Getting Started with Reports

Reports provide a way for libraries to gather information about the collections and patrons, or to perform tasks on a large number of records more quickly than library staff could manually perform the tasks using wizards. For example, you can run a report to quickly generate a list of users who have total bill amounts that exceed $15.00, or to create a list of items in your library that should be pulled from their home locations and brought to the Holds shelf.

SirsiDynix Symphony reports can do the following for your library.

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Gather statistical information to measure item use, staff productivity, and user activity

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Streamline daily library tasks. Reports can perform tasks such as loading bibliographic records, sending overdue notices to users, creating a list of items to be put into transit, or generating lists of serial claims and orders.

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Perform maintenance tasks on the SirsiDynix Symphony system by updating the catalog indexes, changing the status of groups of users, or removing many user records or item records at once when necessary

What types of reports can I use?

The SirsiDynix Symphony system includes the following types of reports.

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Count reports answer the question ”How many meet these criteria?”.

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Housekeeping reports make changes to existing information so the SirsiDynix Symphony system can run efficiently.

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Import/Export reports introduce new or updated information to the SirsiDynix Symphony system, or extract SirsiDynix Symphony information for use by an external system. An example of an import report is one that loads many bibliographic records into SirsiDynix Symphony at one time.

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Label reports produce information in a format conducive to printing labels, such as address labels and spine labels.

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List reports answer the question ”Which ones meet these criteria?”.

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Notice reports answer the question ”Who needs what information sent to them?”.

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Remove reports permanently remove information from the SirsiDynix Symphony system, such as records for items no longer in the collection.

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Statistics reports produce tables of statistical information from the SirsiDynix Symphony system, such as the average publication year of items in your library.

For more information, go to Report Types.

Where can I see a list of report groups?

Go to Report Groups for a list of the report groups that are available in SirsiDynix Symphony and SirsiDynix Symphony K12.

Do I need to set up any policies to use reports?

Use the Report Policy wizard in the Module Configuration wizards group to determine how your library will use reports. The Report wizard gives you control over the automatic emailing of notices to users, the automatic emailing of finished reports to library staff, and the automatic printing of finished reports.

How do I set up and schedule a report?

Use the Schedule New Reports Wizard wizard to configure the report selections and schedule the report to run.

Is there an example that illustrates the steps of setting up and scheduling a report from start to finish?

Reports can be used in many ways to provide very specific data needed by your library. The following example is only one possible way of using a reports to get the information you need from SirsiDynix Symphony.

You are planning a relocation project in the Main library, and you want to get a list of checked-out items before planning to shift items in the STACKS home location. With frequent new additions to your collection and a recent disposal of infrequently used materials, you have become aware that the shelving space is misused. Full sections appear to be almost empty, while other shelves are overflowing. However, because yours is a heavily-used collection, many books are currently checked out. To determine exactly which items are not available for shelving during the shift, you can use the List Items (Itemlist) report.

On the Reports toolbar, select the Schedule New Reports wizard.

Select the Bibliographic tab.

Do one of the following:

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Double-click the List Items report.

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Select the List Items report, and click Setup & Schedule.

Select the Item Selection tab, and make the following selections.

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In the Library field, type or select MAIN.

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In the Home Location field, type or select STACKS.

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In the Current Location field, type or select CHECKEDOUT. This selection is sufficient under most conditions, particularly if you will not do a shelf read along with the shift. However, if you are being meticulous, or a large number of items are charged to other locations (New Books shelf, at the Reserve Desk, or MISSING), you can select additional appropriate locations.

For the In the Shadow Catalog option, click No.

Select the Sorting tab, and select Call Number in the Sorted By list to produce a list in the order of the materials on the shelf.

Select the Print Item tab, and make the following selections.

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For the Printed Arrangement option, click Call Number Shelflist. This selection is ideal since the call number shelf list will print bibliographic information for each call number, but not for every single item.

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For the Shadow Filtering option, click Public Items.

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Under Title Information, click First Call Number, Publication Year, Entry List. In the Entry List field, click the Policy List gadget. Click List. Under List to Choose From, select 245 (the entry ID for title) and click the right arrow button to add the 245 entry ID under List Selected. Under List to Choose From, select 100 (entry ID for personal author), click the right arrow button to add the 100 entry ID under List Selected. Click OK to close the Policy List gadget.

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Under Call Number Information, click Call Number Only to ease the tracking of the call numbers as you compare the report results to the contents of the shelf.

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Under Item Information, click Brief Copy Information to include bibliographic information in the output.

Click Schedule.

Under Schedule, click ASAP.

Click Schedule to schedule the report to run as soon as possible.

On the Schedule New Reports window, click Display Finished Reports.

When the List Items report appears in the finished reports list, select the report name in the list, and click View to see the list of checked-out items that appear in the report results.

For more information on setting up and scheduling reports, go to FAQs: Scheduling New Reports.

What is the difference between using the Run Now option and the Schedule option when setting up a report?

When you are ready to schedule a report to run, you can select the Run Now option or the Schedule option.

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Run Now immediately schedules the report to run as soon as possible. You will not have the opportunity to schedule the report to run at regular intervals, nor can you select any options for printing or emailing the finished report.

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Schedule displays the Schedule [Report Name] window. Under Schedule, you can specify that the report will run immediately, just once, or regularly on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. Under Printing/Distribution, you can indicate if the report results are to be printed and/or emailed to library staff when the report finishes running.

For more information on scheduling reports, go to FAQs: Scheduling New Reports. For more information on printing and emailing finished reports, go to FAQs: Automatic Emailing and Printing of Finished Reports.

Can I save my customized report so I do not have to redo the report settings every time?

Yes. You can save your report as a template report.

Use the Schedule New Reports wizard to select an existing report and to create your selections.

Click Save as Template. Your customized report will be available for selection from the Templates tab in the Display Reports window each time you start the Schedule New Reports wizard.

Go to Using Templates Tab Reports for information on scheduling your customized report.

How do I make modifications to a report that is scheduled to run regularly?

The Scheduled Reports wizard displays reports that have already been customized and are scheduled to run in the future or periodically. The wizard provides options for you to view, modify, copy, or remove the scheduled reports, or change the report scheduling settings.

For more information, go to Scheduled Reports Wizard.

How do I view a finished report?

The Finished Reports wizard displays reports that have completed processing and are available for viewing, printing, or distributing. The wizard provides options for you to view, print, email, or remove the scheduled reports, change the report scheduling settings, or change the report ownership.

For more information, go to Finished Reports Wizard.

How do I set up WorkFlows and notice reports to automatically email notices to users who have email addresses?

WorkFlows can be configured as follows to automatically email notices generated by notice type reports to users who have valid email addresses in their user records.

On the Configuration toolbar, select the Module Configuration wizard group.

Click the Report Policy wizard.

Make sure the Allow Emailing of Notices check box is selected.

If you want to include the library’s email address on the electronic notice, select the Allow Sender’s Email Address check box.

Click Save.

On the Reports toolbar, click the Report Session wizard.

Under Setup & Schedule, select the Send Notices Automatically check box.

Under View, Print, or Email Finished Notice Reports, in the Recipients option, select Only Those With Email Addresses.

Click OK.

When you schedule a notice type report, make sure the Auto Email to Recipients with Email Addresses in Their Patron Record check box is selected under Printing/Distribution in the Schedule window. Email notices may only be sent to users when the report is first scheduled. If your library is configured for User Groups, and a member of the user group is indicated as the Notice Master on the User Groups tab of the user record, all notices for the group will be sent to the Notice Master only.

For notices to be automatically sent by email when the report is scheduled, valid email addresses must be entered in the EMAIL field of the primary address in the user record. A user may have more than one email address in the EMAIL field as long as the email addresses are separated by spaces or commas. If your library is configured for User Groups, the Notice Master user (if one is indicated for the user group) must have a valid email address in order for this option to work.

The Only Those With Email Addresses option only sends notices electronically to users with valid email addresses. No paper notices will print when this option is selected.

The Template reports do not use the default setting of the Send Notices Automatically option as set in the Report Session wizard. For these reports, you must select the Auto Email to Recipients with Email Addresses in Their Patron Record check box when you schedule the report.

For more information on configuring WorkFlows and setting up reports to automatically email notices to users, go to FAQs: Automatic Emailing and Printing of Notices.

Can I set up notice reports to automatically send notices by email to users who have email addresses, and to automatically print paper notices for users who do not have email?

Yes. WorkFlows can be configured as follows to automatically email notices generated by notice type reports to users who have valid email addresses in their user records, and to automatically print paper notices for users who do not have valid email addresses.

On the Configuration toolbar, select the Module Configuration wizard group.

Click the Report Policy wizard.

Make sure the Allow Emailing of Notices check box is selected.

If you want to include the library’s email address on the electronic notice, select the Allow Sender’s Email Address check box.

Click Save.

On the Reports toolbar, click the Report Session wizard.

Under Setup & Schedule, select the Send Notices Automatically check box.

Under View, Print, or Email Finished Notice Reports, in the Recipients option, select All.

Click OK.

When you schedule a notice type report, make sure the Auto Email to Recipients with Email Addresses in Their Patron Record check box under Printing/Distribution in the Schedule window is selected. Email notices may only be sent to users when the report is first scheduled. If your library is configured for User Groups, and a member of the user group is indicated as the Notice Master on the User Groups tab of the user record, all notices for the group will be sent to the Notice Master only.

For more information, go to FAQs: Automatic Emailing and Printing of Notices.

How do I create or modify the text in a notice?

If set in properties to display, use the Notices Helper to create or modify the text of a notice. This helper appears in the helper bar when you are setting up and scheduling a report that generates notices. The helper becomes active only when you select a report tab that uses notices.

How do I email finished reports to library staff?

WorkFlows can be configured as follows to automatically email a report to one or more users when the report finishes:

On the Configuration toolbar, select the Module Configuration wizard group.

Click the Report Policy wizard.

Make sure the Allow Direct Email check box is selected.

If you want to include the library’s email address on the emailed report, select the Allow Sender’s Email Address check box.

Click Save.

When you schedule a report, select the Email to Individual(s) check box under Printing/Distribution in the Schedule window. Use the Email Addresses Gadget to select addresses. The Email to Individual(s) field has a limit of 256 characters, including separators between email addresses. When you select the Email to Individual(s) check box, the entire report log and/or results are sent to the email address or list of email addresses. If you are sending a notice type report, email addresses will receive the entire report, including all notices generated by the report.

Make sure the Format check box adjacent to the Email to Individual(s) check box is selected so the emailed report will appear in a readable format.

Select the language in which you want the report to be sent from the Email Language drop-down list.

For notice type reports and reports that allow separate reports to be mailed to each library in the report, the Auto Email to Recipients With Email Addresses in Their Patron Record check box is available. Select this check box to email individual notices to users with valid email addresses, or to email individual reports to the email address entered in the EMAIL field in the primary address of the library’s user record.

Note: If your library is configured for User Groups, and a member of the user group is indicated as the Notice Master on the User Groups tab of the user record, all notices for the group will be sent to the Notice Master only.

In the Email Subject Line field, enter a subject (up to 64 characters) for the report email. This subject will be used for all emails sent by this report. If you prefer, you can use the default “Library Notice” text. (If you leave the field blank, the subject will use the default text.)

Note: If you include pipe characters ( | ) in the Email Subject Line field, the program will replace them with spaces before emailing the report.

In the Reply To field, type or select email addresses. The Reply To field is used for the sender address as well as the reply to address.

Click Schedule to schedule the report.

For more information on printing and emailing finished reports, go to FAQs: Automatic Emailing and Printing of Finished Reports.

If the Email to Individual(s) check box is selected when the report is scheduled, and if the Print Separate Reports for Each Library check box is selected on the Print Separate Reports for Each Library tab, the specified user(s) will receive multiple email messages for notice type reports and for the List Onshelf Items with Holds report. One of the messages will contain just the complete report log. The other mail message will contain all of the notices generated for the specific library, or will contain a partial report log and a list of holds for the specific library.

How do I configure report wizard properties?

The Report Session wizard for reports configures specific property-type settings for the report wizards on the Reports toolbar during your WorkFlows session. The values in the session settings behave in the same way that wizard properties behave. If no preferred defaults are set at the start of a Reports wizard, the Report Session wizard displays automatically for review.

The property settings you configure in the Report Session wizard will last only for the duration of the WorkFlows session. When you exit the WorkFlows session, the session settings you changed in the Report Session wizard for reports are not saved. Use the Save Properties wizard to make and save session settings changes for reports in a customized properties file. You can then load the customized properties file using the Load Properties wizard.

What is the character limit for call number on notices? Also, what MARC21 subfields print for the title (245 tag)?

The call number length is 40 characters maximum. Notice reports will print call numbers up to the character length maximum.

The subfields that will print and display is policy-defined in the catalog formats.

To see the subfields that are printed for the 245 Title tag

In the Cataloging Configuration wizards, click the Catalog Format wizard and select the MARC format.

Click Modify.

On the Entries tab, select the 245 Title entry and click Modify.

On the Display tab, select the display variation, then click the gadget in the Subfields box. The subfields that are included or excluded will be selected.