Reporting Overview

This deep dive guide provides an overview about reporting options within imc Learning Suite. The imc Learning Suite includes over one hundred out-of-the-box standard reports and csv exports to extract key data from all functions. Additionally, there is optional advanced reporting functionality that provide additional capabilities such as specific data processing and drill-down reporting dashboards. This page provides an overview of the standard reporting functionality, the advanced options, and recommendations for various usage scenarios; the latter including architecture considerations.

Report Considerations

Learning Suite standard reports are designed to consider Access Control List (ACL) permissions. Reporting ACL ensures only authorised users are able to view reports and results are further determined by clearance to objects. This means that the same report can be accessible to multiple users, but the returned results may differ due to object clearances (E.g. courses and users). All Supervisor reports do not consider clearances to objects or users, but rather return all objects for the users that report to the supervisor (E.g., via ‘Superior email’ or BU group ‘Supervisor’ relationship).

In a Learning Suite with standard architecture, the reports generate results based on querying the productive database in real-time. However, there are some data heavy reports that use solr technology to report on replicated database tables to reduce database loads. imc recommend systems with large user bases or heavy reporting requirements to have premium level databases with a real-time read-replica for reporting.

Reporting / Analytics Scenarios and Recommendations

imc recommend reporting setups based on desired scenarios, required functionality, user numbers, data quantity, and the hosting architecture. The table below contains recommendations based on hosting setup with data complexity in the columns, and reporting requirements in the rows.

	imc Cloud Hosting		Customer On-Premise Hosting
Requirements	Low-medium Data Complexity	High Data Complexity	Low-medium Data Complexity	High Data Complexity
Export typical Data from LMS (Reporting scenario), no Analytics use case.	LMS standard reports considered sufficient.	LMS standard reports considered sufficient. Read replica database for reporting recommended for stability. Usage of solr reports recommended.	LMS standard reports considered sufficient.	LMS standard reports considered sufficient. Read replica database for reporting recommended for stability. Usage of solr reports recommended.
Export Data beyond existing Standard Reports, no Analytics use case	imc to create customer-specific in-built reports in required format.	imc to create customer-specific in-built reports in required format.	imc to create customer-specific in-built reports in required format.	imc to create customer-specific in-built reports in required format.
Create own Reports to Export Data, no Analytics scenario.	Microsoft Report Service with integration preferred. Usage of Read Replica necessary for system stability and customer SQL testing (extra costs)	Microsoft Report Service with integration preferred. Usage of Read Replica necessary for system stability and customer SQL testing (extra costs)	Produce reports using own analytics tool and load into LMS using RDL format. Setup a Read Replica database.	Produce reports using own analytics tool and load into LMS using RDL format. Setup a Read Replica database.
Aggregate data, combine data (Analytics scenario) based on LMS LA data model.	Integration of imc Learning Analytics.	Integration of imc Learning Analytics.	imc Semantic data model subscription. Create own reports in own analytics tool.	imc Semantic data model subscription. Create own reports in own analytics tool.
Full Database Access for individual Analytics approaches or simple Database queries.	Read Replica, replicated database or database export / download (extra costs). Implementation of data extracts (csv, API).	Read Replica, replicated database or database export / download (extra costs). Implementation of data extracts (csv, API).	Full database access.	Full database access.

Types of Reporting

There are three main categories of reports in the imc Learning Suite which are:

Standard reports: Over one hundred built-in reports in three formats that enable exporting key data from all functions.
Custom reports: Reports that are created and loaded into the Learning Suite in multiple formats.
Learning analytics (Power BI): Integration of Power BI created reports and dashboards to be accessed directly in the Learning Suite.

Each of the above report categories and sub-formats will be explained below.

Standard Reports

Standard reports enable extracting key data from each function in xlsx or csv formats. There are over one hundred standard reports in the imc Learning Suite that return valuable data for each core function and many activities. There are three standard report formats which are:

On-screen reports,
.CSV reports, and
Wizard reports

On-Screen Reports

On-screen reports are the most common report type and have the most features. For example, it's possible to configure search filters and result columns, change the graph types, select the export format, save searches, and subscribe to automatically receive the saved ‘default’ reports by email on desired days.

On-screen reports have many other linked functionalities related to access or further configure the reports:

SOLR: Many on-screen reports have solr equivalents that extract data from replicated database tables to reduce database loads when generating reports. Automated jobs control the data replication frequency. These reports are important to reduce loads on the productive databases for larger and more complex reports.
Users lists: Enables configuration of the default or optional personal attribute columns and filters of each on-screen report.
Meta tag lists: Enables configuration of the default or optional meta tag columns and filters of each course and media related on-screen reports.
Panels & Dashboards: All on-screen reports are available as reporting panels that can be assigned to dashboard pages. The dashboards are mobile friendly and load simple versions of the reports with the users' default filters applied.
APIs: On-screen reports have GET APIs that can be queried by external systems to extract data in XML or JSON formats. These APIs are especially used for external systems extracting training or competency completion data from the LMS.
Report subscriptions: Approved users or groups are able to subscribe to receive copies of desired on-screen reports via email. Each subscription will send a report link with the user’s preferred search preference and format on desired days.

CSV Reports

CSV reports are the most basic with fixed filters, result columns, and output formats. With these reports filter criteria is first selected, then a ‘Generate’ button is clicked to generate a .CSV file to download. There are few of these reports remaining.

Wizard Reports

Wizard reports have multiple steps that can be used to filter results to specific criteria. These are mainly used for Test and Feedback reports. Reports can be generated when at least one step has a filter value. Steps can include Test or Feedback Form, Course or Course template, Date range, or Tutor.

List-view Exports

imc Learning Suite provides a wide range of user and content specific lists. These lists enable administrators to configure their preferred search filters and result columns. Any search can be saved and re-used at any time; similar to a mini report.

Custom Reports

Custom reports can be created by customers, or by imc as a service, and loaded into the Learning Suite to fill specific reporting gaps.

RDL or Report Builder: Reports created by customers can be loaded into the Learning Suite using the RDL standard format; or alternatively use an inbuilt report designer to create .csv format reports by defining SQL queries and statements. This would require a real-time read-replica database to be installed that would be used for reporting. Any report created by customers would not be maintained by imc and any imc technical support would be chargeable. imc additional offer an extensive database and report writer training course.
imc Custom reports: Where there's a need for specific reports not possible via the standard offering, the imc Technical Service team is able to offer custom development services. This approach is ideal for customers without the technical ability to write own reports and normally would not require any architecture updates such as replica databases or additional licensing. Common custom reports may require specific processing or require automatic transfer via a batch file or API. Such requests can be raised with the imc Account Manager to request either a requirement analysis or a direct development estimation.

Learning Analytics (Power BI)

This is the latest and greatest reporting offering from imc and brings the power of Power BI dashboards into the imc Learning Suite with a range of immersive drill down dashboards. These standard dashboards provide a large variety of reports with a real focus on many KPI metrics compared with standard reports. This integration enables the ability to view trends in data over periods of time and determine many KPIs. Furthermore, the integration allows the creation and importing of own Power BI dashboards for customers that are either experienced in or already utilise Power BI.

Report access

All reports, with the exception of Learning Analytics (Power BI) dashboards, are accessible via a central reporting function. This function in standard is accessible via the Admin role navigation in the Reports menu. Here reports are arranged into configurable Report categories and users only see reports for which they have clearance.

Summary

The standard out-of-the-box report offering in the imc Learning Suite typically meets reporting requirements of most smaller customers. For larger customers, or those with more advanced reporting needs, there are various options to extend reporting capability in terms of architecture, Learning Analytics integration, and custom report development. For further details, or to explore further options, create a support ticket or speak with your imc account manager.