Decision Support
Report Creation & Publishing Overview
On this page you'll find a high level overview of the report creation and publishing process. Read this page to gain a general understanding of the process, then click on the subsequent links under Create Reports in the side bar navigation to work through the entire process.
Who are the primary players in this process?
- The business user who needs the answer to an institutional question
- The local decision support center for that business or subject area
- The report developer who is assigned to develop the report
- Priority setting group that decides on the priority of the report
Figure 1 below presents a high-level view of the process involved in publishing a central report.
Figure 1 illustrates those steps visually, to give you an overview of the process.
What happens before the report is assigned to a report developer:
Steps to take |
What Happens |
Who: business users, local decision support center
- Search the report catalog and communicate with the local subject area decision support center to find potential solutions.
|
A question needs an answer
The report development process begins when an institutional question that needs answering has been identified. Be sure there isn’t already a report that can answer the question before starting down the report development path.
|
Who: business users, local decision support center, other parties as needed
- Complete the Business Requirements Document to initiate a report request.
- Find the relevant local decision
support center and submit BRD to them
|
Business Requirements Document (BRD)
When you have determined that a new report needs to be developed, initiate a report request. Be sure to create a communication, training, and support plan for the report so the targeted audience will know about your report and be able to use it productively. |
Who: local decision support center, business users
- The local decision support center researches existing
reports.
- The center confirms a new report is
required to answer the question.
- Request is sent to the designated priority setting group
|
Decision support center receives the BRD and ensures no
existing reports meet the current need.
|
Who: priority setting group, local decision support center
- The designated priority setting group places the report in the priority queue.
|
The report is prioritized.
|
Who: priority setting group, report developer
- Report is assigned to a report developer.
|
The report is assigned to a report developer when it reaches the top of the priority queue.
|
The report developer develops the report on the desktop. It is then promoted (or published) to an online Report Publishing Development Environment when the report is ready to be shared with and viewed by others.
See Create and Publish Central Reports to learn what the report developer needs to do to create a report.
