Dovetail Agent Reporting
Last year, we released our Dovetail Agent Reporting module. Dovetail Agent Reporting is a full-featured web-based reporting module for Dovetail Agent that allows non-technical end users to create and edit reports and dashboards without IT support.
A set of sample reports and dashboards are included. Because every business is different, it is expected that each customer will create their own reports and dashboards that are specific to their business needs.
Here’s a quick visual walkthrough of the reporting module.
Dovetail Agent
From within Dovetail Agent, click the Reports link to access the reporting module. A user must have the reporting privilege to see this link.
Home
Reporting home page, with links for creating a new report, accessing the admin console, online help, and help videos.
Sample Reports
A set of sample reports and dashboards are provided.
New Report Wizard
The new report wizard guides the user through setting up a new report.
Notice that users don’t need to worry about SQL joins – once a category is picked, only already joined categories can be selected.
Text Reports
Simple text report – including aggregation (counts), and links back into the Agent application.
Simple Charts
Simple charts/graphs
Robust Charts
A more robust chart example, showing multiple sets of data. Each entry in the legend can be clicked to toggle that individual line on/off.
Charts – Compare different series of data
An example showing how a chart can compare different sets of data, and align them together over time.
Dashboards
Dashboards are made up of individual reports. This example shows reports that are single numbers, text-based reports, and charts.
Drill-down reports
Linked reports allow for drilling-down from one report into another.
Online Help
Online help is available, providing report creators detailed reference on how to use the reporting module.
Help Videos
Help videos are included, which offer quick-start guides for working with the reporting module, and for creating a report.
Reports Administration
The Admin module is where all the technical details of the application and database are configured.
The Admin module is password protected, thus preventing non-technical users from entering into this part of the app.
Summary
Reporting options for Clarify have typically been less than stellar (any of you old timers remember SQR Reports?) . Some organizations use large, complex (but powerful) reporting packages such as Crystal Reports / Business Objects, or Actuate. And it’s still common to have to have to get a developer involved to create even simple reports. Dovetail Agent Reporting helps address these issues.
I’ll be posting more on Dovetail Agent Reporting in the upcoming weeks. If you have specific questions, or want to learn more, feel free to contact me.
