December 2018 - So Many Options! 
Six Tips for Navigating the ReportBuilder Options Page







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Every ReportBuilder includes an Options page where all of the data options associated with that ReportBuilder are displayed. For many ReportBuilders, especially the Demographics ReportBuilder, there may be a virtual sea of options to choose from, since many of these come from the consumer face sheet, as well as other modules such as Intake/Admission, Medical, Education/Employment, and Services. And since many options may have similar labels, it can sometimes be difficult to know which one to include.

Below are 6 tips that will help you better understand how the Options page is designed, making it easier to know which options to choose.

1.  Data options are listed alphabetically left to right in each section.

When you're looking for a data option, you'll want to scan across the page to find it. To locate options more quickly, we recommend using your browser’s search feature by pressing <Ctrl+F> and entering a full or partial search term. For example, you can enter a full term like "Medication" or a partial term like "Medic" which would return results for "Medication,""Medications," "Medical," and "Medicaid."

2.  Data options may not be labeled the way you expect.

For example, if you're looking for a client's birthday, it's not going to start with a "B," it's going to be labeled "Date of Birth." If you're looking for a client's address, it won't be listed under "A" for "Address," but rather under "S" for "Street Address." That's where the partial search in your browser comes in very handy.

3.  Data options can be reported on in different ways.

For example, some ReportBuilders have 3 or more options for reporting on the client's age. The Demographics ReportBuilder includes "Age," "Age on [first date of the report]," and "Age on [last date of the report]." If you're running this report for the last year, "Age" (which is the client's age as of today) and "Age on [last date of the report]" is going to be the same; however, if you were to run this report for a 3-month period earlier in the year, these 3 variables may be different. If you run the report and you're seeing unexpected results, it could be related to the data option you selected.

4.  Data options can be reportable in a single column or multiple columns.

For example, "Name (First Last)" or "Name (Last First)" will display the data to be reported in one column. If you select "First Name" and "Last Name," then that data will display in two columns. This gives you more flexibility for filtering and sorting report contents and customizing the look of the report.

5.  Data options with asterisks are potentially a multi-value field.

An asterisk (*) next to any data option label means there could be more than one value in that field, and they display as comma-separated values in the report. For example, the "Entitlements" field could return a result that looks like "Medicaid, SSI, PA, and Blue Cross."  

Bonus Tip!  When filtering on multi-value fields, use the "Contains" filter rather than "Equals" if you're not seeing the results you expect. This will broaden the number of results included.

6.  Look for data options with mouseovers.

Not every data option has a mouseover, but some do, particularly if it might not be clear what data is being pulled in. For example, in the Service Coordination/Contacts section of the Demographics ReportBuilder,  "Last Service Contact Date" and "Last Contact Date" pull in different data, which is explained in a mouseover for each option.

  https://demodb.footholdtechnology.com/help/?12237