# View - Reports
# View - Reports Overview
## What
In many ways, Smart Groups and Reports are the same thing. In both cases the concept is to programmatically identify devices. The difference between the two objects has to do with intent...Smart Groups are created so that you can DO something to the devices in questions, whereas Reports are used to simply "report" on things, such as software rollout progression.
## When/Why
We are going to use a reports to help us identify problem areas (proactive management), and to track progress of ongoing projects. The contents of reports can additionally be used to feed the FileWave customizable dashboard for aggregate reporting.
## How
We'll go into depth on creating reports in the below links, but here is a quick preview of creating a report to look at Firefox across the environment.
Note that reports have several available actions:
You can Open the Report (view the contents of the report), Edit the Report (see and then change the conditions of the report), Remove a Report (delete it), or Move to Group (move the report to a group for organizational purposes).
# Report Creation/Editing
## What
Creation of a new report is used for the intent of reporting on some condition, like the version of an application or how much free space devices have.
## When/Why
We will typically use reports both for ourselves (to get a feel for the state of the environment), and they are also very useful for communicating "status" to senior management.
## How
We'll go into the details of building reports in the articles linked below, but we'll simply start with creation of the report and giving it a name.
Each report we create has the ability to report on one of the following:
- Devices (Lists devices based on a criteria)
- Applications (Useful for seeing what is installed)
- Licenses (For reporting on License utilization)
- Payloads (For showing information on items you are deploying)
- Boosters (For information about boosters)
# Preview Fields in Reports
## What
When you build a Smart Group or Report in FileWave Anywhere, the preview area shows live results from the current criteria. Preview fields are the columns shown in that preview, and the default columns are not always the device fields you need to verify the result.
## When/Why
Change the Report or Smart Group preview columns before you trust the criteria. For example, if a Report should find devices by FileWave Client version, show the **FileWave Client Version** field in the preview so you can verify the returned devices match the condition. This is faster and safer than assuming the filter is correct.
## How
The video below shows how to remove default preview fields and add **FileWave Client Version** to the preview.
# Report Condition Groups
## What
Condition Groups within Reports and Smart Groups are a method of isolating specific logic for data queries.
## When/Why
Condition groups are always used when you need to combine AND with OR logic within the same report. If you are familiar with SQL, Condition Groups in FileWave are the equivalent of parentheses in SQL. If you wanted a report that looked at all Windows or macOS devices, you wouldn't need a condition group, but as soon as we look for something like macOS or Windows ***AND*** Office is installed, then we need a condition group, because we need to combine AND with OR.
## How
Following our example from above, watch below as we create the more complex smart group/report using condition groups:
## Digging Deeper
Note that you'll find some quite complex examples of advanced condition groups in the Reports view under Sample Queries:
# Report Conditions
## What
Conditions are used to define what devices or other elements will show in the results of our smart group or report.
## When/Why
We will almost always use at least one condition in a smart group or report (unless we wanted to see literally every device). The conditions allow us to refine the list down from "everything" to just specific devices, such as "Windows devices that have an older FileWave client".
## How
Watch below as we specify criteria (conditions) to match our example above:
# Report Groups
## What
Report Groups are used for basic report organization.
## When/Why
Over time, you'll find that hundreds of reports will clutter up your Reports view. Report groups give you a way to organize reports into logical groups and enable us to navigate the user interface more easily. Report groups server no purpose other than organization, unlike payload groups which have dual purpose. Report groups can not be nested, and must all have a unique name.
## How
Creation of a report group is quite simple as you'll see below, where we both create a group and then Move a report into it:
# Viewing Reports
## What
Opening a report lets you view the report results.
## When/Why
Use this view when you need to inspect the report's line items and decide what action to take. For example, a software report might show that Firefox payloads need updates for both Windows and macOS devices.
## How
Click the report name in the list to open it. You can also select the report and choose **Open Report** from the action menu. While viewing a report, click **Details** to open the report definition and edit it.
