At this Skill Station, we will learn how to generate reports.
Learning concepts at this Skill Station:
Using report templates
Editing templates
Converting them to pdfs
Auto emailing reports to stakeholders
Creating email templates
Video Tutorial:
Let's start by creating a new version of the work Stream we created at the last station. Access your streams by clicking on the gear icon in the upper right corner of your screen. In the pull-down menu, select “Streams Management.”
While on the Your Streams tab, click on the Safety Inspection Work Stream that we created at the last Skill Station.
Note: Don’t use the back button on your browser. That will always take you to the home page, rather than the last page you visited. Use navigation menu inside the Pulpstream platform to get where you need to go.
Click the on the Stream to see a Summary of all the versions of this stream.
Click the Create New Version button. Working on a new version will enable you to make changes to the stream without affecting the work Stream that’s being used in the field. Later on, when we checkin the stream, the changes we make will be merged in and deployed to everyone connected to your Pulpstream engine. On the right side of your Stream Definition Canvas in the Components Catalog under Forms, click on your Safety Inspection Form to open it.
In the upper left part of the screen, click on the gear icon. In the pull-down menu, choose “Generate a Print Template.”
Your browser will start to download a Word Document. This is a basic report template. It contains all the fields that are in the Inspection form that we made at Skill Station 1.
Let's learn how to edit it.
First, we will run the template through the work Stream to see what the final report would look like based on our stream configurations. This will enable us to discern what edits to make. Go back to your Stream Definition Canvas. Click the gear icon in the top right corner. In the pull-down menu, choose “Test Document Print Template.”
In the popup, we want to select a record that we made earlier by clicking on it. If you don’t see any records here, that’s because you haven’t tested your work Stream. Every time you use a work Stream, it creates a record. If you don’t have one here, create one now. I’ll be here when you’re done.
When you have a record, let's test our template with it. (You can always see all the records that have been created with this work stream in the stream Records tab.) Select the record you want to use in our template test. On the bottom left side of the popup, click the “choose a file” button. Upload the template we downloaded earlier. Click on the Generate button. Your browser will download a .pdf version of what the final, printed report would look like.
You could edit the Word template by adding your logo, brand colors, and any other information that your company would require on a final report. Then you could test them with this test feature. This is not our goal right now. So, we will rename this file “Inspection Report” and save it.
Next, we will upload that template to your Component Catalog to make it available for use in work streams.
On the right side of the Stream Definition Canvas, in your Components Catalog, find your Documents. Hover your mouse over “Documents” to reveal the “new” option. Click on that to upload your inspection report template to the system.
Note: If you are on a Mac and using Pages, export your file as a .doc or .docx file. Pulpstream only ingests Word docs at the moment.
Check the box to make the template available to End users For Individual Records from Record Details.
Save your changes. On your Stream Definition Canvas, you will see your new document template in the Documents section of your Components Catalog.
Moving along with our use case: After a report has been created, we want to notify a stakeholder, so they can review it and approve it if necessary.
In your Components Catalog, hover your mouse over the words “Email Templates.” This will reveal the “new” function. Click on it to add an email template to your Components Catalog.
Give it a title your whole team would instantly understand. We will title ours “Inspection Report.”
The Sender will be the person who submitted the record, so select “Record Submitter” from the pull-down menu. On this screen you can personalize the email template to make it suit your business needs and use your brand’s voice. We do this with field merge values. See that magnifying glass icon to the right of the Subject and Body fields? Click on that to find the right field merge values.
In the popup, you’ll see Data Components, Record Meta Fields, and Task Meta Fields. Scroll down to find the one that fits your needs. Selecting it will populate the merge field value that will be used to personalize the emails with information from your work stream.
Click it to select it. Copy it.
Paste the field merge value into the email template. Make your email template look like this:
We want our inspection report to included in these emails as an attachment. So, we will upload our Inspection Report Template to this Email Template. Choose that document in the Attachments section. If you want to send your report as a pdf, check the box next to Convert Word Templates to PDF. Save your changes.
Go back to your Stream Definition Canvas. You will find the new email in your Email Templates.
Now that we have a report to send, and an email in which to send it, we need to update our work stream so that the system uses our updated template. Double click on the Send Report step in your work stream to open it.
In the configuration popup, in the Email Template pull-down menu, choose the Inspection Report Email Template.
Save your changes. Save the Process.
Checkin your Stream. Add comments for the change logs. These are useful during edits or audits.
Publish the version. Put it in a catalog if you like to organize your forms. Add comments for the change logs.
And that's it. We have learned how to use report templates, edit them, and automatically email them to stakeholders.
This concludes our visit to this Skill Station.
Test your work Stream by going to your Forms Catalog and taking a walk in your inspector’s shoes. Go to the home page. Click the Submit New Form button to start.