Custom Report Document Templates - Getting Started

Custom report document templates are used to export data from a Miradi project to a formatted Word document. Most commonly, they are used within a program to ensure that a set of related Miradi projects are reporting out in a common report format. However, custom report templates can be created for specific projects within a program as well.

This guide provides basic information on how to use custom report document templates: 

• As a program administrator, how do I view and manage report document templates?
• How do I edit the metadata for an existing custom report document template?
• How do I assign existing custom report document templates to individual Miradi projects?
• How do I run reports using the custom templates for multiple projects in my program?
• How do I create new custom report document templates by editing existing templates?
• How do I create a new custom report document template from scratch?

For more detailed guidance on editing and authoring custom report document templates, see Authoring Custom Report Document Templates in Word (Coming soon!).

As a Miradi program administrator, how do I view and manage report document templates?

As an administrator for a Miradi program you have access to create and manage custom report templates. (You can also see all the standard report templates available in Miradi Share but you can not make any changes to standard report templates.)

In your Miradi program, navigate to PROGRAM ADMIN > Report Document Templates to find the Report Template Manager. You will see a table of all the report templates available to projects within the program:

This Report Template Manager view is where you add and delete custom report document templates, or assign existing templates to specific projects in your program. This table includes

• Type - Identifies a report template as a standard or a custom template.
• Released for Export - "Released" templates appear on the projects' report document pages. Templates that are not released will not appear to the projects. This can be useful when you are developing drafts of new templates and you do not want projects to be able to see or run the reports. Just remember to come back and check the "Release" button when you are ready for your projects to have access to the report templates.
• Report Document Template - The report document name that Miradi project teams will see. In this administrator view, click on the name in this column to download the template to your computer for editing or copying. Note that you can also download and copy the templates for standard reports but you will not be able to save any changes to the standard report templates themselves.
• File Name - The name of your template file and visible to admins/template editors only. This can be as cryptic as needed.
• Description and Guidance - These are visible to project teams and can be customized for each report template. Description is intended for a short description only. The Guidance field allows more text and you can hyperlink to external guidance documents or example reports if needed.
• Tags - These are created by program administrators and template authors and are only visible in this administrator view.
• Last Updated / Last Updated By - The latest changes to the report template.
• Download Documents - A list of the specific Miradi projects that have access to each template. Click on the project name in this column to run or test a report template for that project.
• Project Report Page - Links directly to the reports page for each Miradi project that has access to the template.

Note that some (but not all) of the columns in the Report Template Manager view are also publicly visible to Miradi project teams and program members under REPORTS & DATA > Report Document Export and should therefore be appropriate for a general audience. In Miradi projects, viewers can see the Document Name, Description, and Guidance.

In Miradi program spaces, program members can see the above fields, as well as Tags, Download Documents and Project Report Page. This view allows program members to run the reports for any projects they have permission to access by clicking on the projects listed under Download Documents.

How do I edit the metadata for an existing custom report document template? 

All of the metadata (e.g. Name, Description, etc) for a custom report template is visible and editable in the Report Document Template administrator table. Click on the pencil icon at the far left next to the report name to open the editor. (The pencil for the standard reports will not be active since they can not be edited.)

The 2-page metadata wizard gives you access to the following:

• Upload a new version of the report template by clicking Choose File
• Edit the template Name, Description and Guidance, all of which are visible to Miradi project team members who might run the report
• Create your own Tags to help manage your custom report templates. Note that you must hit ‘Enter’ after typing the tag name or your tag will not be saved

• Click on Next to set the Release status of the template and manage the projects that have access to the report template

How do I assign existing custom report document templates to individual Miradi projects?

To assign an existing custom report document template to one or more projects in your program, click on the pencil at the left of the Report Document Template name.

Navigate to the second dialog window to select which Miradi projects have access to the custom report template. If you are still working on a draft of the template and do not want projects to use the report template yet, uncheck the "Release" check box. If "Release" is not checked, program admins will be able to run the report for any selected projects, but project members will not be able to see the report. Be sure to come back and select the "Release" option when you are ready to make the report template available to projects.

How do I run reports using the custom templates for multiple projects in my program?

At this point report document templates can only be used to generate reports for one Miradi project at a time. However, it is often useful to run the same report for multiple projects at a time. Rather than go to each Miradi project separately to run the report, the program administrator's Report Document Template view provides a way to run the same report easily for multiple projects.

In the Report Template Manager view find the Download Document column at the far right and click on ‘# documents’ in the row for your desired template. Click again on the relevant project name, wait for the report to run, and save the Word report to your computer. Do this for every project for which you would like to run a report.

When developing and editing custom report templates it is also often helpful to use this method to test run the newly edited report for a few different projects. See Authoring Custom Report Templates in Word for more information on creating and editing templates.

How do I create new custom report document template or edit an existing template?

In the report document template administrator view you can add new custom templates, edit the metadata (e.g. Name, project access, etc. ) for existing templates, or upload new versions of existing templates. Note that all editing of custom report templates happens in Word, outside of Miradi.

Create a new report document template from an existing template

To create a new template from an existing template that is already on your hard drive, in the administrator view select the Add Template button in the upper right

and walk through the steps of choosing a template to upload, naming the report template, and assigning it to specific projects.

If the template you would like to use as a starting point already exists in your program’s table of templates as a standard or a custom template, download the template to your hard drive by clicking on the name in the first column (Report Document Template), and save it somewhere you can find it again.

Make any edits to the template in Word, save it with a new name, and follow the “Add Template” described above to add the new template to your program.

Once you have added the template to your program, continue to use the editor tool on the left    to upload any new versions of the template authored in Word.

Pro tip: Save every new version of your template with a new File Name on your hard drive until you are sure your edits are correct and final. It is very easy to overwrite a good template with one that doesn't yet work.

Create a new report document template from scratch

New report document templates can be created from scratch but before adding a template to your program it must first be authored in Word:

• All new report document templates must start with the Starter Report Document Template (open and download this document) or with an existing template that already works. This blank Word document contains embedded Word styles that are needed for the templating language. 
• When editing or authoring report document templates in Word, you must disable smart quotes in Word.
• A Miradi Share Report Document Template Glossary is regularly updated with new code as new content becomes available to report documents

Once you have created your new template in Word, use the “Add Template” button to add your template to your program and assign it to specific projects.

See the Miradi Share Report Document User Guide for more information about authoring templates. Coming soon: Authoring Custom Report Document Templates in Word