When does a Query become a Report?
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Yeah, this post has nothing to do with giraffe's, but it did make you look! In honor of my daugter's birthday this week (she loves giraffes) this is what you get. Actually, I think the below is even better than a cute giraffe picture, so read on!
How many times have you created a query, previewed it, and thought, “If I could just add this one column to the query preview, this would be the report I was looking for”? If you have, you are not alone. We hear this feedback a lot and we couldn’t be more excited to change it! No more limited query preview, no more having to go do a custom report to get that extra column, and no more trying to remember what you called that report you did last time you wanted the same thing.
In an upcoming release, eTapestry is implementing the SKY UX grid into our Query Preview area. This way, you continue to preview your query just like you do now- along with the ability to customize the preview into a report. Once the query has been previewed, you can add extra columns to the preview screen, drag and drop the columns in any order, and then easily print or export the results out of eTapestry. Next time you preview that query, it remembers the columns and the order they were in when it was last viewed so that you can quickly print or export those results again and again.
It’s important to note that this new functionality is not intended to replace our custom reports. You will not be able to apply multiple sorts, aggregates, or subtotal columns in the query preview. Also, we are not including EVERY column that’s available in custom reports. (Who really needs the “Scheduled EFT Authorization” column that much anyway?) We have determined the most commonly used columns in custom reports and those, plus ALL of your User Defined Fields are the ones you will have to select from on the query preview screen. This functionality is intended to make your life simpler, but still give you the ability to access a lot of the power in customized reports when you need it.
We are also adding the ability to easily search your query results for a specific account. Once you preview the query, you will be able to enter any part of the account name into the search box and we will search ALL of the query results and return the ones that match what you have typed in. No more going page by page or trying to guess what page “James Lavoy” is on to see if he made it into your query. No doubt about it, this will be a time saver for you.
So, you now have the answer to, “When does a query become a report?” When you preview it!
Making it easier to input data into the application and easier to get data out is just one more step we’re taking to make eTapestry a better product. We will continue our work to make this the best fundraising software out there, and we want to thank you again for being a Blackbaud eTapestry customer.
In an upcoming release, eTapestry is implementing the SKY UX grid into our Query Preview area. This way, you continue to preview your query just like you do now- along with the ability to customize the preview into a report. Once the query has been previewed, you can add extra columns to the preview screen, drag and drop the columns in any order, and then easily print or export the results out of eTapestry. Next time you preview that query, it remembers the columns and the order they were in when it was last viewed so that you can quickly print or export those results again and again.
It’s important to note that this new functionality is not intended to replace our custom reports. You will not be able to apply multiple sorts, aggregates, or subtotal columns in the query preview. Also, we are not including EVERY column that’s available in custom reports. (Who really needs the “Scheduled EFT Authorization” column that much anyway?) We have determined the most commonly used columns in custom reports and those, plus ALL of your User Defined Fields are the ones you will have to select from on the query preview screen. This functionality is intended to make your life simpler, but still give you the ability to access a lot of the power in customized reports when you need it.
We are also adding the ability to easily search your query results for a specific account. Once you preview the query, you will be able to enter any part of the account name into the search box and we will search ALL of the query results and return the ones that match what you have typed in. No more going page by page or trying to guess what page “James Lavoy” is on to see if he made it into your query. No doubt about it, this will be a time saver for you.
So, you now have the answer to, “When does a query become a report?” When you preview it!
Making it easier to input data into the application and easier to get data out is just one more step we’re taking to make eTapestry a better product. We will continue our work to make this the best fundraising software out there, and we want to thank you again for being a Blackbaud eTapestry customer.
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05/03/2016 2:49pm EDT
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-Christen