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Rentpro - Configuring Reports

Note that the reports listed on the report sub-menu are simply categories of reports. However, each category may allow certain run time options. A run time option is a prompt asked concerning a report that is configured already. For example, the number of days past due may be specified at run time for delinquency reports. This allows configuring a report for all active agreements, regardless of whether they are active or not. Then at run time, the number of days past due may be specified to produce reports for different delinquent periods, all from the same report configuration.

When first accessing the report category, Rentpro will list the nine reports available for that category. Above the report names is the destination for the report, and menu options for configuring the report, and for reprinting the last report. Generally, users would desire to have the destination as the screen when running the report the first time. This allows examining the output before printing a hard copy. Then, the destination is set to the printer desired, and reprint last report is selected. Instead of processing the files again, Rentpro prints the last report.

To select a report, move the arrow with the up and down arrow keys to point to the report desired, and then press enter. Or, print a report by simply pressing the number of the report regardless of where the arrow is pointing. Rentpro has a printer driver that will adjust the print size on the printer according to the width of the report. For example, most documents use 10 cpi (characters per inch), and may be printed up to 80 characters on 8.5 X 11 inch paper if the left margin is less than 0.5 inches. If the report you are printing exceeds 80 characters (or whatever width is specified in the printer driver), Rentpro will instruct the printer to switch to a small print size, such as 12 cpi. Up to 96 characters may fit within 8 inches. Therefore, if the report exceeded 96 characters, Rentpro would instruct the printer to switch to 17.1 cpi, allowing 136 characters on a report. The capabilities of changing font size to accommodate all the information for a report on a single line depends upon the capabilities of your printer.

The destination of the report may be the screen, a printer, or a disk file. Change the destination by pressing D. A new screen will display options: press P for printer 1, or press S for screen. The other option allows you to specify a file name. The new screen also allows you to change the text quality by pressing T. Selecting Rough draft causes the printer to run faster, but the quality of text will be poorer. Good draft mode provides for better text but slower printer speed.

The reports may be named and configured by the user at any time. If the report name says, Unconfigured, then the report probably has not been configured yet and cannot be printed. To configure a report, move the arrow to point to the report and press C.

Before configuring a report, you should plan the report. List the variables you want printed on the report, and the order in which you want them to appear. Determine what kind of qualifying variables you desire. Determine how you want the report sorted. There is a limit of 256 characters per report record, including the sort fields. When configuring a report, the bottom right hand corner shows the total width used thus far. The sum of the total number shown for all the sort fields, plus the totals for each line of the report itself, cannot exceed 256. If it does exceed 256, the remaining information of the record will be truncated at 256 characters. If your record is being truncated, you have several options: 1) divide the report into two separate reports and configure them separately, 2) eliminate some of the sort fields or print fields, 3) shorten the width of some of the fields (For example, if the first name field were being printed, instead of using a width size of 21, use a width of 10, which causes only the first 10 characters of the first name to be printed).

The first thing Rentpro asks when configuring a report is the report name. The next questions depend upon the type of report being configured. The Debt report asks whether you want to print the inventory assigned to an agreement. Next, it asks which sort variable to skip a line after. For example, if your first sort variable is going to be the next payment due date, the report will skip a line every time the payment due date changes if you enter a 1. If your first sort field were category code, and your second sort field were manufacturer code, entering a 2 would cause a line to be skipped every time the manufacturer changed.

Rentpro will list the variables available. If you do not want the report sorted , press F1. Otherwise, move with the arrow or tab keys to highlight the desired sort variable. Press the enter key to select it. Continue and select another sort variable, if desired.

Each sort variable selected is a level lower than the preceding one. For example, if your first sort variable is status, your second sort variable is last name, and your third sort variable is agreement number, then the report will be sorted first by status. Then, the listings within each status will be sorted by last name. Lastly, any records with the same status and last name will be sorted by agreement number.

After selecting the sort variables and pressing F1, you will be allowed to select the qualifying variables. If you have qualifying variables that are not going to be printed, you should enter these first. By doing so, Rentpro will process the agreement file faster. Select variables by highlighting the desired variable using the cursor keys. When the desired variable is highlighted, press enter to answer the four questions at the bottom of the screen.

The min and max fields allow you to specify minimum and maximum values inclusive for the variable in order to qualify the record for printing. If the variable is a single letter, such as for agreement status, the min and max fields are not really min and max values; rather, simply list each of the letters that would be qualified for printing. For example, if you want active and skip agreements, enter AK in either the min or max field. The third question asks if you want to print the field. Answer Y if you want the variable to actually appear on the report. The last question asks you the size of the variable. The size is the maximum number of characters used by the variable. For example, if the largest agreement number were 7985, then at least four characters should be specified for the size of the agreement number field in order to be able to distinguish the different agreement numbers.

Rentpro will suggest the appropriate size of the variable selected, but sometimes it may be desireable to decrease or increase this size. For example, although first names may be up to 21 characters in length, it may not be necessary to print all 21 characters since most first names will be much less than this. It may be desireable to print only 10 characters so that there will be enough room for other variables on the report.

The number of variables selected for printing is displayed at the lower left. The total width (number of characters) of the report is displayed at the lower right of the screen. When you are finished configuring the report, press F1.

Note about Report Field Names
The variables displayed in the report configuration menu are defined in an ASCII file. The names may be changed and the order in which they are displayed may be changed to suit your desires with an ASCII editor. Five different files contain different variable names for the different category of reports. The 27 reports categorized under debt reports, agreement reports, and profile of agreements use the agreement file variables saved in the file AGMTVARS.DEF. The 18 reports categorized under Inventory Listing and Unit Depreciation use the variables saved in the file named INVVARS.DEF. The mailing label reports use MAILVARS.DEF. The transaction reports use TRANVARS.DEF, and the sku reports use SKUVARS.DEF.