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Report Writing Simplified
Take Advantage of Microsoft Office's powerful layout
tools to build rich reports
Report writing creates an expensive bottleneck for many companies because it demands ongoing, iterative
involvement from in-house developers. This white paper describes a novel approach to report writing that
allows business users to lay out elegant reports using Microsoft Word, Excel or PowerPoint as the design tool.
R
eport writing is costly and time-consum- under pressure to deliver other products, and
ing. The people who need the reports the business user is often left without support.
–business users – typically can't create This endless design process is very slow,
them without the help of a programmer or expensive and frustrating for all departments
developer. Creating reports becomes an itera- involved. Worse still, the final report is inade-
tive process. The business user enlists the quate, because getting it right becomes too
developer's help. The developer creates a expensive and takes too much time.
report and shows it to the business user. With What if report design was easy enough that
feedback from the business user, the developer product managers, project managers, account-
then refines the report. This process is repeated ing managers, and other business users could
for reports across the organization. do it alone, without help from IT? What if there
IT and business resources get tied up in this was no complicated programming knowledge
lengthy process. Plus, report writing is often a required? And what if there was little or no
low priority for developers because they are learning curve?
www.windwardreports.com/business
Figure 1: Financial
Reports are easy to
create in AutoTag’s
MS Word interface
Windward Reports – If you're looking for a report-tool item in Figure
for simplified report writing 1, you won't find it. That's because Figure 1 is a
Microsoft Office is the key to an innovative plain old Word document, and you already know
approach to report writing called Windward how to do everything you need in order to cre-
Reports. Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint ate a similar report template. Windward Reports
are powerful layout tools that almost all business is an enterprise-level program that uses Word or
users know how to use. Setting up tables and for- any other word processor, such as Open Office,
matting text in Word is almost second nature to to design a report template. Windward Reports
most business people. The same goes for using takes the template you design and connects it to
Excel formulas to calculate data, and for using your database to create your final report.
PowerPoint slides to create visually stunning pre-
sentations. Leveraging the familiar Office environ-
ment, business users have easy-to-use tools to
create the sophisticated reports they want.
Business users can take full advantage of Word,
Excel or PowerPoint's formatting and What-You-
See-Is-What-You-Get environment.
www.windwardreports.com/business
Figure 2: AutoTag
allows the most
complex data to be
represented clearly
and easily – as in this
logistics report
Using Windward Reports holder for data in the template. This can be done
Windward Reports includes the design tool once by your IT staff, although in many cases the
AutoTag, an add-in for Microsoft Office that process is easy enough for the non-programmer.
greatly simplifies the report process. Using Then, from within the template, you simply
AutoTag eliminates the expense and frustration click a button to generate a report, and the tem-
of the iterative report development process. You plate inserts real-time data. Reports are avail-
create your template using any of the features able in a wide range of formats, including PDF,
Office has to offer, such as tables, formulas, HTML, DOCX, Excel spreadsheet, PowerPoint
headers, footers, columns, images, colors, presentation, and many more. The result is a
charts, tables of contents, etc. Figure 2 shows a finished report with all the formatting and posi-
purchase order template that was created in tioning specified by the business user – avail-
Microsoft Word using AutoTag. able in minutes.
AutoTag allows the most complex data to be
represented clearly and easily, as in this logis-
tics report.
After you've designed the template, you tell the
template what data to use by putting a place-
www.windwardreports.com/business
Figure 3
AutoTag’s Tag Editor is
clear and easy to use
Proven Efficiency About Windward Studios
Customers of Windward Reports attest Windward Studios has been in business since
to this ease of use and time savings. 1995. Based in Boulder, Colorado, Windward
S.S. Mohanty of Nucleus Software Exports Reports was formed in 2003 to develop innova-
says his favorite feature of Windward Reports is tive software products for both enterprise and
the Word-based template because it makes his individual customers. Windward Reports is the
life easier. Prior to using Windward Reports, he only comprehensive report generator to use
says, "I [previously] spent half my time design- Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint as a
ing and scripting reports to meet the banks' layout tool, thus significantly reducing the learn-
requirements. With Windward, we can lay out a ing curve while saving time and money for both
report in Word and get immediate approval technical and non-technical users alike.
from the client."
Bjerregaard Pedersen of Backbone Digital Windward Reports
Systems says, "Compared to systems where 2945 Center Green Court South, Suite H
both layout and data must be coded, as we did Boulder, Colorado 80301
before, the process of creating a new report is 303-499-2544 • sales@windward.net
at least five times faster."
www.windwardreports.com/business
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