Viewing and filtering reports
  • 27 Sep 2024
  • 9 minutes to read

Viewing and filtering reports


Article summary

As a Site Administrator (or another user with the appropriate permissions) you can can create custom user reports and provide access to other users to view and export the report.

Access to reports is assigned based on a user's role within the system. You can access reports through the dedicated Reports area via the top navigation, or you can manage reports from Quick-access menu > Reports

The Reports dashboard will only appear in the top navigation menu if the user has been assigned a role that has been permitted access to a report. Within the Reports dashboard, click on a report's thumbnail or title to open and view it.

Site Administrators have access to all shared reports.

Sorting report results

The report data will appear in columns in the order set by the creator of the report, however columns can be sorted and hidden as required when viewing.

Clicking a highlighted column heading will re-sort the available data based on that column. An arrow will appear next to the column heading to indicate whether the data is sorted in ascending (A-Z for alphabetical data and 1-9 for numerical data) or descending order (Z-A for alphabetical data and 9-1 for numerical data).

A report viewer can choose to hide and unhide columns from their own display. Select the Show/Hide Columns button and use the checkboxes to hide or show the corresponding data columns then click the OK button.

Pagination

Where the maximum number of records to display per page has been reached, a report will become paginated. At the bottom of the page, use page numbers or the (Next) and (Previous) links to navigate through the data.

Searching report results

When creating a custom report, the report manager can add search options to help viewers find specific results and refine the information displayed.

Search options will appear at the top of the report view page. Use the fields and filters to help search the report for specific data, such as a particular learner or date range. Click Show more... to show all available search fields.

There are different types of search options available, based on the data field and the selected report source.

Search options often have a dropdown menu where different options for data filtering can be selected. Note that search fields are divided into two categories; Required search and Search by. The Required search fields are those that have been specified as mandatory by the report's creator, while the fields under the Search by heading can optionally be used to further narrow down the report results.

After entering any search criteria, click the Search button. Results of the report will appear at the bottom of the page.

If the report will not run it may be because a required filter hasn't been applied. When editing a report specific search fields can be marked as Filtering required, meaning you need to select an option for that field before you can run and view the report.

If an option hasn't been selected for a required field a warning message will be displayed.

Text search

A text search allows searching for information based on free-form text. The search has the following options:

  • Contains: Search for records that contain the text entered (if no text is entered, then the filter is disabled)
  • Doesn't contain: Search for records that do not contain the text entered
  • Is equal to: Search for records that are equal to the text
  • Starts with: Search for records that start with the text entered
  • Ends with: Search for records that end with the text entered
  • Is empty: Search for records that are equal to an empty string
  • Is not empty: Search for all records without an empty string

Selected search

A select filter refines information based on a dropdown list of options. The values in the dropdown will vary depending on the search field. Filters might include:

  • Is any value: This option disables the filter (i.e. all information is accepted by this filter)
  • Is equal to: This option allows only information that is equal to the value selected from the list
  • Is not equal to: This option allows only information that is different from the value selected from the list
  • Any of the selected: This option will return results in any of the selected values
  • None of the selected: This option will not return results on any of the selected values
  • All of the selected: This option will return results on all of the selected values
  • Not all of the selected: This option will not return results on all of the selected values

Date search

A date search refines the records by date or date range. A search for records from before and/or after selected dates, and a search for records that are a certain number of days before and/or after the date of the report generation, can be entered.

To apply a date filter, use the checkbox to enable the corresponding field and enter a day, month and year, or use the calendar icon to open a calendar view to select the required date.

Use the Include record when date is missing option to ensure records are not missed (where they match the search but are missing the relevant data). 

The timezone of the user viewing the report can affect the records displayed with certain date filters applied e.g. Course Start Date.

For example, if User A in New Zealand creates (or edits) a course and sets the start date to 19th January, User B in an earlier timezone e.g. California may not see the course if the report filter is set to 'Start date is after 18th January'. This is because User B is in a timezone that could still be in the previous day.

Red-amber-green status

The Certification completion report source has a column titled Red-amber-green status, but rather than being a column that appears in the report results table, this is actually a filter by which to view content. 

This filter allows you to filter information based on a set of checkboxes:

  • Red for expired or overdue certifications
  • Amber for due or expiring certifications
  • Green for assigned certifications or completed certifications (also called 'certified')

Like traffic lights, these filters let you know which certifications require action and how urgent that action might be. 

You can select one or more of the coloured status filters to apply. Choosing none or all of the filters will essentially disable the filter as it will show all results. 

The colour-coordinated status will show in the report results in the Status column

Filtering report results

When creating a custom report, the report manager can also add filters to help viewers refine the information displayed. There are a number of different filters available for each report, depending on the report source selected.

Filters have one or more dropdown menus where different options for data filtering can be entered.

Click Show more... to show all available filters.

Saved searches

When viewing a report and using the search feature you can save searches to quickly return to them at a later date. A saved search allows report viewers to replicate a search and/or filters as required, or to share a search and/or filters with other report viewers. For example, in the Courses report you could save a search to only display courses from a specific Course category.

Saved searches can also be used when setting up scheduled reports.

Once you (or other users) have created at least one shared saved search then the Saved searches section will be available at the top of the report. From here users can select different searches using the View a saved search dropdown list. As the report creator you can also select which saved search will be used as the default by choosing the search from the dropdown and clicking Set as your default view.

Use the Manage your saved searches page to edit or delete a saved search. Here you can see a list of saved searches visible to you (you will not be able to see other users' Private saved searches).

In the Options column you can either edit () or delete () the saved search.

Any user with the totara/reportbuilder:managereports capability (by default this is Site Administrators and Site Managers) can view and manage all shared saved searches.

Viewing email addresses

It is possible to view email addresses in the report builder, although the value Email is private may be displayed when viewing the User's Email column in a report.

If problems with the visibility of the user email field are encountered, check the following few settings and capabilities.

The site:viewuseridentity capability will also need to be enabled (set to Allow) for the relevant role. By default this is enabled for the Trainer, Editing Trainer and Manager (not Staff Manager) roles, however this is a course context capability, so the user's role must be assigned in the system context to grant visibility in Report Builder.

It is also important to note that the column User's Email (ignoring user display setting) should be added to the report. The Email column respects email visibility regardless of permissions, which could lead to the warning that Email is private, even when viewing as a Site Administrator.

Alternatively an administrator can set the capability site:viewuseridentity to Allow for the Authenticated User role and then restrict the report to the Trainer role in any context. This would provide access to the Trainer to view the user's email address in the report. Note that this change would expose user email addresses to enrolled users in the course context, so a role override at the course or category context would be required.

Site Managers cannot access report columns relating to a user's performance by default.

This includes the following columns: 

Appraisal Answers: Learner's Answers, Learner's Rating Answers, Learner's Score, Manager's Answers, Manager's Rating Answers, Manager's Score, Manager's Manager Answers, Manager's Manager Rating Answers, Manager's Manager Score, Appraiser's Answers, Appraiser's Rating Answers, Appraiser's Score, All Roles' Answers, All Roles' Rating Answers, All Roles' Score.

Goals: Goal Name, Goal Description

To give Site Managers access to this data, the role must be updated with the following capabilities:

  • totara/appraisal:viewallappraisals
  • totara/hierarchy:viewallgoals

Troubleshooting

Why isn't a report working as expected?

In some instances you may find that a report does not work as expected. If this happens, you can review the SQL code to better understand how it functions.

You can obtain the SQL code by following these steps:

  1. View the report in a browser and append '&debug=1' to the report URL (e.g. /totara/reportbuilder/report.php?id=37&debug=1). 
  2. This will display the SQL code and the parameters which are being executed, which can then be copied to a text file and sent to the Totara Support team.

Why don't custom profile fields display in my report?

When custom fields are added using the report builder they may not display for some users. The users viewing the report require the moodle/user:update capability to see the custom profile fields.

To check whether a user can see the custom profile fields, follow these steps:

  1. Navigate to Quick-access menu > Users > Permissions > Check system permissions.
  2. Select the user.
  3. Click Show this user's permissions.
  4. Enter moodle/user:update in the filter field.
  5. Check to see if this capability is set to Allowed - Yes.

Why isn't my report being cached at the specified time?

In some instances, when report caching for a specific report is set at a particular time (e.g. daily at 9pm), it may not be cached at the time specified, and will instead be generated later. This is because cached reports are prepared one after another, i.e. when the first is finished the second is started, and so on. This is done in one stream to avoid database overload. If there is more than one report that needs to be cached, a delay is possible depending on the size of the reports. The order is not specified and it is not guaranteed that report caches will be refreshed in the same sequence each time.

Next steps

Get involved in the conversation about Reporting on the Totara Community. 

The Totara Academy has a whole course dedicated to using Reports in Totara. Here you can learn more on how to use reports, see best practice, and give it a go yourself.

Can't find what you're looking for? Contact us at documentation@totara.com. Alternatively, book a call to have a chat about your Totara platform with a dedicated Customer Success Manager.

© Copyright 2024 Totara Learning Solutions. All rights reserved.

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