Notes from the EG Reports Task Force Conference Call: 2010-11-17

November 17, 2010; 2:30-3:30 ET

In attendance: Katherine Gregory (PINES), Amy Terlaga (Bibliomation), Jeff Godin (TADL), Benjamin Shum (Bibliomation), Stuart Forrest (SCLends); Pamela Smith (Hanover, NH), Jenny Turner (PALS)

Membership Update & Introductions:

The meeting was publicized more broadly than in the past (both the general EG list and the reports group) resulting in increased participation.

Mailing List:

• There was discussion at our last meeting about moving the reports group to a list similar to existing EG lists (open-ils-reports)
• Eventually there could be lists for each of the modules (circ, cat…)
• Katherine agreed to write a draft of a mission for the reports list and check with PINES about hosting the list
• We will move forward with this idea, as there was general consensus that it was a good idea.
• Reports list will be open to all; not just the taskforce (helpful for troubleshooting)
• Google Group: the group is now more open; we will continue using it and just see how it goes…

Evergreen Conference 2011:

• SQL Pre-Conference? This was proposed at our last meeting. The conference planners liked the idea, but scheduling is an issue.
• The first call for conference proposals will be around the first week of December with proposals due Jan. 14th. Ideas/discussions:
  • Benjamin and/or Jeff: a session on automated reports?
  • Could a reports discussion go opposite the hackfest?
  • Template discussion: what is available?
  • There should definitely be some sort of reports discussion as it was a success last year.
• Conference website will go live on Mon. Nov. 22.

Updates/Issues:

• Jeff shared how his organization has been able to run more complex reports than those available through the reports without direct database access. He will be contributing this work back to the community.
• Ben shared how his organization runs automated SQL reports directly from the database.
• Katherine updated us on the "Classic Circ Template" reports: these were created specifically for PINES, which is why they failed when tested elsewhere.
• PINES is doing some report clean-up. Deleting output does not remove all traces of a report; if an email was generated for a report, this link remains. There is a script that can be used to clean this up.
• Report wants:
  • Ability to look back at report criteria
  • Ability to edit recurring reports
  • Ability to generate totals
  • Ability to block empty reports from emailing notices (if the report is blank, don't send a report)
• Documentation on reports? The DIG website lists report documentation as being completed, but what is there is very basic. It would be nice if this could be flushed out more. It would be helpful to have someone in the reports group that really knows what DIG is up to. Jenny will email the DIG list and put out a call in the IRC meeting on 23-11-2010.

Next Meeting: Dec. 8, 2010 at 1:30 Central/2:30 Eastern