Overview
There may be times when you need to generate a report for a specific set of users identified by information such as email addresses, External IDs, or User IDs. While Report Builder provides several filtering options to help you narrow down report results, it is important to understand how these filters evaluate the values entered.
What to Expect
When using user-related fields such as:
- User ID
- External ID
- First Name
- Last Name
the filter field functions as a text search. If you enter a value, the report will return users whose information matches the criteria entered in that field.
For example, entering a partial value such as ABC in a field configured with the Contains option will return users whose selected field contains that text.
However, Report Builder currently evaluates each filter field as a single search value. If multiple identifiers are entered together in the same field (for example, several email addresses separated by commas or spaces), the system interprets the entire entry as one search string rather than evaluating each identifier individually.
Example
If you enter: user1@email.com, user2@email.com, user3@email.com into a single Email field, Report Builder will search for an email address matching that complete string rather than searching for each email separately.
Additional Information About "Comma Separated" Fields
Some report fields, such as External IDs, may include a Comma Separated display option.
This setting controls how values appear in the exported report and does not allow multiple search values to be entered into the filter.
For example:
- Searching for ABC in the External IDs field will return users whose External IDs contain ABC.
- If a user has multiple External IDs, those values can be displayed separated by commas in the report output when the Comma Separated format is selected.
Recommended Approach
If you need reporting data for a specific list of users, the recommended approach is to:
- Generate the report using the most appropriate organizational filter available, such as:
- Above Unit
- Unit
- Job
- Export the report results.
- Use your spreadsheet application's filtering capabilities to isolate the desired users based on:
- Email Address
- User ID
- External ID
- Other identifying fields included in the export
This approach allows you to efficiently work with a targeted group of users while leveraging the existing filtering capabilities available within Report Builder.
Key Takeaway
Report Builder supports filtering by user-related fields, but each filter evaluates a single search value at a time. When reporting on a custom list of users, exporting the report and applying additional filtering within the spreadsheet provides the most effective method for isolating the desired records.
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