Zortec Software
User Defined
Reporting
(Beginner Level / Basics)
Notice…
User Defined Reporting is a add on
module for the Z applications.
If your site has not purchased User
Defined Reporting and you would like to
purchase - please contact our Marketing
Department or just let me know after this
session.
The cost of User Defined Reporting varies based on the
number of users at your site.
Welcome !
In this presentation you will learn the
location of the Data Definition File
(DDF), how to print the DDF, how to
create and print User Defined Reports
(UDR’s) as well as the basics of
Sorting, Sub-Totaling and Filtering
the data to be printed using search
criteria.
User Defined Reporting is a feature
included in several of your Zortec
Applications. Accounts Receivable,
Business License, Fixed Assets,
General Ledger, Inventory Control,
Payroll, Utility Billing, Vehicle
Maintenance and Work Orders - to
name a few.
The fundamentals of User Defined
Reporting are basically the same
throughout all of the Zortec
Applications.
Once you master User Defined
Reporting in one application you
can apply that knowledge to the
other applications and do well.
For the purposes of this
presentation User Defined
Reporting with the Utility Billing
application will be demonstrated.
The Data Definition File (DDF).
The DDF is basically a list of the data
fields that are available to print - sort by –
total by - or filter by - when using UDR’s.
The DDF varies by Application on the
fields available, but is similar in each
application in several ways including how
you access it - print it – view it - and
how it’s used.
The DDF can be accessed in each
Applications “Office Manger” or
“System Manager” section. It can
also be accessed thru the use of
specified Function Key options while
creating and printing UDR’s.
NOTE – Most Zortec Applications have several thousand
individual data fields within them. Many of these fields are
available for printing on UDR’s. Unfortunately some are not. If
you can’t locate a data field that you would like to print on the DDF
contact LGC Customer Support. We will be glad to help you
determine if that data field is available or not.
Examples of Menu Path to the DDF
option in a few Z Applications.
Utility Billing Main Menu -> 08.. Office Manager -> 23.. DDF Handler
Business License Main Menu -> 10.. System Manager -> 16.. Data Definitions
Payroll Main Menu -> 09.. Office Manager -> 19.. DDF Handler
General Ledger Main Menu -> 50.. Office Manager -> 16.. DDF Definition
Notice a slight variation to the DDF
menu option name depending on the Z
application used.
A Key to successful User Defined
Reporting is in understanding the DDF
for the application you are using.
We recommend that you print the DDF
listing, study it and become familiar
with the data fields available for
printing, sorting, sub-totaling and
filtering data on User Defined Reports.
Printing the DDF for Utility Billing
Start on the Utility Billing main menu
Leave the Beg / End Code blank for all and specify Report Order “C”.
I used Printer Number “VIEW” to display the report, but you may want to
print a hard copy to your printer ID so you can study it well.
The DDF for the Utility Billing system
is 29 Pages long. The Billing system is
HUGE data wise and has the longest
DDF of all Z applications.
Creating a User Defined
Report
This next section will demonstrate
how to create a very basic User
Defined Report
Starting on the Utility Billing main
menu, select 51.. User Reports, then
select 01.. Define reports
In the Functions option select
C – to Create.
Note you also have Functions for
Update, Inquire and Delete
NOTE – You must complete 2
screens to create a UDR. Screen 01
defines things like the report number,
name, sorting, sub-totaling. Once
you complete screen 01 you will be
presented with screen 02 where you
define the data fields to print on the
reports detail lines.
Creating a User Defined Report (Screen 1)
The top section of the User Report Definition screen 01 (shown above)
ask a few questions that we will discuss in detail over the next few
slides.
Report Number – The report number is a numeric, two-digit field which
means you can number your report using any number from 1 – 99.
Access Code – S, U
System or User (more details on next slide)
Access Code --- A UDR created with:
S - (System access) will allow any user that has access to the
application (Utility Billing in this example) to Print the report. This is a
way that you can create reports and share them with other users that
have access to the system.
U - (User access) will limit access to the UDR to the individual user that
created it. Other users that have access to the system will not be able to
print reports that are setup with U – Access.
Serv #: - This is used if you want to print service specific information
on your UDR. For example – Water Meter Number, or Gas Turn On Date.
If you are only going to print the Accounts General Information (not
service specific) then you can leave this blank or 00 as shown above.
Note – each service is assigned a number in the parameters. For
example Electric could be service 01, Water Service 03, Sewer Service
04 and Gas Service 05. This will vary by customer site so you will need
to know how this is defined at your site.
Report Name – is what will be shown in the print menu box. In other
words, it is how you will identify this report when selecting reports to
print from the Print Menu. It will not actually print on the report itself.
You will also see the report number on the Print Menu.
Major Heads – Two lines are available for the report heading. Enter the
title of the report and any other text you wish to print each time the
report is printed. You will have an opportunity to type in another line of
(this time only heading) when you actually print the report from the Print
menu.
Characters per Line – This determines the number of characters printed
per line. The default is 132 and that works nicely for most printed
reports. If you are only printing 2, 3 or 4 columns of data on your report
you might want to reduced this number. The headings printed on the
report will center based on what you enter here.
Lines per Page – This field determines the number of lines printed on
each page. The default of 60 will work for most printers with 11 inch
paper that are printing at 6 lines per inch or with 8.5 inch paper printing
at 8 lines per inch. You may adjust the default up or down to get the
results you need.
Spacing – This determines the line spacing. It defaults to 1 which
produces single spaced lines on the report. You can select 2 for double
spacing or 3 for triple spacing
Sorting Information – Up to five levels of sorting are available for each
report. With UDR’s you can sort the details printed on the report by any
of the available DDF fields. Commonly used sorts are by Customer
Name or Number. An example of a two level sort would be to print the
records sorted by Route and then by Service Address. Note - If you do
not specify a DDF field to sort by the records will sort by the Account
Number. Use of the sorting information will be demonstrated later in
this presentation.
Top of Page when the following changes – This can be used to generate
a page break when the data changes. For example – if your report is
being sorted by Route, then you could specify the DDF for Route in the
Top of Page – to make it do a page break after the last account in each
route printed. That way each new route would start at the top of the next
page.
Sub-total when the following changes - This can be used to produce up
to 5 levels of totals as the data changes for the DDF field specified. A
good example of using Sub-totals would be if you wanted totals by Route.
Note - your report would have to be sorted by Route before you can
produce sub-totals by route. Sorting and Sub-Totaling work together.
Headings for Sub-totals – is used to identify your sub-total. What ever
you enter as the Heading will print beside that sub-total on the report.
Note – when your cursor is positioned in one of the fields on the UDR
creation screen, you can press F3 Key to call a Search & Select feature
that will allow you to Locate DDF #’s and Names. From this list you can
F1 to go Forward, or F2 to go Backward to scroll thru the list of available
fields. Once you select a field (position the arrow on that field) you can
press enter and it will populate the field that you were on when you
initially pressed the F3 Key.
For my first sample report I completed screen 1 of the report definition as shown
below. I basically only entered information in the top portion of the screen.
Once you complete the first screen of the UDR definition, the screen 2 (below)
will be displayed. This is where you specify the data for the report detail lines.
All you have to enter on this screen are the DDF field numbers that you want to
print on your report. You can press F3 to Search and Select DDF fields.
Below shows how I completed screen 2 of the UDR definition.
Note – I entered the Fld numbers and the Heading/Detail Format was auto
populated for me. All you have to enter here are the DDF #’s you want to print on
the details lines of your report.
As you enter the DDF numbers the system will display an example of the report
detail line layout near the bottom of the screen.
It will also display the Print Positions used and Available. Note – if you exceed
the total print positions available (132 in this case) your report will not print.
Once you complete screen 2 of the UDR definition, you can print your UDR by
going back to the User Reports menu, and selecting 2.. Print Reports
Report Menu to View – relates to the access
code the report was created for. U = user, S =
System. The default is U which will limit the
reports displayed to those created by the user.
Specify S (System) to select reports designated
as System reports by other users on the Utility
Billing system. If the list of available reports is
very long you might find it helpful to use the F5..
To ENTER help option. This will move the
screen pointer to the list of reports displayed
and you can scroll forward or backward thru the
list to select the desired report.
Order – This can be used to change the sort
order. For Example AC = Account, NA = Name,
SA = Service Address. This will not be covered
in detail in this session.
Report/Text File – This is a more advanced
feature that will not be covered in this session.
It defaults to R (Report) and you would only
want to change that to T (Text File) if for
example you were generating this UDR as a way
to get data from a text file into Excel.
Report Name - Once you select a report to print the Report Name will be
displayed on the next screen. This screen will ask for a Beginning and Ending
Account to print which you can use to limit your results or you can leave blank
to include all accounts.
Records to read - can be used to search your database a specified number of
records at a time. If you enter 100 here the program will stop after it reads each
set of 100 records, display some information detailing the number of records to
be printed at that point and give you the option to stop and print them or
continue with the next 100 records. You can leave this blank to read the entire
file with no interruptions.
Additional Heading – can be used to include a heading for this run only which
will print in addition to the two lines of heading that you can enter when you
create the report.
Once you complete the Additional Heading field it will ask you to Enter Printer
Number. See next slide.
F5.. Search criteria - will be demonstrated later in this presentation. This option
is used to define filters for selecting exactly the data you wish to print.
F4.. To view/edit report info – can be used to view or edit the report definition.
Once the printer number is entered the report will be generated.
Notice the results above include the Report Headings, Column Headings and
DDF Fields we requested to print on the detail lines. Also notice they are
sorted by Account #.
User Defined Reporting (Basics)
This next section will demonstrate
taking the very basic UDR created in
section 1 and adding a DDF field to
the report detail line as well as
specifying a sort order.
UDR’s are also very flexible in that
once created you can easily modify
the report to add or remove other
DDF fields as needed.
To update or modify a UDR go
back to the User Reports menu
and select..
1.. Define Reports (U - Update)
This is the same report definition 01 that we created earlier.
I updated the report to include Sorting by Account Status, and Sub-Total on
Account Status. In the Headings for Sub-totals I specified – Status Total
That is all that was updated on screen 1 of the report definition.
On Screen 2 of the report definition, I added the Status field to print on the report
detail line.
Notice above that I still have 3 positions available. I have now used 129 of the
available 132 positions for this report. Reminder – if you exceed the allowed
number of print positions, the report will not print.
After updating the report definition I returned to the Print Reports menu and
printed the report again. Notice above the Status is now included on the
report detail line.
On page 10 after it printed the last Status A (Active) account, it printed a Status
Total for the active accounts. It continued to print the Status F (Final)
accounts and the Sub-Total for final accounts, then continued printing the
Status I (Inactive) accounts. It is sorted by Status, and Sub-Totaling by Status.
User Defined Reporting (Basics)
Section 3 – Filtering with Search Criteria
This next section will demonstrate using
the Search Criteria option to filter the data
to be included on the UDR.
Filtering the data using Search Criteria is
how you manage to limit the information
on the report to exactly what you need to
see.
To define Search Criteria for a UDR select option 2.. Print Reports from the
User Reports menu.
Notice that the Search Criteria is defined when printing the report rather than
as part of the report definition.
I selected to Print report Number 1 for the user
THMS. This is the same report that we created
in section 1 and modified in section 2.
After you select the report from the first screen of the reports selection menu
it will continue to display the screen above. On this screen you could filter by
account number range if you only wanted to print a range of accounts. We
are instead going to do a more sophisticated filter by choosing the F5 Search
Criteria option.
On the top half of the Search Criteria screen, you have a F5 option that will list
the DDF fields available to use for Search Criteria Categories.
You also have a list of the Possible Conditions.
I specified to filter the records for printing by Account
Status where the Account Status = (Equal) to T
(Terminated).
I added a second filter on the Total Amount Due where
the Total Amount Due is > (Greater) than 1000.00
Notice below you can add as many as 5 filters using the
search criteria definition screen. This allows you to do
some very specify filters for your UDR.
Once you complete the search criteria definition screen you will be returned to
the screen shown above. Notice that the word “Search” now appears in the
upper left corner of the screen. This lets you know that you have defined
search criteria for this UDR.
I completed the screen above, specifying to print my report to printer VIEW.
VIEW can be used to view reports on the screen. You could also specify your
printer ID in Z to print the report on paper.
Notice now my User Defined Report only includes Status T (Terminated)
Accounts that owe more than 1000.00 in the Total Due.
User Defined Reporting (Basics)
Section 4 – Printing Service Specific
Information
This next section will demonstrate
printing service specific information on a
UDR. We will also use Sorting (two
levels), Top of Page, Sub-Totaling and
Search Criteria.
For my last sample report I completed screen 1 of the report definition as shown
below. Notice I am printing service 01 (Gas) specific information on this report.
I am also sorting by Status and Service Amount Last Bill, Top of Page when the
Status Changes, and Sub-Totaling on Status.
Below shows how I completed screen 2 of the UDR definition.
Note – I entered the Fld numbers and the Heading/Detail Format was auto
populated for me. All you have to enter here are the DDF #’s you want to print on
the details lines of your report. I used 120 print positions of the 132 available.
Next I returned to the User Reports Menu and selected Print Reports.
I specified Reports Menu to View, U (User), then selected report # 2.
Next I used the f5.. Search Criteria option to define how I wanted to filter the data
for the report.
I specified to only include accounts who’s Service Amount Last Bill amount was
greater than 500.00.
After completing the search criteria setup the next screen now shows “Search”
in the top left corner. I entered Additional Heading information, specified the
service number to print, and printer VIEW.
The DDF fields requested are included on the report, it is sorted by Status and
then Service Amount Last Bill. It also includes Status Totals and does a page
break when the status changes. Active accounts on page 1, Terminated page 2.
Thank You !
I hope you learned
enough about Z User
Defined Reporting to get
you off to a good start.
Up Next - Z print to PDF
Session BONUS information
This next section is not User Report related but is simply some BONUS material I
wanted to show on a rather new option in Z to print reports and easily convert to
PDF documents. A lot of our customer sites today are interested in saving Z
reports as PDF documents. This provides a very simple way to do that.
Step 1 is to have a printer definition
Setup in your System Parameters to
print to SIMPRINT.
Most of our customer sites should
already have this printer defined.
If your site does not contact LGC
support for help setting this up.
Note the Printer Number for your
SIMPRINT printer does not have to
be SIMPRINT. You can actually
name it anything you want. In this
example the printer is named PDF
with a Description of Z to CutePDF
Writer.
The Operating System Print
Command Line must be setup
exactly as shown below.
Step 2 – is to have the CutePDF application installed on your Z server.
At sites that are running Z on a Server over a network, Cute PDF would need to
be installed on the server and the Z users would need to be provided a location
on the server to save documents. This could be a folder that is shared so that
users can access the PDF documents from their PC workstations as well.
Below is an example of printing the Utility Billing A/R Detail report.
To print to SIMPRINT you would specify your Z printer definition Printer Number
for your SIMPRINT printer. Below I entered Printer Number PDF which I have
defined as a SIMPRINT printer.
When you print to your SIMPRINT printer, the output will first display in a window
(similar to how the VIEW printer displays).
To properly format Wide Reports to convert to PDF documents…
Go to - - - File -> Page Options -> Change Column
In the Column Specifications box set the
“number of columns” to 136 and select
Make change permanent.
Click OK to save this change. Note each
user should only have to do this process
one time.
Next you can simply select the Printer Icon in the top left area of the report
display. This will display a Print dialog box with options…
In the “Print” dialog box select the printer CutePDF Writer and then click OK.
The “Save As” dialog box will then appear where you can specify the “Save in”
location that you want to save file and also specify the File Name and the Save as
Type (which will default to .pdf). The final step is to click Save.
The image below shows the UB AR Detail Report saved as a PDF document on
my PC Workstation.
This last image shows the Accounts Receivable Detail report opened with Adobe
Reader as a PDF document.
The End !
Contact LGC support if you
need help printing Z reports to
PDF. We will be glad to help
with the setup and showing
you how to use it.