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==Basic Reporting==__NOEDITSECTION__
IMSMA<sup>NG</sup> provides several reporting options that allow users to produce basic reports directly from IMSMA<sup>NG</sup>. These include printing data entry forms entered into the system, maps from the main navigation window and item summaries. Any of these reports can be sent directly to a printer or to an intermediate format such as rich text format (.RTF) or portable document format (.PDF) for transmitting in electronic format or for further editing.
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==Embedded Reporting==__NOEDITSECTION__
IMSMA<sup>NG</sup> supplements the basic reporting options available to all users with several more sophisticated reporting tools that are embedded within the system. In addition to reporting on individual elements, these embedded tools allow for statistical and aggregate reporting of data within the database. Instead of reporting the contents of a single report, statistical reporting allows information managers to produce reports about multiple items and to use functions such as sum, average and count to summarize data.
There are two options for embedded reporting: iReports and data export. Both functions rely on IMSMA<sup>NG</sup> searches to filter data. Using iReports, information managers can build reporting templates to visualize data in a specific and repeatable format. Using data export, managers can export search results to an external tool such as Microsoft Excel and perform aggregation and statistical analysis.
===iReports===__NOEDITSECTION__
With the iReport tool, information managers have access to an entire suite of report generation functions. iReport provides the ability to design report templates from the desired data elements; add page layout and formatting information including images, colours and text; and import the reports into IMSMA<sup>NG</sup> for data entry personnel to run. Information managers can also design complex reports to summarize data using sum, count, average, subreports and other statistical reporting functions similar to packages such as Crystal Reports. Being fully integrated into IMSMA<sup>NG</sup>, iReport can be translated into any language supported by the system. Using this approach, only information managers are presented with the complexity of designing reports while traditional users simply have to select a report (and any preceding search) and run it.
|[[Use i-Report | Use i-Report]]
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===Data Export===__NOEDITSECTION__
IMSMA<sup>NG</sup> also provides data export functionality designed to allow users to export data to external tools such as Microsoft Excel for additional reporting and analysis. This lets users take advantage of functionality in these tools such as sums, counts, charts, pivot tables and other data manipulation functions to format and present data. Users access this functionality by performing a search in IMSMA<sup>NG</sup> and then exporting the results to .CSV format. Users can choose which columns to export, and the data can be manipulated in any external tool that supports .CSV.
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==External Reporting Tools==__NOEDITSECTION__
IMSMA<sup>NG</sup> also allows information managers to connect advanced reporting tools such as Crystal Reports or ArcGIS Desktop directly to its relational database for highly advanced report generation. With this capability, information managers can use custom reporting solutions to connect with IMSMA<sup>NG</sup>, allowing for complete control of IMSMA<sup>NG</sup> outputs. Or, managers can modify existing reporting solutions to connect to IMSMA<sup>NG</sup>, which leverages technology already implemented in the programme and limits the need for retraining.
{{note|Using external reporting tools is a complex activity requiring an advanced understanding of SQL, reporting tools and the IMSMA<sup>NG</sup> data model}}
===Connecting External Reporting Tools===__NOEDITSECTION__
The process for connecting external reporting tools is essentially the same for all tools. External tools connect to the IMSMA<sup>NG</sup> relational database via an ODBC connection. Information managers establish this connection by installing the ODBC driver for MySQL. When this is complete, information managers can connect any ODBC-compliant tool to the IMSMA<sup>NG</sup> database, including reporting tools, other database packages and SQL management tools. Examples include:
{{note|Building database views to transform data before importing it into other tools significantly reduces the performance hit associated with connecting external tools}}
===Building Database Views===__NOEDITSECTION__
Building database views is the primary way of transforming data to support external reporting. Information managers can use SQL editing tools to build and save database queries as views that can be used to format data for easier reporting. Using database views, information managers can join data together into flat tables that allow for easier incorporation into reports or other analysis tools. Database views act like database tables and can be imported or queried from external tools. Moreover, views automatically refresh as data is added to IMSMA<sup>NG</sup> and provide an up-to-date data source for other applications.
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