The Create New Report button under the Custom Reports tab allows the user to select a set of EpiSurv data to extract in a report. These reports produce line lists of case or outbreak records.

The new report will display a number of “Errors” which need to be resolved in order to successfully create a custom report. This Errors list provides the sequential steps needed to create a valid report. The errors will be resolved as each step is completed.

After the user provides a Title and Description, a Disease Type and a disease must be selected. To do this either drag and drop the relevant disease from the left box to the right box under Disease Type, or click on the disease and use the ADD button to move it to the right box.

Only now will a disease be selected to report on and all the errors will be resolved. To change the disease selection, the user can click on the disease and use the REMOVE button to move it to the left box. There is also the option to filter the results by area (e.g. DHB, TA and/or HD) to limit cases or outbreaks returned.

Once the user addresses all prompts in the “Errors” list the PREVIEW and SAVE buttons under the Creating Extract heading will be enabled. Only the EpiSurv number field is selected by default.

The user can choose fields from the EpiSurv database to include in the report by ticking the boxes beside the field names in the Selected Fields list.

To find the relevant field for the Custom report, the field sections can be expanded using the down arrows next to field section headings. Note that there are often multiple levels before the related field names can be selected (e.g. ReportDate, RptMth, RptYear all fall under the Report date field section).

By default, the fields chosen from the Selected Fields list will appear in the Ordering By list arranged by section of the case report from from top to bottom (these fields will be ordered alphabetically within sections). The top to bottom order of fields will determine the left to right order of columns in the report when downloaded as a spreadsheet.

Note that fields in the Ordering By list containing identifiable case information will be marked with a red CONFIDENTIAL tag (e.g. NHI) to prompt the user to be privacy conscious with this data.

By clicking the tick boxes next to the field names in the Ordered By list, the user can manually choose which field(s) to sort by in the extract. If a field is ticked, the rows of returned data will be sorted in ascending order (or descending, if changed) from top to bottom in the report when downloaded as a spreadsheet. If the report is sorted by more than one field, the data will be sorted by the top field first and then further sorted by any fields ticked below it.

The user can click on the PREVIEW button to check the order of fields in the report.

If no data is returned for the query, it is likely no cases or outbreaks are recorded in EpiSurv for the selected area (location) or date range (by default, a month from the present date). Widening the date range may yield a greater number of results. The user can change the From date in the preview window and then click the SUBMIT button to refresh the preview.

The user can click the SAVE button once the content of the report has been finalised.

A Success message will be displayed indicating that the report is now saved. The side panel heading will now read Editing Extract and display EXECUTE and DELETE options.

The EXECUTE button will direct the user to enter report parameters and generate the report. An alert message will be displayed to prompt the user to save any changes. See the “Generating Reports” help section for more information.

Newly created reports can be found in the New Custom Extract Report Category under the Custom tab. The user must select a Report Group before a list of reports is displayed. See the “Searching for reports” help section for more information.