Custom Report Example - Family Mailing Labels w/ Phone Number

Objective:

In this example, we will learn how to utilize the custom reports feature to create a family mailing label specifically focused on including phone numbers. Additional fields could be added or removed during this process, such as adding the Visit Area field.

Result:

Steps:

1. To begin, start by navigating to the Family Mailing List module, select the Other Output option and then finally Custom Reports.
   
   
   
   1. If you are using a version prior to 11, there will be no other output option; the Custom Reports option will be directly under the Family Mailing List module.
2. The next step will be creating a new query and a title to go with it. This step will be different depending on whether you have created a custom report in the past or not.
   1. If you have NOT created a custom report in the past, the system will immediately prompt you for a report title. Simply enter the desired title and click OK, this will bring up the query builder for the next step.
   2. If you HAVE created a custom report in the past, you will be brought to an existing page of all your custom reports. Simply click the Add button and enter the desired title and click OK, this will bring up the query builder for the next step.
3. The 3rd step is to build a filter that decides which families appear in the output. In this example, we will provide two options, labels for all families and labels for specific families based on a mailing category.
   1. All Families:
      • From the "Step 1: Pick a field" tab, select Household Key Last Name
      • From the "Step 2: Pick an Operator" tab, select Is not empty
      • Click done at the bottom right. You should now see your filter in the list.
      • Once satisfied with the query, select done near the bottom right to move onto the next step.
        
        
        
   2. Specific Families:
      • From the "Step 1: Pick a field" tab, select Mailing Category
      • From the "Step 2: Pick an Operator" tab, select exactly matches
      • From the "Step 3: Enter a value" tab, select the desired code such as Special Mailing
      • Click done at the bottom right. You should now see your filter in the list.
      • Once satisfied with the query, select done near the bottom right to move onto the next step.
        
        
        
4. After your filter has been created and you have selected to move to the next step, you should be prompted to run the query. Select Yes. Upon clicking yes, you will be shown a brief run-down of how to utilize the field picker dialog box. When you are ready to continue, click OK.
5. Step 5 will be selecting the fields you want to display on the mailing labels. From the "Fields to pick" section, simply double click on the fields you would like to include on the label. For this example, we will include Mailing Name, Address Line 1, City+State+Zip/Postal, and Family Phone 1. This is where you could include additional fields like Visit Area. When you are finished, click done.
   
   
   
6. Now we are on the Query Overview Screen. From here you will need to check the Hide Duplicate Records box. This will prevent multiple labels from printing for the same family. You will also need to uncheck the Browse Query Results box.
   
   
   
7. The last step before we run the query will be to change the sort order. Click on the Edit Sort Order button. Select the following fields, in order, to sort alphabetically: Household Key Last Name, Household Key First Name and Address Line 1. When you are finished, click on Done.
   
   
   
8. At this point, click on Run Query. PowerChurch Plus will display a screen titled Setup for Column Layout Report. Click on Edit Form.
   
   
   
9. You will now see the Report Designer Screen.
   1. First, double click on the grey band Page Header and set the height field to be 0.5 inches. Do the same for the Page Footer band.
      
      
      
   2. Double-click on the Detail band and set its height to 1.0 inch.
      
      
      
10. You will now need to direct the Custom Report Writer to print the names in columns. To do this, click on File and go to Page Setup. If you have a 20 label sheet, set the columns to 2. For 30 label sheets, set the number of columns to 3. In addition, you need to set the Print Area for this report to Whole Page. Click OK.
    
    
    
11. Just above the Page Footer band at the bottom of the screen, you will notice three fields; date(), page, and pageno_. Click on each field once and press the Delete key on your keyboard.
12. Just above the Page Header at the top of the screen, you will notice 4 fields; Mailing Name, Address, City + State + Zip/Postal and Phone 1. Click on each field once and press the Delete key on your keyboard.
    
    
    
13. Now you will need to line up the fields in the detail band (just below the gray Column Header bar). You do this by clicking on the fields, holding down the left mouse button, and dragging them underneath one another.
    
    
    
14. Once all these steps are completed, you can close the Report Designer and save your changes. Do this by clicking on the File Menu and selecting Save and Close. Start the report by clicking Start Report from the Setup for Column Layout Report Screen.