Create report templates

Create report templates

NotesRelevant for: Workspace owners, administrators (see "User roles")
The reporting tool from Applysia enables you to create automated, candidate-specific result reports based on your completed assessments.
To do this, you can set up a customised report template tailored to your personal needs in Word or PowerPoint. You can freely decide which content you want to include in the report and where it should appear. All information entered during the creation of an assessment (e.g., the date) and during its execution (e.g., the competency ratings) can then be integrated into your templates at the touch of a button, providing you with a completed report. Both general information, such as the individual exercises and their descriptions, and individual competency evaluations can be included in your report.

Idea
You can find an example report template available for download in the appendix (at the bottom of this page). You can use this as a starting point and adapt and edit it according to your individual needs. The template is designed to support you in creating your own report templates.

This short video demonstrates, step by step, how automated reporting with Applysia works, providing you with an overview of the process.



Preparation

InfoPlease note that Word© and PowerPoint© are copyrighted by Microsoft. Further information about Word© can be found here. Further information about PowerPoint© can be found here.

To successfully use the reporting tool, it is essential to correctly input the information when creating the assessment, as well as details about the competence model and the exercises. Competency notes are particularly important, as these can also be included in your report. The information stored in the assessment is then transferred 1:1 into the final report.

If you create your report templates in Word, you should activate the "Embed fonts in the file" option in Word. This option saves the fonts within the Word file, ensuring that all the fonts you used in your Word template are carried over to the final report.
Info
Since this option is not currently available in PowerPoint, this preparatory step is only necessary for templates created in Word.

To enable this option, open Word and navigate to "Options" in the lower-left menu. A new pop-up window will appear. In the left-hand navigation menu, select the "Save" category and check the box for "Embed fonts in the file".

If you use image files in reports, it is recommended to add them in a compressed or optimised format to accelerate the creation process and improve the overall usability of the reports.

Placeholders and loops

To create report templates, you use so-called "placeholders". These placeholders are inserted wherever you want the information and results from the assessment to appear in your template. The process is similar to creating "serial letter" documents in Word.

Placeholders are marked by curly brackets "{ }". Inside these brackets, you provide a specific description that defines the inserted information. On Windows, use the shortcut “alt gr + 7” for an opening curly bracket “{” (on Mac OS, use “option + 8”), and “alt gr + 8” for a closing curly bracket “}” (on Mac OS, use “option + 9”).
Warning
To ensure that placeholders function properly in your template and all assessment information is integrated into the final report, the placeholders must be transferred into the individual templates exactly as they are.

A placeholder contains text or a value that will appear in the final report. For example, the placeholder “{cand_full_name}” inserts the candidate's full name into the final report.

Additionally, there are so-called "loops". These loops allow you to insert multiple pieces of information from a specific category. For example, using the loop “{#competencies}” lets you display all competencies at once rather than inserting them individually.
InfoThe loop itself will not appear in the final report; only the actual information will be displayed. 

Loops always begin with “{#loopname}” (with the name of the loop specified inside the brackets) and end with “{/loopname}” (again specifying the loop name in the brackets).
InfoAlternatively, you can close a loop using just “{/}”. For example, starting and ending a loop would look like this: “{#competencies} {/}”.

Loops contain placeholders that specify information related to the loop. For example, if you want to list the names and ratings of all competencies in your report, you can include the loop “{#competencies}” and the placeholders for the name and rating of each competency, ending the loop as follows:
“{#competencies} {competencies.name} {competencies.rating} {/competencies}”.
You can find a practical example of this here.
InfoAlternatively, you can use the short version to close loops: {#competencies} {competencies.name} {competencies.rating} {/}”.

You can add any placeholders within a loop to your report. Simply naming the loop is insufficient to include all related information in the final report. Always use the loop alongside its associated placeholders to “populate” the report with assessment information. A comprehensive list of available loops and placeholders can be found here.

Furthermore, multiple loops can be nested. For instance, you can list competencies and exercises separately or nest the exercise loop within the competency loop to display all exercises linked to each competency.
To implement the example above, include the following combination of placeholders and loops in your report:
{#competencies}{competencies.name}
{#exercises}{exercises.name}
{/exercises}{/competencies}
This setup lists the name of each competency and the names of all exercises used to evaluate that competency.
InfoWhen combining loops, ensure you close both loops at the end. The inner loop (in this case, the {#exercises} loop) must be closed first, as it is nested within the parent loop (the {#competencies} loop). 
You can find more practical examples of how to nest loops here.

Warning
When creating report templates with placeholders and loops, the formatting you choose in the template will be carried over 1:1 into the final report. This means all spaces, paragraphs, and formatting (bold/italic/underlined, etc.) will appear exactly as they do in the template. For instance, if you use the placeholders “{cand_first_name}{cand_last_name}” without adding a space between them, the final report will display “KimCandidate”.
Ensure that you format the placeholders exactly how you want the corresponding information and values to appear in the final report.

Placeholders can be added in various ways to your report template. This means you can incorporate them not only into text but also use placeholders to display assessment information in tables or charts. More information on this can be found here.

Idea
At the bottom of this page, you’ll find an example report template available for download. You can use this as a starting point and adapt it to your specific needs. The template is designed to support you in creating your own report templates.

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