A report type is the kind of report your schools or visiting teams submit, such as a self-study, interim report, or site visit team report. Each report type points to the web form the submitter completes, the optional reporting process for the confirmation email, and the optional Portal display for the submitted report.
What It Controls
Report type setup defines the report catalog your organization offers. Each report type controls which web form submitters use, which reporting process runs after submission, and how submitted reports of that type appear in the Portal. Phases and visit types determine which report types a school or visiting team owes.
Where to Find It
Go to Accreditations › Setup › Reports › Types. The list shows each report type, when it was last changed, and whether it is active. The list hides inactive types until you select (show all).
To add a report type, select Create Report Type. To update one, select its Edit icon. To create a new type from an existing one, select Clone.
The Settings
| Setting | Options | Default | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Name: | Any text | Empty | The display name staff and Portal users see |
| ID: | Letters, digits, pipe, and hyphen (no colon) | Suggested from the name | The type's permanent identifier |
| Status: | Active, Inactive | Active | Lets you retire a type without deleting it |
| Form: | One of your report web forms | None | The form the submitter completes. Required |
| Reporting Process: | One of your active reporting processes | None | The confirmation email, if any, sent after this type is submitted |
| Portal Template | HTML with merge fields | Empty | Controls how a submitted report of this type appears on the Portal report page |
Dependencies and Precedence
- A report type's form must be a report web form, created at Setup › Reports › Forms. Create at least one report form before you save a report type.
- The reporting process choice only offers active processes. If a type already uses a process that is later deactivated, the type keeps using it. Only the picker on the report type form is limited to active processes.
- The Portal template controls how a submitted report looks, but it does not fill itself in. Report data does not appear on the Portal automatically. Add each field you want to show by inserting its merge field in the template, such as placing each field on its own line. Add more specific HTML when you need a custom layout, and contact Support if you need help working with HTML in the template. The template uses only the report's and report type's own fields, plus any custom fields you have defined for reports. It cannot directly show the school, visit, or status reason name. If the template has a mistake, the Portal shows nothing for that report and does not display an error.
- Every Portal member of your account can read a report type's name and Portal template; report configuration is not limited to specific Portal contacts.
Change Impact and How to Revert
- Renaming a type is safe because the identifier does not change.
- Marking a type inactive should be treated as a label for your own reference, not as a way to stop new reports of that type. Do not rely on it to change whether the type can still be offered or whether a report can be submitted against it.
- Deleting a report type cannot be undone, and it only works when nothing still uses the type. Rhythm refuses the delete if any report, phase or visit-type reporting requirement, or visit's list of reports still owed names the type.
- A report type's web form can't be deleted while the type uses it. If you need to remove both, first change the report type to use a different form, or delete the report type before you delete the form.
Permissions
Creating, editing, and deleting report types requires access to Accreditation setup. Ask your administrator if you need this access.
Validation and Errors
- Name and Form are required. If you save without either one, Rhythm shows a Form Errors list and blocks the save.
- The chosen form must actually be a report form; Rhythm refuses a form from an unrelated area.
- A report type that a report, requirement, or visit still names can't be deleted. See Change Impact above.
Related Tasks
See Reporting Processes to set up the confirmation email a report type can use, and Visit Reporting Requirements to define which report types a kind of visit expects.