Creating and Editing a Custom Report

To create and edit a custom report definition, complete the following steps:

  1. Select Reporting in the top navigation bar to open the Reporting menu along the left side of the page.
  2. Select Custom Reports.
  1. Select the + icon next to the Custom Reports header to open the Create New Custom Report Definition window.
  2. Enter a descriptive name for the custom report in the Name field.
  3. Optionally, enter a full description of the custom report in the Description field.

A success message is displayed in the upper right portion of the page letting you know the custom report definition has been created.

The custom report definition is now displayed in the list of custom reports in Reporting > Custom Reports. Select it from the list to make any necessary edits to the parameters you previously set.

  1. Select + Add New to add a new row for the first data element you want to include in the report in the Report Details table.
  2. Optionally, enter the order you want this data element to be displayed in the columns of your report in the Display Sequence field. The columns in the report will appear from left to right, with the lowest display sequence appearing in the leftmost column.

    Note: You may also choose to leave the Display Sequence field blank for one or more rows, and PowerFAIDS will display the fields with a display sequence number first, then display the remaining fields in alphabetical order.

  3. Optionally, enter the sort order for this data element in the Sort field. The sort order specifies which data elements you want the report to be sorted by and in what order, sorting on the lowest number first and highest number last. For example, if you wanted to sort the data alphabetically by last name then first name, you'd put 1 as the sort order for last name, and 2 as the sort order for first name.

    Note: You may also choose to leave the Sort field blank, and PowerFAIDS will sort the data in alphanumeric order.

  4. Choose any Student or System Administration field from the Field Alias list.

    Caution: When including fields containing personal identifying information (PII) in custom reports, data in those fields will be masked according to your masking settings. If you want to use a PII field in a custom report filter and have the Mask PII setting turned on, you will need to set it to Unmask PII prior to adding the field to your custom report definition.

  5. Optionally, edit the column header text for this data element in the Column Header field if needed. Otherwise, this field will automatically populate with the Field Alias selected.
  6. Specify whether you want to show or hide this data element from your report output by adjusting the Display in Results setting as needed.
  7. Select + Add New and repeat the above steps to add multiple data elements to this report as needed.
  8. Select Save.

    A success message is displayed in the upper right portion of the page letting you know the custom report definition has been updated.

    Note: It is important that you save the Report Details before moving to the Report Filters tab. Otherwise, the changes you make to the Report Details will not be saved and available to add as report filters.

Note: If you don't add a report filter to your report, the system will pull in all ranges and time frames of the data elements indicated in the report details. In some cases, this might be the data you want, and you wouldn't have to include a report filter. However, if you wanted to target a specific time frame or range of data values, you would need to add a report filter to specify those conditions.

  1. Choose the data element you want to filter by from the Field Alias list.

    Tip: Only the data elements you added to the Report Details are available to use as report filters. If you want to filter data using a field that's not included in your report, you can add the field to the report detail and turn off the Display in Results setting to exclude that data from your report. Note that you need to first save this change in the Report Details for it to show up as a choice in the Report filters list.

  2. Select or enter the value you want to use in the filter in the Value field.

    Note: When creating a report filter in a custom report using a field alias with award year-specific code set values, choose the appropriate award year from the Code Set list (1) and the values available to choose within that award year will appear as options in the Field/Value list (2) as seen in the image below:

    Rule in a selection set with ISIRCalculated.ApplicationDataSource chosen as the field alias and the 2023-2024 year selected for the Code Set.

  3. Repeat the above steps as necessary for multiple rules in the report filter. To group rules together, select + Add group before repeating the above steps.

    When creating multiple rules in report filters, you can indicate how each rule or group is connected from the potions at the top portion of the report filter builder.
    • Connecting two rules with And indicates that they must both be satisfied for the data to be pulled into the report.
    • Connecting two rules with Or indicates that at least one must be satisfied but both are not required.
    • Selecting the Not qualifier reverses the parameters of the associated rule or group.
  4. Select Save.

    A success message is displayed in the upper right portion of the page letting you know the custom report definition has been updated.

Once created, you'll see the custom report definition in the Custom Reports list where you can select it to open the full report definition and generate your report. For more information, see Generating a Custom Report.