The Screen I use Most Often
Roughly 99% of the time I go into EPIC, I end up using the Edit Existing Reports option from the Manage Reports menu. And most often I do not go there to edit an existing report. I go there for the search screen.
I use the search screen so often because it is both powerful and very easy to use.
What makes the Search Screen powerful?
It’s powerful because it lets me answer so many routine questions. The search returns a set of records and for each record, I can get the following information:
- Name entered by the administrator
- Respondent Name, entered by the respondent
- Email that the assessment was sent to
- Learner Account Email that the respondent entered when creating their account
- Access Code
- Product
- Language
- Date the report was Last Generated
- Catalyst Applications enabled (Catalyst only)
- Date the assessment was Assigned
- Date the assessment was Completed
- Folder where the record is stored
- Sub Folder where the record is stored
- Organization the respondent is assigned to (Catalyst only)
(The words in bold are the labels of the fields returned in the results page)
Being able to get to one or more of these bits of information in a couple of clicks is huge. Almost every question an admin might have (or get asked) can be answered by looking at this data. For example:
- Did [respondent] complete their assessment yet?
- Who in [some group] has/hasn’t completed the assessment yet?
- What email address did [respondent’s] assessment go to?
- Why is [respondent] not showing up in Catalyst?
- [respondent] isn’t getting the invitation email. Can you send them the link?
- [respondent] can’t log into Catalyst and they’re not getting the reset password email. Can you help?
These are just a handful of the more common questions that we get and that can be answered by using the Edit Existing Records’ search screen.
What makes the EPIC Search Screen powerful?
The Search Screen is powerful because it is so flexible. Looking for a single record? Search by name or email address. Looking for a group? Use the folder and, optionally, subfolder selection (see the article Organizing Records in EPIC for tips on maximizing this). Use the Access Code Status drop-down to filter on Pending or Completed assessments. Want to see everyone in a Catalyst organization? Just enter the organization and nothing else.
Notice that I didn’t construct a complex search for any of these scenarios. Here’s why:
EPIC Power Tip: The fewer fields you complete on the search screen, the better chance you have of finding what you want.
For example: If I want to find a single person’s record, I might only enter their last name in the Name field. If I put their full name, “Christopher Grace” and they entered “Chris Grace”, I won’t find the record. If I only enter “Robin”, I might get a few matches on the first name “Grace”, but I can just ignore these.
Similarly, if I selected the Product “Workplace”, that would exclude the record of someone who was assigned a Catalyst assessment, perhaps by mistake. Again, less is more.
Got something to share? Have questions or need help?
Have you found other situations where the Search Screen was a lifesaver? Do you have any other advanced EPIC tips to share? Have an EPIC question? If so, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We are here to support you!