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Reports Reference

Pro & Enterprise Only

This feature is available exclusively in ScrewDrivers Pro and Enterprise editions.

ScrewDrivers Reports transforms raw print job data into visual, actionable insights about how your organization uses its printing infrastructure. Available exclusively for ScrewDrivers Enterprise, this optional feature tracks detailed print job information—which printers users access, what documents they print, page counts, byte sizes, timestamps, and more—then presents that data through customizable charts and tables. This reference covers the complete Reports interface, chart configuration options, data series concepts, filtering capabilities, and settings customization.

Overview​

The Reports feature consists of two distinct components working together. The ScrewDrivers Reports service runs continuously in your environment, collecting print job metadata and storing it in the ScrewDrivers database. The ScrewDrivers Reports application provides the user interface where you'll visualize this data, create custom reports, and export findings for analysis or documentation.

You'll launch Reports as a standalone application from your Windows Start menu or desktop shortcut—it connects to your ScrewDrivers database and presents all collected print job information through an intuitive tab-based interface. Reports are generated on-demand based on the current database contents, with automatic refresh capabilities to ensure you're always working with recent data.

Opening and Navigating ScrewDrivers Reports​

Launch ScrewDrivers Reports from the Windows Start menu under Programs, or click the ScrewDrivers Reports desktop shortcut if you created one during installation. The application opens with a collapsed tab bar on the left side of the window. Hold your mouse pointer over any icon to see a tooltip with the tab name, or click the hamburger icon (three horizontal lines) to expand the tab bar and display full tab names.

The interface includes four primary tabs:

Dashboard Tab (graph icon): This is your primary workspace for creating and viewing reports. You'll configure chart types, add data series, apply filters, and visualize your print job data here. The Dashboard starts blank with a "Please create a chart" prompt—click Create Chart to begin configuring a new report.

Table Tab (grid icon): This tab displays raw print job data directly from the ScrewDrivers database in tabular format. You'll see every field the Reports service collects: printer names, driver names, user names, document names, dates, page counts, byte sizes, and more. This is useful for detailed data exploration or when you need the actual numbers behind a chart visualization.

Settings Tab (gear icon): Here you'll customize how the Reports application behaves. You can set the automatic data refresh interval (default is 10 minutes), configure default chart colors and their application order, and adjust other application preferences that persist across sessions.

About Tab (info icon): Displays version information about your ScrewDrivers Reports installation and provides links to documentation and support resources.

Understanding Data Series​

Before you can generate a report, you need to understand data series—the fundamental building block of every ScrewDrivers chart. A data series is a row or column of numbers that gets plotted in your chart. For example, "count of print jobs grouped by printer name" is a data series that might show Printer A had 150 jobs, Printer B had 200 jobs, and Printer C had 75 jobs.

Every ScrewDrivers report requires at least one data series. Some chart types, like Pie and Doughnut charts, support only a single data series because they're designed to show parts of a whole. Other types like Column, Bar, and Line charts can display multiple data series simultaneously, letting you compare different metrics side-by-side on the same chart.

Data Series Components​

When you add a data series to a report, you'll specify two elements:

Value is the mathematical operation you're performing on the data. Your options are:

  • Count: Simply counts print jobs. This is the default for the first data series and doesn't require a data category because you're just counting occurrences.
  • Sum: Adds up all values in the selected category across matching print jobs
  • Average: Calculates the mean of all values in the selected category
  • Min: Finds the minimum value in the selected category
  • Max: Finds the maximum value in the selected category

Data Category is what you're measuring (required for Sum, Average, Min, and Max, but not for Count):

  • Copies: The number of copies requested for each print job
  • Pages Printed: How many pages each print job produced
  • Bytes Printed: The size in bytes of each print job's data

For example, "Sum of Pages Printed" totals all pages across matching print jobs, while "Average of Copies" calculates the mean number of copies users requested. "Count of Print Jobs" just counts how many jobs occurred, regardless of their size or complexity.

Data Series Color Assignment​

Each data series automatically receives a color based on the order you add them. By default, the first series is blue, the second is red, the third is green, and so on. You can customize these default colors and their assignment order on the Settings tab if you want charts to match your organization's color scheme or if you need specific colors for accessibility reasons.

Report Filters​

By default, every report you generate includes all applicable data in the ScrewDrivers database. If you create a "Count of Print Jobs grouped by Printer Name" report without filters, you'll see counts for every print job ever recorded from every printer. This comprehensive view is useful for understanding overall usage patterns, but you'll often need to narrow the scope.

Filters let you limit report data to specific subsets. For instance, you might want to see print jobs from a single printer, jobs printed during a specific date range, jobs from particular users, or jobs that exceeded a certain page count. Filters are the mechanism for answering targeted questions like "How many pages did the Marketing department print last month from color printers?"

Filter Structure​

Each filter has four components:

Boolean Operator (AND / OR): Controls how multiple filters combine. This doesn't appear for the first filter—only when you add second and subsequent filters.

  • AND: Narrows results to match all your filter conditions. "Printer Name = ColorLaser AND Pages Printed > 10" returns only ColorLaser jobs with more than 10 pages.
  • OR: Expands results to match any filter condition. "Printer Name = ColorLaser OR Printer Name = InkjetOffice" returns jobs from either printer.

Data Category: The field you're filtering on. Common options include Printer Name, Driver Name, User Name, Machine Name, Document Name, Date Printed, Copies, Pages Printed, and Bytes Printed.

Filter Operator: How you're comparing the data category to your filter value. Available operators vary by data category—text fields offer different options than numeric or date fields:

  • = (Equals): Exact match required
  • ≠ (Not Equals): Only data that doesn't match the value
  • IN: Is a subset of (similar to "contains")
  • NOT IN: Is not a subset of (similar to "doesn't contain")
  • > (Greater Than): Only data exceeding the value (numeric/date fields)
  • >= (Greater Than or Equal To): Exact match or exceeds the value
  • < (Less Than): Only data below the value
  • <= (Less Than or Equal To): Exact match or below the value

Report Keyword: The actual value you're filtering for. If you selected "Date Printed" as the data category, you'll enter a date here. If you selected "Printer Name," you'll enter or select a printer name. Some fields populate with default values (Copies defaults to 0), but you can always edit them.

Filter Examples​

Here are common filter scenarios to illustrate how components combine:

  • Single-printer analysis: Printer Name = "HP_ColorLaserJet_5F"
  • High-volume jobs: Pages Printed > 50
  • Date range: Date Printed >= 2025-10-01 AND Date Printed <= 2025-10-31
  • Specific user's activity: User Name = "jsmith"
  • Excluding test prints: Document Name NOT IN "test"
  • Multiple printers: Printer Name IN "ColorLaser" OR Printer Name IN "InkjetOffice"

Filters are powerful but require thoughtful construction. Test your filters with known data to ensure they're returning the results you expect before relying on them for capacity planning or budgeting decisions.

Generating Reports​

With an understanding of data series and filters, you're ready to create actual reports. The process follows a consistent workflow: configure general report settings, add at least one data series, optionally add filters, then generate the chart.

Report Configuration Options​

Open ScrewDrivers Reports and click Create Chart on the Dashboard tab. The interface displays configuration options on the right side and a preview area on the left where your chart will appear as you configure it.

General Options control the overall report appearance:

  • Title (optional): A descriptive title that appears above the chart. As you type, it displays dynamically in the preview area. Use titles like "Q3 2025 Color Printing by Department" or "High-Volume Users - October 2025" to make exported charts self-explanatory.

  • Type (required): The visual format for your data. Choose from Column (vertical bars, default), Bar (horizontal bars), Pie (circular segments), Doughnut (pie with center removed), Line (connected data points), or Textual (tabular format). Consider your data when choosing—Pie charts work well for showing proportions but can't display multiple data series, while Column charts excel at comparing multiple metrics across categories.

  • Horizontal Axis Title (optional): Label for the X-axis on Column, Bar, and Line charts. This typically describes what you're grouping by, like "Printer Name" or "Department."

  • Vertical Axis Title (optional): Label for the Y-axis on Column, Bar, and Line charts. This typically describes what you're measuring, like "Page Count" or "Print Jobs."

Data Options control how your data is grouped and presented:

  • Group By (required): The category by which data is organized in the chart. Common options include Printer Name, Driver Name, User Name, Machine Name, Document Name, and Date Printed. For example, grouping by Printer Name shows each printer as a separate bar or pie slice, while grouping by User Name shows per-user statistics.

  • Order By (optional): How to sort the grouped data. You can order by your group category (alphabetically by printer name, for instance) or by the data series values (showing highest to lowest page counts). Specify ascending or descending order based on what makes your chart most readable.

  • Number of Results (optional): Limits how many data points appear on the chart. If you have 100 printers but only want to see the top 10, set this to 10. This is particularly useful for high-cardinality data like Document Name, where you might have thousands of unique documents but only care about the most frequently printed ones.

Adding Data Series​

After configuring general and data options, click Add Data Series in the left pane. Specify the Value (Count, Sum, Average, Min, or Max) and, if applicable, the Data Category (Copies, Pages Printed, or Bytes Printed).

The first data series defaults to "Count of Print Jobs," which is often exactly what you want for basic usage reporting. If you're creating a multi-series chart, add additional series by clicking Add Data Series again. Each series appears as a different color on the chart, with colors assigned automatically based on your Settings tab configuration.

You can edit any data series by clicking its edit icon, or remove a series by clicking its delete icon. At least one data series must remain configured for the chart to generate.

Adding Filters​

Filters are optional but powerful. Click Add Filter in the configuration area to create your first filter. Select the Data Category, Filter Operator, and enter the Report Keyword. The filter applies immediately to your data series.

To add multiple filters, click Add Filter again. Your second and subsequent filters will include a Boolean Operator dropdown (AND/OR) at the beginning, letting you specify how filters combine.

You can edit filters by clicking their edit icons or remove them entirely by clicking their delete icons. Removing all filters returns the report to showing all database data.

Generating and Viewing the Chart​

As you configure options, add data series, and apply filters, the chart preview updates dynamically on the left side of the Dashboard. This real-time feedback helps you iterate quickly—if a chart looks wrong, you can immediately adjust configuration and see the results.

Once you're satisfied with the preview, the chart is effectively "generated"—there's no separate Generate button to click. The chart you see is the final report based on current database contents. You can export this chart, refresh the data to incorporate newer print jobs, or save your configuration to regenerate the report later.

Working with Generated Reports​

After generating a report, you have several options for working with the data:

Refresh Data: Click the refresh icon to reload data from the database. This is useful when the Reports service has collected new print jobs since you last generated the chart. By default, the Dashboard refreshes automatically every 10 minutes, but you can trigger manual refreshes anytime or adjust the auto-refresh interval on the Settings tab.

Export Reports: Most charts support export to common formats like PNG (image), PDF (document), or CSV (raw data). Use exports to include charts in presentations, email them to stakeholders, or import data into spreadsheet applications for further analysis.

Modify Configuration: You can always edit the Title, Type, Group By, Order By, data series, or filters even after generating a chart. Changes update the chart immediately in the preview area, letting you explore different visualizations of the same underlying data quickly.

Save Report Configurations: While the interface doesn't explicitly show a "Save Report" feature in the provided content, most reporting tools allow saving commonly used configurations so you can regenerate monthly or quarterly reports without reconfiguring from scratch each time. Check the application menus for Save or Template options.

Table Tab​

The Table tab provides direct access to raw print job data stored in the ScrewDrivers database. Instead of visualizing data as charts, you see every field as columns in a tabular grid: Printer Name, Driver Name, User Name, Machine Name, Document Name, Date Printed, Time Printed, Copies, Pages Printed, Bytes Printed, and more.

This raw view is invaluable when you need specific details that charts abstract away. For example, a chart might show that Printer A printed 500 pages last week, but the Table tab shows the individual print jobs that comprised those 500 pages—who printed them, when, what documents, how many copies of each. You can scroll through the table, sort by any column, and use the search field at the top to filter to specific records.

The Table tab's search function matches against all visible fields and updates results dynamically as you type. The search is case-insensitive and matches your search string anywhere in the results, following the same pattern as filter fields throughout the application. For example, searching "PDF" would return any record where "PDF" appears in the printer name, driver name, document name, or any other text field.

Use the Table tab when you need to:

  • Audit specific print jobs: Verify who printed a confidential document or investigate suspicious high-volume printing
  • Export detailed data: Most table views support exporting to CSV or Excel for further analysis in spreadsheet applications
  • Troubleshoot discrepancies: If a chart shows unexpected results, examine the underlying table data to understand what's being counted
  • Document compliance: Generate detailed logs for regulatory requirements or internal audits

Settings Tab​

The Settings tab controls application-wide preferences that persist across sessions. Your most common configuration tasks here involve refresh intervals and chart color customization.

Dashboard Refresh Time: Controls how often the Dashboard automatically reloads data from the database. The default is 10 minutes (600 seconds), which balances having recent data with not overloading the database. Increase this interval if you're running reports on a large dataset and automatic refreshes impact performance. Decrease it if you're monitoring real-time printing activity and need more current data.

Default Chart Colors: Defines the color palette for data series and their assignment order. The default configuration uses blue for the first series, red for the second, green for the third, and so on. You can customize these to match corporate branding, improve accessibility for colorblind users, or simply align with personal preferences.

Colors are assigned in the order shown on the Settings tab. When you create a new chart and add data series, the first series gets the first color in your palette, the second series gets the second color, and so forth. If you add more data series than you have defined colors, the application cycles back to the beginning of the palette.

Other settings may include date formats, number formats, export defaults, or database connection parameters, depending on your ScrewDrivers Reports version.

Use Cases and Best Practices​

ScrewDrivers Reports is most valuable when used strategically for specific business outcomes. Here are proven use cases:

Capacity Planning: Generate monthly reports grouped by Printer Name showing Sum of Pages Printed. Identify printers approaching capacity and plan hardware purchases before shortages impact productivity. Compare trends quarter-over-quarter to forecast future needs.

Cost Allocation: If different departments or cost centers use shared printers, group reports by User Name or Machine Name to understand per-department usage. Export this data to spreadsheets for calculating chargeback allocations based on actual consumption.

Behavior Analysis: Use filters to identify outliers—users printing hundreds of pages of personal documents, applications generating unexpected print volumes, or workstations sending redundant print jobs. Address these patterns through policy changes or technical interventions.

Compliance Reporting: For industries with document retention or audit requirements, the Table tab provides detailed print job logs showing who printed what documents, when, and from which systems. Export this data periodically for archival or regulatory submission.

Environmental Impact: Sum of Pages Printed across all printers provides a concrete metric for sustainability initiatives. Track this monthly and set reduction targets. Filter by color printers versus monochrome to understand where color usage can be curtailed.

Vendor Management: When evaluating printer vendors or models, compare Average of Pages Printed by Driver Name. Some printer drivers may be inefficient or misconfigured, leading to higher resource consumption than necessary.

For best results, establish regular reporting cadences. Generate the same key reports weekly or monthly so you can spot trends and anomalies quickly. Export and archive historical data even if you don't need it immediately—it becomes invaluable when you need to justify infrastructure investments or investigate past incidents.

Technical Considerations​

Reports depend on the ScrewDrivers Reports service actively collecting print job metadata. If the service stops or is misconfigured, you'll continue to see historical data in Reports, but no new print jobs will be captured. Verify service status regularly, especially after system maintenance or updates.

Database size will grow continuously as print jobs accumulate. Plan for adequate database storage and consider implementing data retention policies. Purging print jobs older than a certain threshold (e.g., 2 years) can keep database size manageable while retaining enough history for meaningful trend analysis.

Report performance depends on database size and query complexity. A report grouping by Document Name with no filters might need to scan millions of records if you have high print volumes. Use filters to narrow data scopes and improve responsiveness. The Number of Results option also helps by limiting chart complexity even when underlying data is large.

The Reports application connects directly to your ScrewDrivers database, so network connectivity and database availability directly impact reporting capability. If users can't generate reports, verify database connectivity, check SQL Server status, and ensure the Reports service has appropriate database permissions.