HP Intelligent Management Center Standard Software Platform - Manual (Page 91)

• The purpose of this report is to show sales activity for each item in
inventory, and to suggest reorder quantities based on that activity.
• The purpose of this report is to calculate bowling averages and handicaps
for each member of the bowling league.
Defining the purpose of the report before you start is a critical step in the
overall process.
Who is going to read the report?
A single report is often used by many individuals. A detailed, company-wide
sales report, for example, may be used by sales representatives, the regional
sales manager, the national sales manager, and the Chief Operating Officer
(COO).
These individuals will be interested in different aspects of the report:
• A sales representative will use the report to evaluate individual sales
performance and compare this performance to that of other
representatives in the region.
• The regional sales manager will use the report to evaluate regional
representatives and compare the region's performance to that of other
regions.
• The national sales manager will use the report to evaluate the performance
of regional managers and compare overall sales to the current sales
forecasts.
• The COO will use the report to evaluate the performance of the
Vice-President of Marketing and the sales department as a whole, and
to project such things as manufacturing needs and warehouse locations.
Since each user of the report has different interests, it is important to plan
the report so it includes the information each user is looking for.
Crystal Reports 2008 SP3 User's Guide 91
5 Report Design Concepts
Deciding on the content of the report