Every report should have a footer containing the following:
- The name of the report. Give each report a unique identifier in addition to its name e.g. “Cost Summary By Month, By Area” could be “CS-MA1” This is especially useful in applications with a large number of similar reports.
- The date and time the data in the report was generated (or the time period represented by the data) and where appropriate, the execution time taken to generate it.
- The date and time the report was printed.
- Who printed it.
- “Page x of N” Just using “Page x” is not sufficient.
- If the report is filtered in any way (date range etc), it should include details of the filter parameters in the footer. If there are a large number of filters, it should include a report header page that describes the parameters and the values filtered on.
- Alternating shaded lines for the data detail sections (like the old computer printer paper)
- Don’t print empty reports. Alert the user that the report is empty (perhaps offer to filter with a different set of parameters).
- If printed as paper copy, a URL to the ‘live’ report (reporting services, or aspx page) and a contact email in case problems are found with the report.
- Where similar reports exist in different applications, the system name.