Building Your Own Report

To build your own reports in Zoola™, you must have completed the following steps:

1. Design/Select a Data Source 

2. Create/Select an Ad Hoc View 

3. Generate a Report 
   
   

Design/Select a Data Source

A Data Source is a metadata layer that provides a business view of the data drawn from a data source. A Data Source allows you to control how data is presented, so that you can limit the access to data based on security permissions. A Data Source defined in Zoola™ can be used to create reports, Ad Hoc views, and Data Source topics. 

If you wish to use a predesigned Data Source, move on to the next step.

If you wish to edit an existing Data Source, select it in the repository, right-click it, and select Edit from the context menu.

The following video provides a walkthrough of designing Data Sources in Zoola™. You can also access this video from within Zoola™ by clicking the Tutorial link in the Data Sources block on the Home page.

To design a Data Source, complete the following steps:

1. From the Home page, click the Create button in the Data Source block. 

2. On the Add New Data Source page, enter a Name, Resource ID, Description, Location, and Data source. 

3. Under the Data Source Design option, click the Create with Data Source Designer link. The Data Source Designer opens. 

4. Use the Data Source Designer to specify Tables, Derived Tables, Joins, Calculated Fields, Pre-Filters, and Display options. 

5. Click the OK button to save your design and exit the Data Source Designer. 

6. On the Add New Data Source page, click the Submit button to save your Data Source in the Repository. 
   
   

Ad Hoc Views

Once you have specified a Data Source, you can begin creating an Ad Hoc view in the Ad Hoc Editor. 

The Ad Hoc Editor is the interactive designer for creating and editing an Ad Hoc view, in which you can explore and analyze the data from your Data Source. Ad Hoc views are used to create the content for reports and dashboards. The three types of Ad Hoc views you can create in Zoola™ are Tables, Crosstabs, and Charts. 

To open or edit an existing Ad Hoc view, select it in the Repository, right-click it, and select Open from the context-menu.

To use an existing Ad Hoc view to create a report, select it in the Repository, right-click it, and select Create Report from the context menu.

The following video provides a walkthrough of designing Ad Hoc Views in Zoola™. You can also access this video from within Zoola™ by clicking the Tutorial link in the Ad Hoc Views block on the Home page.

To create a new Ad Hoc view from a Data Source, complete the following steps:

1. From the Home page, click the Create button in the Ad Hoc View block. The Select Data wizard opens. 

2. In the Select Data wizard, select the Data Source from which you wish to build an Ad Hoc view and click the Choose Data button. The Data Chooser page opens. 

3. Use the Fields tab of the Data Chooser to select the data fields you wish to visualize in your Ad Hoc view by moving them from the Source panel to the Selected Fields panel through the directional buttons. 

4. You can use the Pre-Filters tab to create filters that limit the data available in the Ad Hoc editor. For more information, see the Pre-Filters tab section. 

5. You can use the Display tab to change the display names of fields, as well as the order and list types. For more information, see the Display tab section. 

6. If you wish, you can save the current data as a Topic by clicking the Save as Topic option. To open the data in the Ad Hoc Editor, click the OK button at the bottom of the Data Chooserpage. 

7. In the toolbar of the New Ad Hoc View panel, select one of Table, Chart, or Crosstab. 

8. Drag fields and measures from the Data Source Selection panel to the Columns/ Groups/ Rows boxes in the New Ad Hoc View panel to begin visualizing your data: 

   • Tables: You can drag qualitative field data into either the Columns or Groups box. Quantitative measures data can only be visualized as columns. 

   • Charts: You can drag both fields and measures into either the Columns or Rows box, depending on how you wish to interpret your data. 

   • Crosstabs: You can drag both fields and measures into either the Columns or Rows box, depending on how you wish to interpret your data. 

9. You can further refine the visualizations of the specified data through the Ad Hoc Editor features, depending on the type of visualization you have selected: 

   • Tables : You can sort, summarize, edit, or filter column data by right-clicking a column and selecting an option from the context menu. You can also select the level of data shown by clicking the Details button  . 
     

   • Charts: You can select or deselect chart data by clicking into the legend below the chart. You can also click the Details button  to access a list of chart types and chart formats.  

   • Crosstabs: You can sort, summarize, edit, filter, or alter the groupings of any column or row by right-clicking a column or row and selecting an option from the context-menu. 

10. Click the Display button  to toggle between Design and Display modes. Display mode allows you to see your Ad Hoc view as it would appear to an end-user. 

11. Hover over the Save icon  to either save your Ad Hoc view, or save it and open it in the Report Creator . 
    
    

Generating a Report

Reports are creating using Ad Hoc views, and can be exported to a wide variety of finished-product files, including PowerPoint and PDF. 

You can generate a report from an existing Ad Hoc view by selecting it in the Repository, right-clicking it, and selecting Create Report from the context menu.

You can also select to open an Ad Hoc view in the Report Creator from the Save options in the Ad Hoc Editor.

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The following video provides a walkthrough of generating Reports in Zoola™. You can also access this video from within Zoola™ by clicking the Tutorial link in the Reports block on the Home page.

To create a report from the Home page, complete the following steps:

1. From the Home page, click the Create button in the Reports block. The Create Report wizard opens. 

2. In the Create Report wizard, specify the Ad Hoc view from which to generate your report. 

3. Below the Generate Report with option, select either Default Report Template or Custom Report Template (and then click the Browse button to identify the custom template). 

4. Click the OK button to run the Report Creator. 

5. If your Report has input controls, you can see and edit them by clicking the Options button  in the Report Creator toolbar. 

6. To export your report, hover over the Export icon  and select an output format.