Making your own reports is easier in MR9

When planning MR9, we reevaluated every function and process. One of the improved functions we want to highlight is Query Maker — which is where you can create custom reports using your MR data.

If you tried to use Query Maker before and quit out of frustration because it was too confusing, too primitive, or didn’t give you the results you were looking for, you will want to try MR9’s radically different and easier to use Query Maker.

In redesigning Query Maker, we simplified the user interface while at the same time making it a more robust data retrieval system so there’s less clicking, fewer steps, and less process — but more options.

In the new Query Maker, you set up conditions for searching your MR database in an interactive visual form that doesn’t require as much clicking to view options and make choices as the previous version. The simpler interface is complimented with simpler language so the process is more intuitive to use.

More data set options

Because your MR database is so large, the first step in creating a report has always been selecting which part of the database you want to search. In both versions you select a single function data set — such as Contacts and Orders — or  a preset combination data set (previously called Views), which combine multiple data sets — such as Contacts and Firms or Invoices, Orders, and Parts. An improvement in MR9’s version is that you have a third option: Large data sets have been divided into subsets, so you can select a smaller table to work with. So instead of the full Contacts data set, you can use only Contacts’ Preferred Services. Or instead of the full Orders (Cases) table, you can select the Order Parties subset to use for generating a report.

Contextual operators & simplified query equations

The list of operators has been streamlined to show only those that are relevant to the field type you are searching — so you don’t have to wade through unnecessary options when building your reports.

As in MR8, you can make a simple report that searches one field only — for example you could search your contacts by the last date they logged into your MR Connect (the MR9 version of MR Web). Or you can build a report that searches multiple fields with different dependencies — for example you could search for all of your clients in a specific set of cities in California. The difference is that in MR9 you will find it much easier to construct your queries to get the results you want from these more advanced searches. You will also find it easier to customize the look of your report when selecting which information to include from your database in the report.

Save, share, & update queries

Saving your generated results for printing, sharing, and/or archiving is easy — no more right-clicking! Simply select an export option from a dropdown. And you can not only save and share your results, you can save and share your queries with others so they don’t have to reinvent the wheel by building their own. You can reuse your queries or customize them to create new queries. Other users can do the same with queries you share.

There is also a collection of queries created by our development team that you can use and customize for generating reports.