Designing Summary Templates

Summaries

In the same way that information managers can customise Data Entry Form templates to include only the information that is important to their programmes, managers can also customise Summary templates to display only the information that is most relevant to their programmes.

How To
Customise Summaries Publish and Archive Summaries Delete Summaries

Summary customisation works in much the same way as Data Entry Form customisation, where information managers can build Summary templates using a WYSIWYG editor.

IMSMA^NG provides initial templates for each type of item but information managers can change them and even create multiple Summary templates for each type of item so that programmes can switch between different templates as necessary. Following the guidelines below, information managers can design Summary templates to suit their specific programme’s needs.

Guidelines for Designing Summary Templates
Guideline	Explanation
Include a table of links	Include a table of links so that links between items in IMSMANG can be viewed.
Use tabs to group information	Unlike Data Entry Form templates, Summaries can include tabs to group similar information together. Use tabs to make information easier to find and comprehend.
Include geospatial data	Include geospatial information so it can be viewed in one place without needing to open individual Data Entry Forms. The information can also be easily printed from the Summary.
Print Summaries before finalizing them	When printed, a Summary provides an excellent summary of all the information known about an item, so it could be the source for many reports. Print each Summary before finalizing it to ensure it displays the desired data.

Summary templates are defined for all users of the IMSMANG system and are not customisable for individual users. Unlike Data Entry Form templates, Summary templates cannot be exported or exchanged between IMSMANG systems

Column Headers

In addition to Summary customisations, IMSMA^NG allows users to customise the columns that are displayed in various data tables within the application including the IMSMA Navigation window and search results windows. Using this functionality, IMSMA^NG users can choose the columns that display in the Summary windows. Users can choose from virtually any data element for each item as well as several common fields from the “Location” data element set. Preferences for these settings are set on an individual basis only, but the settings persist to any client machine the individual logs into.

How To
Select Display Columns

Because some column data takes more time to load than other data, information managers should be aware that system performance, if problematic, can be improved by reducing the use of CDFs, location fields and country structure fields. Additional columns can be specified for use when exporting data.