Getting started with views

A view is a metadata layer that sits between the source connection and the report builder in Remedy Smart Reporting. A view defines relationships between tables, identifies fields that report writers can access, and defines default formatting for these fields. Without having to understand the underlying logic, report writers use the table relationships and defined fields to create their reports.

A view can represent the data needs of any specific application, system, or group of users. For example, a view can contain fields that represent the data needs of the Marketing or Accounting departments in a company. A view can also represent the data needs of a section within a department or any set of organized procedures such as a payroll or inventory system.

An administrator can create, edit, delete, or rollback a view. You can access the views by clicking Browse > Views in the left navigation pane of the reporting console.

Who is the view administrator?

Within a company, a view administrator might be the database administrator, an applications manager or developer, a project manager, or a business user who has the technical skills required to create views.

A view administrator should have the following skills and level of technical knowledge:

• Ability to analyze user needs to create relevant categories, views, and fields that meet the needs of the user community
• A working knowledge of the company’s database management system (DBMS), how the databases are deployed, the logical database structure, and the type of data stored in company databases
• A working knowledge of structured query language (SQL)

Where to go from here

Defining views for report creation