Reports

What is BLUE reporting?

The BLUE reporting module is being upgraded and updated using state-of-the-art technology provided by our partner Qlik.  Leveraging Qlik Sense technology, users will have access to interactive reports and analytics ranging from business KPIs to system usage.

In the near term, users will notice a mix of ‘legacy’ and Qlik reports.  As we migrate our legacy reports to Qlik Sense they will replace their legacy counterparts in the reports menu.

The screenshot below is an example of how to access reports from the Blue Menu.

Note: Report names and descriptions may be different in your system as they are configurable by the system administrator using the Advanced > Functions feature.

Who can access reports?

Access to view individual reports is based on security privileges assigned to the group(s) of which the BLUE user is a member.

Configuring report access (administration)

Integration of Qlik Reports with BLUE is done using standard Blue ‘Functions’.

New and upgraded installations of BLUE typically contain the standard set of reports described in the next section.  While the underlying functions are typically created by default, they are not assigned any default Group Privileges, so the they will not appear to BLUE users in the Reports Section until Group privileges are assigned for each report.

The screenshot below displays function details of the Active Task View Report – as seen in “Function Administration”.

Function Name  (1)

    • Name of the Report that users see in the Reports Section of BLUE
    • Configurable by Blue Administrator – no additional impact

URL  (2)

    • Identifies the specific Qlik report to display
    • DO NOT CHANGE  the default value unless you have been trained in updating and publishing Qlik reports
    • Sample value:
      • legacy/exclude/qlik_view.jsp?name=Active Task View
        • ‘Active Task View’ is the name of the Qlik Sheet to be displayed to the user
        • Case / Space Sensitive

Description  (3)

    • Description that users see next to the Report Name
    • Configurable by Blue Admin – no additional impact

Groups  (4)

    • Select all Groups that are allowed to view this report

Who can modify or create reports?

Customizing out-of-the-box reports and creating new reports for your users is all possible using Qlik technology. Because this requires Qlik development knowledge as well as direct access to (and an understanding of) the underlying BLUE database, all customizations to reports are carried out by our BLUE Development Operations Team and/or Professional Services.

Please contact your BLUE Software representative for more information.

What reports are included?

Here is the list of available reports. Please keep in mind that based on configuration and group-level security privileges, the list of reports available on each customer site may vary.

Note: Some reports may not be available for your system. For more information, please contact your administrator.

Default report name Type of report Description
Active Projects Report Qlik Active projects started within the last 12 months
Active Task View Legacy Legacy active task view report
Active Task View Report Qlik Analyze active tasks across users, groups and projects
Completed Projects Report Qlik Projects Completed within the last 12 months
Concurrent Users Report Legacy Provides information on maximum and average concurrent usage of the site on a month by month basis
File Order Report Legacy Lists all file orders that were made within a specific time period
KPI Cycle Report Qlik Measure and monitor cycle statistics / right-first-time
KPI Interval Legacy Provides the ability to report on intervals based on the target, scheduled, and actual duration between two work tasks for the purpose of monitoring project progress
KPI Process Report Qlik Measure and monitor on-time statistics for projects and processes
KPI Report Legacy Provides schedule information about completed projects for measuring and monitoring project performance
Project Status Report Qlik Status of all projects (active and completed)
Rejection Reason Report Qlik Rejection reasons by approval-candidate and groups
System Audit Report Legacy Lists activities that were performed on the system, on assets, and on projects
Usage Report Legacy Provides usages metrics for the site
User report Legacy Lists all users and contacts in the system
User Report Qlik List of users and contacts

Active Projects Report

    • Timeliness of in-flight projects started within the last 12 months – broken down by month
    • Details include planned and actual durations for each project
    • Users can filter by dates, status, project name and owner

Active Task View

Active Task View is a report showing active projects, sub-processes, and tasks in an expandable hierarchy format, allowing you to explore and drill down to focus on tasks that you are interested in.

The Active Task View is accessible as a report from the Reports tab, with visibility based on group access.

Note: This report was created using the legacy (BLUE 3.9) interface. As such, it does not provide translations like other BLUE 6.x pages.

Selecting Search Filters

In order to run an active task view, you must first select the search criteria. Based on your site configuration, you may see one or more of the following options:

    • Project Owner: A list of possible project owners of whom you’d like to see projects.
    • Template / Project Type: A list of templates in the system. (“Project Type” is a legacy term for templates.)
      • Note: In addition to showing active projects, users can also select to include suspended projects. 
    • Attributes: In addition, you may be able to use attribute search filters (e.g. Region, Brand, Language, etc.).
      • Note: The report searches attributes that are homed at the project-level. Attributes that are extended up to the project level are not searched when running this report.

In addition to selecting a value to search on for any of the fields, you may also select one of the below options:

    • Select One: Select this option to completely ignore this field (e.g. in the above screenshot, the results would not take “Language” into account when showing results).
    • (Any): Select this option will to take the field into account, and segment projects by this value.
      • Note: You are only allowed to select “(Any)” for one field at a time.

Viewing the results

Projects will be grouped based on the selected search criteria. Intentionally set values will be listed first (e.g. “Manager, Max” and “North America” in the above example). If any fields were selected as “(Any)”, those will follow after (e.g. “BLUE Daily” and “BLUE Natural” above).

Below these filters, the projects will appear in a hierarchical format, listed as:

    • Project Information, including status, project name, and owner.
      • Sub-process information, including all sub-processes in which there are active tasks.
        • Task information, including status, task name, and owner.

The Active Task View will only show the projects to which you have access.

The arrows represent the status of the project, sub-process, or task. A green arrow indicates it is “on time”, the yellow one “at risk”, and the red one indicating it is “late”.

If, in any of the above hierarchy structure, there is more than one active item (e.g. more than one active task within a sub-process), they will be grouped within.

Go to Task

Click on any item link to open up the task in a new tab.

Export to Excel

    • Export the report to Microsoft Excel using the Export to Excel option.

Active Task View Report

    • Total and breakdown of ALL active tasks
    • Displays both task and project timeliness (on time, late etc.)
    • Users can filter by dates, status, task name, task owner, group, and project name

Completed Projects Report

    • Timeliness of projects completed within the 12 months – broken down by month
    • Details include planned and actual durations for each project
    • Users can filter by dates, status, project name, and owner

Concurrent Users Report

    • This report provides information on maximum and average concurrent usage of the site on a month by month basis.

Choose your business units and generate a report.

File Order Report

    • This report lists all files that were published and made available for download within a specific time period.

Note: This report only references files that were published directly from the Asset Library.  Files shared in the context of a project using the Share file option are not included in the report.

  • Viewing the report
    • The report is organized by per user and is further broken down by file order, which is the set of files published during a single transaction.
    • The report includes the name of the user who published the files, the date and time they were published, as well as information about the published files, including the file number, file type, file name, required item, and file size.

Export to Excel

    • Export the report to Microsoft Excel using the Export to Excel option.

KPI Cycle Report

    • Key Performance Indicators for Completed Projects
      • ‘Right First Time’ totals and percentages
      • Rejection Reasons
    • Users can filter by dates, groups, template name, task name, project name, and owner
    • The Candidate Name column is a list of approval candidate Ids from the template.

KPI Interval

    • This report provides information on intervals for completed projects, based on the target, scheduled, and actual duration between two work tasks for the purpose of monitoring project progress.

Viewing the report

    • To generate a report, select an active baseline start date, and an optional end date. Then select a template.
    • After choosing a template, you may be able to choose some custom field filters.
    • Select an optional project owner filter.

Note: The report prefix configured in Template Settings is appended to the task names shown in the dialog where the user selects the From Task and To Task.  In the following example, the selected From Task is “PLM Initiation & Data Transfer”.  The task name displayed is prepended with the report prefix of “BLUE” resulting in “BLUEPLM Initiation & Data Transfer”.

Here is an example KPI Interval Report, showing the scheduled and actual duration for completing task A to task B.

KPI Process Report

    • Key Performance Indicators for Completed Projects
      • Timeliness percentages for Projects and Processes
    • Details include target and actual durations
    • Users can filter by dates, groups, process name, project name, and owner

KPI Report

    • This report provides schedule information about completed projects for measuring and monitoring project performance.

Viewing the report

    • Selecting the KPI Report opens a new KPI Report window where you can provide report parameters and view report results. When appropriate, the report results will contain links to allow you to drill down to a more granular level. The original browser session tab remains open and displays the actual schedule of the underlying process, milestone, or task as you click on them from within the report.
    • To generate a report, select one or more processes and/or tasks:
      • Processes
        • This is a list of templates, approval candidate Ids, and sub-process names from the template in the form <ReportPrefix><Sub-ProcessName>. The approval candidate Id is associated on the template’s cycle tasks.
          • For example, if the report prefix is (AAT) and the template’s sub-process name is Artwork Phase, then the Processes list would show this entry: (AAT)Artwork Phase.
      • Tasks
        • This is a list of template task names, including milestones, in the form <ReportPrefix><TaskName>.
          • For example, if the report prefix is (AAT) and the template’s task name is Upload File for Approval, then the Tasks list would show this entry: (AAT)Upload File for Approval.
    • You may be able to choose some custom field filters.
    • Select an optional process or task owner filter.

Export to Excel

    • Export the report to Microsoft Excel using the Export to Excel option.

Navigation within the KPI Report Window

    • Hyperlinks within the report will either allow you to drill down to reveal additional information in the KPI Report window, or display the actual schedule of a specific process, milestone, or task in the original browser tab.
    • Click Modify to return to the report parameters page, where you can update the selection criteria and resubmit the request for the report.
    • Click Close to return to the top level of the report.

Here is an example, with some selected processes:

About the KPI Report

When there is additional information associated with the process or task, its name is represented as a blue link in the Type column. Similarly, when there are rejected cycles, the number under the Rejected Cycles column is a blue link.

Here are some example results, showing the quantity of associated items, as well as the cycle and duration information. In the following example, the approval candidate Id called “ApprovalCandidate” is associated with 59 distinct cycles—with 7 rejected cycles for a total of 66 cycles.

Viewing the process or task summary page

Click on a blue process or task link under the Type column to view its summary. For example, here is the summary report for the approval candidate Id called “ApprovalCandidate”.

Viewing Rejection Reasons

When viewing the KPI Report, if the Rejected Cycles column has a value, click on this number to see the rejection reasons for the associated cycles. Here is an example showing the rejection reasons for the seven rejected cycles. Three cycles were rejected because of spelling errors.

Project Status Report

    • Timeliness of ALL projects in the system
    • Details include planned and actual durations for each project
    • Users can filter by dates, status, project name and owner

Rejection Reason Report

    • Rejection Reasons broken down by Project, Group, and User
      • Projects with more than one approval cycle
    • Users can filter by dates, project name, groups, and users.

System Audit Report

    • The system audit report lists activities that were performed on the system, on files, and on projects.

Choose some filters and get a list of activities that were performed on the selected date or date range.

Export to Excel

    • Export the report to Microsoft Excel using the Export to Excel option.

Usage Report

    • Provides usages metrics for the site. The results are listed per business unit. The default usage report is a summary of all business units. Select the business unit to its metics. The usage report includes metrics and for the following:
      • Total Number Of Logins
      • Total number of files that were added
      • Total number of files in the system as of <Start Date>
      • Total number of ordered files
      • Total number of downloaded files
      • Total number of initiated top-level projects
      • Total number of completed projects
      • Total number of cancelled projects
      • Total number of initiated approval cycles
      • Total number of approved cycles
      • Total number of rejected cycles
      • Total number of cancelled cycles

Viewing the report

Choose a business unit to view its metrics. Or view the default report, which lists the totals for all of the business units.

Export to Excel

    • Export the report to Microsoft Excel using the Export to Excel option.

Here is a usage report for a site with different business units.

Here is an example of a default report.

User report (legacy)

    • Lists all users and contacts in the system
  • Viewing the report
    • Search for users by entering search criteria, or export the results to Microsoft Excel.
    • Users are organized by company and display the user’s name, username, business unit, business phone, e-mail, user status, and groups they belong. The user status is the user’s log in status (whether or not they are allowed to log into the system).
    • If there are custom fields associated with a user, you can see these in the custom fields column.

Export to Excel

    • Export the report to Microsoft Excel using the Export Search Results to Excel our Export All Users to Excel option.

User Report (Qlik)

    • Lists all user accounts in the system
    • The total number of users is the unique number of users.
    • If a user belongs to more than one group, they will appear in this list once for each group they belong to.
    • Details include username (user login), name, business unit, business phone, email, status, company and group(s).

About Qlik Reports

End users simply click on the link for the report they wish to view.

Reports are interactive. When a report is displayed you can click on any of the components of the report (e.g. a ‘slice’ on a pie chart) to dynamically filter your view based on your selection(s).

We’ll use the ‘Active Task’ Report as a point of reference to take a closer look at some of the more common and powerful features found in each of the reports.

Report Layout

While each report is slightly different based on the type of information being presented, we can use the Active Task Report above to describe the general layout and common components you will see.

Filters  (1)

Apply one or more filters to view the data that’s important to you.

Charts  (2 & 3)

The top center and right typically displays chart(s) to visually represent key information.  In the example above, we can see there are 1,501 tasks and the pie-chart displays a breakdown of tasks by task owner group.

Detail View  (4)

Detailed data is displayed in a table-view – usually at the bottom of the Qlik report. Use the horizontal and vertical scrollbar so you can view all of the data.

Applied Filters  (5)

The title bar will display summary information filters the user has selected.  In the screenshot above, no filters have been selected.

Bookmarks  (6)

Save your filters as bookmarks, or choose one of your saved bookmarks from the list.

Horizontal Scroll

A horizontal scrollbar will appear at the bottom of the report when table data exceeds the visible width of the screen.  This means that all column data is available for viewing by scrolling horizontally.

 

Working with Filters

Apply filters to narrow the search results and focus on certain data. For example, if you’re only interested in viewing tasks associated with two specific workflow templates, use the Template dropdown filter to filter the results.

In this example, two Template filters are applied.

As the user selects or clears items in the drifter drop down, the rest of the report charts and table detail view dynamically updates to display information relevant to the selected items.

Filter Options

When applying filters, choose from the following options:

    • Select all
    • Select possible
    • Select alternative (when some are selected) – will select all deselected (only eligible to other filters) Items.
    • Select excluded (when some are selected) – will select the list of values which are not available due to other applied filters.
    • Search for items to filter on – by typing in the text box
    • Clear selection
    • Confirm Selection – applies filters and closes the filter panel
    • Cancel Selection – removes filters and closes the filter panel

Clearing Filters

Clicking on a selected item will clear it, click the Cancel selection option  to cancel or click   to clear all of the selected items.

Applying filters

To apply the selected filters, click  to confirm the selection, or simply click anywhere else on the report.

Viewing Applied Filters

Filters appear in the title bar of the report to remind the user which filters are currently applied.  There is no limit to the number of filters that can be applied at one time.

Clicking on the filter summary in the title bar will reopen the filter menu allowing you to update or remove it.

Charts – Filtering

We’ve seen how to work with standard filters, but Qlik makes working with data even easier still.

Almost everything displayed on the screen can be used as a filter by simply clicking on it!

For example, in the partial screenshot below, the user clicked on the piece of the pie-chart that displays tasks assigned to the ‘Process Coordinator’ group.  The action of clicking that piece of data opens a Filter Selection dialog where the user can apply the filter, select more items or cancel the selection.

Charts – Other Actions

Some charts, like the pie-chart above allow the user to customize the view. Options are limited and vary depending on the type of chart.

Using the exploration menu

Right click on the pie-chart above provides the user with the option to

The Exploration Menu lets the user take control of some of the presentation aspects of the chart:

    • Sorting
    • Presentation (e.g. pie-chart or donut)
    • Labels to display on the chart
    • Colors and legend

View data in chart or table format

For all charts and graphs, view the underlying data in table format. To view view in table format, right click on the chart, and toggle between viewing the chart and its data in table format (choose View data or View chart).

Here is the data in chart format:

Here is the data in table format:

Detail View

The Detail View is simple tabular data – similar to a spreadsheet.

    • Sorting – data can be sorted by clicking on the column headings
    • Filtering – clicking on a cell within the Detail View opens the Filter Selection dialog with a default value matching the value in the selected cell. From within the dialog the user can select multiple values, search for values, etc. – then choose to either apply or cancel the selection.
    • “Go To Task” (or Project) – Some reports provide a link to the user which will bring them directly to a specific task or project.  Clicking the link opens the task or project in a new tab within the browser.

Searching

The primary reason to search for data within a report is so you can filter data based on it.  With that in mind, here are two common uses of the Search capabilities within Qlik.

Tip: When searching for special characters, use the asterisk (*) wildcard immediately before and after the character(s) you are searching for.

Example: When searching a field containing email addresses:

    • Searching for smith will return email addresses that contain ‘smith’ anywhere in the string (expected)
    • Searching for *smith* will return email addresses that contain ‘smith’ anywhere in the string (expected)
    • Searching for just a dash – will return everything (even values with no dash)
    • Searching for *-* will return only email addresses that contain a dash (–)

Standard Search

Clicking on the spyglass next to a column heading in the Detail View, or within a Filter Selection dialog allows the user to search for a matching value within the list of items for that specific data item.

As the user enters text, the resulting list of values is filtered.

The user can select items in the list to apply to the report filter.

Smart Search

Smart Search allows the user to enter a value to search against, then searches all charts and data items in the entire report for matches.  Results are displayed to the user, who can then select which data elements (if any) should be used as filters.

In this example, we are searching on the term “leaflet” and there are two results: one match on project name and one match on sub-process name.

After choosing the Project Name filter in the list, the project name filter is applied to the results and the list of tasks is updated. There are three tasks that match the updated search filter criteria.

About Qlik Bookmarks

Filtering a report to display the exact subset of data you’re interested in often involves the use of several filters. Once you’ve made all your filter selections, use bookmarks to save those filters so they can be applied quickly in future sessions.

Bookmarks are saved to the system, and can only be seen and used by the user who created them.  There is no limit to the number of bookmarks that can be created.

The button is available in the upper right on all core reports. Clicking the Bookmarks button will open the bookmarks dialog, where you can apply or delete an existing bookmark, or create a new one.

Creating Bookmarks

To create a new bookmark, apply as many filters as needed, then click the Bookmarks button.  In the bookmarks dialog, provide a name and description, then click Create. The new book mark is displayed in the list.

In the screenshot below, the user is creating a new bookmark to save the two filters that have been applied to the Active Task View report.

Applying Bookmarks

Click on the Bookmark button and choose the bookmark in the list to automatically apply the filters associated with it to the current report.

Deleting Bookmarks

You can delete your unwanted bookmarks from the list by clicking on the delete action for the the appropriate bookmark row.  

Export options

Right-clicking on any report object (e.g. pie-chart, details list, etc.) will display a pop-up menu with the following options:

    • Export as an image
    • Export to PDF
    • Export data

Exporting as an image

This option allows the user to generate an image of the chart as it is currently displayed on the screen.  Export respects all filters that are currently applied to the report.

The user can choose the target dimensions and File Type (.png / .jpeg)

Note: The image generated is exactly as seen on screen.  If you are creating an image from a Detail View, only the visible rows will appear on the image.

Exporting to PDF

This option allows the user to generate a PDF of the chart as it is currently displayed on the screen.  Export respects all filters that are currently applied to the report.

The user can select the following:

    • Paper Size
    • Resolution (dpi)
    • Orientation
    • Aspect Ratio

Note: The PDF generated is exactly as seen on screen.  If you are creating a PDF from a Detail View, only the visible rows will appear on the PDF.

Exporting data

This option exports the data represented in the chart (or Detail View) to a CSV which can be opened in Microsoft Excel or similar applications.

The exported data respects the filters applied, but is NOT limited to what appears on the screen.  ALL data in the result-set is exported, INCLUDING columns which are not visible on-screen.

Your browser’s functionality will prompt you to either view or save the file locally.