Located under Scorecards|Definitions, scorecard definition records store a set of run parameters for a particular scorecard. These run parameters include date range(s); record filters such as funding source and owning center; and processing mode.

Note: While a single scorecard layout record can have many definition records associated with it, a definition record itself can only be associated with one scorecard.

The steps for creating and saving a scorecard definition record are outlined below. However, if you don't want to save your definition, but merely want to run one without saving it, you can use the "Run" link at the top of the Scorecard Layout. To add and save a definition, follow these steps:

1. Click the New Definition button from one of two places:
• You can click Manage|Scorecards|Definitions to see all your existing definitions and to create a New one.
• Alternatively, you can go to a scorecard layout, and from the layout you can click Add in the right hand "Scorecard Run Definition" panel.

  

Once you have created one or more definitions for a partcular layout you will see them in the right hand panel. You can re-run the definitions from here or edit them by hovering over the definition you want to run.



2. Choose the Layout for which you want to create a definition record.
3. Enter a Name for this definition. A default name will automatically appear but it is recommended that you change this name to something that describes your specific definition parameters so that it is easier to identify your definition later on.



4. In the Cumulative Period Start Date field, enter the starting date of your reporting period (this is typically the first day of your current fiscal year).
5. If the scorecard layout that you are creating a definition record for supports both a cumulative and current period column (creators of custom scorecards have the option of turning support for both columns off), the Current Period Start Date field is available for editing and you should enter the start date of the currenct period you are reporting on.
6. In the Scorecard End Date field, enter the end date of the period you are reporting on.
7. By default, the Funding Source(s) field displays "All" funding sources. If you would like to limit your scorecard to records from certain selected funding sources then you should specify the funding sources accordingly. When you restrict a scorecard's ouput to one or more funding sources, it has the following impact:
• Only client activity records (e.g. milestone, award, investment, etc.) and conference records that display one of the funding sources chosen are considered.
• For custom scorecards, only client records that display one of the funding sources chosen are considered. For system scorecards, this may not always hold true; it depends solely upon the specifications provided to us by your funding agency. You can find the exact calculations for built-in scorecards in their corresponding "Understanding the <scorecard name>" help files.
8. By default, the Sub-funding Source(s) field defaults to "All." If you would like to restrict the inclusion of records according to any optional sub-funding assigned (e.g. you only want to report upon work done under the Jobs Act), then you can specify the specific sub-funding sources you are interested in. Alternatively. you can leave the default set to "All."
9. Choose the Centers' whose records you want to include in your scorecard run. By default, only active centers will be shown. Restricting a scorecard's output to one or more centers has the following impact:
• Only client activity records (e.g. milestone, award, investment, etc.) and conference records belonging to one of the chosen centers are considered.
• For custom scorecards, only client records belonging to one one of the chosen centers are considered. For system scorecards, this may not always hold true; it depends solely upon the specifications provided to us by your funding agency. You can find the exact calculations for built-in scorecards in their corresponding "Understanding the <scorecard name>" help files.

Note: If you intend to create goals for this definition record, then it is recommended that you do not restrict the run parameters of the definition record to a center or group of centers; rather, you should do that later from the goal record itself. In other words, select all centers here, and apply your center restriction on the goal set.

10. From the Additional Filtering settings, you can restrict the scorecard's output to a saved client filter, a single counselor, or a saved counselor filter. All of these filters have a dramatic impact on the scorecard's output that is not always easily understood so be sure you understand the ramifications before applying either filter:
• When you restrict a scorecard's output to a client filter, it has the following impact:
• Only client activity records (e.g. milestone, award, investment, etc.) that are associated with those particular client records are considered. For example, if you were to filter the scorecard on a saved filter that contained only inactive clients, only activity from inactive clients would be calculated.
• Only training event records whose attendee lists contain at least one client from the filter (marked as "Attended?") are considered.
• For custom scorecards, only client records contained in the filter are considered. For system scorecards, this may not always hold true; it depends solely upon the specifications provided to us by your funding agency. You can find the exact calculations for built-in scorecards in their corresponding "Understanding the <scorecard name>" help files.
• When you restrict a scorecards output to a single counselor or a group of counselors, it has the following impact:
• Only client activity records (e.g. milestone, award, investment, etc.) that are assigned to the counselor(s) are considered.
• Only conference records that have the counselor(s) listed as the instructor are considered.
• For custom scorecards, only client records assigned to the counselor(s) are considered. For system scorecards, this may not always hold true; it depends solely upon the specifications provided to us by your funding agency. You can find the exact calculations for built-in scorecards in their corresponding "Understanding the <scorecard name>" help files.

Note: If you intend to create goals for this definition record, it is recommended that you do not restrict the run parameters of the definition record to a counselor; rather, you should do that later from the goal record itself.

11. From the Processing Mode field's drop-down menu, you can specify any special processing you would like done during scorecard generation:
• Selecting one of the "Breakdown by..." options produces a scorecard with one column per center, region, month, quarter, or year—depending of course upon the breakdown option chosen, based upon the CURRENT reporting period. In other words, when generating a scorecard using the breakdown, Neoserra will ignore the "Cumulative Period Start" date.
• Because of the resources required to run a breakdown scorecard, we don't recommend including more than 12 columns of data.
• Please note that goals cannot be created for breakdown scorecards.
• Selecting the "Include audit information" option generates output that includes an audit trail of all records that contributed to each line item.
• Keep in mind that an audit trail can also be achieved by processing the scorecard normally and then clicking any line item in the generated scorecard to see all records included in that line item's total, as described in the FAQ titled How can I review each line item of my scorecard and see the records that contribute to the line item total?
12. The Restrict to only reportable records? field is always checked by default! This checkbox should only be unchecked by system administrators in rare cases when you want to include non-reportable activity. In fact, it can only be unchecked by administrators. This checkbox should be used with extreme caution since most scorecards are designed to only provide reportable data, however, this option does allow you, for example, to run a scorecard to determine the total number of cancelled events you have had this year, or how many administrative sessions have been conducted with your clients.

    Keep in mind that this checkbox governs the entire scorecard for which this definition is used, which means it may also pick up other unintended non-reportable activity. If you create a scorecard which includes a mixture of line items - some requiring only reportable data and some including non-reportable data, then you will need to use the "Reportable?" filter on those line items that need to be restricted. For example, here is a scorecard that includes two line items:

    

    The first line item is looking for all cancelled events. By default all cancelled events are non-reportable. Therefore, to run this scorecard we need to uncheck the Restrict to only reportable records? field on the definition record. However, for the second line item we don't want to include the non-reportable records, so we have to add a "Reportable = Yes" filter to this second line item calculation. This filter is only required if/when the Restrict to only reportable records? checkbox is unchecked.

    Note: This may also be a good time to point out that scorecards will include data from clients that have been marked for deletion. Until a client is permanently deleted from the system, their counseling, milestone and capital funding activity will be included in the scorecard.

13. The Center field, at the bottom of the definition record, merely identifies the center where this definition is being created. It has no impact on the output.
14. Click Save to save your edits.

With the definition parameters on the screen, click the "Run" link to see your scorecard results.

Want more? Browse our extensive list of Neoserra FAQs.