Browse Data - Overview

The 'Browse Data' function enables the user to create an ad-hoc query of the Ivo data.

Note, by default this function is only visible to Ivo Administrators.  Individual staff can be given given access to this function in the staff settings, along with the option to save queries created with this tool.

The goal of this 'Browse Data' function is to provide a simple interface to enable organisations to construct the most common kinds of queries that 1024 has typically been asked to write for customers.  We estimate this function will meet approximately 80% or more of such requirements.   Examples of queries that can be built using this tool -

• all clients in the last six months, collated by Activity Type and Funding
• total of hours entered into Ivo by staff in the last month, collated by staff
• total hours spent on each type of Activity, collated by Funding
• all ATSI clients, including their age, collated by Gender
• the primary email address for all current clients (which you can then easily copy and paste into an email)

Where something more complex is required, 1024 is still able to use the "Queries" function to do so.

The first step in the process is to select the fields that you want to see in the results of the query.  The left side of the screen has four sections for selecting fields -

• Entity fields
• Entity DEX fields - only visible if your organisation receives DEX funding.   Note, the fields visible in this list are determined by the administration settings for showing the DEX Partnership Approach fields.
• Activity fields
• File note fields

Click on a section to reveal its list of fields.  Double-click a field to add it to the "Selected Fields" table.

Options for selected fields -

1. The "Field Name" can be changed by clicking the cell and typing the new name.  See 4 below for an example of why you might do this.
2. The "Format" column controls how the data in specific columns is displayed.  The most common type of data to control the display of is dates.  You can find the options for formatting dates here.
3. Tick the "Collated on this Field" column to, well, collate the data on that field.  In the above example, the data will be collated on the "Activity Type" and "Gender" columns.

4. Choose a calculation for a field.  Calculations are only applicable when the data is collated on at least one field, or your choose the 'Grand Totals' option (see item 4 below, under 'Other Options).

   
   

   Calculations are most often performed on number fields.  In the above example, on the left hand side of the screen where you select fields, there aren't options for "No of Clients" or "No of Activities".  For this kind of calculation, where we want to know the "Number of" those items, we use the ID fields from the relevant data fields.  So, for "No of Clients", the "Entity ID" field was chosen and for "No of Activities", the "Activity ID" field was used.  The fields were then renamed in the "Selected Fields" table, per 1 above.

5. Use the "Filter Operation" and "Filter Value" columns to apply criteria for restricting the data.  In the above example, we are using these options to only extract clients that are 50 years or older.

   
   

   You can use the Ivo Date Shortcuts as special "Filter Values".  See the Date Shortcuts article for more details.

The end result of the above selections is -

Note the data is "collated" on the "Activity Type" and "Gender" columns, and the calculations are applied to the "No of Clients" and "No of Activities" columns.

The results behave like any other query results in Ivo and so you can right-click on any row to get the context menu.

Other Options

1. Date options

You can set a date range for your query.  This means that the records extracted will fall between the dates you choose.

If you are creating a one-off query (ie. one that you don't need to save for the future), then specifying a start and end date is the simple way to go.

If the query is going to be saved for future use, then you can turn on the "Make the dates a setting I choose whenever I run the query", which will do exactly that.  Within this option there are two further possibilities -

1. Provide dates when the query is run - this means that every time you run the query you will need to specify the dates for the query to use.  This is primarily useful if the dates you will need aren't what might be termed 'regular'.  For example, 1-Jan to 31-Jan or 1-Jan to 31-Mar would be 'regular' dates, but 5-Jan to 21-Jan would not.  For 'regular' dates, you can use the next option ...
2. You can set default dates to use every time you run the query.  These follow the form of "This Year", or "Last Quarter".  Do note however that even when you use default dates, you will always be able to change them at the time the query is run.

The last choice to make in this section is what the date range applies to -

• Activities - this means that the query will return all Activities that were open at some point between and including the specified dates.
• File Notes - turning this option on will only return file notes that occurred between and including the specified dates.

So, if for example, you wanted to see all file notes for any activities that fall within the specified dates, you would tick 'Activities' and untick 'File Notes'. This would mean you would see file notes for those activities that occurred outside the date range. This would be desirable in some instances.

2. Entity Options

This section provides options to restrict the query to an individual entity.  This could be useful for a query intended to provide a summary of an individual.

3. Activity Options

There are four options

1. The first  is to filter activities based on a keyword or phrase in the Activity Title.  For example, you might search for something like "dispute".  Note, the search is not case-sensitive.
2. If desired, select the Activity Types you want to restrict the results to.
3. If desired, select the Funding Sources you want to restrict the results to.

4. If desired, select the Statuses you want to restrict the results to. Statuses apply to Activity types thus -

   
   

   Intake / Waiting List Records - Pending Decision, Waiting, Accepted, Declined, Not Contactable, Withdrawn

   
   

   Everything Else - Open, Closed

4. Other Options

• "Expand the Outline to" - When using the "Collate on this field" option, you will often collate on multiple fields. This option will automatically expand the results to the "level" you specify with this setting.
• "Don't show duplicate records" - Some queries will return the same data multiple times.
• "Show Grand Totals" - This option will automatically add a "Grand Totals" collation to the query.
• "Results Label Descriptor" - The query results show a small label with the number of records returned and this descriptor. For example "53 Records". You might prefer to see "53 Clients" or "53 Advocacy Issues", depending on your query.
• "Staff" - If desired, select the Staff you want to restrict the results to.