Standard Reports:

Standard reports are built on the idea of report items, where each report item is a section of a report representing a related set of data in the database. A limited example of report items could include things like:

• Project Name
• Project Details
• Project Funding
• Project Location
• Project Log frame

And so forth. . . . The list of report items generally would be extensive and provide a comprehensive set of data points or data elements in the database.

A report is defined by selecting the desired report items from a menu of available options. Users can run any of the pre-defined reports and each user can create a unique report based on their specific needs. 

The report items are created by the tech support team and the standard reports are defined by the database administrator.

Each user can see only the custom reports they have created. 

The strength of this reporting tool is the ease of defining reports. However, if a report is needed that doesn’t fit the pre-defined report items, it won’t be useful.

Report Writer:

Report writer is a completely flexible tool that allows defining reports that are not within the capabilities of the standard reports. This reporting tool has access to all the data (respecting access permissions) and can the data can be presented in any format desired. It’s strength is flexibility and ability to meet most reporting needs. However it takes a lot of technical expertise and a deep understanding of the database structure, so most likely tech support would be needed to design each report. Once a report is designed, it can be run by anyone. 

All reports can be output to PDF, Word, Excel formats.