Purpose

1. This article will review the Ad-Hoc Grouping within the Reports module. 
   

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Information

1. The Grouping section in the ad-hoc reporting module allows users to organize their report data by specific fields, making it easier to analyze and interpret related information. Grouping is particularly useful when you want to categorize data into logical sections, such as grouping incidents by type, location, or personnel. This feature helps to summarize data and identify trends within subsets of your dataset.

How Grouping Works

1. Grouping organizes your report data based on selected fields, displaying aggregated data for each group. For example, instead of showing every individual incident on separate rows, you can group the incidents by type and display a summary for each category.
   
2. Once data is grouped, you can apply additional calculations like counts, averages, or sums, further enhancing the usefulness of the report.

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Steps to Configure Grouping

1. Navigate to the Grouping Section: When setting up your report, go to the Grouping section, where you can define how your data should be grouped.
   
   
2. Choose the Field(s) to Group By: Select the field(s) by which you want to group the data. Common grouping fields include:
   
1. In this case, we have selected name
   
   
3. Apply Grouping: Once you have selected the field(s), the report will automatically group the data, organizing it based on the criteria you’ve set. For example, if you group by “Name,” all name's of the same type will be grouped together in the report.
   
   
   
   
4. Add Aggregates (Optional): After grouping the data, you can apply aggregate functions to summarize information within each group. Common aggregates include:
   
1. Count: Show the number of records in each group (e.g., the number of incidents of each type).
   
2. Sum: Add up a numeric field (e.g., total response time for each group).
   
3. Average: Display the average value for a numeric field (e.g., average response time for each incident type).

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Grouping with Summary Report

1. When selecting the Summary Report type, grouping becomes even more critical, as the main purpose of a summary report is to provide high-level insights based on grouped data. Grouping in summary reports allows users to aggregate data into categories and display relevant metrics for each group.

Best Practices for Using Grouping

1. Choose the Right Fields for Grouping: Group by fields that help you achieve your analysis goals. For example, group by incident type if you’re interested in understanding how incidents are distributed across categories.
   
2. Use Aggregates Wisely: Applying aggregates like counts or averages can make your grouped data more insightful by showing totals or summaries within each group.