Report Builder FAQ

Frequently asked questions about AngelTrack's Report Builder

Why doesn't my "Values" column appear in the grid?

Values columns, also known as aggregations, require the presence of at least one "Row Group".

For example, if your Values column is SUM(Payments Received), you need a Row Group column  like "Service Provided" so that your Values column can add up all the payments received for each group i.e. for each service level.

Why are some columns not allowed to be Values columns?

To be a Values column, there must be a way to aggregate a column's values into a single answer.

For example, a monetary column can be aggregated into a total, or an average, or a minimum, etc. Likewise a true/false column could be aggregated into a count of true values, or a count of false values. However, certain data types can't be added up in this manner, and so they cannot become Values columns.

You can, however, make them Row Group columns, and then count the number of rows in each group by adding a Values column for COUNT(Dispatch ID).

I can't get it to chart my data...?

Remember that charts can only plot numeric data points.

A descriptive column containing values like "BLS" or "nursing home" can provide the X axis, but there must also be a numeric column to provide the chart's bars, lines, or points.

Have a look at this walkthrough to see how to convert a descriptive column into numeric values that can be plotted.

How do I get one row per month, or one column per month?

To see months as rows, drag the "Activation Month" column (or other relevant "Month" column) to the "Row Groups" box.

To see months as columns, switch the chart to a pivot, and then drag the "Activation Month" column (or other relevant "Month" column) to the "Column Labels" box.

How do I sort by more than one column at once?

Click your primary column once to make it the sort column, then hold SHIFT and click any additional sort columns.

How do I change my report's date window?

You can alter a report's date window from the Save panel in the sidebar.

My pivot report is only showing me one value...?

Take a look at this walkthrough or this one.

How do I email out my report?

Take a look at this article: Emailing Reports from Report Builder

Can I configure a schedule to automatically email my report?

Not yet.

How can I see calls that were cancelled?

There is a separate category and dataset for those, called Dispatches-Cancellations.

How do I sort a row group's children without changing the sort order of my row groups?

Use a cascaded sort:

  1. Click your primary row group's column header to make it the primary sort column.
  2. While holding SHIFT, click any secondary row group's column header to make it the secondary sort column.
  3. Still holding SHIFT, click the child column's header to make it the tertiary sort column.

Why do some columns turn blue and brown?

When you have an AVG aggregation active, AngelTrack will use blue and brown (in the sense that ground is low while sky is high) to help you visualize where each value falls on the range of values:

  • Highest quintile (81% to 100%) of the distribution: Bold blue
  • Fourth quintile (61% to 80%) of the distribution: Washed-out blue
  • Middle quintile (41% to 60%) of the distribution: No coloration
  • Second quintile (21% to 40%) of the distribution: Washed-out brown
  • Lowest quintile (0% to 20%) of the distribution: Bold brown

The percentages are calculated relative to the weighted average, not to the gross minimum/maximum. Therefore, if your data is mostly small values with just a few large ones, then low values will be reported as falling in the middle of the range, and vice versa.

Can I see a list of all available columns?

Yes, create a new report against the "Report Builder" category, and you can then browse, sort, and search the list of all available columns across all datasets. At the bottom of the Report Builder's grid there is a quick-find box that you can use to find datafields by keyword.

Report Builder presently has 2050 datafields available, across 73 different datasets.

The datasets are grouped into 37 categories. You can combine datasets within a category, to create a single large report.

Where is the patient armband / trauma tag number?

Look in the Dispatches-PatientCare dataset.

Where is the "Type of Service" datafield?

Look in the Dispatches-PatientCare dataset.

This field is different than the "Service Requested" and "Service Provided" datafields. "Type of Service" is on the Followup page, and it contains the information from the NEMSIS datafield named eResponse.05.

How do find total miles billed to insurance?

Report Builder has a built-in report named "Insurance - Mileage Claimed by Month and Code" that shows you how to build this report.

How do I identify air-medical referrals?

Look for the value "Other EMS responder - Air" in the field "Dest NEMSIS Type" in the Dispatches-Overview dataset.

Why does my pivot chart auto-include my Row Groups column? How do I get rid of it?

Report Builder's charting engine does that whenever your Row Groups column is numeric data.

There are three different workarounds for this issue, you can use any one of them:

  • Use a different column for your Row Groups -- something that contains textual data instead.
  • Instead of using a Pivot Chart, create a Range Chart.
  • Disable the extra column by clicking its legend entry in your pivot chart. Alas that change will not be saved; it will come back the next time you run the report.