Generating Project Tracker reports

Project Tracker allows you to build reports that summarize project data. Reports can be based on:

• Users - You can sort by usernames and associations.
• Dates - You can take snapshots within a specific time frame.
• Artifact attributes - You can filter by specific attributes, for example, you may want a report on all Defects of a particular severity level targeted for a specific release.

For example, you can generate reports that show all Defects of Severity 1 and 2 that were issued within a particular time frame. A report can be formatted for the web browser, Excel (.xls), or as a tab-separated list (.txt). Reports can use data from one or more artifact types in one or more projects. You can save reports for personal use or make them available to others within your project.

To create a report:

1. Click the Projects tab, click the link for a project that uses Project Tracker, and click Project tracker > Generate reports in the navigation pane.
   The Saved reports list page is displayed.
2. Click Create new.
   The Report builder page is displayed, with the focus given to the Report Information sub-tab.
3. Select the artifact type or types that you want this report to contain and click Add Seleted.
4. If you want to re-use this list of artifact types in another report, click the Save button in the Artifact Types Selected section.
   The Save Cross-Project/Artifact Types List page is displayed. You can skip this step.
   If you want to save the list of artifact types, provide a name for the list and click Save. The list is saved and the Report Builder page is re-displayed.
5. Click Done.
   The Report Information sub-tab is refreshed to display additional report information.
6. To save the report for later use, assign it a name, select whether the report is for personal or project-wide use, and click Update.
   Saving the report is optional. If this is a one-time-use report, you can skip to the next step.
   If you saved the report, the Row Content sub-tab is displayed.
7. If you skipped the previous step, click the Row Content sub-tab.
8. In the Row Content sub-tab, select the type of criteria to be used for the rows of the report in the Select Content Type drop-down list.
   Criteria include users, dates, and attributes. If you select a different criteria from the default, the page refreshes to display options appropriate to that content type.
9. Click Update.
10. Click the Column Content sub-tab, add criteria for the report columns, and click Update.
11. Click Generate Report or Save Report.

To re-run a saved report:

1. Click the Projects tab, click the link for a project that uses Project Tracker, and click Project tracker > Generate reports in the navigation pane.
2. Click the link for the report.
3. Click one of the sub-tabs (Report Information, Row Content, or Column Content) and edit the information on the tab.
4. Click Generate Report.

To export a saved report:

1. Click the Projects tab, click the link for a project that uses Project Tracker, and click Project tracker > Generate reports in the navigation pane
2. Click the link for the report.
3. At the bottom of the Report Builder page, select one of the following from the drop-down list labeled Export Results to: Exel, Tab-separated values.
4. Click Save Report.

Report information

When you create a new report or click the link for a saved report, the Report Information sub-tab allows you to enter basic report information.

General report information includes:

• Name - The name that is displayed in the saved reports list if you save this report.
• Description - A reminder of the contents of the report.
• Availability - Determines whether only you can access the report or if it will be available to other project members.
• Format - Determines if the report, when generated, is displayed in your browser window or is saved to an Excel or tab-separated file.
• Username style - Determines the appearance of people's names in the report.

The Report Information sub-tab also allows you to add artifacts types in the current project and other projects to your report.

To add or remove artifact types from other projects:

1. Click the Projects tab, click the link for a project that uses Project Tracker, and click Project tracker > Generate reports in the navigation pane.
   The Saved reports list page is displayed.
2. Click the link for a saved report.
3. Click the Report Information sub-tab.
   The page is refreshed, and basic report information about the report is displayed.
4. On the Information page, in the Artifact Types Selected for this Report section, click Edit List.
5. Scroll to the Artifact Types in Other Projects section, check the checkboxes for the artifact types that you wish to add, and click Add Selected.
6. To remove artifact types from your report, check the checkbox next to an artifact type in the top section of the page and click Remove selected or Remove all.

Row and column content

The Row content and Column content tabs allow you to define and organize the data included in your report. These tabs contain identical information and options; however, you select different data types on each tab. Once both the row and column content have been defined, you can generate the report.

The Row/Column criteria include the following:

• Attribute(s) /option(s) - When this data type is selected, you can choose from among the attributes and options defined for the selected artifact types.
• Users (by user association) - When this data type is selected, you can choose from among the project members and specify a user attribute for each user selected.
• Date snapshot(s) - When this data type is selected, you can define dates for each row or column of your report.

The option in the Select content type field determines the data available in the rest of the sections of these tabs. Only one content type can be used for each heading. If you choose Date snapshot(s) as a content type on either the Row content or Column content tab, it must be the only heading on that axis. However, you can define user criteria for one or more heading levels and option attributes for other headings on the same axis. Changing the content type to Date snapshot(s) after defining a set of user or attribute/option criteria for either the row or column content tabs will discard the previously entered data for that tab.

Creating groups of attribute options and user attributes

Project Tracker allows you to arrange report data into headings that are combined to allow multiple criteria per cell.

Headings are defined solely by the data they contain.

To create headings for a report:

1. In the Report builder, click on either the Row content tab or the Column content tab.
2. Select the content type for this heading in the Select content type drop down box.
3. Select the options you wish to include in the first heading of your report.
4. Click the Update button.
5. If you wish to include more than one heading in your report, in the axis content: Row/Column headings section, click the Add another heading button.
6. Select the content type for this heading in the Select content type drop down box. If the previously defined heading contains user attributes or attributes/options, you cannot select the Date snapshot(s) content types. Doing so will discard the previously entered heading.
7. Select the options you wish to include in this heading.
8. When finished, click the Update button.
9. Continue adding headings and selecting options in this manner until all the options you wish to see in your report have been included.

You can edit a previously defined heading by clicking on the radio button next to the heading and clicking the Edit selected heading button. You can delete previously defined heading by clicking on the radio button next to the heading and clicking the Remove selected heading button.

Project Tracker allows you to further organize reports data by grouping the attributes and options within your headings. For example, if options P1, P2, P3, and P4 for the Priority attribute have all been selected, you could group P1 and P2 as "high priority" and P3 and P4 as "low priority". You must have defined at least one heading containing Attribute/option(s) in your report before you can group options within a heading.

To group options within headings:

1. On the Row content tab or the Column content tab, select a heading containing the Attribute/option(s) content type and click the Edit selected heading button.
2. In the group related data section, enter a name for the group and click the Add new button. Repeat this step if you wish to have additional groups within this heading.
3. In the Grouping report data-set attributes/options section, select the group you want each option to appear in from the Group name drop down box next to each attribute/option.
4. When done, click the Update button.

Selecting users and attributes

Reporting on user attributes allows you to determine how the workload in your project is distributed. You can use the Users (by attribute) data type to create reports thatindicate how artifacts are assigned or otherwise associated with users.

To define Users (by attribute) reporting criteria:

1. On either the Row content or Column content tab, select User (by attribute) from the Select content type drop down box.
2. In the Users table, select the checkbox in the Select column and the desired user attribute in the drop down box in the Association column of the user you wish to include.
3. Click the Add selected to assignee list button.

To include multiple user attributes for a single user, you must add the user again with the additional attribute selected. For instance, if you wanted to generate a report to indicate which users have ownership and quality assurance responsibility for the artifacts in your project, you would need to select each user twice--first with the Assigned to user attribute, then with the QA contact user attribute.

Reporting by dates

Using date ranges in either the row or column of your report to generate a report that presents data with respect to the day the report is generated, a specific date or range of dates, or on a rolling date range (for instance, the last 30 days). You can also set an interval between data points, allowing you to view activity in your project over a specific increment of data points. You can set up to 366 individual date intervals that can appear on your report.

You can express the date range on either the row or column of your report. Only one type of date range can be active in your report at one time. There are three types of date ranges available:

Relative date period: Returns information in a date range relative to the date when the report was generated. For instance, if you set the relative date to the past 2 days and generate the report on March 15, the report will provide data for March 14 and March 15th. You can select from year to date, month to date, week to date or set a increment in the past. If you choose a past date you can set for any number of past days, weeks, months or years. For instance, if you would like to know how many artifacts were created in the past 2 years you can set the date selection to the relative date for the past 2 years. You can also use the snapshot increment to set an interval between data points. For instance, if you wanted to know how many artifacts were created in the past 2 years by month you can set the date selection to relative date for the past 2 years and use the snapshot increment to "1 month(s)". Additionally you can set the time of day for the data point as well. For time of day you can choose "start of day", "end of day" or a specific hour within the 24 hour clock.

Date range: Returns information a date range based on calendar dates. You can set a start date and an end date, or use the day of the report generation as the end date. You can specify an interval of time for each data point. For instance, if you want to know all artifacts that were created from March 1 through June 1, 2004, you can set the start date to 2004, March 1 and the end date to 2004, June 1. If you want to know how many artifacts were created in that time period each week, set the snapshot increment to "1 week(s)". You can also set the time of day for the data point.

Individual dates: generates a report based on the specific date you select. Rather than selecting a particular calendar date you can select the day of report generation. You can also set the time of day for the data point.

To create a report with date ranges:

1. On either the Row content or Column content tab, Select Date snapshot(s) from the Select content type drop down box.
2. In the Select row/column (dates) content section, select the date type in which you are interested. Use the tabs to navigate between the date types.
3. Use the date type form to define your options and click the Add selection button.
4. For Relative date period and Date range types you can use the Snapshot increment option to define the interval between data points.

If you need to alter a date range you can replace one in the report by using the Replace selection button in either the row or column where the original selection was defined.

Viewing reports on the web

Once you have defined both row and column content, the Generate report button will appear. Clicking this button will create the report in the format you have selected on the Report information tab.

When viewing the report in the Web format, you can perform the following tasks:

1. Rotate the report by clicking the swap row and column link.
2. Save the report by clicking the Save this report button. If you have not entered summary information on the Report information tab, you will be returned to that tab. You must enter a name for the report and click the Update button to add the summary information to the report. Click the Save this report button again to save.
3. Export the report to Excel or tab separated values by selecting the desired export format from the Export results to: drop down box.