A Report by Any Other NameThe term "report" can mean anything, causing confusion about which styles of reports end users needContinued from Page 1 Paper, Plastic, or Web Services?Once confined to paper, then to network wires, reports now travel the airwaves, altered to fit the form factors of wireless personal digital assistants, pagers, telephones (via voice synthesis), and the dashboards of luxury automobiles. A few years ago, an executive at a reporting tool vendor claimed his company was days away from a record quarter in terms of sales. I asked if I could be informed when and if this happened. The executive's quick retort was: "No problem. I'll have my report server call you." Sure enough, I received a phone call a few days later, and a halting computer-generated voice said, "Alert notification. Fourth quarter sales quota exceeded." As report styles have diversified, so have the electronic file formats in which reports can be delivered. In fact, the average report server today can generate a report in several formats. When I check out at my local grocery store, the bagger cheerfully asks, "Would you like paper or plastic?" Similarly, when an end user requests a report, you should politely inquire, "Would you like paper, PDF, RTF, SGML, HTML, DHTML, Excel, text, comma-delimited records, XML, WAP/WML, telephony, pager, or the report server's proprietary format?" A year from now, add Web services to the list. A Term for the WorstAs these manifold forms of reporting and their delivery media evolved, we slowly slipped into a sloppy semantic solipsism, pretending that everything that evolved from the lowly report is still a report. With so many report types, uses, and formats, it's now impossible to say "report" and be assured anyone will know what you mean. We have all these styles at our disposal today because a greater diversity of end users require them. In this context, the diversity of report styles is a boon. Yet, it's also a curse because diversity yields complexity, increasing the risk of mismatching user types and report types. Different User Types, Different Report StylesWith apologies to Shakespeare, would a report by any other name smell as sweet? It would, indeed, as long as the "other name" identifies a specific report style, which is fundamental to satisfying end users' requirements. Moving forward, here's what you can do to minimize the semantic confusion generated by the overused term "report." |
Realize that there are many styles of reports, applicable to many use cases. Any time you hear the word "report," expect to have a protracted conversation. Because reporting can enable so many usage scenarios, you must ask which style of report and which use of that style is meant, as well as which electronic file format that style and use requires. When possible, use more specific terms, such as production report, analytic report, dashboard, and so forth. Otherwise, you may assume a style or use not intended and, therefore, fail to match a business user with an appropriate style of report.
Philip Russom, Ph.D. [www.philiprussom.com] is a Giga Research Director at Forrester Research Inc., where he provides advice to user organizations about business intelligence, data warehousing, and data integration.
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