Editing reports for drill-down

When you open a report in print preview, you expect to be able to drill down into the report’s information. However, not all reports contain rows and fields that are immediately drillable. You can edit an existing standard report or a custom report to be able to drill down to information that might be otherwise unavailable.

The following procedure provides an example of how editing a standard report can make more information drillable.

To edit a report for drill-down:

1. Open 3-7 Progress Billing, and select a record using data control.

2. On the toolbar, click the Print records button.

   The 3-7 Report Printing window opens. By default, the first report is selected, 21-Progress Billing~by Cost Code.

3. On the toolbar, click the Preview report on screen button.

   The 21—Progress Billing~by Cost Code report window opens. In this example the report contains three pages.

4. Scroll to the second page.

   Note: Fields in the first column are drillable, but none of the fields in the other columns are drillable.

To edit the report so that the rows are drillable:

1. Close the report.

2. On the 3-7 Report Printing window, with 21-Progress Billing~by Cost Code selected, click the Modify Report button. The 13-3 Report Writer window opens.

   Note: On the left of the report form, you see Heading, Detail, and Totals. To be drillable, fields must be placed in a Group, Detail, or Subtotal row type. Because Headings and Totals are not drillable, you insert the text field in the Details row type.

3. In the Detail row, to insert a text field, click once.

   If you insert a text field outside the size of a printable page, the query result for that field will be not be visible to customers.

4. On the toolbar, locate and click the Insert fields from a list button. The Insert a Field window opens.

5. From the list of Fields in the Progress Billing Lines table, locate and double-click the Record# line.

   That field now appears in the report form.

   Important! The field you insert must be a record number pertaining to the rows in the report. Insert a progress billing record number field to drill down into progress billing rows.

6. Click File > Save, and save the report under a new name, such as 03070001.

7. Name your edited report using numbers ending in -01 to -20.

   Numbers -21 through -99 are reserved for existing reports. If you follow the standard numbering scheme, for example 0307xxxx, the edited reports for 3-7 Progress Billing, are grouped together.

8. Close 13-3 Report Writer.

   You return to 3-7 Report Printing with the edited report 01-Progress Billing~by Cost Code selected.

9. On the toolbar, click the Preview report on screen button.

   The 01—Progress Billing~by Cost Code report window opens.

10. Scroll to the second page, and note that fields in the first column are still drillable.

11. Move your cursor over a value in the Contract column, and then double-click it to go to the progress billing record number for that row.