Running Queries and Reports
When using the software's search tools and reporting functionality, it is important
to understand the distinction between the query and the report.
The query is the search criteria used to obtain a list of records that you wish to
either examine, process, or on which you desire to create a report. The initial steps
of the Student Admin -> Search/Advanced Search tools are used to generate this query.
For example, you can write a query to produce a list of all students going to France
in Spring 09. This will produce a basic list with their names. The query is 'All applications
with a location of France in the Spring 2009 application cycle'. The list of applications
that are displayed are the results of the query. This list is frequently referred
to as the search results. It is from this list of applications that
you can then produce your reports by using either the "Excel/Text export" or the "Create
report" options.
A report is a series of output columns and/or groupings generated from your query
results.
To use the example above (All France applications in Spring 2009), you can then generate
a report from the query results to display specific things about these applications
such as GPA, major, etc. If the next day, you wanted to know the gender of the students
going to France in Spring 09, you would run the same query to create the student names
and then create a new report displaying their gender.
When saving queries and reports, the results of the queries and reports are not saved.
Saved queries and reports can be used over and over again and the results will always
reflect the current data in your database. So in the example cited above, if someone
was accepted overnight, that student would appear in both the previously created query
and any of the reports when next they are run.
An important detail to remember about your queries is that you are running application
searches - not applicant searches. The results you get are initially grouped by applicant
name, but they represent applications that those applicants have generated. When constructing
your queries, you should keep in mind that you are really looking to get a list of
applications - not applicants.
How to Run, Save, and Share Queries and Reports
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A query is the result you get when looking for a specific group of applications. You
can run a query by going to the Search or Advanced Search options under Applicant
Admin.
Your query can be as simple as 'who is studying abroad for the year 2009-2010' or
as advanced as 'who is a female, majoring in Nursing, with a GPA of 3.8 studying abroad
for the year 2009-2010.
Once you have your search results that meet your search criteria, you can save that
search to your homepage so it will be easily assessable.
When you go to your Admin Home you will see that saved query in "My Queries and Reports"
panel.
Every time you click on this query, Studio Abroad will re-run your search and show
you a list of current students that fit the criteria.
From your "My Queries & Reports" panel you can also export the query results as a
text file and create reports, edit the query, delete it or export it to an excel spreadsheet.
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Exporting the Query as Text or Excel
Click on the "Export as Text" or the "Export as Excel" icon. Click OK and your file
will open. |
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You can create reports from your saved queries. Click on the "Create New Report" icon
and specify the data that you would like to report. Click "Results." |
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By clicking on the "Edit" icon, you can make adjustments to your query without having to re-enter all the query specifications. Once you have made the appropriate adjustments, click "Next." If you save this search with the same name as before, the new query will replace the old query. If you rename the search, a new query will appear on you home page and the old query will still be there. |
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If there is a red X next to the query, you can click that to delete it. If there is a locked icon that means that the query is either shared or part of a query watch and therefore cannot be deleted. |
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It is possible for you to 'share' a query with any other user on your site. This will put a copy of your query on their admin home page, where they can always get the updated lists of applications that fit the criteria.
- Click "Share Queries" on the last line of the "Saved Queries" section.
- Select the query you wish to share and put a check mark beside all the people with
whom you would like to share the query.
- Click "Share." (Remember that by sharing a query you are locking it on your site.
You can edit a query that has been shared, but you cannot delete it.)
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