I'm brand new to the data analyst world, so please forgive my ignorance.   I've recently accepted a position at a small chain of retail stores as a data analyst.  I'm working on creating a report request form so that anyone requesting a report from me has some basic questions to answer when sending me their request.  I've found several good examples of this form to use as my template. 

What I'm now struggling to come up with is a system to track these report requests.  Can some existing data analysts or business analysts give me examples of how they track report requests in their system?  We are windows based, but don't have a huge infrastructure for this type of tracking.  The company I work for doesn't have the most up to date technology.  

I'm hoping I can get some ideas from this forum to formulate a system to meet my needs. 

Thank you in advance,

Jessica

Hi Jessica, I understand the craziness of report requirements. Everyone wants a simple report, they tell you they only need these 5 or 6 items, you produce it and it is not at all what they want. This is in part our own fault, we need to actually attempt to pull this from them, but no one wants to spend time on it, they just want it done, and look pretty and add some pie charts, even if the data has nothing to do with a pie chart ;). If you already have a simple form, you can just do the same form online. I use this site called SurveyGizmo (just google it). They offer free surveys, and you can pay for a subscription if you want to do fancy custom stuff, but the free one is very nice and useful. You can then get the answers you need, and even make your own little pie charts ;). You can even do polls and stuff. It is a nice tool, I use it for many things. I never thought about doing a report requirement form, but now I think I will also give it a go :) Hope that can help you, free is free :)