Daylight Research : Reporting Features

You can create a customized report no matter where you are in Daylight Explorer™. The Daylight Explorer™ report making engine produces a list of reports based on the set of all possible combinations of data types that are available. This means that if you can see the data, you can create a report on it.

The Report Maker dialog gives you several options to make your report easy to create and customize. The Available Reports field lists all of the reports that you can create based on which node you have selected in the left-hand pane of the Explorer window. You can browse through the available reports and see what each one does by looking in the Report Description field. You also have the option of including default phone numbers and/or e-mail addresses in reports as well as using the integrated Filter dialog to filter which records will be included in your report.

With two clicks, you can export your church directory to a file in PDF format. This lets you send it to your members via e-mail, saving you printing and mailing costs. The accompanying illustration shows the menu you would use to do this as well as a sample page from the directory that you can make with Daylight Explorer™. Other types of reports can be exported to HTML and RTF format in addition to PDF format.

In addition to the regular reports, Daylight Explorer™ includes many specialized reports. The accompanying illustration shows an attendance roster for the fictional Agape sunday school class. Note that the option to show each person's phone number has been used. This would come in handy should the teacher of this class need to contact his or her students.

If you install the Desktop or Network edition of Daylight Explorer, you can create a professional-looking picture directory and/or picture album your church. These picture directories and albums include a family and member index at the back. If you choose, they can also include all of your church groups and sunday school classes. The accompanying illustration shows the directory page for a fictional Church Council. Note that the illustrated picture seems stretched because it was forced into a square box. You can avoid this in your directories by customizing the apsect ratio of your images in the Program Options dialog so that groups of people are shown in landscape mode (wide to show people next to each other) while individuals are shown in portrait mode (tall to show the human form). There are 9 aspect ratio settings.

The accompanying illustration shows how a church family looks in your picture directory.

In addition to the picture directory and picture album, you can also create a more compact, paper-saving Short Directory. One way to distribute your church directories and not waste paper is to make a picture directory (a long directory) available in digital format such as a CD or website download and then provide a short directory on for physical distribution on paper. Note that, in addition to your church directory, you can create a standalone directory for each of your sunday school classes as well. These attractive short directories are available in all editions including the free Daylight Explorer Express Edition edition.

Wherever you are in Daylight Explorer™, you can produce a snapshot report that displays all the visible data in the Explorer window. Your snapshot report can be printed or exported in several file formats.