Inventory > Sales Analysis
This inventory-based report shows your sales metrics based on inventory sales. Based on your selection of a base month/year, this report shows the month-to-date (MTD) sales total, MTD cost of sales total, MTD profit in dollars, MTD gross profit percentage, year-to-date (YTD) sales, YTD cost of sales total, YTD profit in dollars, and YTD gross profit percentage all by item code and description.
Before this report can be previewed or processed, users must select a base month and year. There are also a few other form settings that can be selected.
The "To Date Summary" provides month-to-date and year-to-date (up to the selected base month) for the month/year selected. "Comparative" compares the same period this year with the prior year at the same point (month). If your company's fiscal year is not the same as the calendar year and you'd like the report to list year-to-date figures based on the fiscal year rather than calendar, check the box next to "Fiscal Yr YTD."
When selecting a base month (required), use the selection tool 
to choose from preset date choices that include current month, previous month, calendar year start, and fiscal year start. These choices will automatically set the month/year based on your selection. It's also possible to manually type in any month and year combination. Enter the month and year using the 2-digit month and 2-digit year separated by a slash (/). For example, February 2015 would be entered as 02/15.
Reconciling Sales to the LedgerThere are a number or reports and inquiries available with the software that report "sales" information for a period of time. These include reports and inquiry for Totals, Sale Tax, and Sales Analysis. Financially, the Income Statement (aka. P&L) would report your company's income from sales and might be compared to "sales" totals from the previously mentioned reports and inquiries. Below, you will find a listing of some nuances about each type of report/inquiry that you should be aware of before making comparisons: TotalsBranch sales totals include inventory sales except for gift cards and stored value cards. Totals include adjustments. "Net" sales would be compared to the Income Statement or other reports since it includes cash sales, cash returns, charge sales, and charge returns less any sales tax. Sales Analysis (Inventory)This report is based on the sales totals as recorded for inventory items (these can be individually viewed by item also). The report includes items as based on your selection criteria, so if that selection criteria includes gift card or stored value card type items, these "inventory" totals would not match the branch totals. Inventory sales totals do not include adjustments which would be another difference between inventory sales and the branch totals (and possibly your Income Statement). Inventory sales do not include sales tax. Sales Tax ReportThe sales tax report and inquiry include any activity affecting your company's tax liability. If your company does inventory adjustments for "store use" that are taxable, these would appear on the Sales Tax report and inquiry as "sales," but not appear as sales on the (branch) Totals report or inquiry. Store use adjustments do not affect usage nor do they affect item sales totals, so they would not be reflected on the (inventory) Sales Analysis report. Income Statement (aka. Profit & Loss or P&L) This financial statement (report) compares your company's income to its expenses in order to determine the net income or profitability of your company. When income exceeds expenses, your company is profitable; otherwise, your company is operating at a loss. System journal mapping and detailed mapping determine how software activity affects your company's financial statements. The structure of your ledger (Chart of Accounts) determines the appearance of the financial statement (the levels of totals and detail as well as the order in which accounts and summaries are listed). If your chart of accounts is designed in a way that separates the income from inventory sales from other types of income, it's easier to make comparisons between those totals and other areas. Income accounts may be used for other types of income and affected by non-sales activity. Manual journals as well as income that originates outside of Point of Sale can make comparisons more difficult. Reason for DifferencesThe following listing provides possible explanations for differences you may find when comparing reports and inquires to your financial statement or ledger account activity. •Adjustment Code Mapping When adjustment codes are mapped to a ledger account that is not in the Income category, sales affected by the adjustment won't appear on the income statement, but are included in sales totals from other areas. •Inventory Sales Mapping It is possible to map sales for specific product groups to any ledger account, including accounts that aren't income accounts (or an income account that's not normally used for inventory sales). This type of mapping is commonly done when "items" are used for non-inventory purposes such as gift cards, labor, delivery, and deposit reasons. Separate mapping exists for cash sales, cash returns, charge sales, charge returns, exempt cash sales, exempt cash returns, exempt charge sales, and exempt charge returns. When mapping a specific product group (such as for gift card sales) differently, it's important that all the appropriate sales categories be mapped. When detailed mapping doesn't exist, the default accounts from the system journal mapping are used (which may place certain types of sales in the wrong account or category). For example, if you mapped cash and charge sales for gift cards to a liability account, but forgot to map exempt sales or returns (if allowed), you might wind up with some gift card sale/return transactions affecting income accounts and others affecting liability accounts. •Gift Cards Gift card sales are linked with a special item-type of either "gift card" or "stored value card." Sales of gift cards are typically backed out of branch sales totals so that sales are not affected twice (once when the card is sold and again when the card is used as a method of payment). If the gift card, or stored value card, is mapped to a regular inventory "sales" income account in the ledger, it will appear as income on financial statements, but not appear in most sales totals. Inventory totals are updated for gift card and stored value card items, so the (inventory) Sales Analysis report would include these sales if the gift card items aren't excluded by using selection options (such as product group/section) when running the report. •Non-Taxable Coupons Non-taxable coupons reduce the sales tax liability of a transaction, so that the expected sales tax amount may not be reflected in the Sales Tax Report. This can cause a mismatch between your Sales Tax Report and your Point of Sale totals. You may want to keep this in mind when you are running a non-taxable coupon promotion. •Other Types of Non-Sales Income It's important to understand and consider the source of income that appears on your financial statement(s). Income may originate from Payables discounts and Receivable Finance Charges (paid), for example. Another possible source of differences would be Miscellaneous Payments processed from Point of Sale, Payments. Consider whether your company uses any income accounts for returned check fees, charitable donations, or other non-sales reasons. These would not be included in either branch, sales tax, or inventory totals. Check your system and detailed mapping for any "income" accounts. This may help you find non-sales activity which needs to backed out of your comparison. In general terms, when making comparisons, it is more accurate to compare overall totals (your entire inventory sales to sales income, for example) to the current date rather than trying to tie-out specific products or groups or past time periods. It is possible for changes to data, such as inventory items, to alter how sales are reflected by reports run for prior periods (item merges, product group changes, ledger mapping modifications, etc.). |
Selection (Inventory)Selection using inventory, primarily used with reporting, offers the following selection choices: group-section, keyword, location code, and classification. In some cases, vendor selection may also be allowed. Radio buttons determine which selection options are displayed in the area on the right-hand side of the panel. Depending upon where this panel is used, you may or may not be able to specify more than one selection choice. When more than one selection criteria has been selected, a check box is used to indicate which selection methods have been assigned values. 
Item Selection by Group Section Group/Section Range Groups and sections are numeric values between 1 and 255 that are assigned text descriptions and used for inventory organization. Your company can define up to 255 product groups. Within each group, your company can also define up to 255 sections. This provides many different group and section combinations. Groups and sections are required. In most cases, the structure of the groups and sections has already been established prior to using the software. This organization might have originated outside your company to coincide with a primary supplier's structure or it might just have been some logical order your company came up with at some point. Groups and sections are listed in what's referred to as a "tree." The tree is comprised of "nodes" and each node has an associated check box. There are two (2) levels of nodes. The first level are nodes that indicate your company's product groups. The second level are nodes indicating sections within each product group. Product group nodes within the tree are expanded by clicking the "+" to the left of the node or group's description. Doing this displays the next level of nodes which are used to list the product sections assigned to the selected group. When a node is expanded, you can then click the "-" to hide that node's contents. Selections are made by checking the check box next to a node. Checking a group node selects all the section nodes within that group. Checking a section node in the second level, only selects that section. Group nodes with only some, but not all, sections selected display a check with a grey background color Two (2) buttons are provided: Select All and Clear All. The "Select All" button selects (checks) all group and sections in the tree. The "Clear All" button clears all group and section selections in the tree. We should point out that selecting all groups and sections without any other selection criteria or conditions (such as reporting filters) will include your entire inventory which may return a significant quantity of data (items). Selections involving large quantities of items can produce warnings in some cases. The tree supports keyboard navigation. If you tab to the tree control using your keyboard, the up and down arrow keys can be used to navigate through the nodes. Nodes can be expanded or minimized (hidden) by using the right (expand) and left (close) arrow keys. Expanding and hiding (closing) only works on "group" nodes, however. Selection (checking the check boxes) is accomplished by pressing your keyboard's space bar in this case. An alternative to using the tree control is to type the group and sections using the text-area found above the panel containing the tree control. For example, if you type "01/01" and press the TAB key, the group 01 and section 01 (within that group) will be selected. Here are some examples to illustrate how keyboard selection works:
Keyword Keywords are one of the lookup methods provided for item selection. It is best practice to use keywords that are more general than specific so that keywords reflect more general attributes describing a product. These are intended to be used for broader selection rather than specific item selection. For example, a keyword of "hammer" would be more useful than a keyword matching the manufacturer's SKU since "hammer" would apply to many items as opposed to just one. Keywords are associated with items from the Item Maintenance form's Common, Select tabs. 
Item Selection by Keyword Keyword selection allows you to choose between one (1) and three (3) keywords to match on. Matching has two (2) variations: Contains All and Contains Any. The "Contains All" condition means that for items to be selected, they must be associated with all of the keyword selections made. For example, if you choose three keywords, only items that were associated with all three would be included in the selection. The "Contains Any" is less limiting and tends to return more results. When the "any" condition is applied, items only need to match one of the selections you have made. Vendor Vendor selection isn't provided in all areas, however, when it is permitted, it selects items with a primary vendor matching the selection. Alternate selection is provided matching on the vendor's name or company name. Type in the name prior to choosing alternate selection methods from the context menu (usually a right-click). 
Item Selection by Vendor
Location Code Location codes are similar to keyword selection in function; however, location codes are used for indicating where a product can be found. Items are limited to a maximum of three (3) location assignments. Each location is a code with an associated description. Location codes can be defined in either Item Maintenance or from the Codes Definitions database option. 
Item Selection by Location Location selection allows you to choose between one (1) and three (3) locations to match on or a range of location codes in certain cases. Matching has two (2) variations: Contains All and Contains Any. The "Contains All" condition means that for items to be selected, they must be associated with all of the location selections made. For example, if you chose three (3) locations, only items that were associated with all three would be included in the selection. The "Contains Any" is less limiting and tends to return more results. When the "any" condition is applied, items only need to match one of the selections you have made. If selection is permitted using a range (not available in all cases), use the text areas near the top of the panel to designate a valid range of location codes. The range must be done in numeric-alphabetical ascending order with the lower (lesser) range in the left-hand text area and the higher (upper) range in the right-hand text area. Location codes can contain either letters or numbers as well as certain characters. Every character is assigned a specific ASCII order. This is important to understand especially if your company's location codes are all numeric. Numeric codes are not ordered based on numeric value, but are treated as text instead. Just as how words would be alphabetized, the character value of the "numbers" are grouped in reading order (from left-to-right) to determine placement. The following is an example of a list of numbers ordered by text value (ASCII order): 00000123 00065 1 1005884 1005886 305 3899841 99 If your company does only use numbers for codes, it's a good idea to keep the overall length of the location code consistent (consider padding codes with zeros to keep the length constant). Note: selection is permitted either by range or specified location codes, not both. Classification (Merchandising) The classification selection allows you to select items based on their merchandising classification settings (Class, Department, and Fineline) found in Item Maintenance or the Product ID assigned to the item(s). Product ID is either a self-determined organizational structure or it can originate with a supplier such as Do it Best Corp. The "DIB" check box is used to indicate that product ID selection is to be done using Do it Best Corp. classification product IDs instead of a self-determined structure. For more information about Product ID or merchandising classifications, click here.
When EDI with True Value Company is enabled for your branch location, merchandising (classification) codes are represented differently and provide a tree-based selection option (accessed from the Maintenance Settings
Single Item This option is only provided in the Post Physical Counts utility. Enter, scan, or select the item for selection from the drop down. The selected item's description will be listed below. 
Item Selection by Single Item |
. Group nodes with all sections selected (as well as individual sections that are selected) will display a check with a white background color 
. Nodes that are not selected and have no sub-level selections (where applicable) display an empty box (no check) 
. It's possible to select a variety of groups and sections anywhere in the tree.
icon). In this case, "department" is the top-most (upper) level followed by class and "subclass" replacing the "fineline" application default.
Branch
Some reports offer branch selection and you can apply branch selection in a number of different ways. For example, invoices can have several branches associated with them. A given invoice might have an entry branch, sales branch, and materials branch that are each different locations. Reports each use branch selections differently based on the type of data being referenced, and for some businesses, branch selection may not apply.
Branch Selection (Enabled) |
Branch Selection (Disabled) |
Selected branches are indicated by the checked status of the check box controls next to the branch ID. The Context Marker 
provides the ability to select the current branch, or select/clear all branch selections. In addition, this can be used to perform branch selection based on a Branch List. Branch lists can be created from the Maintenance area's Database menu. If you choose a branch list, the branches belonging to that list will be selected.
Once a branch list has bee selected, the list name is listed (in parentheses) and the list of branches is disabled. To allow changes, deselect the same list from the Context Marker menu 
.
Additional Options
A few reports offer additional options for use along with branch selection. These either alter the report format based on how you want branch records presented (consolidation) or allow selection when more than one branch may be indicated within the data being reported (quantity vs. sales branch, for example). For additional information about these "extra" options, click here.
ConsolidationA few reports offer "consolidation" options for use when multiple branch locations are selected. These additional choices, when offered, include: summarized, detailed, or none. "Consolidation" options are not listed or available for all reports. 
Consolidation
In some cases, "sort by" and totals options may provide similar types of results when the sort by selections include "branch." Branch Type (Entry, Quantity, or Sales)Some reports include data that may reference more than one "type" of branch (store location). For example, customer orders and invoices can have up to three (3) different branches associated: entry, quantity (Qty), and sale. 
Branch Selection with Types
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Filters
Filters can be used to include or exclude item information from the report based on sales. Choices include: YTD (year-to-date) $ sales <> 0 (not equal to zero), MTD (month-to-date) $ sales <> 0, and none (all items, regardless of sales, will be included). Use the radio buttons 
to select a filter.
Sort By
Some reports offer sorting options that may be used in addition to, or in place of, the report's default sorting. Sorting determines the order that information appears on the report, but also can determine how subtotals (when enabled) are done. Typically, subtotals are provided for any sort by selections when subtotals are indicated in the "Totals" panel. If sorting is not available for a report, the panel will be disabled and neither offer nor allow selection.
Sort By (Enabled) |
Sort By (Disabled) |
Two (2) sorting selections may be available; however, both are not always provided. When both are enabled for a report, the top selection is considered the "primary" sort and the bottom is considered a "secondary" sort. Usually, all sort selections are optional. Options for sorting vary by report.
Sort Direction
The menu marker 
can be used to select the sorting direction, either ascending (the default) or descending. Almost always, data is sorted alphanumerically. This may even be done in some cases when the data being sorted appears to be numeric in value. Date values and some truly numeric values are sorted based on value rather than alphanumerically in certain cases. When alphanumeric data is sorted in ascending order, it is sorted from the left-most character to the right-most character based on the ASCII value. The length in characters typically has no effect on sorting in these cases. Most (not all) symbols and special characters are listed before numerals, numerals typically appear before letters, and upper-case letters are listed before lower-case. When sorted (alphanumerically) in descending order, this ordering is reversed. Sometimes, particularly in the case of items, a "report" or "sorting" key is used in place of item numbers. This allows a company to control sorting while not having to alter their item SKUs. The sorting (report) key isn't always shown (listed) on the report or in other areas where it affects sorting.
Below is a table listing item numbers in ascending vs. descending order. In most cases, items are sorted using their "report sequence" not the item number. Report sequence allows grouping of items in a logical order vs. the alpha-numeric order of the SKU and are commonly used when item numbers represent dimensions or other attributes. For example, you might have two item SKUs of "248" and "2410." The "248" represents an 8 foot (8') length and the "2410" a ten foot (10') length. If these two (2) items were sorted by item SKU, the longer length would appear before the shorter length due to alpha-numeric sorting; however, if you assigned a "report key" to the items of "020408" and "020410" respectively, they would instead be sorted by length. Note the use of leading zeros for each dimension (height, width, and length in this case).
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Ascending |
Descending |
|---|---|
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020408SYP |
ZITEM |
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248 |
BRICK |
|
808957 |
808957 |
|
BRICK |
248 |
|
ZITEM |
020408SYP |
Totals Selections
Some reports provide the ability to produce totals, and sometimes, this includes subtotals as well. The "Totals" panel, used with reporting, allows users to select the types of totals they want (when applicable). When totals are offered, the term "grand totals" refers to an overall total appearing at the end of the report. Subtotals are sometimes available, but are usually done based upon your selections in the "Sort By" panel. Subtotals may not be done in cases where no "Sort By" selections have been made; however, this can depend on the report. The totals panel is disabled (appears grayed out) whenever totals are not an option or when the use of totals require additional selections prior to use (such as a "sort by" selection). Totals do not apply to all reports; furthermore, some reports provide totals regardless of selections and do not allow overrides using the "totals" panel.
Totals (Enabled) |
Totals (Disabled) |
You are allowed to select one of the following three (3) options when applicable: subtotals, grand total, and none. The "print totals only" check box is available with the first two (2) choices only.
Subtotals
Subtotals indicate that the report should include totals based on the change of certain data. Typically, this "break" for totals is determined by your selections in the "Sort By" panel. Some reports may automatically provide a subtotal level. When the "subtotals" selection is chosen, the report will also include a grand total.
Grand Total
Grand total indicates that the report should include a grand total (ending total) printed on the last page below the last details (when "print totals only" is not checked). Subtotals would not be included when this option is selected.
None
This selection indicates that no totals are to be included when the report is viewed, printed, or processed as a file. If you choose "none," the "print totals only" check box is disabled and the check (if any) is cleared.
Print Totals Only
This check box indicates whether all details should be suppressed when the report is viewed, printed, or processed as a file. In this case, only the grand totals and/or subtotals would be included.
Print and Output Options
Most reports share the same common print control. This allows the report to be either printed or saved as a file. When printing, a user can select either 1 or 2 printers and can also set the number of copies for each. When saving as a file, you can select from a number of different types (PDF, Microsoft Excel®, HTML, and TIFF). Neither printing nor saving as a file are required. These would only be done if you wanted to save a copy of the report and data for a given point in time. Certain types of activity and changes can affect data, including what is commonly viewed as "history," so anytime a "snapshot" at a particular point in time is desired, having a saved or printed copy is suggested. Reports are often also used for inquiry purposes. In many of these cases, viewing a report is sufficient. Printing and saving are optional unless you have a reason to do them.
The Process (F12) function is used to either print the report or generate a report file. We suggest using the Preview (F8) function prior to printing or saving to ensure that the report results match what you want to print or save. You can also use the Viewer to print a report and allows you to choose to print only selected pages from a report.
Reporting: Print Options
1st Printer and # Copies
The drop down control next to the label "1st Printer" provides a listing of available printers. An available printer is a printer that is either installed on your local machine or a server accessible printer if you are connected via Remote Desktop services (aka. Terminal Services). The default selection is the backroom printer assigned to the current station (if any). The listing of printers may contain devices that are specialty types, such as label printers, etc. that are not suitable for printing reports. This printer is only used if the "Print Report" check box is checked and the number of copies is greater than zero (> 0). The application does not print the report until you choose Process (F12).
2nd Printer and # Copies
The drop down control next to the label "2nd Printer" also provides a listing of available printers (see above). This allows you to print a report at two (2) separate locations if desired. Even if a selection is made, the second printer is only used if the "Print Report" check box is checked and the number of copies is greater than zero (> 0). The application does not print the report until you choose Process (F12).
Print Report
This check box determines whether printing is to be done if the user chooses Process (F12). The default selection is checked (true).
Save In
This is a text area with a Browse button 
that allows you to select a location where a report is to be saved as a file. Choose the Browse button to select an accessible file location. This might be on a local machine or a shared network location of some sort.
The application does not save your report as a file until you choose the Process (F12) function and only if you select the Output to File check box. Directory and file permissions can prevent you from saving files in some locations. It's best to choose a location you'll remember such as your "Documents" or "Desktop" locations.
Filename
This area allows you to set the file name you want to save the file with. The extension will automatically be set based on your selection from the "Type" drop down control. Saving (as a file) is not done until the user chooses Process (F12) and is only done if the "Output to File" is checked.
Output to File
This check box determines whether the report will be saved as a file when the user chooses Process (F12). The default selection is not checked (false).
Type
This determines the output format of the report when saved as a file. Choices currently include: PDF (Portable Document Format, .PDF), Microsoft Excel (Spreadsheet, .XLS), Hypertext Markup Language (Web Page, .HTM), or Tagged Image File Format (Fax, .TIF). The 97-2003 version of Microsoft Excel is used since it is forward compatible with newer versions. Free Adobe Acrobat Reader® software is required to access PDF format files. Any browser can be used to open HTML (HTM) files. TIF files is an older image format commonly used with faxing.
Functions
A number of functions are available with reports.
Preview (F8), allows you to preview the report before printing or saving it to a file.
Process (F12), allows you to print, save the report to a file, or transmit it, based on the report settings. These options are available with all reports.
Others, such as those related to saving and scheduling, are available with many but not all reports.
Select (F5)
Use the Select (F5) function to choose and load previously saved report settings. You can save report settings using the Save (F6) function, when applicable (report saving and selection is not provided for all reports).
The "Select Report Settings" dialog box offers a drop down control for report selection. Only public and the user's own private saved reports will be included in the listing. After selection, the report's associated description is displayed below. Click or choose "Accept" to continue and load the selected settings.
Select Report Settings
Deleting Saved Reports
To delete a saved report, choose the Menu Marker to display a context menu and choose the Delete option to delete the previously saved report settings. The Menu Marker only appears after report selection and if you have permission to delete the report. You can only delete a private report that you created or a public report. User security can restrict the ability to view or access Menu Marker functions. In addition, deletion may be restricted if the report settings are currently used with report scheduling.
Save (F6)
This function is provided for saving the current report settings (selection, filter on, totals, branch, etc.) for future use or scheduling. The ability to save report settings is not provided for all reports. Additionally, users may have to make a change in the report form before this function becomes available (since there is usually no need to save the default or initial settings).
Once all desired settings have been made and you have previewed the report to make sure it's what you need, choose Save (F6) to save your settings for future use or scheduling. Saved reports can be deleted (with certain restrictions) using the Menu Marker found on the Select Report Settings form (accessed by the Select (F5) function). See the "Deleting Saved Reports" section for more details.
Save Report Settings
Report Name
This defaults to the name of the current report, but can be modified. The "name" will be used for selection in the future.
Description
The description also defaults to the current report's name, but can be modified. This might be used for longer or more descriptive information about the report.
Save As
The "private" and "public" options determine whether your report settings will be available for use by others in your company.
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Private : Private report settings are only visible to the user who created them.
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Public : Public report settings can be accessed by any user with permission to use the current report.
Schedule (F7)
The Schedule (F7) function is used to process a saved report (using previously saved "settings") as a file based upon a defined schedule (once, daily, weekly, etc.). Reports must be saved prior to scheduling so that settings for selection, totals, sort by, etc. are determined in advance. Scheduled reports are processed by application services and are saved as files on the server, not the user's local machine. A built in delay between reports of two (2) minutes (120 seconds) is used by services for processing scheduled reports. So if multiple reports are scheduled for the exact same time of day, it would be normal for there to be a difference in process times. Files with the same name and save location (directory) will be overwritten. The default directories (on the server) for scheduled reports and scheduled user reports are determined by parameters.
Note: this function will only be available (enabled) AFTER and IF a report has been saved and the saved settings have been selected. Some reports do not support saving and scheduling.
Frequency
It's possible to schedule a report to run once or on a more regular basis. Options include the following: once, daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly. The daily and weekly options change the file names used to prevent overwriting report files (continue reading for more information). For additional details regard frequency selections, click here
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The following is a list of the different date based options for scheduling reports with examples of each form: OnceReports that are scheduled once, only generate one (1) time for the date and time specified. 
Schedule Task (Once) DailyReports scheduled for daily processing, involve specifying a time as well as a starting date for the recurring schedule to begin on. In addition, there are three (3) choices for daily report processing: every day, weekdays, and weekdays plus Saturday. The day of the week is appended to the file name of the report to indicate the weekday (0=Sunday, 6=Saturday). For reports with date selections, only dates that involved a "preset" date selection will automatically refresh (update) the date selected; otherwise, the dates are assumed to be literal and are not updated based on the current date. For example, if you wanted to run a report daily and use the data on the date that the report runs, you'd need to choose a date preset of "Today" when saving the report settings used for scheduling. Instead, if you chose a specific date (not using the presets), the report would always run for that date instead. 
Schedule Task (Daily) WeeklyWeekly reports can be scheduled to run on a particular weekday and time. In addition, the report may be set to run every week or using an increment of weeks (every 2 weeks or 3 weeks, for example). The base date (first occurrence) determines when the weekly schedule starts from. 
Schedule Task (Weekly) MonthlyMonthly reports can be scheduled in one of two (2) ways. One option is to schedule the report to run the same day each month (the 10th, for example). Instead of a specific date each month, users can choose a particular weekday occurrence such as the first Monday or third Thursday, for example. Because months don't all contain the same number of days, a "Select Month" function is available that allows users to schedule a report for specific months. One possible use for this would be in cases where you wanted to schedule a report to always run the last day of the month. In this case, you could create three (3) different schedules. One for months with 31 days, another for months with 30 days, and a final one for February scheduling the report to run for the 28th (or 29th if a leap year).
YearlyThe yearly option involves just a date and time selection. Users specify the start date and time and if scheduled, the report will run at the designated time and date. 
Schedule Task (Yearly) |
Start Time
The time of day (Eastern Standard Time) that the scheduler should process this report.
First Occurrence
The current or future date that the scheduled report should begin on. This might be a one time occurrence or it may repeat based on your "timing" selections in this form.
Save Filename
This is the file name that will be used. In certain cases, such as daily processing, the file name is used to indicate a day of the week.
Daily and Weekly Files and Naming Conventions
If a report is scheduled for daily or weekly processing and is being saved as a PDF format, the file name of the report will be automatically adjusted to reflect the day the file is created for. For example, if the report's file name is normally saved as mydailyreport.pdf, is scheduled daily, and run on a Monday, the file name is going to be mydailyreport(1).pdf. This prevents overwriting that would occur should the same file names be used daily. Weekdays are assigned numbers representing the day of the week. Sunday is day zero (0) and Saturday is day 6 (six).
myreport[0].PDF (Sunday's Report)
myreport[1].PDF (Monday's Report)
myreport[2].PDF (Tuesday's Report)
myreport[3].PDF (Wednesday's Report)
myreport[4].PDF (Thursday's Report)
myreport[5].PDF (Friday's Report)
myreport[6].PDF (Saturday's Report)
Copy Pathname
The "Copy Pathname" is optional and allows you to designate a secondary save location for the report. This allows two (2) copies to be retained. The same file name logic as described above is applied.
Type
This determines the output format of the report when saved as a file. Choices currently include: PDF (Portable Document Format, .PDF), Microsoft Excel (Spreadsheet, .XLS), Hypertext Markup Language (Web Page, .HTM), or Tagged Image File Format (Fax, .TIF). The 97-2003 version of Microsoft Excel is used since it is forward compatible with newer versions. Free Adobe Acrobat Reader® software is required to access PDF format files. Any browser can be used to open HTML (HTM) files. TIF files is an older image format commonly used with faxing.
Add Time-Stamp to File Name
This feature basically makes the report file name unique and prevents any overwriting of the file by a future schedule run (such as in cases where you want to save a monthly copy but not overwrite each month).
Save for User
If a user is selected, the report will be saved in the "users" report directory within a folder matching the user's name.
Notify User
If checked, the user will be notified each time the scheduler processes this report.
How are reports saved and where do I find them?
The path names entered determine the primary, and optional copy, save location(s) of the file on the server within either (1) the report or (2) user report directories specified in Parameters.
"User" reports are created under a folder matching the user's name in the designated "User Reports" directory. For example, if your user name is BOBG and you schedule a report using the "Save for User" option and the "user report" directory in parameters is "C:\SavedReports\Users\," the following path would be used for BOBG's reports:
C:\SavedReports\Users\BOBG\
This directory could then be shared with the user's Client machine either as a shared network location or drive. It is not possible to specify a drive or network location as the path name. Doing so will simply create a directory on the server matching the name you entered.
The client must have any necessary software installed in order to open the file format you specify. For example, a PDF (Portable Document File) file requires Adobe Acrobat Reader software and an Excel (XLS or XLSX) spreadsheet requires Microsoft Office Excel or other software capable of opening the file.
Preview (F8)
The Preview (F8) function can be used to display a report in the Viewer form. Viewing a report is strongly suggested before choosing to either print or process a report as a file since this can be used to both see the printed length in pages and also to check the report format based on the options you have selected. In addition, reports can be printed directly from the viewer itself which also allows for the added benefit of printing only selected page or pages and well as additional options your printer may offer.
Each time preview is selected, the report will be generated which requires a retrieval of data. In some cases, and based on the criteria selected, you may be warned about the quantity of data being retrieved. Often, receiving a message such as this indicates that your report's selection criteria are too broad.
When should I save or print a copy of a report?
Despite the fact that most reports can be run at any time and usually for any period, the data used for reporting is rarely static. Anytime you want or need to retain a "snap shot" at a particular point in time, the only reliable way to do so is by saving the report as a file (PDF, etc.) or printing a hard copy for your records. Later changes such as merging, renaming or renumbering, deletions, and other changes can all affect whether data appears on reports or where it appears in some cases. For example, if you ran a sales analysis for inventory group 11 at the end of the year, and then modified one item in that group to now belong to 62, future reports would no longer show the same total for group 11 or 62. For the most part, changes such as those described here only affect data when viewed in parts rather than as a whole. Using our previous example, viewing total entire sales for all inventory wouldn't be affected by a change to one item's group at a later time.
Using the Viewer
The same viewer is used for both reports and documents. The primary different between viewing a document and a report is that reports don't have document links. Some reports offer dynamic links to documents (within the report) which indirectly provide access to links for those documents. The same viewer window is shared by reports and documents. When more than one report and/or document is viewed (without closing the viewer in between), the prior reports (or documents) can still be viewed by toggling the current document using the "PrevDoc" and "NextDoc" buttons. This is not true when viewing more than one version of the same report or document, however. Although you can change the page size and quantity of pages visible in the viewer (side by side or tiled, for example), you cannot view different documents (or reports) at the same time or side-by-side. The only way to do this would be to open a second viewer from another application session or to save one or more reports/documents prior to viewing and open them as PDF (Portable Document Format) or some other type of file.
Viewer with EOD Cashier Report
For additional information about tools available in the viewer, please click here.
Document Viewer ToolbarThe following table lists icons and options used on the Document Viewer toolbar and explains what they do:
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Print
Find
Single Page
Multiple Page
Continuous Scroll
Zoom Out
Zoom In
Previous Page
Next Page
Page Number
Previous Document
Next Document
Cancel (F9)
The Cancel (F9) function reloads the current form, clearing any changes.
Process (F12)
The Process (F12) function prints and/or saves the report as a file based on your selections in the Print Options panel.