Report Design Interface Design

J.E.D.I

4.5 Interface Design

The Interface Design is concern with designing elements that facilitate how software communicates with humans, devices and other systems that interoperate with it. In this section, we will be concentrating on design elements that interact with people, particularly, pre-printed forms, reports and screens. Designing good forms, reports and screens are critical in determining how the system will be acceptable to end-users. It will ultimately establish the success of the system. As software engineers, we would want to decrease emphasis on reports and forms and we want to increase emphasis on the screen. When do we use reports? • Reports are used for audit trails and controls. • Reports are used for compliance with external agencies. • Reports are used if it is to voluminous for on-line browsing. When do we use forms? • Forms are used for turnaround documents. • Forms are used if personnels need to do the transaction but does not have access to workstations. • Forms are used if they are legally important documents. When to use Screens? • Screens are used to query a single record from a database. • Screens are used for low volume output. • Screens are used for intermediate steps in long interactive process.

4.5.1 Report Design

Reports can be placed on an ordinary paper, continuous forms, screen-based or microfilm or microfiche. The following gives the steps in designing reports. Report Design Consideration 1. Number of Copies and Volume. There should be a balance between the number of copies generated with the number of pages. • How many copies of the report will be generated? • On the average how many pages will be generated? • Can the user do without the report? • How often to do the user file a copy? Is it really needed? 2. Report Generation Software Engineering 168 J.E.D.I • When do users need the report? • When is the cut-off period of entering or processing of data before reports are generated? 3. Report Frequency • How often do the user need the report? 4. Report Figures • Do the user required reports to generate tables, graphs, charts etc. 5. Media • Where will the report be produced on CRT Screen, Ordinary Continuous Forms, Preprinted Forms, Bond Paper, Microfilm or microfiche, Storage media, etc. Report Layout Guidelines 1. Adhere to standard printout data zones of the report layout. The data zones are the headers, detail lines, footers, and summary. 2. Consider the following tips in designing report headers. • Always include report date and page numbers. • Clearly describe report and contents. • Column headers identify the data items listed. • Align column headers with data items length. • Remove corporate name from internal reports for security purposes. 3. Consider the following tips in designing the detail line. • One line should represent one record of information. Fit details in one line. If more than one line is needed, alphanumeric fields are grouped on the first line and numeric fields are grouped in the next line. • Important fields are placed on the left side. • The first five lines and the last five lines are used for the headers and footers. Do not use this space. • It is a good idea to group the number of details per page by monetary values such as by 10s, 20s and 50s. • If trends are part of the report, represent them in graphic form such as charts. • Group related items, such as Current Sales with Year-to-end Sales or Account number, Name and Address. • For numeric representation such as money, it would be appropriate to include punctuation marks and sign. • Avoid printing repetitive data. 4. Consider the following tips in designing the report footer. • Place page totals, grand totals and code-value tables in this area. • It is also a good place for an indicator that nothing follows. Software Engineering 169 J.E.D.I 5. Consider the following tips in designing the summary page. • Summary pages can be printed at the beginning of the report or at the end. • Select only one. Developing the Report Layouts STEP 1: Define the Report Layout Standards. As an example, the following is the standard for defining the reports of the Club Membership Maintenance System. • Report heading should contain title of the report, preparation date, club name and page number. • Body of report should have descriptive data on the left side and numerical data on the right side. • Bottom of each page provides instructions or explanation of each code while bottom last page contains grand totals and indication of no more pages to follow. • Important data are positioned on top of the document; then, left to right. • Codes are always explained when used. • Dates use MMDDYY format. • Use only logos on all externally distributed documents. STEP 2: Prepare Report Layouts. The standards are used as guide for the implementation. For representing data that will appear on the columns of the report use the following format conventions. Format Convention Description 9 This means that the data is numeric. The number of 9s indicate the digits. Examples: 9999 – a thousand number 999.99 – a hundred number with two decimal places A This is a alphabet string. The number of As indicates the number of characters. X This is an alphanumeric string. MMDDYY This indicates a date. HH:MM:SS This indicates a time. Table 22: Report Format Conventions Software Engineering 170 J.E.D.I Figure 4.36 is an example of a report layout which follows the data format conventions as specified in Table 22.This is the general report layout for listing athletes based on their status. Ang Bulilit Liga Club List Member by Status Prepared : MMDDYYYY Page 99 STATUS: XXXXX MEMBER MEMBER MEMBER NUMBER LASTNAME FIRSTNAME 9999 Xxxxxxxx Xxxxxxxx 9999 Xxxxxxxx Xxxxxxxx 9999 Xxxxxxxx Xxxxxxxx Total Number XXXXX Members : 9999 Figure 4.36 Sample Report Layout

4.5.2 Forms Design