Learning about report types

You can analyze data from different perspectives depending on the report type that you use. You can monitor detailed lists of the events that occur in your application, or view summarized numbers of the occurrences. For example, you can create a report that lists the number of cases that users resolve within the last seven days, and analyze the report to assess user performance.

You can create two types of reports: summarized reports, and list reports.

Summarized reports

Summarized reports help you discover the number of specific events that occur in your application. For example, you can view the total number of days that a team required to complete a task.

Summarized reports can display summary counts, totals, or averages, and use the following built-in functions to display data as numbers:
Count
The count of rows with a non-null value in a column.
Count distinct
The count of unique values in a column.
Sum
The total number of specific data items.
Avg
The average number of specific data items.
Min
The lowest value in a column.
Max
The highest value in a column.

Summarized reports can include, for example, counts of cases, total dollar amounts, or average elapsed time between the start and the resolution of a work item. For increased clarity, you can also include charts that graphically represent data.

List reports

List reports help you analyze extensive data in a clear and compact way. For example, you can create a list of all open cases to verify the remaining workload.

List reports provide detailed, comprehensive information about application data. For example, you can create a report on resolved cases that includes a column with descriptions of each case. You can then use the report for easier analysis of user performance.