Report Layout

[Sudha]

Friends,
I have a req. with almost 50 items to be displayed on the final report (ultimately), with couple of prompt pages which allows the user to select which columns to display lets say (they want a option of slecting or deselecting 25 items on one prompt page)

My Q... is did any one work on this kindof req. if yes did u face any issues performance wise...
What's the best way to build this kind of rep.

any suggestions really really appreciated...
Thanks
Sudha

[MFGF]

Why not just give them Query Studio and let them drag in the items they want to see?  It sounds to me like you're trying to reinvent a bespoke reporting environment...

Just a thought.

MF.

[Sudha]

Thats an excellent thought but the req. here is the request process comes from business and goes through IT to business again... so we were thinking to built in RS so that it can be scheduled if neccessary...

Well do you think performance in this kind of scenario bogs?
Thanks

[MFGF]

I'd imagine the resultant report would be very unwieldy and inefficient - you would need to retrieve all 50 columns of data each time the report runs, and probably end up hiding most of them based on the prompt selections.

Just my opinion, of course...

MF.

[Sudha]

Any ideas to make it more efficient..., I was going through "Improving Performance by Reusing Cached Data When Running a Report" this topic in FM User Guide where he suggests to set some Governer settings.

Do any one had any experiences after setting this???

[MFGF]

Hi,

This option simply caches the data retrieved from the datasource on the C8 server, but it is cached on a user-by-user and session-by-session basis.  The net result is that each user would end up with their own cache for each login session, so the first time each ran the report, the data would be retrieved from the datasource, but htereafter that data would be cached for the remainder of the user's session.

This may give your users some performance gains for subsequent executions of the report, but the risk is that the data in the cache may be stale if the users remain logged in for hours.

MF.

[Suraj]

We use "Improving Performance by Reusing Cached Data When Running a Report" option to populate prompt values when the complex prompt page takes long time to populate.

How are the columns added to the report?
Is it random columns that user can choose or is it group of columns by certain category?
If it is by group of columns, you can simply use conditional blocks.
If it is random then it depends on whether the value come from same column or different.
If different, it is very inefficient to have a report like this.

[almeids]

My two cents: while pulling 50 columns all the time and hiding some or many of them conditionally may be inefficient from an IT perspective (particularly to develop!) it may not matter to the business user, particularly if the inefficiency adds little to the response time.

[Sudha]

I wish no one should be in this situation but an user is an user...he just blames the tool saying its a waste.
How to deal this ?????

[larsonr]

I'm not sure if we're thinking the same thing, but I work with these type of requests often.  Example, they have a list of 400+ units and want specific stores on the reports. The question is how is it to be delivered and what is the final format.

We have a prompt page that lets them get narrower by selecting different levels of the company before getting to the bottom.  Once they have that the report generates all the columns for all the selected stores.

It is feasible though to use check boxes to have the report generate the specific columns they are looking for.  So for example I have a report that lets them pick their units and then pick how the data renders.  The same principal could be used to conditionally hide certain columns.

Just a thought, but not sure what exactly you are trying to accomplish

[Maple]

Hello Sudha,

This request seems realy simple...They just want a report that helps them to pick any item from report prompt and show in the report output...
what can you do...use the prompt page tech
create your report and create prompt for the items
- so, if they will pick 10 items ....then your report output will be the 10 itms
-2ndly you can also further filter your prompt from the prompt query...

Give me the complete Report specification...might be i can help