Improvement Idea for: [User] / Reports / Logs

Improvement Idea for: [User] / Reports / Logs

by Steve Radford -
Number of replies: 1

I have a few of ideas about how the usability of the '[User] / Reports / Logs' feature could be (IMO) significantly improved through some simple changes. However, before suggesting these via the Moodle Tracker, as per the suggestions on the Moodle New Feature Ideas page, I thought I would run them by the forum first. I've listed my ideas below and I'm interested to hear everyone's thoughts

  1. Allow 'Hits on [site] by [user] bar graph to be filtered by date.
    When you load the 'All logs' report, the bar graph at the top shows all activity on the site by the user for all time since their initial account creation date, which limits how useful this report is for users who have been active for long periods. It would be useful if this report had a 'From' and 'To' date filter. 

  2. Remove '[UserA] as [UserB]' entries from the log report. 
    Currently, if one user logs in as another using the 'login as' function, their activity appears in the activity bar graph and in the chart data table below, which can give a misleading impression of [UserB]'s level of activity. It would be good to have an option to include/exclude this data from the report.

  3. Add a new 'Site Activity' report
    The current Course dedication block provides a useful way of viewing a users activity within a course (cumulative session time between a set date range, and/or a list of sessions, start times and durations). However, this only works within courses and not within the site as a whole. It would be very useful to be able to run a similar report to review a users activity across the entire site. (Personally I think this block is so useful that it should become part of the core code as a standard in-course report).


Average of ratings: Useful (1)
In reply to Steve Radford

Re: Improvement Idea for: [User] / Reports / Logs

by Rick Jerz -
Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Testers
Your suggestions are good, Steve, and I am not trying to dissuade your ideas or even putting these ideas into Tracker.

There are many statistics that people would want, and filtering, and graphs, that are not in the standard Moodle. However, what Moodle does provide is access to all data with either SQL, plugins, and third-party products. Everything that you desire is there for "you to get." Yes, I think that you are suggesting that some things should be readily available without any extras. If you know SQL, you can get to your exact data, and then you can use this data to drive visualization software, such as Excel or Tableau.

But, keep at it. Let's see what others say. Things can be improved via Tracker.

As an example, many years ago I wanted to be able to filter the "Browse all users" by those students "not in any course." I felt that I needed this to get rid of random bogus users. So, I created a Tracker item. After about four or five years, my Tracker request was implemented! This is why Moodle is so great... things to happen based upon our comments.
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