6 th Annual Focus Users’ Conference Custom Reports and Dashboards Presented by: Mike Morris

Dashboards & Custom Reports Agenda : Creating a Custom Report Using Reporting Variables Inserting System-Defined Variables Creating Custom Variables Defining Additional Dashboards Adding Dashboard Graphs Specifying Keys, Chart Types and Values Displaying Completed Dashboards

Dashboards & Custom Reports Defining Custom Reports : Navigate to the Reports menu in Focus and Select Custom Reports in order to begin. Existing Reports will appear in the Interface. New Reports can be defined at the bottom of the page.

Dashboards & Custom Reports Defining Custom Reports: Users have a number of configuration choices when installing a Custom Report for the first time. Titles, Profiles, Schools and other options need to be chosen before report installation. Select a Title for the Report. This title will appear as the name of the Report when it is accessed in the District Reports menu. Then, paste in a working query that conveys the desired information. Specify the display options for the headers of results returned by the query, as well as if the query should be a Portal Alert or not. Select the Profile(s) that should receive access to the report, as well as the School(s) that should have access. With regard to the school, either the School that is selected in the interface or All Schools can be selected.

Dashboards & Custom Reports Assigning Report Variables Following the creation of a Custom Report, system-defined or user- defined variables can be injected in order to make the query relevant under changing circumstances. Focus gives users the option to use System-Defined Variables such as {SYEAR} to make the query good from year-to-year, or {SCHOOL_ID} to apply the query to the school selected in the interface.

Dashboards & Custom Reports Creating Report Variables User-Defined variables can be created using the boxes at right. Variables should be created using curly brackets {} and UPPERCASE letters for the title. The variables can be defined as a Pull-Down, Date Field, Checkbox or Text Field. If using a Pull-Down for the variable type, it should be defined with the value the user should see in the pull- down, a space, and then the value stored in the database housed within square brackets [] In addition to defining variables as pull-down fields, there are a variety of other configurations for Custom Variables such as Date, Checkboxes, and Text Fields Use a Date variable if the end user should be able to specify a date from the user interface when the report is run. Defining multiple dates and a BETWEEN statement in the query would allow the use of a date range. A Text field allows users to enter text in a field on the report and return results related only to the text that matches. For example, a textbox could be used to allow users to see details related to a specific course number.

Dashboards & Custom Reports Utilizing Report Variables Whether working with User-Defined or System-Defined variables, there are a few steps required in order to add the variables to the query and make them viewable within the Custom Report. To begin this process, access the Custom Reports interface and open the desired query. Find the field in the query that should receive the corresponding variable and edit the query to include the new variable, ensuring that case is matched. Then, select Save. When complete, the query should contain the desired variables. Please ensure that any VARCHAR variables are wrapped in single quotes in order to avoid a DBError When the report is run, the variables will be available from the interface for the end-users to interact with in order to view results. Refine the report based upon the variables and select Run Report to view output.

Dashboards & Custom Reports Creating Additional Dashboards : Focus allows users to create Dashboards in addition to the main Portal page in order to house alternate Portal Blocks, Custom HTML or Portal Graphs. In order to Create these Dashboards, from the School Setup menu select Portal Editor. From the Portal Editor, select the Additional Dashboards tab in order to begin defining additional dashboards.

Dashboards & Custom Reports Creating Additional Dashboards : If creating a New Dashboard, select a Title for the new dashboard, as well as the Profiles that should be able to view the content that will be published there. Additionally, the Portal Blocks can be arranged in order to reflect the desired layout. Click Save to create the new dashboard Profiles and Titles are completed at left. Use the Save button at top-right to create the dashboard. Once the Dashboard has been created, a confirmation page will populate to indicate the process has been successful. Items (such as Graphs, HTML and Portal Blocks) can be added to the new layout after it has been saved.

Dashboards & Custom Reports Adding Graphs to Dashboards : Once the new Dashboard has been created, Graphs, HTML, or Portal Block elements can be added to the layout. Select the item to be added from the bottom-left and then click into one of the empty Portal Blocks to add the item. ➔ Following the addition of the New Graph to the layout, a pop-up box will appear that will allow a query to be defined for the Graph. While the query is pasted here, it should be written and verified in RunQuery before it is added to the layout.

Dashboards & Custom Reports Adding Graphs to Dashboards : Once the new Dashboard has been created, Graphs, HTML, or Portal Block elements can be added to the layout. Select the item to be added from the bottom-left and then click into one of the empty Portal Blocks to add the item. When adding the query, ensure that the Column Aliases for the fields that will be used as the Key(s) and Value for the graph are denoted in ALL UPPERCASE. The Alias placed upon the aggregate function being used should always be called VALUE. The Key(s) determine what the values that are presented in the graph stand for. If there’s only one method of organization in the graph (i.e. show Letter Grades given at Focus High School), then only one key needs to be defined. If multiple data sets should be presented/counted then two keys should be defined (i.e. A breakdown of the letter grades given at Focus High School for Semester One and Semester Two). The VALUE statement lets the system know what field is being counted for the sake of the graph, and allows the specification of the aggregate that will display when the graph is published.

Dashboards & Custom Reports Defining Graph Key(s) and Types : Chart Color and Chart Type are also determined when adding new graphs. The Chart Color is based upon HTML Colors, and is defined via the corresponding value entered in the Chart Color field. This will affect the background color of the graph once it’s published. After adding the new Chart to the Layout, verify that it displays properly, and select the Save button in the upper right-hand corner of the Portal Editor screen in order to save changes. Once Save is pressed, the system will populate a pop-up box that indicates that the layout has been created successfully. Once the chart has been configured, the next step is to choose how the chart should display. Select a Chart Type in order to designate the appearance in the interface. Bar, Line, Area and Pie charts are all available options.

Dashboards & Custom Reports Editing and Deleting Existing Charts Upon creation of a Chart using the Portal Editor, the layouts can be edited at any point in time. While viewing the layout on the Additional Dashboards tab, each of the preconfigured blocks has a small wrench in the upper left-hand corner. Select the wrench in order to edit the Chart. Selecting the wrench in the corner will bring up the same Graph Editor which was used to add the query and define the keys previously. Update any information and select Add in order to add the updated chart to the layout. Make sure to Select Save after modifying the layout. In order to delete any item from the dashboard layouts, select the red X in the upper right-hand corner to remove the item from the layout. Ensure that Save is pressed after any deletions from the layout.

Dashboards & Custom Reports Viewing Dashboards : Once the Dashboard layout has been created and the Charts have been added, the new layouts can be viewed by navigating back to the Portal Page and selecting the tab at top-left that corresponds to the Dashboard that was created. Once the additional dashboard is selected, the queries related to the graphs on the dashboard will execute and provide the user with an up- to-date look at the data to be pulled.

Dashboards & Custom Reports Questions? Mike Morris Software Trainer – Focus School Software Phone: (727) Please be sure to complete the comment card for this session and enjoy the rest of the Users’ Conference!