Report types

Shows an attachment that is stored in an O&R provider. Use when you have a static attachment that you want to associate with a page.

Advantages:

• Can be associated with specific pages

Disadvantages:

• Not a true reporting solution
• Only supports static attachments in an O&R provider

See Configuring an attachment report.

For information about attachments, see Administrator > System Administration > Attachments in the Infor Operations and Regulations User and Administration Library.

Birst is Infor's business intelligence and analytics platform. Use when you need an analytic report in a multi-tenant environment.

Supports advanced analytics, data blending, and self-service BI with intuitive, web-based design tools.

Advantages:

• Does not require SQL knowledge
• Can report directly out to O&R with live data access
• Can use data from within Data Lake and combine data from multiple products
• Can report out of Data Lake
• Excellent analytics and graphs
• Strong Birst Community support
• Follows the Kimball methodology for dimensional modeling, which helps make the tool easier to understand if you are a seasoned dimensional modeler

Disadvantages:

• Not suited for operational reports
• Requires an understanding of data models and how to create them
• Pixel-perfect reporting is challenging
• Lack of industry training material
• Slow to navigate
• Creating your own models is difficult to figure out for the first time, requires a bit of training

See Configuring a Birst report.

For information about Birst, see "Analytics for Birst" in the Infor Operations and Regulations Installation and Technical Reference Library.

Use in an on-premises or single-tenant environment when you have Crystal Reports expertise.

Advantages:

• Industry adoption
• Out-of-the-box reports
• Reports can be created pixel-perfect using a rich designer

Disadvantages:

• Requires a database connection
• Requires a replication database within single-tenant SaaS
• Requires a high level of SQL knowledge and knowledge of the O&R schema

See Configuring a Crystal embedded report or Configuring a Crystal Enterprise report.

For information about Crystal Reports, see "Crystal Reports Integration" in the Infor Operations and Regulations Installation and Technical Reference Library.

Use when you have a static file you want to associate with a page.

Advantages:

• Can be associated with specific pages

Disadvantages:

• Not a true reporting solution
• Only supports static files from the file system

See Configuring a file system report.

Creates a report based on a VB.NET formula that returns a stream. The formula is processed through the Batch Manager. Use when you want to implement your own reporting engine.

Advantages:

• Can aggregate data that is not possible with other reporting types
• Can be used within Map Drawer to generate reports based on spatial data

Disadvantages:

• Requires a high degree of technical knowledge of VB.NET
• No out-of-the-box examples for common engines

See Configuring a formula report.

Shows a simple single-field report from Infor Document Management. Use when you need a report that is based on a single table.

Template-based, user-friendly

Advanced: Specialized document generation features

Advantages:

• Uses Microsoft Word as the report designer
• Uses industry standard XPath to extract data from the data source
• Integrated with Infor Document Management, which allows templates and outputs to be integrated
• Supports dynamic parameters
• Can be associated with specific pages
• Based on O&R business object names
• Supports different output types, such as PDF and MS Word

Disadvantages:

• Each report has one source table with other tables traversed through inner joins if they have foreign key relationships.
• Complex relationships or queries must use staging tables populated through formula workflows
• Requires a Microsoft addon to design
• Requires XPath knowledge for complex aggregation or complex reports
• Cannot embed maps

See Configuring an IDM document output report.

Keyword reports are generated by the data export engine based on keywords that you define in the Keyword Manager.

See Configuring a keyword report.

For information about keywords, see "Correspondence" in the Infor Operations and Regulations User and Administration Library.

Managed in SQL Server Reporting Services. Use when you have on-premise or single-tenant and you have SSRS expertise

Detailed, precise layout control

Advanced: Precise formatting, rich data handling

Advantages:

• Industry adoption
• Out of the Box reports
• Reports can be created pixel-perfect using a rich designer
• Can include sub-reports

Disadvantages:

• Requires a database connection
• Requires a replication database within Single-Tenant SaaS
• Requires a high level of SQL knowledge and knowledge of the O&R schema

See Configuring an SSRS report.

Calls any URL with dynamic parameters. A new window is opened to show the specified URL.

Advantages:

• Calls any URL with dynamic parameters
• Works across environment types

Disadvantages:

• A limited number of parameters can be passed through the URL
• There is no access to any Infor data.
• In a multi-tenant environment, the target server must be in the DMZ
• URLs are hard-coded, requiring changes to the configuration if the URL needs to change

See Configuring a URL report.