In This Chapter
Defining the purpose of your report
Deciding what your report should include
Linking a report to a database
Laying out a report
Conveying the right message
No book can tell you in a step-by-step manner exactly how to build the report you want. However, in this chapter, I show you some general principles of good report design as well as some common types of reports. From those general principles and examples, you can decide how best to design reports that meet your specific needs.
An effective report design depends on many factors:
The data that the report draws from the database
How the database is structured
The level of detail that the users of the report require
The purpose of the report
The capabilities of the computer that displays or prints the report
What the users of the report really need (understanding this is critical)
Every report has a definite audience. Here's a key question to ask when you begin to develop any report: "Who will be reading this report?"
Some potential audience members might be familiar with the information that the report contains. These people might prefer a streamlined presentation of the data. Other audience members might be unfamiliar with the report content, so you might have to translate terms, use graphical devices (such as charts), and include explanatory text. If you have two such divergent audiences, consider producing two reports. Both contain the same information, just presented in different ways.
Other questions to ask are, "What information does the audience need, and in what form should it be delivered?" If your audience needs different sets of facts for different purposes, you might be better off creating several reports, each one focused on one specific purpose.
Note
Although writing a report with one consistent audience in mind is the best approach, sometimes you have to design a report for multiple audiences, each with its own needs. The challenge is to give each audience the information they need in a form they can easily understand, without handicapping the members of other audiences by subjecting them to irrelevant material. The key is to organize the information so members of each audience can quickly and easily find and understand the information of interest to them. Make sure to place critical information in a prominent place.
In addition to having a specific audience, your report should be restricted to one specific purpose — and accomplish that purpose by providing thorough, accurate, and timely information to the target audience. This information, more often than not, is the basis for important decisions that the readers of the report will make.
Note
Restricting a report to serving a single purpose does everyone a favor. Reports that cover multiple topics generally don't do justice to any one of them and tend to confuse readers. A good report covers a single topic and conveys a message that the reader can easily comprehend and act upon.
Knowing how important the report is to its audience can also affect the amount of time and effort you put into creating it. Is the report likely to be a basis for "bet-the-business" decisions? Or does it simply make visible some facts that are nice to know but not earth-shattering?
Another consideration is how often the report will be run. Some reports are one-shot affairs: run once against the database, never to be run again. Other reports are run repeatedly — say, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or yearly — and need the latest information in the database every time. Reports that are run multiple times, by multiple people, deserve more attention to detail than reports run only once.
After you know who the report is for, and the kinds of decisions your audience wants to base upon the information in the report, it's time to decide exactly what information should be in the report. Leaving out distracting, irrelevant material is just as important as including material of interest.
The best reports are succinct and to the point, offering readers the information they want right away, minus the clutter of information they don't care about. Keeping in mind the audience and the purpose of the report, also consider what level of formality or informality is most appropriate.
If your report has to meet the needs of several audiences, shape its content along these lines:
Determine which audience is the most critical.
Determine which information is the most important to that audience.
Display the most important information most prominently in the report.
Put other, less-important information for the most critical audience in a nearby but subordinate position.
For the other audiences, cluster the information in such a way that each group reading the report can find all the information it needs within a single area of the report.
After you determine your audience and what the report needs to contain, the next decision is how to present that information to that audience. Information can be presented in a report in many different ways — narrative text, tables of numbers, and (between those two extremes) various other methods, each effective in its own way for certain kinds of display.
For example, if you want to produce a report on video game sales figures, you would probably present the information in one format for game-industry executives and in an entirely different format for teenage video game enthusiasts. The information in both reports might be identical — but to be effective, the presentation of data should be vastly different.
The old adage goes that when you meet folks for the first time, they form an impression of you within the first 30 seconds. They decide whether they like you, trust you, or respect you. That snap judgment, based on 30 seconds of input, affects how they deal with you from then on.
Salespeople have known the truth about first impressions for a long time, which is why they "dress for success" when making a sales call. They want to make a good first impression so their prospect will be predisposed to like them, trust them, respect them, and buy from them. For all the same reasons, you want every report you create to make a good first impression so its readers buy into what you're selling: the information in your report.
One important way to make a good first impression is to make the appearance of your report appropriate for the audience and for the occasion. Know who your audience members are and what they expect this particular report to tell them. When they look at the first page of your report, it should immediately meet their expectations. They should see a clear indication of what the report is, and an engaging presentation of the information they're most interested in.
Thus, burying the most important information somewhere in the back pages of the report would be a mistake. For some reports, it may even be appropriate to state the conclusions that can be drawn from the data, right up front. It can encourage readers to dig deeper and digest the data pulled from the database that backs up your conclusions.
The Report Creation Wizard, accessible from the Crystal Reports 2008 Start Page, gives you a total of six different ways to format your report: columnar, tabular, or justified layout, in either portrait or landscape orientation. For reports that don't have to impress anybody (or for quick-and-dirty reports that you intend to run only once), one of these six options is probably fine. I show you how to use the Report Creation Wizard in Chapter 4.
For more elaborate applications, your best bet is to create the report from the ground up, using Design view. Do that by specifying Blank report on the Start Page. In Design view, you have complete freedom to arrange the various report elements on the page. You also can use many more different kinds of report elements than the Report Creation Wizard allows, and add functionality way beyond merely displaying data from the database. Throughout this book, I show you sophisticated ways to give your report's readers the information they want, in the most effective way.
If a picture is worth a thousand words, a graph is worth a lot more than a large table of numbers. Graphs and charts are valuable parts of any report that needs to show relationships between data items or trends in data. I discuss charts and graphs in Chapter 15. Some types of reports — such as those displaying sales figures for a product or for a family of products — have much more impact if they include graphs of the data along with the figures that back up the graphs. Other types (such as membership lists for organizations) won't benefit from graphs or charts.
Pictures — such as photographs, illustrations, line drawings, or even Flash animations — can greatly increase the value of some types of reports by presenting the information in an immediate, visual way. The more pathways into the brains of the readers you use, the more likely that they'll fully receive and appreciate your message.
Tip
If you think that a graph, chart, or other illustration would improve the understanding and acceptance of the content of a report, consider adding such an illustration. If you think such an addition would not improve things, then don't include one. Extraneous illustrations can distract from the message your report is supposed to convey.
The text, numbers, and graphs in a report embody the data, but how these report elements are put together — as well as the judicious use of fonts, color, layout, and white space — can also make an impression on the reader. You want that impression to be favorable. Give some thought to how to use all these style elements together to create the desired effect.
You want to communicate with the reader on an emotional level as well as on an intellectual level. If, for instance, your report is designed to inform potential investors about the benefits of investing in your company, the report should convey an aura of professionalism but at the same time be consistent with the business you're in. The prospectus for an investment-banking firm should have a very different style from the prospectus for a cutting-edge video game company. Each should convey the idea that the company understands the business it's in, but the difference in industry dictates different presentation of company information. Reports should convey a style that readers would expect to see from the top organization in its field. Style adds credibility, on an emotional level, to the facts being presented.
Modern word processing software makes available to you an almost infinite variety of typefonts. You can also choose from among thousands of colors for your text, and font sizes that range from practically invisible to one where you can barely fit a single character on a page. Of course the traditional attributes of bold, italic, and underline are also available to you.
It is tempting to go wild with fonts for titles, column headings, text, and lists. The use of too many style elements can be distracting. Choosing a few good font styles that are appropriate to the content and the audience communicates your message better.
Page layout can also either help or hinder comprehension. Don't try to cram too much onto a single page. Make judicious use of white space. Sometimes a background color other than white is a good idea. Always keep your target audience in mind. What kind of layout would be most appropriate for the people you are trying to reach? Ask yourself that question and then design your layout accordingly. Controlling report layout is something you have considerable control over if you start with a blank report. Your options are much more restricted if you use one of the report creation wizards.
Sometimes all a report needs to do is present facts in a straightforward way. Membership lists, price lists, and inventory lists fall into this category. Another category of reports, however, must do more to be effective. These reports try not only to give the reader information, but also to change the reader's thinking. To influence a reader, the sum of what's in the report should convey a uniform and unmistakable message. To make sure that point gets across, you may want to state it explicitly at the end of the report. Crystal Reports provides a space for a report footer, which is an ideal place for any such summarizing text. If appropriate, it might also include a call to action. You can read about report footer creation in Chapter 2.