If you do not want to base your report on an existing query, you can create a new report from scratch. You build a report in much the same way as creating a query, adding attributes, sorting data and adding criteria if required.

To create a new report:

1. In the Query and Report Designer, on the Actions list, click New Report.
   The New Report dialog appears.

Alternatively, to create a report based on an existing query, right-click the relevant query, then click Create Report from Query.
The Create Report dialog appears with the title completed with the name of the query.

2. Type a Title and Description for your report, then select the Module and Business object upon which you want to base the report.
3. If required, select the shortcut group to which you want to add the report.
4. Specify whether this report is for you only, or whether it is available to everyone, then click OK.
   The Report Designer starts.
5. From the Attributes tree, double-click the attributes that will form your report onto the Selected Attributes list.

To remove an attribute from the Selected Attributes list, right-click it, then click Remove.
To remove all attributes, click Remove All.
To change the order of the columns that appear in the List panel, select the column, then drag it to the required position.

6. Double-click the required attributes from the collections in the same way.

When you add an attribute from a collection onto the Selected Attributes list, if it is the first attribute you have selected from that collection, a new tab is created alongside the Preview tab. You can add further collection attributes onto the Selected Attributes list, and they will appear on the relevant tab.

7. If required, order and sort the attributes. If you want to group your report, you must specify at least one sort order.
8. Click Next.
   The Report Groupings page appears.

If you want to group the report, you must specify at least one sort order. Grouping is hierarchical: you cannot group on the last attribute without selecting all previous attributes. If you want to sort by a particular attribute, you must ensure that you have the attributes in the correct sort order.

9. If required, select the attributes by which you want to group the report, then click Next.
   The Criteria page appears.
10. If required, drag the required attribute for which you want to specify criteria, and complete the relevant information.
    You specify criteria for a report in the same way that you specify criteria for a query. For information about specifying criteria, see Creating criteria for your query.
11. Click Next.
12. Make any required changes to the general settings for the report, then click Finish.
    You are prompted to save the report.

When you first add an attribute to your report, the data appears in the order in which it was originally entered into the database. It is much easier to review or find information when you can see it sorted in a logical format. For example, you may want to have a Customer list sorted alphabetically by name or by country.

When you sort data, you need to specify two things:

• The attribute that you want the sort to be based on.
• The sort direction – either ascending or descending.

You can sort the data in your report in either ascending or descending order.

• Ascending – smallest to largest (1 to 9, A to Z, False to True). The Report Designer sorts the records in ascending order based on the values in the sort attribute you select.
• Descending – largest to smallest (9 to 1, Z to A, True to False). The Report Designer sorts the records in descending order based on the values in the sort attribute you select.

If required, you can select more than one column with which to sort your data. You can sort your report by any column, apart from columns that contain free text such as Details.

If you want to group the report, you must specify at least one sort order.

In many reports you need to break the data into groups to make it easier to read and to understand. In a customer list, for example, a group might consist of all those customers living in the same region. In a call report, a group might consist of all the orders placed by the same customer and so on.

You group your report from the Grouping branch on the Report tree.

Grouping is hierarchical, in that you cannot group on the last attribute without selecting all previous attributes. If you want to sort by a particular attribute, you must ensure that you have the attributes in the correct sort order.

You can configure the general settings for each report from the General branch on the Report tree.

These include:

• The Report Title – This appears at the top of the report. If required, you can specify that the title is repeated on every page of the report.
• The Report Style – This specifies the font and appearance of the report. There are three cascading style sheets (.css) that control the appearance of the report. These are called: ReportSmall.css, ReportMedium.css, and ReportLarge.css, and are stored in the Program Files\LANDesk\LANDesk Service Desk folder. The main difference between these style sheets is the size of font used. If you have a working knowledge of modifying style sheets, you can modify them to further control the appearance of your reports.

The style sheets used with these reports are stored locally on each computer. If you know how to modify style sheets, you can configure the appearance of your reports further. However, as the style sheets are stored locally, only you will see the changes reflected in your report. The Query and Report Designer uses style sheets in a different way from how web pages use cascading style sheets, that is, each time a report is generated, it takes the information from within the style sheet and adds it to the report, rather than the report and style sheet being dynamically linked. This means that changes to the style sheet are reflected on any subsequent reports, however, the appearance of existing reports remains unchanged.

• How frequently the results list is refreshed
• Whether you want to show items that have been soft deleted
• Whether you want to display the top ‘n’ records only.
• The number of characters that appear per line in each column. This does not truncate the data, rather it wraps the data within the column.

If you want to truncate the data, on the Report tree, click Attributes. Right-click the relevant attribute, then click Properties on the shortcut menu. The Attribute Properties dialog appears. Click the Appearance tab, then select the Truncate to check box and specify the character limit. Click OK on the Attribute Properties dialog to save the changes you have made.

• Whether you want to display the table headers on each page.
• Whether you want to add the date and time the report was generated to the report.
• Whether you want to include the report summary on the report. This details the criteria used to create the report.
• Whether you want to include counts for groups.
• Whether you want to include the total record count at the end of the report.