Report sources
Report sources are predefined data sets for creating reports.
Use report sources for reports containing the same conditions, so you do not have to define the conditions more than once. You can also use report sources to implement the same definitions across your organization.
In the Visualization Designer, your report sources are available when you filter a table on predefined conditions.
A report source always consists of a table and a number of conditions. When you create a new report, you can either use a report source or select a table. Some examples of report sources are open incidents, closed problems, and so on.
Use the option to create a report source based on the conditions of an existing report, or see the following steps for creating a source based on new conditions you add.
For more tips on using report sources, see How to save time with Report Sources.
Parent Topic:Administering reports
Create a report source
Create a custom set of data that you can use to create reports.In the Report Designer, report sources are called Data Sources.
Before you begin
Role required: report_admin.
About this task
If you update the conditions in a report source, these conditions are automatically propagated to all reports based on that report source.
Procedure
Navigate to All > Reports > Administration > Report Sources.
To create a report source from an existing report, open the report, and select
Save as data sourcefrom the Save menu. The table and task conditions are populated in the report source record.Select New.
Fill in the fields on the form, as appropriate.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Name | The name of the report source. For example, `Open incidents` |
| Table | The table on which the report source is based. For example, Incident [incident]. |
| Description | A more detailed description of what the report source does and its purpose. |
| Filter | Conditions for which table records to include in the report source. For example, to include open incidents, select [State] [is] [Active] for the Incident table.Note: Sorting on data fields is accessible from within reports for some report types. For information on how to access, search for the Add Sort field description in a Report types topic for the report type to sort the data on.
|
To view reports based on a report source, select the Reports using this report source related link in the report source record.
Select Submit.
What to do next
Use the report source to create a report.
Note: While a report source is used by active reports, you can’t delete it.