Robin
Thanks for joining. We've got some people joining us now, so we'll just wait for a couple more. Hi, Chanel. Hi, David. Hi, Debbie. We'll get loads of people joining now. So we'll kick off with the webinar.
Robin
Thanks for joining us. This is our regular alpha tracker tips and tricks webinar. And this time we're talking about reports, extracts, exporting, and the Alpha Query Writer. With me, I've got Zach off support desk for his first time on the webinars.
Robin
So he's very excited. And we've got Dan joining us as well to keep us on track and make sure that you can hear us and see us at all times. Dan, can you keep an eye on the Q&A chat thing as well?
Dan
Absolutely, absolutely, yeah.
Robin
We love questions, so please do ask questions. We've got loads more people joining now, thanks. So we've got Kate and Cameron, Kat, Lucy. Hi, nice to see you all. Thanks for joining. Hope you're enjoying your summer.
Robin
What little summer we've had. So yeah, all about reports, extracts and the Alpha Query Writer. We love questions. So please type any questions you want at any time into the chat window. And if you can just say hello in the chat window so that we know you can hear us, that would be wonderful.
Robin
Dan, if you've got an eye on that, just let me know as soon as people have confirmed.
Dan
Yeah, sure. I'm gonna go, yep, we get into the screen now, brill.
Robin
Lovely. So this is what we're covering off today. We're covering off reports, not reports. We'll be very clear about this. As Zach pointed out five minutes before the webinar, we've probably confused everybody.
Robin
By reports, I mean data extracts, not asbestos reports, or water hygiene reports, or fire safety reports, or any of the other types of reports you can get out of Alpha Tracker. We're talking about data extracts.
Robin
We're talking about exports to Excel, including exports that can have documents in them. So PDFs with reports or photos and things. And we're also covering off the Alpha Query Writer. If we've got time at the end, and we tend to last 20 minutes, 15 to 20 minutes, if we've got time at the end, we can also talk about alpha tracker release 41, which is out this month.
Robin
It's with beta testing customers already. So if we've got time, we'll talk to you about that as well. Great. So let's kick off. So over to our demo system. Here it is. And what we'll look at first is where you can find the reports at all.
Robin
So where do you actually get data out of the system? Well, there's a whole menu option here called reports. And inside that, you'll see group names. These are security groups in the system. So depending on what type of user you are in Alpha Tracker, you'll have one or more of these groups available to you.
Robin
I've just logged in as a super user. So I've got all of them. But if you log in as a project administrator, you might only have the project admin one, for example. Now the one I'm going to go to to show you some examples, oh, by the way, favourites, everybody has, we'll talk about favourites in a bit, and query writer Dan, everybody has what most people have.
Dan
Yeah, most people have. I think there are a couple of groups that don't, but yeah, I think the majority do.
Robin
Great, okay, so we're covering that off at the end. Let's have a look at the administrators group just as an example. So here I have a list of reports that you can run. Over the years, we've built up more and more reports in each of these categories as people have asked for them and they felt like generally useful things to add.
Robin
So if we look at the active client list as an example, so this is all clients active within Alpha Tracker, this will be all of your customers in your case. And if I click the screen icon, it runs that report to the screen, just underneath the list of reports, here we go.
Robin
I've got 10 items showing at the moment out of 461. So I can go next page, next page, next page, next page, et cetera, so you can page through. You can also, if we just start to cover up some of the features here, you can change how many items you're looking at.
Robin
So I've got 50 items now on screen, or indeed I could go to all and that's all 460. So there's the first thing you can do. Secondly, you can sort this list by any of the column headings, just like you can throughout Alpha Tracker more generally.
Robin
So if I click by name, that's gone A to Z. If I click by address or postcode, you can see it's sorting. Click once, if I go back to name, click once, it's A to Z. Click twice, it's Z to A, just like it is in the rest of Alpha Tracker.
Robin
So you can sort, you can change how many records you've got on the screen. You can also search, and the search is really cool because it's instant. It doesn't matter how much data you've got, this is instant.
Robin
So if I start typing Porter, because I know I've got some customers with Porter in the name, it doesn't matter where Porter is in any of the columns, it finds it and you can see that was instant. And in fact, it does it as you're typing.
Robin
So P -O -R -T, you can see each time I type a letter, it's instantly searching and effectively acting as a filter. I think my camera's just stopped. Let me just restart. Can you see my camera stopped?
Robin
It froze.
Dan
It's back again now. You're all good.
Robin
Thank you. Tell me if it happens again, the camera's been playing up. So yeah, you can filter the list on the screen instantly, which is really useful. So there's some basic how to run a report, how to sort by the columns, how to change how many records you're seeing, how to do a filter on the data.
Robin
You might've noticed with this active client list that it's starred, the gold star's coloured in, that's because I've made it a favourite. So if you've got reports you run all the time, you can click the star to make them a favourite.
Robin
So if I run, if I select that one, for example, as a favourite, and if I go to the favourites group here, you'll see the reports that you've marked as favourites. Take them off, you just click the icon again and they drop off.
Robin
So that's quite nice. That's very similar Dan, isn't it, to the favourites when you can actually make it a menu item favourite and add it to the top.
Dan
Absolutely, so you can favourite your favourites basically.
Robin
You could favourite your favourites, shall we do that, let's do that, there you go, favourite our favourites. So yeah, this is now a quick way of getting to your favourite reports. Nice idea, if a little confusing, thanks Dan.
Robin
The eagle-eyed amongst you, the real Alpha Tracker geeks, of which Zac is proudly one, will have noticed, or may have noticed, that there's some differences here about how we're displaying some buttons on the screen, some different, slightly different colours, different style.
Robin
This is all part of release 41, we've given it a bit of a freshen up. So that's how to do a simple report. Let's have a look at a slightly different one. So if I look at the project status report, again, it's the one in the administrators one I'm choosing here, you can see that we've got a dot dot dot option.
Robin
We don't have the screen and the Excel buttons, we have dot dot dot instead. That's because it needs me to enter some more information first. So we call them parameters. So in this case, it's saying, this is a list of all open projects with their current status, start typing this, oh dear, that's my camera gone wrong, my screen has gone wrong, let me just refresh.
Robin
So it's saying start typing the status that you're interested in, and it searches on that status. Let me just do that again for you. So this is a type of parameter query. So if I start typing cancel there, you can see, and I run that, then you get your monitor and Excel icons.
Robin
Now we'll get all of the cancelled projects or the cancelled open projects in this case, actually. So there's three projects there. Helpfully, you also get a summary at the top of the list of the parameters that you've entered, which is quite nice.
Robin
Generally, Zac, these are date ranges.
Zac
Yeah, date, range, client IDs, site names, things like that, yeah.
Robin
So yeah, so it might not be one parameter you're keying in, it might be multiple. So you key them in, then you've got your monitor button active and obviously you can generate to Excel, which we'll talk about in a moment.
Robin
Now, the last thing we want to talk about on here, which is something that Kim was really keen to show you. If you're a super user at your site, so a super user within Alpha Tracker for your own business, like I am here on the demo system, you can actually see how the reports are put together.
Robin
If you go into the setup menu, then...
Zac
Import, export.
Robin
Thanks Zacc. Then reports, here we go. This is the definition of the reports and how they're actually constructed. And this is the SQL as it's called.
Robin
This is the sort of technical language that's used to build them up. Kim thought this was useful because you can look, you can search across the groups here. So if I just type project status there, so you can see where the reports are in all of the security groups, not just the group you might have access to yourself.
Robin
So it's quite useful that Dan, I think to sometimes to see how you can put these together.
Dan
Yeah, definitely.
Robin
If you've got somebody in your business who can do SQL, we can actually give you access and you can write your own reports, which is quite nice. You can also now include files, drawings and reports, which we'll talk about in a moment, which is a really nice feature generally used with data exports, but can be useful for reports as well.
Robin
Any questions at this point, Dan?
Dan
No, no questions so far, everyone's keeping quiet.
Robin
Good. We'll crack on. Let's have a look at X....
Dan
Ooh hang on, I have one through this is from Kate this is so can you apply multiple groups to each report or do we need to duplicate it multiple group.
Robin
You actually do duplicate yeah and there's a reason for that Kate it's because very often it's the same report but subtly different so for example you might have a report that shows work in progress or jobs in progress or jobs you've worked on last month or this month without the financial information which could be used for some of your staff but with the financial information which is used for the management or the directors say.
Robin
So yeah often they're the same report that's subtly different so you actually duplicate them rather than share them out thanks for the question.
Robin
Right so exporting to Excel so one of the ways to do it is from a report so if I go back to the one that was on before I should click onto favourites couldn't I let's go to favourites now we've favourited the favourites.
Robin
You'll see next to the reports you have an Excel button it's as simple as clicking the Excel button it runs the report and it drops it into your downloads.
Robin
If you're using Chrome like I am you'll have probably noticed in the last couple of months they've changed the way that downloads work, downloads used to appear at the bottom of the screen down here straight away they're now appearing this download thing at the top unless you can change it I think but it seems to change the setting back again.
Robin
So active client list is the one I just did click that you're into Excel and there's your document so it's very straightforward. You can also, and that works from parameter reports as well, you can also do it from lists and I know Zac you get this call on the help desk quite a bit don't you.
Zac
Yeah we do yeah.
Robin
People asking how to extract, they've probably searched a list got themselves some data that they want and they want to get that into Excel and they're asking how to do it so you would here's the project list for example so I could do my filter so I could search by multiple things get the list on screen and then clicking this Excel button here so the Excel button at the bottom of a list of data on the screen will just drop that straight into Excel for me.
Robin
Iit's important to note now in this case look I've got five thousand two hundred eighty seven which have generated it there look five thousand two hundred eighty seven records only ten of which are currently on screen the Excel file will have all five thousand records.
Robin
So sometimes we get queries people saying I only had 20 records on the screen I did the Excel and I got loads of records did something go wrong no it's just it doesn't just do what's on screen it does what's in your filter.
Robin
It'll give you all the columns by the way that you've got on screen generally speaking sometimes it's a few more few less but that's how that works that's another way of doing it.
Robin
The other one I wanted to show you and I did mention this briefly if I go to, we've set one up here to demonstrate, if I go to reports and then resource I think the project status report that you saw before, and Kate this answers your point, this project status report in the resources one on our demo system is actually subtly different to the other one I showed you and that's because with this one I've configured it so that it generates sorry it adds the in this case asbestos reports to the Excel file when it does the download.
Robin
I might have to say that again slowly just to let you know what you can do now with this this is a new feature in release 41. So normally if I click the Excel button on a report I would only get an Excel file but we've configured this one so that when I generate the Excel let's just let that run through what it's downloaded look is a zip file, and a zip file is a number of files sort of compressed together.
Robin
If I open that zip file on screen you'll see not only have I got the Excel file but I've got a folder for each of the reports mentioned in the Excel file and inside each folder I've got the asbestos report associated with that particular job.
Robin
That's just a single checkbox now in the report setup screen really useful so typically this is where we're doing exports between Alpha Tracker and another system so let's suppose you do an exports from Alpha Tracker to a housing system or a property management system or a council system or your client system basically,
Robin
previously either we'd have had to have written a complex export for you or you'd have had to download it in Excel and then manually add the documents that you wanted to send across and that's obviously really time-consuming.
Robin
Now we can just set it up for you so you can run it straight out of Alpha Tracker, straight from the report screen.
Robin
Dan did that make any sense? It did yes. Any questions about exporting? Oh there's one, so yeah Zac wanted to show something didn't you? If we look at this again another question that comes in on the help desk quite a bit how to get asbestos data into an Excel sheet so if I go to, I think we've got one on the next page haven't we that's got some data
Zac
Yeah.
Robin
That's the one. So if I bring up the asbestos data on screen.
Zac
Yeah, so what's really good here is you've got the search option at the top. So if you click here to search, you can refine the data down here. So if you select location 01.
Robin
So this is a situation where somebody might want to audit the asbestos that was found in room one, for example.
Zac
Yep. And then you can just click the Excel download button there. Okay, great. I'll just give you the records for that.
Robin
Perfect. So yeah, another example. So this is a slightly different list. This is a list within an asbestos survey, but an easy way to get the records into Excel if you've got an audit, or perhaps even if you're doing a manual re-inspection for some reason.
Robin
Fine. Dan, did I interrupt you? Were you about to say something useful?
Dan
We've got a couple of questions that have come in. So the first one is from Kat. And she just said, could you show again how you downloaded the report as a zip? So I think this is how the report actually set up itself.
Robin
It is. It's how the reports are set up. Yeah. So if in the setup section, which your super user will have access to in the reports area, this is where the reports are actually set up. If I just scroll that across, we've got these new check boxes in release 41.
Robin
So include files, include drawings, include reports, and there's a couple of other options as well. Essentially, this allows you to create a or us to create or you to create a report, which not only creates an Excel file or a list on screen, but also bundles in automatically the PDF of the reports, the JPEG photo files, and have whatever format your drawings are in as well.
Robin
So you can optionally include all of those and it bundles them all together in a zip file. When you run it, you don't have to do anything. You just click the Excel button. So if I just do that again for you, um, where am I reports resource?
Robin
Wasn't it? That was the one. And it was project status. So again, if I just put some parameters in, I'll just put that same option in here for cancelled. So all you do is click the Excel button. Instead, what, as well as the Excel, you actually get all of the files presented as this zip file with everything in.
Robin
Actually, Dan, it might be worth us changing the icon, mightn't it? If it's that sort of report, we probably should show it as a folder or a zip icon, not just an Excel icon.
Dan
Yeah, makes sense.
Robin
That would make a lot of sense.
Dan
We've got a couple of other ones coming in. I think you might have already answered this one with your explanation there, but I've got a question. Does the report have the asbestos register too? Is it just a PDF export of the report itself?
Dan
So I think you've just covered that. It's basically you can include the photos or the actual report itself. It's not a PDF of the extract.
Robin
That's right it is the literally the asbestos report or the water hygiene report or whatever it was as issued to the client yeah it's not a PDF of what was on screen it is the actual document that you issued to your client right
Dan
Fantastic. Then we've just got one other one. The question is, it's from Debbie. Can super users move reports to different folders for access?
Robin
Yes. Yes, they can. Yeah. Yeah. You can just change the groups that the reports in. Good questions. We like these questions. These are really good. Right. The last section then from us is the query writer.
Robin
So the query writer, underused feature, I think, in Alpha Tracker, it's been in for a while. We know some people use it because we do get calls, but not many. So I don't think many people use this to the best advantage.
Robin
So it's a means of creating your own extracts to screen. And it's really simple to use. So all you do is go into query writer, choose the area of the system that you want to report on. So I'll go into projects here.
Robin
Then you select the fields that you want to come out in your report. Just double click is fine. So I can double click project number. We'll have client ID, site name, and postcode say. So I've got four columns.
Robin
Now at this point, you can actually run it. You don't need to do anything else. So I've got four columns there. Execute that. And we'll see here's the four columns. Look, here's my report, a very simple report.
Robin
It's a start. If I go back, more than likely, you're going to want to filter this. So this is where the second section comes in. So if I say where the postcode, and here you've got all your choices, look for equals, not equals, greater than or equals, contains, is blank or not blank.
Robin
So let's go with equals. And I'll type in postcode here. So this is our demo systems. We've got lots of demo jobs, lots of demo sites, all with our postcode. So if I run that one through, we'll get the same columns.
Robin
But look, it's all for this postcode. So they're just 76 rows now. You seeing this? Okay, Dan. Yeah, the screen share's working. All right.
Dan
Yep. All okay. Yep.
Robin
And you can then apply sorts as well. So I could sort this by site name, for example, and then after site name, sort it by something else by something else, you get up to three sorts.
Robin
And you can either sort ascending or descending. The nice feature, so we just run that through again, in terms of reusing these is you can save them. So once you've got a report that you like, you can save the definition.
Robin
So if I created two in advance look, so if I call this demo number three and save, this goes on my personal list. Now that means next time you come into query writer, so I'll go straight in from our favourites bar.
Robin
Next time you go in, you can load a saved query and it'll give you your personal list of saved queries. Look, so demo number three, load that and here your definition will reappear. So I've got the four columns, got my site postcode filter, and I've got my sort, and you can rerun it.
Robin
Obviously running it, if you run it every week, every month, whatever, you're gonna get different results. But the point is your definition is saved. It's not saving the results, it's saving the definition, but those are personal.
Robin
So your list of queries, you know, you can build up over time. And if you have to do something every week or every month, whatever, then you can just pick them from there, refine the definition and run it again.
Robin
So that's a query writer. If there's an area of the, if I do a new one, if there's an area of the, of Alpha Tracker that's not on your list. Now this list here is configurable. So when you look at it, you might find you have very few items in there or loads of items, depending on if you've contacted the support desk.
Robin
If when you look and you try and write a report, you can't see the area that you need to query. If you call the support desk available 24-7, um, it's not, Zac isn't available 24-7, the support desk is available 24-7, then they'll be able to add those areas to this list for you.
Robin
So you'll be able to build that list up and use it as much as you want. That's the query writer. Dan, any more questions? I can see a couple. Yes.
Dan
We've got a couple coming in. So we've got another one asking if queries that are saved could be shared amongst other users within the team.
Robin
They can't at the moment. No, they can't. Yeah, it is a good idea. And it's something that will be in release 42. There's also another feature that we're going to add, which I'll keep up my sleeve that hopefully will make it into release 41 that's that's related.
Robin
But yeah, it's a very good idea. That'd be a very useful thing to do.
Dan
Fantastic, and then just one more, some nice feedback. Query writer looks great, which is good. But there's the question, can we create our own dashboard reporting and set up to email?
Robin
Funnily enough, that's the feature that I was keeping up my sleeve. So the, what we're going to have is a new button. Let me just bring up my favourites. If this active client list, bad examples, probably not one you would use.
Robin
But if this was one that you wanted to run every month, some of you may be familiar with our dashboard feature where you can get emailed reports automatically on a particular time of day or particular day of the week or particular day of the month.
Robin
So we can help you configure those to, for example, seven o'clock on a Monday morning, you get a summary of all of the work that's happening that week for all of your staff, for example. Now what I'm thinking Dan here is, and we've had a little chat in the team at the design meeting, is I'm thinking that if there's a report in the system that you want to turn into a dashboard, there should be like a calendar button here.
Robin
You'd click that, it would ask you how often you wanted to run that, and it would then just run it for you and email you the esults. So you'd be able to say, yeah, every Monday, 10 o 'clock or the first of the month, email me this report, and it will automatically run to save you having to go in and manually do it.
Robin
So yes, it's on our plan. It may even make it into release 41, but it was a last-minute thing we were talking about at the design meeting. So there you go. There's a nice summary then. Thank you all for joining.
Robin
So we've covered off reports, we've covered off exports, the new feature with exports, where you can export with documents attached. We've looked at the query writer, which is a nice feature. Reminder this, you've all watched live today, but if you're watching or if you want to share this with your colleagues, all of our webinars are on our webinars page on our Alpha Tracker website.
Robin
So we've got 12 to watch if you haven't watched them already, and this one will be going up in a few days. And release 41 is around the corner, will be available this month. We've publicly declared it.
Robin
And here are some of the new features. You've seen a couple of them today. Here are some of the new features that are available. Just have a look on the blog or the Alpha Tracker news feed to see what's coming up.
Robin
Thank you so much for joining us. Dan, thanks for your help. Keep an eye on the questions.
Dan
No problem.
Robin
We'll see you again. I was going to say in a couple of months, you will see us in a couple of months, but we're going to do an extra webinar about release 41.
Robin
So that will probably be in two or three weeks time. I should think we'll email to advertise it. Thanks again. Thanks everybody.
Zac
Cheers.
Robin
See you soon.
Dan
See ya.
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