How do I use a Request for Assistance Report – Link2Feed

The Request for Assistance Report provides data related to the Request for Assistance program.

This article covers the following topics:

Additional steps following basic setup

Please see Report Setup Foundations for information on basic setup steps for all reports.

Additional steps:

You will need to complete the Crisis Type field to indicate which crisis type(s) you want to report on.
Within Sections you will need to indicate the sections you want to report on.
Click Create Report at the bottom, your report will be found in your Report Inbox on the left-hand side of the screen under Reports. Alternatively, you can hit Save Template if you want to save this as a template for future use. More on templates can be found here.

Table overview

You will see up to two sections within this report which would have these attributes:

The light blue heading represents the title of the section that was chosen to be reported on.
The dark blue heading describes the section.
The columns can be filtered and include the Visit Date, Crisis Type, Utility Company, Primary Income, Amount Requested, Amount Provided, and the Total number of Adults and Children in the household.

Assistance Approved: Reports on all requests for assistance that were approved and paid during the reporting period.

Assistance Denied: Reports on all requests for assistance that were denied during the reporting period.

Export Options

Clicking on the Tools button on the right side of each section will reveal other options.

Copy: This copies the table contents to your computer's clipboard.
CSV: This exports the table into a CSV file, generally viewed with Microsoft Excel.
PDF: This exports the table into a PDF.
Print: This presents a printer-friendly version of the table (press Esc on your keyboard to return to the report).
Click on the Print View button at the top of the screen to see a printer-friendly version of the entire report.

Clicking on Enable Scrolling will allow you to scroll to the right if there are more items in the table that are not currently in view.

Efficiency and Timeliness of Report Generation

In our report generation process, we understand the significance of minimizing wait times for our users. Currently, the wait time is determined by the number of organizations included in the report and the duration covered. Let's delve into the details of our report queues for a clearer understanding.

We manage two queues: one for regular reports and another for large reports. We allow up to 20 reports to run simultaneously. This setup enables concurrent processing of multiple reports but may result in a slightly extended initial wait time to ensure efficiency.

Report size is determined by multiplying the number of sites by the duration in days, with a limit set at 50 sites x 180 days (equivalent to 9000). Anything exceeding this threshold is directed to the large queue.
Recognizing the complexity and scale of large reports, they are processed in a separate queue, occasionally resulting in wait times measured in hours. We understand the inconvenience and are actively working towards optimizing processing times for such reports in the future.

Conversely, our regular queue processes reports efficiently with a minimum wait time of 6 minutes per report. Multiple reports can run simultaneously, minimizing overall slowdowns. However, there are instances where regular reports may take longer, ranging from 20 to 30 minutes each. It's essential to note that even a quick report may experience delays if queued behind longer reports.

As we strive to optimize report processing times, your feedback is crucial. Please feel free to share your thoughts and suggestions, these contribute to our ongoing efforts to enhance and streamline this process for an improved user experience.