[Evergreen-reports] Report Template Folders

Wed May 22 14:00:38 EDT 2013

I definitely agree that a type of numbering system could be useful. This
would be so helpful for long lists of reports. Of course, the sorting
enhancement is going to be lovely!

I just wanted to add that I found it very helpful when PINES distributed a
spreadsheet with all shared reports.  The spreadsheet included  the
following columns:

Folder
Template Name
Description
Date Created
User
Main Folder
SubFolder 1
SubFolder 2

This allowed me to quickly see all the types of reports available. Plus, I
could easily do a keyword search in Excel to find the name of the exact
report I needed, along with its creation date which allowed me to locate
its relative position in the folder. (Wishlist item: I dream of a day when
there is "find" feature in Evergreen.)

Hope this is of some help,

Cristina

--

Cristina Hernandez Trotter

Head of Reference Dept. and Heritage Center

Oconee Regional Library System

801 Bellevue Ave.

Dublin, GA 31021

478-272-5710 (phone)

478-272-0524 (fax)

www.ocrl.org

On Wed, May 22, 2013 at 12:07 PM, Beth Willis <willis at noblenet.org> wrote:

> Jessica,
>
> Thank you for your reply.
>
> Yes, we are looking forward to the enhancement that will allow us to
> alphabetize our templates.  I think that our librarians may still have
> trouble identifying the correct templates in some of our folders, because
> the names often start with "List of items added..." or "Count of items by
> ..."
>
> We also are considering using some sort of numbering system by which to
> identify report templates.  In this case, I plan to stay away from the
> database ID numbers.  Instead, I will assign a number to each template and
> this number will remain constant even if the template is cloned (i.e.
> edited).  If a template is cloned (i.e. copied) a new number will be
> assigned.
>
> And I agree that making these edits in the database is much easier and
> less confusing than cloning templates to edit descriptive information about
> them.
>
> Thanks again for your input.
>
> beth
>
> Beth Willis
> Digital & Catalog Librarian
> NOBLE, Inc.
> 26 Cherry Hill Drive
> Danvers, MA 01923
>
> On 5/22/2013 10:07 AM, Jessica Venturo wrote:
>
>> Hi Beth,
>>
>> FWIW, in a future version of Evergreen (2.4 I think?), an enhancement has
>> been added that will sort template names alphabetically.  We have this
>> enhancement running in production and it is fantastic.  I think libraries
>> are able to find shared reports a lot more quickly and easily.
>>
>> We do still run into problems occasionally because, as you said, a lot of
>> the reports have similar names and descriptions and do similar things.  I
>> recently went through the folders and tweaked the names of some of the
>> templates trying to make them clearer.  If you have access to your
>> database,
>> changing the names of your templates there is SO much easier than cloning
>> them and deleting the original!
>>
>> One of our librarians suggested that we incorporate numbers into our
>> template names so we can tell them "You need template #XYZ" instead of
>> giving them the long convoluted name that the templates usually end up
>> with.
>> I would like to do that, but I'm trying to figure out a way to do it that
>> is
>> simple and makes sense, and doesn't defeat the purpose of alphabetizing
>> the
>> templates.  I don't really like the idea of having to look up the template
>> ID number to tag onto the end of the name every time I add a report to the
>> shared folders, but maybe that's what I'll end up doing should we decide
>> we
>> need to implement a numbering system.
>>
>> I hope this helps, and I hope we hear from some library systems and
>> consortia.  I'm sure the organization of report folders is a common
>> dilemma.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Jessica
>>
>> ---
>> Jessica Venturo
>> Applications Support Specialist
>>   Bibliomation, Inc.
>> 24 Wooster Ave.
>> Waterbury, CT 06708
>>   203-577-4070 ext. 105
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: evergreen-reports-bounces@**list.evergreen-ils.org<evergreen-reports-bounces at list.evergreen-ils.org>
>> [mailto:evergreen-reports-**bounces at list.evergreen-ils.org<evergreen-reports-bounces at list.evergreen-ils.org>
>> **] On Behalf Of Beth
>> Willis
>> Sent: Tuesday, May 21, 2013 9:56 AM
>> To: evergreen-reports at list.**evergreen-ils.org<evergreen-reports at list.evergreen-ils.org>
>> Subject: [Evergreen-reports] Report Template Folders
>>
>> We have created dozens of shared report templates for our member libraries
>> to use and to clone.  These templates are located in folders such as
>> "Lists
>> of Items," "Counts of Items," "Circulation,"
>> "Acquisitions," etc.  In some folders there are many templates, include
>> several templates with similar functions, similar names and descriptions.
>> Consequently, it can be very difficult for library staff to identify the
>> correct template for their desired report.
>>
>> Since there currently is no way to control the order in which the report
>> templates display, we are trying to come up with some alternative way to
>> organize these templates.
>>
>> Have others developed systems for organizing their report templates more
>> effectively?  If so, I'd appreciate hearing from you.
>>
>> Thanks.
>> beth
>>
>>
>>
>> Beth Willis
>> Digital & Catalog Librarian
>> NOBLE, Inc.
>> 26 Cherry Hill Drive
>> Danvers, MA 01923
>>
>>
>>
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