Using a User Report as a Merge Data Source gives you the flexibility to create Merge Documents with any information that you have configured a user report to have.
Once you have the report created with the necessary filters in place you will be able to use the report as a merge data source by selecting the User Report data source option on the Merge Document screen.
There are a couple necessary guidelines:
The user report will need to contain fields for the necessary level of detail needed. For example, if you want to use the report as a merge data source for a merge document that is predominately based on an assignment you will need to include the Assignment ID and add it as a filter. You can set the filter to any value but you must set it to prompt. This will allow the system to pull the Assignment ID from the record you are creating the merge document to.
If you want to use the report as a merge data source for a merge document that is based on a cost estimate you will need to include the Cost Estimate ID and add it as a filter. You can set the filter to any value but you must set it to prompt. This will allow the system to pull the Cost Estimate ID from the record you are creating the merge document to. If you are pulling line items into the merge document that are no NULL value, add an additional filter to exclude them using the "Is Not Equal To" comparison.
You will need to make sure that all of the fields contained on your report have unique captions. These captions are what you will use as your merge fields in your document. If you plan on using the data fields in a RTF, Word, Excel document create captions without spaces.
Things to note when using creating User Reports for Merge Documents
PDF Merge Documents can only be backed by a User Report, not a Data Source. Captions can be created with spaces.
When multiple user reports are used to back an Excel merge document, an alias must be provided for each user report and used when defining a single or range of cells in Excel. If a single user report is used to back an Excel merge document, an alias must be provided but is not required when defining a single or range of cells in Excel.
The means of providing placeholders (using merge tags/codes) for merged data differ for each document type. Changing the column caption used in User Report backing any merge document will require changes in the merge document.
Changing the User Report backing a PDF Merge Document will erase all designated input mapping on the PDF form immediately upon selection of a new User Report, even if you haven't clicked the [Save] button yet. Also, changing the name of a merge field in the backing User Report will erase the corresponding PDF control mapping and you will have to map the newly-named merge field to the desired PDF control again.