Steps to Prepare a Report Run

Below are the full steps to prepare a report run in Accelerus. In this example, a three portion report is being prepared, being made up of a single page cover, a portion containing subject reports, with each subject taking up part of a page, and a full page report for the Home Group subject. The steps would be amended to suit your needs.

•	On the computers being used to prepare the report run, make sure that a supported version of Microsoft Word is installed.

•	If you do not have a management installation of Accelerus, download and install the Accelerus Fields add-in.

•	Ensure that the suggested Word display options have been set.

•	Set up folders for your various report runs.

•	Ensure that you have set up your subjects and their assessment items to be reported upon in the report run.

•	Decide on the formats required for your reports for the report run, in particular the different portions and their requirements, keeping in mind the definition of a portion.

•	Ask yourself the following sorts of questions:

➢	Are there distinctly different needs for different parts of the full report, eg a cover page, a summary page, some subjects needing to have a page to themselves whereas other subjects are printed together on the one page?

➢	Are all subjects reported on in much the same way, eg a full page per subject, or each subject uses up part of a page, or runs on directly after the subject before it.

➢	Do I want a front cover, or a special report that comes printed out at the beginning of the reports?

If so, is any of the data being printed on this page subject-specific, eg results, comments, the name of the subject, etc, or is it just generic information, such as the student's details.

➢	Is there something you want to print out in specific places on the report that is not subject-specific, eg a table header, a legend, Principal's name and signature, etc?

The decision flowchart will help you decide on your report run's structure, layout needs and the types of templates you require for each portion.

•	Go to the File menu and select New > Report Run

•	Click the New report run icon in the toolbar.

SRP NewReportRunIcon

•	In the Details section of the Prepare Report Run window:

➢	Insert a unique code for the report run, eg 2013Sem2, 2013Term1, etc.

➢	Insert a name for the report run, keeping in mind that this name is often inserted into the report templates as a field.

➢	Insert the start date and end date for the report run, ie the period that it covers, ensuring that these dates include all academic cycles that need to be reported upon at this time.

➢	If you wish to use the feature of the reminding teachers of the date by which results are due:

®	In the Result entry due date field, enter or select the date by which teachers are expected to have all results for the report run entered.

®	Enter or select the date on which you propose to print reports.

➢	By default, Pending will be displayed in the Status field for a new report run. Change this to Current if you wish to begin reminding teachers of the due date for this run.

➢	Click the Browse icon at the end of the Template Folder field and, in the Browse for Folder window that appears, find the folder that has been set up to store the report run’s templates.

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➢	Save the new report run, ie press Ctrl S or click the Save icon in the toolbar.

•	Click the Create style template icon at the end of the Style Template field.

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•	In the New Style Template directory box that appears, name the new template, eg Int2 Styles.dot, and click the Save button.

•	Wait while the style template is created, and its name will appear in the Style Template field when completed.

•	Click the Save icon or press Ctrl S.

•	Click the Open style template in Word icon at the end of the Style Template field.

SRP Step2B

•	Set up the style template to contain the Word formatting styles to be used throughout the report, especially the Normal style.

•	Set the default page settings, including paper orientation, margins, etc.

•	Save and close the style template when complete.

For each report portion required for the report run, follow these steps:

•	Click the report run name in the Report Structure box.

•	Click the New report portion icon at the bottom of the Report Structure box and a new portion will appear below the report run name.

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•	In the Name field of the Report Portion section, enter an appropriate name for the new portion, especially important when there are to be many different portions to the report.

•	Select the required layout style from the dropdown box, ie whether part or full page reports, with or without a common format.

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•	Only if a part page or full page common layout style has been chosen:

➢	Click the Create layout template icon at the bottom of the Report Portion section.

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➢	In the Create new layout template box that appears:

®	Either accept the selected option and default name for the file that appears, eg Subject table_Layout, or assign another name.

®	If the new layout template is to be based on one already created, tick the Initialise checkbox and click the Browse button to select the already-existing layout template on which the new template is to be based.

®	Click the OK button.

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➢	Wait while the layout template is created, with its name appearing in the Layout Template field when completed.

➢	Click the Save icon or press Ctrl S.

➢	Click the Open layout template in Word icon below the Report Portion section.

➢	In Microsoft Word, set up the layout template:

®	Page margins, orientation and other page layout features of the particular portion, where these are different to the style template.

®	Any headers and footers that are to apply to each page of the portion, including appropriate page layout settings where you want a different first page and/or odd and even headers or footers.

®	Insert report fields in the locations where you want replacement data to print, eg the student’s name, the report run name, etc.

®	Save and close the layout template when complete.

•	Repeat the above steps for other portions required in the report run.

•	If you created the new portions in the incorrect order, use the Move up and Move down icons to move the individual portions into the order that you want them to print.

SRP Step7

•	Save the Prepare Report Run window by pressing Ctrl S or clicking the Save icon.

Follow the steps here, for each portion, in the following situations only:

•	For any general template slots.

•	For subject template slots where your subjects do not contain default report template slots or you want to set up distinctly-named slots that are not the same as those found in each subject record.

Otherwise, skip this step if all slots are to be created automatically based on the default slots in each subject’s record.

•	In the Report Structure pane, click the portion to which you want to add a slot.

•	Click the New template slot icon.

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•	In the Report Template Slot section, insert a name for the slot.

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•	Add more slots in the same way, as required for each portion.

•	Ensure that the slots are in the order required. If they are not, use the Move up and Move down icons to order the slots correctly.

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If, in any portion, there is any text that is to appear in particular locations in the report, that is not subject-specific, eg a table header row, a signatures section, a front page, etc, create general templates, as required:

•	Click the correct portion and slot in the Report Structure pane.

•	Click the Add general report template icon at the bottom of the Report Templates table.

SRP Step10

A new row will appear for the new general template in the Report Templates table.

•	Select the condition that applies to the particular general template from the dropdown list in the Condition column, ie whether the general template is to always print, or only if the student has a subject in the portion or slot.

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•	Click in the new general template row and then click the Create templates icon or right click and select Create 1 general template.

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•	In the Create new general template file box that appears:

➢	Accept the selected option and suggested name or choose another name that clearly identifies the general template, especially if there are to be multiple general templates in the report run.

➢	If the new general template is to be based on a template that has already been created, tick the Initialise checkbox and click the Browse button to select the already-existing template on which the new template is to be based.

➢	Click the OK button and wait while the general template is created and its name appears in the Template column of its row.

SRP Step15

•	With the general template highlighted, click the Open templates in Word icon at the bottom of the Report Template table.

•	Double click its template name.

•	In Microsoft Word:

➢	Set up the body of the general template, inserting text, tables, and other Word formatting as required.

➢	Insert Accelerus fields in the locations where you want replacement data to print, eg the student’s name, the report run name, etc, keeping in mind that no subject-specific fields are available in general templates.

➢	Save and close the general template when finished.

•	If you did not create template slots in an earlier step, for a portion, because the default template slots in each subject record are to be used:

➢	Click the portion in the Report Structure pane to which you want to add subjects and for which slots are to be created automatically.

As seen below, a Table Header slot has been created for the Subject table portion, for a general template, but no slots have been created for subject templates.

➢	Click the Add subjects icon at the bottom of the Report Templates pane.

SRP Step12

•	If slots have already been created for your subjects:

➢	Click the correct portion and slot in the Report Structure pane.

➢	Click the Add subjects icon at the bottom of the Report Templates pane.

•	Select the subjects to be added to the portion or to the specific slot, depending on which of the two methods above you are using.

Use the standard methods for selecting in Accelerus, eg enter selection criteria, use Ctrl and Shift to make selections of subjects, etc, clicking OK when selections have been made.

SRP Step13

The selected subjects will appear in the Report Templates table.

•	Where slots were being created at the same time as adding the subjects, slots will appear in the Report Structure pane, based on those found in the selected subjects. As the slots will be in alphabetical order, use the Move up and Move down arrows to move them into the correct order.

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If you have coded your subjects' assessment items consistently, you should be able to create just a few subject templates that are able to be shared. For example, the templates in your senior years may all be similar, except that the number of assessment tasks vary between 3 and 5 assessment tasks, but all are coded something like AT1, AT2, etc. One template with the maximum number of assessment tasks could be created, and the features to delete the fields that do not apply could be used. This template could then be used as the basis for the junior school, where the needs are different but you want to have the same look.

•	Click the row of the subject in the Report Templates table for which you want to create the first template, eg the one with the most number of assessment items.

•	Click the Create templates icon.

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•	In the Create new subject template file box that appears:

➢	Accept the selected option and suggested name or choose another name that clearly identifies the template.

If the template is to be shared by many subjects, give it a generic name rather than the name of the subject for which it was created, eg 5AT to indicate it contains 5 assessment tasks.

➢	Click the OK button and wait while the subject template is created and its name appears in the Template column of its row.

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•	With the subject’s row highlighted, click the Open template in Word icon at the bottom of the Report Template table.

•	In Microsoft Word:

➢	Set up the subject template, inserting text, tables, and other Word formatting as required.

➢	Insert Accelerus fields in the locations where you want replacement data to print, in particular the various assessment item fields where you want student results to print.

➢	Save and close the subject template when complete.

If the subject template is to be shared by other subjects:

•	In the Report Templates table, select the subjects that are to share the template.

•	Click the Attach existing template icon at the bottom of the Report Template table.

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•	In the directory window that appears, select the template that is to be shared and click the Open button.

The name of the template will appear in the Template column of each of the selected subjects.

Before continue with the creation of templates for a particular portion, make sure that your first template is correct, as it should form the basis of all other templates you create for the portion. Do this by test printing it:

•	Make sure that your computer’s default printer is set to the printer to which you want to output the test printed reports.

•	Click the correct portion in the Report Structure pane.

•	If the typical subject template is a full page template that does not rely on any general templates to be complete, highlight the subject’s row.

•	Select the general and subject templates that you want to print, using the standard multiple selection procedures, as shown below where the Table Header and a English subject have been selected.

•	Click the Test print template icon at the bottom of the Report Templates table.

SRP Step23B

•	Make changes to the template/s, as required, running further test prints until you are happy with the first templates.

If required, create further subject templates:

•	Click the row of the next subject for which you are to create a template.

•	Click the Create template icon.

•	In the Create new subject template file box that appears:

➢	Accept the selected option and suggested name or choose another name that clearly identifies the template.

➢	Check the Initialise box at the bottom of the window and click the Browse button to select the originally-created template on which the new template is to be based, eg Subject table_5AT.dotx, as shown below.

➢	Click the OK button and wait while the subject template is created.

SRP Step20

•	Open the template in Microsoft Word and make whatever changes are required to it.

•	Attach the template to the subjects that are to use it, in the same way as the original was attached to its subjects.

Once the templates have been completed, test print multiple templates, especially where the templates are part page and multiple subjects fit on the one page, in order to preview the overall look of the templates when combined into a report:

•	Select the correct portion in the Report Structure pane.

•	Select the general and subject templates you want to test print.

•	Click the Test print template icon, or right click to select the Test print option from the menu.

SRP Step23