Printing and Reporting

Standard reports and documents are available to report on the data stored in the database. All reports have range options and criteria so you can control the content. Standard reports are usually available on the Reports menu in each application's folder, though some processes also generate an audit report and some modules have additional report folders for special reports.

Report Criteria

For most reports, the selection criteria is presented first. This varies according to the report command you have chosen, but typically includes the names of tables and fields for which a range of values can be specified. In the From and To lists, you can select the start and end value of the corresponding data item. In addition to range options, other options and controls may be provided that determine the content of a report.

These may be presented in the form of check boxes or option buttons. Details about these are provided in the help topics relating to the individual report commands.

PDF Reports and Screen Previews

There are a number of options that affect how PDF reports are published and also whether advanced features are available for screen previews.

Form	Option	Description	User-specific
System - Utilities - System Preferences	PDF Font Embedding	An option that determines whether some fonts are fully embedded in PDFs created in the application. PDFs that include embedded fonts are typically larger than those where fonts are not embedded. However, the on-screen and print quality is improved. The PDF is portable between computers without losing print quality.	No, this option affects all users.
System - Preferences	Use Opera PDF Printer	An option that determines that PDF publishing in Opera is achieved using the Opera PDF printer, which is created as a 'printer driver' in the Windows printer dialog when Opera 3 is installed. If this option is cleared, the 'XFRX' application, which is installed with Opera 3, is used for creating PDFs. In Windows Terminal Services environments, the XFRX application may be a better choice than the Opera PDF printer for printing because users will not be affected by other people printing reports. The Opera PDF printer driver is shared by all users so one user's printing could be delayed because another user is printing a report.	Yes
System - Preferences	Advanced Previews	An option that determines that printed Opera 3 reports use better font rendering and also that enhanced screen previews are available.	Yes

Publisher Form

When you have completed the selection and report options, you click OK to display the Publisher form. This is the form you use to determine what type of output you want, and you can choose from the following options by clicking the appropriate tab. In each case, you use the Publish command button to generate the report output in the format chosen.

Tab	Purpose
Screen	Direct the report output to the computer screen. If you direct a report to the screen, a preview window displays the first page of the report. A toolbar is provided with command buttons to navigate the report's pages, zoom the display and print the report. If you view a report on the screen, a toolbar is displayed so you can open different pages, decrease or increase the size of the font used, search for text on the screen by either selecting the binoculars or pressing 'CTRL+F', or print the report to a chosen printer. Most reports that are used from the Reports menu in each application can be displayed on the screen whilst you do other tasks in the application. For example, you can view the Invoices and Credit Notes report in the Sales Ledger at the same time as posting a receipt in the Cashbook. However, there are some report screen previews that must be closed before you can do other tasks because, as well as reporting, they also update relevant records after the report is closed. Click here to see a list of these reports. Cashbook Reports Paying slip Cheque List Credit Card List Remittances EC VAT Reports ESL Report ESL Summary ESL Audit Trail Fixed Assets Report Statutory Movements Report
Printer	Direct the report output to a printer. A list of installed printers is displayed. You choose the printer you want to use by clicking in the list box. If you want to check the alignment of your printer, click Align Printer. A dialog box with the prompt 'Print an Alignment Check?' appears, with Yes and No command buttons. If you click Yes, a dummy report is printed on one, page so you can check alignment of the stationery in your printer. You can repeat this process as often as you wish as the alignment prompt reappears. When you click No, the report is printed. If you want more than one copy of the report to be printed, change the value in the No. of Copies box. If you want to update the list of available printers (this may be relevant in a network environment), click Refresh List.
File	You have these file types to choose from: PDF Document - This creates a PDF file which can be viewed using Adobe Reader. To use the PDF Document option for reports, you need Adobe Reader. The advantage of using PDF files is that you can use Adobe Reader to view the report and print it on any printer you have installed without needing to reformat the content. The application supports long file names (up to 20 characters) therefore a meaningful file name can be given to the file. You can choose the location and file name for the report and if you want to view it as soon as it is finished, you click the Open document when done option. If you type a name you have already used, the displays a prompt and asks if you want to overwrite or append the existing file. PDF files are stored in a sub folder of the PDF folder according to the transaction date. The folder uses a prefix based on the module, followed by the year and month. The Use Opera PDF Printer and Advanced Previews options on the User Preferences form affect how PDF reports are created. Excel Document - This creates a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. See below for a list of reports that can be viewed in Microsoft Excel. Print Spooler - This creates a text-based output that you can print using the System Manager - Spooler Control form. Spooler files are always located in the Data subfolder of the application's main folder. You can type a file name of up to 20 characters. Use the Description box to type a name for the report that will appear in this form to help you identify the report's content. If you type a name you have already used, the application overwrites that file unless you select the Append option. You can spool reports in either PDF or spooler format. If you select the PDF Format option, a PDF file is created and you will need Adobe Reader to be able to process the file later. If you clear the PDF Format option, you must select the default printer to be used when the spool file is processed using the Spooler Control command. Although you can select a different printer before printing, it is necessary to ensure that the printer selected at the time of printing is compatible with the one you selected for the creation of the spool file.
Email	Create a PDF document attachment containing the report and generate an e-mail message using your e-mail messaging software. The Email tab includes boxes so you can define the location and file name for the report attachment and type a subject line and message text. When you click Publish, the application will load your e-mail messaging software, so you can complete the addressee details and any other settings before sending. You must have a MAPI-compliant email messaging system installed to use this facility. If there is a problem in the email messaging system the message 'Unable to send email at present' is displayed. There are numerous reasons why the email messaging system may fail. If you use the ADMIN ID to log in to this application, the message includes more detailed information that describes the problem - starting with 'Sending Email Failed Because ...'.

Excel Reports

You can save many Opera 3 reports as spreadsheets to view in Microsoft Excel. This option is available for many but not all reports. This facility puts the information in a report directly into the cells on the Excel spreadsheet and sets the height of the rows and width of the columns to achieve the desired layout. All numeric information can be used in calculations and you can modify the report as required.

There are advantages of saving a report as a spreadsheet:

It provides a report saved at a certain point in time but you can amend the information if required. You can change the information to do different calculations. The range of formulae that you can apply ranging from adding two numbers together to applying 'what if' scenarios.
You can change the appearance of the information by using different fonts, colours, borders etc.
You can change the order of the information by changing its sequence.
You can protect the information in a spreadsheet by using a password.
You can use the charting facilities to display the information in a graph. Charts make numerical information understandable by presenting them as a graphic.

Installing Microsoft Excel

To save and view the report in Microsoft Excel, it must be installed:

on the Opera 3 client workstation
on the Opera 3 server only if:

Opera is run from the server

Opera is run in environments like Terminal Services.

Check the Software Requirements guide for details of the versions of Microsoft Excel that are supported.

Selecting the Advanced Previews option on the System - Preferences form can reduce the time needed to send report data to Microsoft Excel.

These reports can be saved as an Excel spreadsheet:

Module	Report
System	Exchange Rates
	Summary VAT Audit Trail
	Detailed VAT Audit Trail
	Summary VAT Values Report
	Detailed VAT Values Report
Cashbook	Cashbook Report
	Income/Expense Report
Costing	Transaction Report
Sales Pipeline Management Service Management Helpdesk Management	Sales Pipeline Report
	SLA Monitor Grid
	Company List
	Company Address Book
	Contacts List
	Activity Analysis
	Contract List
	Equipment List
EC VAT	SD Audit Trail
	ESL Audit Trail
	VAT Reconciliation Report
Nominal Ledger	Audit Trail
	Trial Balance
	Accounts List (using the toolbar icon for the Nominal Ledger - Maintenance - Accounts form).
	Ledger Summary
	Income Accounts
	Expense Accounts
	Assets Accounts
	Liabilities Accounts
	Capital/Reserves Accounts
	Budgets List
	Nominal Analysis
	Nominal View History
	Nominal View Transactions
	Nominal Account Transactions
	Nominal Account Snapshot
Payroll	This Period Summary
	To Date Summary
	Auto Enrolment Updates
	Calculation Audit Report
	Holiday Pay Average
	Tax Year History report
	Advanced Payments and Deductions List
	Employee Age List
Personnel	Training Report
Purchase Ledger	Supplier Status
	Average Creditor Days
	Creditors Report
	List of Accounts
	Retrospective Creditors Report
	Invoice & Credit Note Listing
	PIR Invoices & Credit Note Listing
	Payments & Adjustment Listing
	Realised Gains/Losses
	Currency Revaluation
	Turnover Report
	Held Invoices
	Payment Forecast
	Suggested Payments
	Purchase Analysis Reports - VAT Analysis, Transaction List and User Defined Reports
	Suggested Payments
Purchase Order Processing	Orders Report
	Supplier Product List
Sales Ledger	Credit Control
	Average Debtor Days
	List of Accounts
	Account Status
	Credit Management Diary Actions
	Credit Management Promised Payments
	Currency Revaluation
	Disputed Invoices
	Debtors Report
	Invoice & Credit Note Listing
	Receipts & Adjustments Listing
	Realised Gains and Losses
	Retrospective Debtors Report
	Revenue Forecast
	Turnover Report
	Sales Analysis Reports - VAT Analysis, Transaction List and User Defined Reports
Sales Order Processing	Orders Listing
	Suggested Delivery Listing
	Suggested Invoice Listing
Stock Control	Stock Movements report
	Stock Valuation report
	Historical Stock Valuation report
	Record Sheets
	Audit trail

Documents for Preprinted Stationery

Unlike standard reports, documents are usually printed on preprinted or special stationery forms. 'Out of the box' layouts for the documents are installed with your software.

Alternative layouts for standard reports can be used within the system. These are identified using the System - Maintenance - Report Layout form. Designs can be tailored to suit a particular design. Your Pegasus Partner will be able to assist you if you want specific document layouts.