HP Intelligent Management Center Standard Software Platform - Manual (Page 90)

Basic report design
The purpose of this section is to suggest a structured approach to preparing
a Crystal report. This approach includes the following elements:
• Deciding on the content of the report.
• Developing a prototype on paper.
This section has been designed to provide a conceptual understanding of
the reporting process.
Deciding on the content of the report
Before you do anything else, you should outline the information you want
the report to provide. The following sections provide a guide to making that
outline.
Stating the purpose
What is the overall purpose of the report?
Reports are management tools. Their purpose is to help you quickly grasp
the essential elements and relationships found in raw data, to help you make
effective decisions. For a report to be effective, it has to present the correct
data in a logical way. If it presents the wrong data, or if it presents the right
data in a haphazard manner, the report may slow the decision-making
process or may even encourage incorrect decisions.
A good starting place in the development of a report is to write out the purpose
of the report in a sentence or two. The purpose statement helps you focus
on your primary needs, and it gives the report both a starting point and a
goal.
Here are some examples of purpose statements.
• The purpose of this report is to show monthly and year-to-date sales by
sales representatives, compare this year's numbers to last year's, and
flag representatives whose sales figures do not meet company standards.
90 Crystal Reports 2008 SP3 User's Guide
Report Design Concepts 5
Basic report design