3. TABULAR REPORTS, GRAPHS, AND MICF INQUIRIES › 3.1 Tabular Reports

3.1 Tabular Reports

Standard tabular reports provide hardcopy numeric
displays of data on a regular basis.

There are two classifications of tabular reports -- profile
and trend.

PROFILES

Profile reports present data as groups of individual summary
values (averages, minimums, maximums, etc.) over a given
period of time (day, week, month, etc.).  Profile reports
give a snapshot of a specific area of operation during that
time and are employed when a specific value of a measured
element indicates a desirable or undesirable condition.
Thus, profiles are used in conjunction with a set of
threshold values which may be either implicitly understood or
explicitly stated on the report.

TRENDS

Trend reports present data as a series of measured values
displayed together to show the nature of the change of a
condition over a period of time.  They are used when the rate
of change of a measure or the exact time at which a given
measured value was reached is more important than the actual
measure of the value itself.

Trend reports display the values of key data elements
specific to a given activity area for three sequential time
intervals (e.g., the last three months).  To find the change
in the measured values over a time period, the size, rate,
and percentage of change are calculated.

The key to applying a profile or trend report is
understanding the usage considerations for which it was
developed.  Usage considerations for this Analyzer are
discussed in Chapter 2.

Instructions for producing the reports, report descriptions,
and sample report formats are discussed in the following
sections:

1 - Producing Tabular Reports
2 - Tabular Report Formats
3 - Tabular Report Descriptions