FRx Best Practices Laundry List

This post is a supplement to my two upcoming Convergence presentations on FRx Best Practices.

There just isn’t time to cover everything, so here’s a laundry list. The items in bold I’ll be covering in more detail next week in New Orleans. Meanwhile, here you go:

• Prevent corruption by Compacting the Spec Set regularly (once a week when used often). Get users out, then File>Compact FRx Database>Current Spec Set Database.
• Prevent corruption by saving a catalog before it is generated if a change has been made to the catalog.
• If system issues prevail, compare the workstation FRx version to the server FRx version. They should be the same. Help>About.
• IT nightly backups should include at least SysData and IO_Data.
• Create a set of Font Styles with a company name prefix. For instance, for company FW, set up and use the font style FW Bold (instead of using Arial,10,Bold) anywhere that needs a bold font. This allows everyone to use the same font more consistently across all reports.
• Export a spec set or report(s) daily when developing reports.
• Use a separate spec set for testing and/or report development, leaving the original reports intact.
• Make sure your reports are designed for Drilldown: check Detail Level in the catalog and avoid NP rows where possible.
• Use a footer with the catalog ID and date/time.
• Most of the time, the Filename on the output tab should equal Catalog ID.
• Use a check total to ensure accuracy.
• Use open row, column, tree, and catalog icons for navigation.
• Use comments liberally (with NP or REM rows) to explain logic.
• Italicize NP rows or columns: it makes it easier to follow your work!
• Tieouts: use view subtotals to drilldown on the check total to see amounts by account, then export current selection to excel if needed.
• Use Launcher for nondesigner users.
• Grab reports from FW Demo spec set (either by Save As or Export/Import).