The Basics!

Hopefully the guide on this page will allow you to develop custom reports for yourself.

If you are struggling with a report of ECATS AR in general, I am available for consultation. Fill out the form here and I'll get back to you ASAP.

ECATS General Guidance

I'm adding information here from a session I did at the Admin/DL Institute 70th CEC.

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Get started with Advanced Reporting

  1. Log into ECATS


  1. Open Advanced Reporting from the Reporting dropdown menu.

  1. Open Web Intelligence in the My Applications section.


  1. Start a New document.

  1. Select Universe as a data source then click OK.
    Make sure
    ECATS Aggregate V1.1.unx is selected and click select OK.

Overview of Advanced Reporting database

A FIELD contains all the data in a particular category.

This could be the student name, the case manager, the date of the last IEP, or if they are an active student, for example.

A QUERY selects which fields you want to get information from AND filters out the information you don’t want.

You may want the Student Age field but you want to filter out all students older than 8 years old. Combining filters can help make powerful reports!

A REPORT makes the data pulled by the query more readable and attractive.

Reports can list out the results of a query or provide a summary of the data found.

Fields

This area is where you find the various fields listed:

Use the “Type here to filter on the tree” input window to search for fields.


Current Workspace contains data from the place where teachers draft IEPs in the workspace.


Historical Information contains all the information from past IEPs and other documents. The most recent IEP is stored in HIstorical Information!


Misc. Fields contain smart fields such as Today’s Date in addition to other various fields.

What’s the difference between Current Workspace and Historical Information?

You may want to find the grade level of a student.


This field is called Grade and it’s located in the Personal Information folder within the Student Information folder.


This field exists in the Current Workspace and the Historical Information folders.


If you pull the Grade field from the Current Workspace folder, it will show that student’s current grade.


If you pull the Grade from the Historical Workspace folder, it will show that student’s grade listed on the last IEP. This means that a current 4th grade student would have 3rd grade listed in that field if that’s the grade the child was when their most recent IEP went into effect.


There is more to this but this will help get you started!

Queries

This area is where you include the fields from which you want to get information:

But, if we run this, we get WAY too many results! This includes EVERY student in the database, even those who have moved away, graduated, or exited services. To fix this, we add some filters.

Filters

This area is where you include the filters to limit your results so that you only see what you are wanting to see:

By including two filters [Primary Disability Is not Null] and [Active Students Filter], now our query only pulls every active student who has an IEP. This is now a list of EVERY student receiving EC services!

Now we get to build our Query!

  1. Add Fields to the Query

    • Search for Student ID in the search box.


    • This shows Student ID in 3 locations:

      • Current Workspace → Student Information → Personal Information → Student ID

      • Current Workspace → Incident Tracking → Students Involved → Student ID

      • Historical Information → Student Information Hist → Personal Information Hist → Student ID


    • Choose Student ID from the Current Workspace → Student Information → Personal Information pathway


    • Select the arrow next to Result Objects to add the field to the Results Objects Query. You can also double click on the Field to add it to the query or click and drag it to the Results Objects box.

  • Repeat this for the following fields:

    • Student ID


    • Current Workspace → Student Information → Personal Information → Last Name, First Name

      • Be careful not to select this value from User Information!


    • Current Workspace → Student Information → Personal Information → Grade Abbrev

      • I find the Grade Abbrev Field easier to read on Reports. Make sure you pull this from Current Workspace. If you pull it from Historical Information it will return the Grade level of the student when the last IEP went into effect.


    • Current Workspace → Student Information → Personal Information → Case Manager

      • If you pull it from Historical Information it will return the Case Manager of the student when the last IEP went into effect. Pull from Current Workspace to get the Case Manager who is currently managing this student’s IEP.


    • Current Workspace → Student Information → Personal Information → Gender Abbreviation


    • Current Workspace → Student Information → School Information → School

      • There are a lot of fields that include School in the name. Make sure you scroll down to find the correct field.


    • Current Workspace → Student Information → Race → Race (CSV) → Race Abbreviation

      • Make sure you pull from the Race (CSV) subfolder!


    • Current Workspace → Student Information → Race → Race (CSV) → Hispanic Ethnicity?


    • Historical Information → Special Education Hist → IEP/ PSSP Hist → Special Factors Hist → Extended Content Standards? → Extended Content Standards?

      • Make sure you pull this from the Historical Information folder instead of the Current Workspace. We want what is included in the active IEP, not what is in the Current Workspace/Draft area of ECATS.


    • Historical Information → Special Education Hist → Eligibility Hist → Disabilities Hist → Primary Disability Code


    • Historical Information → Student Events (Historical Only) → Event Selector → Event Begin Date


    • Historical Information → Student Events (Historical Only) → Event Selector → Event End Date


  • The Results Object window should now look like this:

Add the Query Filters

    • Build the Query Filters by choosing the desired fields

    • Use the arrow next to Query Filters to add the field. You can also double click on the Field to add it to the query or click and drag it to the Query Filters box.

    • Choose Active Students Filter from the Current Workspace → Student Information pathway.

      • Add it to the Query Filters window.

    • Grab the Grade Abbrev Field from the Results Objects and drag it down into the Query Filters box.

            • On this Grade Abbrev filter, make sure In List is selected.

            • Select the symbol on the right side of the filter.

            • Select Value(s) from list.

  • Select which values from Grade Abbrev you want to include in your filter. You can multi-select using ⌘ or CTRL.

  • Click the arrow to add the Grade Abbrev value to the Query Filter.

  • Then click OK.

  • Select which values from Grade Abbrev you want to include in your filter. You can multi-select using ⌘ or CTRL.

  • Click the arrow to add the Grade Abbrev value to the Query Filter.

  • Then click OK.

  • Select KI, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

  • The filter will now only return those values you selected. So this filter now shows KI through 12th grade!

  • This is also a great way to “peek” into a FIELD to see what values the field contains.

  • Now add the Event Selector to the Query Filter. This is a powerful field!

  • Add the Event Selector Field into the Query Filters

  • Select the symbol on the right side of the filter.

  • Select Value(s) from list.

  • Use the search box to find “Currently Valid: IEP

  • Select “Currently Valid: IEP” from the Event Selector window.

  • Click the arrow to add the “Currently Valid: IEP” value to the Query Filter.

  • Click OK.

Our Query is ready!!

Click Run Query to generate our first report.

Let’s Save!

    • Click the Save icon in the top left of the page.

    • Type what you want to name it in the
      File Name: input box.

  • Click Save.

  • If you want others to have access to this report, you will want to save it in the Public Folders instead of your Favorites Folder.

    • The Favorites Folder is private to you.

    • The Public Folders location is available to other administrators with permission.

    • To save in the Public folders, click on Public Folders in the left hand menu.

    • If you want to work privately on a Report and then move it to the public folder, Save to begin with. Then Save As and save to the Public Folders when you are ready.

Format our report!

Simple Formatting

    • Wrapping Text

      • Select a column header where you want to see all the text.

  • Go to the Formatting Menu

  • Select the Word Wrap icon

  • Now the text is easier to read!

Change the column width

    • Hover over the line separating one column from the other.

    • When the double arrow appears, double click.



  • This will resize the column to fit the width of the content.

  • Another option is to select the text of the column.

  • Go to the Formatting tab

  • Then go to the Size sub-tab.

  • Type in the width you want the column to be (in inches).

Style

The Style tab lets you adjust Font Color, Background Color, etc. Just make sure you select the column or column header you want to format first!

Alignment

The Alignment tab lets you adjust if the text is left-aligned, centered, or right-aligned.

    • This is also where you adjust vertical alignment and word-wrapping

Page Size

Change the page size to help with printing.

    • Go to the Page Setup tab.

    • Go to the Page sub-tab.

    • Change the default page size from A4 to Letter.

    • This is also where you can change the orientation of the page from Portrait to Landscape.


Make sure you SAVE often!

Analysis

Starting with the Analysis! Go to the Analysis tab.

    • Let’s add a Filter so we only see a list of student with Extended Content Standards

    • Click on Extended Content Standards? column.

    • Go to the Filters sub-tab.

    • Select the dropdown arrow beside Filter.

    • Select Add Filter.

    • Select Yes. Add it to the Filter with the arrow

  • Click OK.

  • Now your student list is only showing students who are accessing Extended Content Standards.

Add an Input Control.

    • Select the arrow beside Input Controls.

    • Select List Check Box.

    • Select Finish.

  • Select the Input Control symbol on the left hand side of the screen.

  • Select the small wrench in the Input Controls window to edit the properties.

    • You can set default values so that only certain things are shown when the report is opened.

    • You can set the number of lines to have in the default view.

    • And more!

  • Change the Number of line(s) to 15.

      • Click OK.

      • Input Controls can be created for any FIELD

        Want some extra practice? Try these:

        • Make a control to show 3rd through 12th grade by default but allow PK, KI, 1, and 2 to be viewed as desired.
          (You’ll have to use the small wrench to change the Default Value(s) to 3rd through 12th grade.)

        • Make a control to filter the Event Begin Date to only show values Greater than or Equal to a selected date.
          (You’ll have to use the small wrench to change the Filter Operators to Greater than or Equal to)

  • Sorting Responses

    • Right click/Option Click the School field.

      • Select the content, not the header.

    • Go down to Sort, select Ascending.

    • The Advanced… option allows you to set which sorts you want to use first.

      • For example, you may want to sort by School, then by Case Manager, then by Student Name.



Make sure you SAVE often!

Creating Breaks

    • You may want to group all the responses for a School or Case Manager together and have a break between that section and another.

    • Right click on the FIELD you want to provide a Break on.

    • Under the Manage Breaks… option, you can select options such as:

      • Start on a new page. This is great if you intend to print and distribute reports to Sites or Case Managers.

      • Avoid page breaks in block. This can really help readability at times.

    • A benefit of Breaks is you can use them to calculate Subtotals.


Adding a Count to the list.

    • This feature counts the unique values.

    • Select the Student ID field. It is a unique value.

    • On the Analysis tab, go to the Functions tab.

  1. Click Count.

  2. This creates a new row at the bottom of your report (or section break) which gives you the Count of all the unique values.

  3. For extra credit:

    • Add a text description to that row by adding "Total: " +

      • The cell would look like this: ="Total: " + Count([Student ID])

    • Include ALL values, not just unique values

      • The cell would look like this: =Count([Student ID];All)

    • Combine the two!

      • The cell would look like this: ="Total: " + Count([Student ID];All)

  • Custom functions can be built by clicking the fx symbol at the top of the

  • These functions can get complicated.

  • Pay attention to the Description area. This shows what values are accepted in the argument of the function.

  • We used the Count function earlier.

    • It generates a number (int)

    • It is named (Count)

    • The first argument is the (obj). This is the FIELD you are counting

    • The second argument is optional. It is the ([;IncludeEmpty]). This is a TRUE/FALSE.

    • The third argument is ([;Distinct | All]). The | symbol means OR.

    • So, =Count([Student ID];All) tells Advanced Reporting to count ALL values of the [Student ID] field, not just the Distinct or unique values.


Open a Report and Refreshing Data

  • Open a Report

    • Log into ECATS

    • Open Advanced Reporting from the Reporting dropdown menu.

    • Open Web Intelligence in the My Applications section.

    • Click the Folder icon located toward the
      top of the window.

  • Go to your Favorite Folder or Public Folder to find the file. It should be located wherever it was saved.

    • The Favorites Folder is private to you.

    • The Public Folders location is available to other administrators with the proper permission.

    • To open from the Public folders, click on Public Folders in the left hand menu.

    • Click on the file and select Open.

Refresh the data on your report.

    • After a report is opened, click the refresh icon to make sure the data is up to date.


  • Make the report Refresh on its own whenever it is opened.

    • Click on the Properties tab (left hand menu, top).

    • Select Document.

    • Select Refresh on open.


    • Click OK.


When you open the report, it will be in Reading view. Click Design in the upper right hand corner to switch to the mode where you can edit the Report.

Make sure you SAVE!

If you've made it this far, you are probably ready to develop your own Advanced Reports!

Check out these custom Advanced Reports:

Coming soon:

  • Students on Extend 1 Standards

  • Students with multiple services sessions for a single goal area in a single day

  • Students with "Per Reporting Period" as a service time on a goal

  • Students with a BIP

  • Students with too many services hours in a day for an individual goal

  • Students with too many services hours in a day as a total of all goals

  • 60 days past initiation in the 90 day timeline

  • Consent for Services is not complete