Introduction to Gnosis Reporting & Queries

This reference is a preview and training guide on query building, which is used within the Report Center and recipient groups within Gnosis Communications.

Queries in Gnosis - as in most other database systems - form the basis of much of the work performed by the system. Queries can provide you with information via reporting, or they can cause some other action to be performed with the query results - such as sending them all a communications item or requesting them to take some action.

The Anatomy of a Query

Let's imagine for a moment, that your Gnosis database is a house containing your data. You look at the data through the large front door and through windows in each room. The main door lets you see a broad selection of information through the house but does not let you see deeply into any particular room. Each window can see deeply into its room but only lets you see parts of the rest of the house.

These doors and windows are called "Schemas" in Gnosis parlance and the first thing you must do when getting data from your database house is decide through which opening (schema) you need to look. There's a good introductory article that gives examples of this here.

Once you have chosen a schema, you will need to build or choose the query you will use to get the data out of your system:

Locating a Report

The Gnosis system comes with many standard reports. From the Gnosis Pro home page, click on the reporting icon to go to the Report Management Center.

The best way to review/locate reports initially is by selecting a report category at the top of the form. Alternatively, use the search field to search for any portion of a report name.

Click on the report in the report list that meets your reporting needs. Review the Description - as this may help in report selection.

Lastly, you can mark reports as your favorites so that only your favorites will appear when first loading the report center.  Search for Report Favorites for additional information on this option.

Several actions may be invoked for the selected report and these are described below.

Report Output/Format Options

Output options are displayed following the report name.

A single click of these icons will produce the corresponding outputs:

• Exportable Data Sheet/Gnosis grid: Not editable in Gnosis but can be saved as an Excel file*. By default, all Gnosis queries provide this output format.
• Print Design: A highly formatted document exportable as a PDF. Desired edits will likely require Support assistance.
• Spreadsheet: Opens as an editable Excel file within the Gnosis application and therefore can be saved externally as an Excel file.

* If you are repeatedly exporting a Gnosis grid and reformatting externally via Excel, it is recommended to create a Spreadsheet output so the desired formatting will be applied every time the report is run.

 You may also use the Export and Run Report buttons at the bottom of the screen. 

• Export will produce the exportable data sheet/Gnosis grid.
• Run Report will produce either a print design or a formatted spreadsheet if one exists.

Preview a Report 

After a report has been selected, the report output may be previewed by clicking on the "Preview" button.

A report preview is identical to the full report in every way except it only contains the first fifty lines of report data.  It would only be necessary to select the preview option if you expected the full report to be very lengthy and you didn't want to wait for the full report to complete running before reviewing it.

The output may then be reviewed to ensure the report is appropriate to meet your needs.

Size Count

Before actually running a report, it may prove useful to determine how large (how many records) the report contains. This is done by clicking on the "Size Count" button.

The size count function is available for most standard reports and all custom designed reports. If the size count number comes back substantially smaller than expected, the report results fields are arranged differently from the standard listing and you will want to Run or Export the results to see the data available.

Scheduling a Report 

This feature allows reports to be generated and sent automatically on a designated single time or repeating schedule at any time of the night or day to a specific user or group of users via email. See Report Scheduling for guidance.

Support Resources

All Query Building Support Articles

Primary videos and articles from this section:

1. Getting Started with Gnosis Queries & Reporting 
2. Understanding & Building Queries 
3. Creating a Participant Report 
4. Editing an Existing Report
5. Repurposing an Existing Report 
6. 10 Basics & Best Practices for Queries
7. Schema Selection for Queries & Reporting