REPORTS DOCUMENTATION PROJECT

CREATED BY JESSICA SPALDING

ADDRESSING THE PROBLEM

Patterson Companies needs a consistent and easyto-use process for tracking all reports Currently there are over 29,000 reports that are distributed via Narrowcast or Info-Source web (according to Microstrategy metadata) Some of these reports are duplicates Some of these reports are not being used/deleted

CURRENT STATE
There exists multiple unfinished lists and databases in Excel, Access, and Microstrategy formats Metadata about reports can be pulled from Microstrategy, but this does not easily provide report descriptions, owners, roles that use the report, date created, date modified, or a unique identifier. (contains most of these fields, but cannot run as one report) Microstrategy does not track users within a group well, provides group permission information

DESIRED STATE
Each report contains a unique identifier so it can easily be accessed and found We can depict which users are in which roles. This also includes knowing exactly who needs each report. Both individual users and roles can have permissions to reports. We can analyze duplicate reports and consolidate these down to filtered versions of a master report. (Future state) We can easily identify which reports are not active and make decisions based upon further investigation

PROPOSED SOLUTION

Access database
User friendly/intuitive for business users Easy to import new data Can be shared across the company
Sharepoint

DATABASE WALKTHROUGH

REPORTS FORM

REPORTS TABLE DESIGN

CHANGES FORM

CHANGES TABLE DESIGN

ROLES FORM

ROLES TABLE DESIGN

USERS FORM

USERS TABLE DESIGN

QUERIES LIST

VIEWS OF COLUMNED ROWS

REPORTS LIST

REPORTS

STEPS TO COMPLETE
Collect all possible information about the existing reports to fill in the columns in the database

Additional Fields

Current list found at: Z:\BA Group\Jessica Spalding\ReportingDocumentation\TestReportsDocumentatio n v2.xslx

Determine how to distribute the database across the company Test usability of database

Separate Role Actions and Role Views in the role table Add subgroups option in role table

Decide upon a strategy to enter new reports, changes, roles, and users Make sure that the business users can easily navigate

ISSUES TO ADDRESS
Database created on Access 2010
Need to find a way to make this backwards compatible with all versions

Is the user table feasible?

Would need to be updated by HR each time a person changes positions, leaves the company, or no longer receives a report

Flexibility
Can we easily make changes to the queries, tables, and reports as the data changes over time? Should we let specific users create ad hoc queries and reports?

System Admin
Currently no one maintains metadata full time. The admin password is given out to different roles. Leads to inconsistencies.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Located in Folder: NT124072\SharedServices\BA Group\Jessica Spalding\ReportingDocumentation
ReportDocumentationDatabasev0.3.pdf TestingReportsDocumentation v2 MissingInfoFromDB.doc TestReportingDocumentation.accdb Walkthrough of Reports Database Project.doc

Old Databases (same folder)

Metadata Reporting Book Mind Map.pdf Reporting_original.accdb Microstrategy Current List of Patterson Reports.xslx

QUESTIONS?