of data.
The Columns section allows the operator to select which data will appear and the caption for that column as presented in the report.
Report Recipients
The next section determines who will receive the report when it is produced. Reports can be produced on demand via the Database | Reports section or through scheduled automation.
Here by clicking the + button, additional e-mail addresses can be added. Click the - button to remove existing e-mail addresses.
Third-Party Recipients
The Notify Clients / Suppliers / Warehouses option will include the e-mail addresses in the Notification section of each of these entities when they appear in the report.
For example, if Notify Clients is checked then for each client assigned to a shipment that appears in the report, if any notification e-mail addresses are configured, those addresses will also receive the report.
Note that for third-party notifications (Clients / Suppliers / Warehouses) their version of the report will be filtered to include only orders or shipments associated with them.
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