Report Design Rules of thumb

Stating the purpose
What is the overall purpose of the report?
Who is going to read the report?

Determining the layout of the report
What is the report title going to be?
What identifying information is needed in the header and footer?

Finding the data
What data do you want to use in the report?
What specific data should appear in the body of the report?
Does the data exist or does it need to be calculated?
What types of fields contain data?

Manipulating the data
Do you want the data organized into groups?
Do you want the data sorted based on record or group values?
Do you want the report to contain only specific records or groups?
Do you want to summarize the data?
What information should be flagged on the report?
How do you want information flagged?

Determining printing area characteristics
In what order will the areas print on the report?
How often do report objects print?

Developing a prototype on paper