Chapter 13. Operating the standard reports
Practice Manager - Contact 2015 provides a number of standard reports that you can display or print immediately. In addition to these standard reports, you are able to create your own.
The internal workings
The Practice Manager - Contact 2015 default reports are stored in the HctReports.dat file. You can never alter the reports in this file. When Practice Manager - Contact 2015 is initially installed, the contents of the HctReports.dat file are copied into ReportFile.dat, thereby establishing your initial reports, filters and scripts.
When you alter or create new reports, report layouts and filters, ReportFile.dat is updated. The
HctReports.dat file will not store any of these changes.
Each time the Practice Manager - Contact 2015 module is started after a new upgrade, the
HctReports.dat and ReportsFile.dat files are compared and:
Where any of the HctReports.dat records are found not to exist in ReportFile.dat, then that record will be copied into ReportFile.dat.
Where you have altered any of Practice Manager - Contact 2015's default reports, layouts or filters, the ReportFile.dat is marked as having changed. Practice Manager - Contact
2015 will never overwrite these changed records.
Standard reports
Practice Manager - Contact 2015 is supplied with the following standard reports, which should meet most of your requirements.
When you run the standard reports, you can generally specify the range of entries to be included and a filter. There are a number of filters included with Practice Manager - Contact
2015, but you can also create your own.
If necessary, you can also create your own reports to meet any special needs. It is also possible to create copies of the standard reports and modify them.
Address Book reports
There are two Address Book reports:
Report Description
Firm Address Book List
Your Address Book List
This report lists entries in your Firm Address
Book.
This report lists the entries in your personal
Address Book.
To run an Address Book report
1. From the Reports menu, point to Address Book, and the click either Firm Address Book
List or Your Address Book List.
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2. On the "Report: Address Book" window, enter the selection criteria for the report. Leave the fields blank to include all the Address Book entries in the report.
3. Click OK to run the report.
Practice Manager - Contact 2015 will display the report in the "Report Preview" window.
4. Save, print or edit the report, as required.
Clients reports
There are the following standard Clients reports:
Report Description
Client Relationships
Clients List Abbreviated
This report lists your client relationships information.
This reports lists the client reference numbers, names and tax file numbers of all or selected clients in your database.
Clients List Detailed
Clients List Extra Detailed
In addition to the detailed information, this report lists information entered in the "Client Extra
Detail" window pertaining to all or selected clients.
Clients List Archived
This report lists detailed information, including addresses and phone numbers, of all or selected clients in your database.
Client Notes Report
This report lists non-current clients that match specifies criteria.
This report lists notes that are attached to clients.
To run a Clients report
1. From the Reports menu, point to Clients, and then click the required report.
2. On the "Report: Clients" window, enter the selection criteria for the report. Leave the fields blank to include all the client records in the report.
3. Click OK to run the report.
4. On the "Sort Order" window, select the field on which the report is to be sorted, and click
OK.
Practice Manager - Contact 2015 will display the report in the "Report Preview" window.
5. Save, print or edit the report, as required.
Events reports
There are the following standard Events reports:
Report Description
Events By Date
Events For Address Book
(Firm)
Events For Address Book
(Your)
Events For Annual leave
This report lists all the events within a specified period.
This report lists all events within a specified period where the contact is in the Firm
Address Book.
This report lists all events within a specified period where the contact is in your personal
Address Book.
This report lists all annual leave events within a specified period. You can also run this report from the Leave Planner. For information on the Leave Planner, please refer to Chapter 8, "Operating the diary".
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Events For Client
This report lists all events within a specified period where the contact is a client. It can also list the relevant clients’ phone numbers and addresses.
Events For Prospective Client This report lists all events within a specified period where the contact is a prospective client. It can also list the relevant prospective clients’ phone numbers and addresses.
Events For User
This report lists all events within a specified period for specified users.
Your Events This report lists all events within a specified period where you are the user.
To run an Events report
1. From the Reports menu, point to Events, and then click the required report.
2. On the "Report: Events" window, enter the selection criteria for the report.
Note: The selection fields will vary dependant on the report.
3. Click OK to run the report.
Practice Manager - Contact 2015 will display the report in the "Report Preview" window.
4. Save, print or edit the report, as required.
Prospective Clients reports
There are the following standard Prospective Clients reports:
Report Description
Prospective Clients
Abbreviated
Prospective Clients Detailed
This report lists the reference numbers and names of all or selected prospective clients in your database.
This report lists detailed information, including addresses and phone numbers, of all or selected prospective clients in your database.
It also includes any information entered in the
"Prospective Client Extra Detail" window.
To run a Prospective Clients report
1. From the Reports menu, point to Prospective Clients, and then click the required report.
2. On the "Report: Prospective Clients" window, enter the selection criteria for the report.
Leave the fields blank to include all the prospective client records in the report.
3. Click OK to run the report.
Practice Manager - Contact 2015 will display the report in the "Report Preview" window.
4. Save, print or edit the report, as required.
To Do List report
The To Do List report lists the details of selected users' To Do Lists.
To run the To Do List report
1. From the Reports menu, point to To Do Lists, and then click To Do Lists.
2. On the "Report: To Do Lists" window, enter the selection criteria for the report. Leave the fields blank to include all the To Do List entries in the report.
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3. Click OK to run the report.
Practice Manager - Contact 2015 will display the report in the "Report Preview" window.
4. Save, print or edit the report, as required.
Note: The right-clicking and selecting Print Report in the Daily Planner will produce a report only for the selected user.
Users report
The Users report lists information on selected Practice Manager - Contact 2015 users.
To run the Users List report
1. From the Reports menu, point to Users, and then click Users List.
2. On the "Report: Users List" window, enter the selection criteria for the report. Leave the fields blank to include all the users in the report.
3. Click OK to run the report.
Practice Manager - Contact 2015 will display the report in the "Report Preview" window.
4. Save, print or edit the report, as required.
Operating the “Report Preview” window
Reports that you generate in Practice Manager - Contact 2015 are displayed in the “Report
Preview
” window. From this window, you can perform a number of tasks, including:
Export the report to Microsoft Word™, Microsoft Excel™ or PDF (Portable Document
Format).
Open report as PDF.
Email the report as an HTML or PDF attachment.
Print the report in either a graphical or an ASCII format.
Perform a Find and Replace of text.
View the report in graphical, or ASCII formats.
For more information on the "Report Preview" window, press F1 to display the online help.
Saving a report and its data
Once you have viewed a report in the “Report Preview” window, you can save it within Practice
Manager - Contact 2015 for later use.
A useful feature of all HandiSoft programs is that they also allow you to save a report as a PDF
(Portable Document Format) file.
For information on saving and retrieving reports, please refer to the "Advanced Features 2015" manual.
Report filters
When you run a Practice Manager - Contact 2015 report, the report conditions allow you to select a report filter to restrict the number of records to be included in the report:
The types of filters you can select depend on the database tables accessed by the report. For example, if a report accesses the 'Client' database table, you will be able to access the 'Client' filter type.
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The following is a list of all the filter types:
Client Prospective client
Event User
Firm Address Book
To Do List
Your Address Book
To Do List item
Report filters
Using report filters
Filters are used in conjunction with Report Conditions, which specify the area of the database
Practice Manager - Contact 2015 is to consider. The filter is then used to specify which of these records will be included in the report.
Example:
A Report Condition is used to specify that only clients with a reference code of AAAA0000 to
AZZZ9999 will be considered for inclusion in the report.
Out of the above reference codes, ABC Accounting wants to print only those associated with a specific partner, Mr Grace. In order for the report to include only Mr Grace's clients, the following filter is used PARTNER = "GRACE".
When the report is prepared, Practice Manager - Contact 2015 will search all clients with a reference code between AAAA0000 and AZZZ9999. Any of those clients who have been assigned the partner reference of GRACE will be included in the report.
Creating filters
Practice Manager - Contact 2015 is supplied with a number of ready-made filters. If these do not suit your specific requirements, then you can create your own. You can either create filters from scratch, or copy an existing filter and modify it as necessary.
Open the "Filters" window
From the Reports menu, click Filters. The "Filters" window will open.
Figure 119: The Filters" window
The "Filters" window lists all the reports that are available for selection. Those with a 'Y' in the first column are HandiSoft filters supplied with Practice Manager - Contact 2015.
Tip: For information on the "Filters" window, press F1 to display the online help.
To copy a filter
The easiest way to create a new filter is to copy an existing one that is similar, and then to modify it.
1. On the "Filters" window, highlight the filter to be copied, and click Copy. The "Copy
Expression" window will open.
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2. Type in the name of the new filter and click OK.
The new filter will be included in list of filters in the "Filters" window.
To edit a filter
1. On the "Filters" window, highlight the filter to be edited and click Edit. The "Filters" (detailed) window will open.
Figure 120: The "Filters" (detailed) window
2. If necessary, you can change the name of the filter in the Name field.
3. In the Type field, select the filter type. You would probably not select another filter type because this would render the code in the Expression field incorrect.
4. In the Expression field, edit the filter code so that it evaluates the records to be included in the report to be true, and those to be excluded to be false. For example, if you wanted your report to include only events with a priority of 'Urgent', you would use the following expression in an 'Event' type filter.
(Priority@Events = UrgentPriority)
5. Click Save to save any changes, and Close to exit the "Filters" (detailed) window.
To create a new filter
1. On the "Filters" window, click New. The "Filters" (detailed) window will open.
2. In the Name field, type in the name of your filter. The name should describe the purpose of the filter. For example, "My new filter" is not very helpful, but "Current clients only" does mean something.
3. In the Type field, select the filter type. This depends on the database table that the report will access.
4. In the Expression field, edit the filter code so that it evaluates the records to be included in the report to be True, and those to be excluded to be False. For example, if you wanted your report to include only clients born after 1952, you would use the following expression in a 'Client' type filter.
(DOB@Clients>'31/12/1952')
5. Click Save to save any changes, and Close to exit the "Filters" (detailed) window.
Your new filter will be included in the list of filters on the "Filters" window.
Fields and functions
The filter expressions can contain fields and functions. Both return a value that can be evaluated against another value.
A field is written as 'field@', where field is a field in the database table. This will return the value contained in that field in that database table. There is no need to specify the table because it is
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derived from the filter type. For example, in a Client type filter, 'current@' will return either a Y or
N depending on whether that client is current or not.
A function is written as '
function(arg1,arg2…)'. An example of a function is
'IsUserInGroup(UserRef,GroupRef)', which returns the True if the user is a member of the group..
To display the list of Practice Manager - Contact 2015 functions, from the Help menu, point to Practice Manager - Contact and click Functions.
To display the list of Practice Manager - Contact 2015 fields, from the Help menu, point to
Practice Manager - Contact and click Fields.
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