Updated: September 2024
Audience: Everyone
Summary:
When you want to export your data from Jama, there are a few options for which type of report you can use: Office Templates, BIRT, or Velocity. Although they all serve the same purpose, they each do it differently. We have separated these two (2) different types of reporting to provide a better understanding of how you retrieve information from Jama.
There are a few terms to be familiar with before understanding how Jama goes about creating reports.
- A template is a set outline of how you would like your data displayed in your report. Templates are uploaded to Jama to specify a specific type of export.
- Exporting is extracting data from Jama using a specified file type. This process organizes the data for the report using the template.
- An export is a product of exporting a template. It is the exported file that holds the data the template specified.
Office Templates
Office Templates can be found under the Export pull-down menu in either the list view, reading view, single item view, or the Test Run view.
Office Templates are context-sensitive, meaning that you pre-select the items you want to report; usually, it is a set, a baseline, a filter, etc. In the example of context-sensitive reporting below, this Round Trip Report has exported Item Type, Name, and Status Priority to be updated and imported later. This used precisely what is shown in the window, but that might only sometimes be the case; context-sensitive is determined by a combination of what is being looked at and the content within the template.
Reports
Reports can be exported from the Reports menu, which is found next to the username. These exports are organization-based and can be run from anywhere in Project View.
Reports come in one (1) type: Velocity. Velocity is a Java-based report that displays data in HTML, Word, and Excel formats. A BIRT report can support graphs and charts if the data you want to export is more visual. These exports are not contextual and will display only the information specified in the export template.
Context-Sensitive
Context-sensitive templates will all be found in the Office Templates menu; any templates in the Reports menu will not be context-sensitive. The purpose behind context-sensitive is to consider what is displayed while the export is being built. The code within the template will determine what to do with the context to populate the export.
An example of context-sensitive is, like in the above example with the Round Trip export, that the exact columns showing in the List View will be reflected in the export. This won't always be the case -- sometimes the code depicted on the template will dictate the fields displayed, and the context will be the items shown or, as, with the example of the All Items Detail report, this will list all items in the project regardless of what is showing. This is still context-sensitive, considering it uses the whole project's context.
Context-sensitive templates can be constructed with either Mail Merge fields in Word or via the Velocity API. The Context-Sensitive checkbox must be selected when uploading a context-sensitive Velocity report in the root menu. If Context-Sensitive isn't checked, it will not run as expected in the Reports menu.
Please note that If "Context-Sensitive" is not checked, the report will not run as expected. When "Context Sensitive" is deactivated, the report will appear in "Run Reports." When "Context Sensitive" is activated, the report will appear in "View All Report Options" (Single Item View) in the Reports section.
You can create Word templates using Mail Merge fields and the built-in Word Office Template exports. This will allow you to specify the information you need within your Office Template. To download a guide on the Mail Merge fields used to capture data, you can download the Word Template Reference Guide after selecting Upload a Template. These are built and populated in Microsoft Word.
Uploading Templates
Custom Office templates can be uploaded in two (2) different ways. The first way, which is possible only to manage project permissions, is by selecting Export > Office Templates > Upload Office Template. This option is accessed by selecting Upload a Template in the Office Templates menu, as illustrated by the image above.
The second way is logging in as a root user (for self-hosted customers only), selecting Reports > Add a Report, and selecting MS Office Template or Velocity as the Report Type.
Default Reports & Custom Reports
BIRT Reports EOL
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