Setup and Scheduling Reports Report Anywhere: Setup and Scheduling Reports

Introduction ReportAnywhere and Scheduling Reports If ReportAnywhere is implemented on your system (and the Scheduled Report Manager service is running) you will be able to schedule your report to run automatically and be e-mailed to the recipients of your choice, output to a specific printer, or saved as an encrypted Data-Basics report for later review. Relative Dates One of the key concepts in report scheduling is that of the relative date, which we introduce here. Suppose that we want to run the AR Aging report at one in the morning on the 1st and 16th of each month, and email the report to all members of the user group Admin. The Aging Date that the report should use is when it is run is yesterday (either the last day of the month or the 15th). Therefore, the Aging Date is relative to the date the report is actually run. In this lesson, we will present the present the step-by-step techniques to implement the previous scenario.

Report Scheduling Overview Create Registry setting for E-mail Server and Report File Paths Enter the date that you wish to use when the report will run, or right-click to select a relative date for repeating reports. Date Setting Field(s)? Y Link user records to contact records which have the proper email addresses for individuals who will send or receive reports. N Click Schedule Report in the upper left-hand pane of the Report Range screen. Scheduled Report Manager running Access the Report Range screen of the report you want to schedule. Complete the desired field on the Schedule Report pane, and then click Ok. Fill in any ranges or options on the front screen of the Report Range. The report will be generated as scheduled.

Registry Settings: DB Report Path This entry identifies the default directory to be used when reports are generated in ReportAnywhere. If this entry does not exist, reports will default to the directory containing the Data-Basics software (v.exe). Id The Id of the Registry Entry must conform to one of the following formats: dbreportfiles-branchid-userid dbreportfiles-securityid dbreportfiles The first format enables you to specify the file path by branch id and (optionally) user. The second format enables you to specify the file path by security id. The third format would apply to all users unless another registry entry was created for their security or branch/user id. Contents directory=path where path is replaced by the full share path to the directory that you want your report files stored in (e.g., C:\databasics\reportanywhere or \\myserver\databasics\reportanywhere\). Hint: After saving this entry, exit the software. When you log on again, your file path will be in effect.

Registry Settings: Email Server The Id of the Registry Entry must conform to one of the following formats: sys-email-branchid-userid sys-email- -userid sys-email-securityid sys-email The first format enables you to specify e-mail parameters by branch id / user; the second should be used if you wish to specify parameters for a user a and branches are not implemented. The third format enables you to specify the e-mail server by security id. The last format applies to all users unless one of the first three apply.

Registry Settings: Email Server Contents / Additional Contents: For an SMTP Server: serversmtp=address where address is replaced by the address of your e-mail (smtp) server. Typically, an internal IP address. usernamesmtp=name passwordsmtp=password authentication mechanism for mail servers providing LOGIN authentication. For a POP3 Server: pop3server=address where address is replaced by the address of your pop3 server (to retrieve e-mail). pop3user=pop3username where pop3username is replaced by the user's pop3 user id (for retrieving e-mail). pop3pw=pop3password where pop3password is replaced by the user's password on the pop3 server (for retrieving e-mail). pop3timeout=timems where timems is replaced by the time (in milleseconds) between when a request is sent and an error message is returned if timeout or other problem occurs. pop3secondswait=checkagain where checkagain is replaced by the time (in seconds) that elapses before the inbox is checked again. Setting the Default Report Type EmailReportAsType=pdf,html,text,csv     (pick only one option) This entry applies to pushing the Email button on the side toolbar when displaying a report on screen. The attachment type defaults to pdf if this option is not specified.

User Record: Fields for E-mail When you use ReportAnywhere to schedule report distribution to users, the system will check the Email Address in the contact record that is linked to the user record

Scheduling a Report 1. Access the Report Range screen of the report that you wish to schedule. 2. Complete any of the range and selection fields you wish to specify for the automatic report generation.

Scheduling a Report 3. If you want the report generation to be repeated, right-click any Date settings to enter a relative date.

Scheduling a Report 4. When the report is run, the system will set the Aging Date relative to the date that it runs using the strategy that you select from this box. This ensures that when the report is rerun by the system, the aging date (or ‘as of date’) will be relative to when it is actually generated.

Scheduling a Report 5. In this example, the report will run at 1:00 am on the 1st and the 16th of every month, but we want the aging date to be today (the date the report is actually run) so we will choose Today by clicking on the adjacent radio button!

Scheduling a Report The Custom Strategy box enables you to set the report dates based on the date the report is run by the system according to the following rules: d, m and y refer to the day, month and year of the current run date. Each date component can be controlled separately. Adjustments can be either relative (using + or -) or absolute (no sign). d=last is a special case to compensate for the variable # of days in a month. Omitting a date component is the equivalent saying 'date component=+0'  (i.e. today-->d=+0) A semi-colon must separate date components Example: Suppose you are scheduling the report to run every Sunday. To set the BEGIN DATE of the report to the following day (Monday), you could either select the "Tomorrow" option, or use custom strategy d=+1. To set the end date to Wednesday, use the custom strategy d=+3 (i.e. Wednesday).

Scheduling a Report The following is a list of custom date strategy syntax and conventions. Option Custom Yesterday d=-1 Today d=+0 Tomorrow d=+1 PrevMMFirstDD m=-1;d=1 (first day of the previous month) PrevMMLastDD m=-1;d=last (last day of the previous month) ThisMMFirstDD d=1 (first day of this month) d=15 (the fifteenth of this month) ThisMMLastDD d=last (the last day of this month) NextMMFirstDD m=+1;d=1 (first day of next month) NextMMLastDD  m=+1;d=last (last day of next month) PrevYYFirstDD y=-1;m=1;d=1 (first day of last year) PrevYYLastDD y=-1;m=12;d=last (last day of last year) ThisYYFirstDD m=1;d=1 (first day of this year) m=3;d=31 (end of first quarter, this year) ThisYYLastDD m=12;d=31 (last day of this year) NextYYFirstDD y=+1;m=1;d=1 (first day of next year) NextYYLastDD y=+1;m=12;d=last (last day of next year)

Scheduling a Report Next, click OK to confirm the strategy.

Scheduling a Report 6. Click the Schedule Report option.

Setting the Run Date 7. Set the Run Date (the day you want the system to generate and distribute the report). Today's date will default. To change the date you can: Enter it in mmddyyyy format Double-click to access the Calendar viewer Press the + key to add a day (or days) to the date. If this is a repeating report, the Run Date should be the first execution date.

Setting the Run Time 8. Set the Run Time as the time of the day you want the system to generate and distribute the report. Enter the time (in 24 hour/military format) the report is scheduled to run. For example, to run the report at 3:00am you would enter 0300. To run the report at 8:30pm, you would enter 2030. Tip: You may wish to schedule reports to run late at night or early in the morning to conserve system resources during busy times of the day.

Schedule a Report 9. Enter the Options as needed for this report. Note that the Repeat Event box must be checked for the report to be repeated.

Distribution Options Email? This box must be checked for e-mail distribution. Distribute as: Attachment Link Typically, Attachment would be selected. Email Address You may enter the actual addresses to distribute the report to, or specify the users or user groups below. Email Subject Specifies the Subject line of the e-mail. User List User Group List If you specify users or groups, the e-mail address will be taken from the contact record referenced in each user record. Email From The address that this e-mail comes from, and will default to the address in the contact record linked to your User record. This should be a valid address that can be replied to.

Repeat Options Repeat Event This box must be checked for a repeating report. Repeat Until: Enter the date the report should be repeated until in mmddyyyy format. Days The day or days the report is scheduled to run. To specify a day of the week: m tu w th f sa su To run the report more than once a week, separate the days with a comma. For example, to run the report on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays: m,w,f To specify a day of the month: 1 2 3 4 5(etc.) first last Note that last would be 28 (or 29) for February, 30 for April, etc. To run the report on the 1st and the 16th of each month: 1,16

Repeat Options Times Enter the time (in 24 hour/military format) the report is scheduled to run. For example, to run the report at 3:00am you would enter 0300. To run the report at 8:30pm, you would enter 2030. To run the report more than once a day, enter the times separated by commas: 0100,0900 To run the job multiple times, enter the first and last time to run as a range, followed by the @ sign and the increment in minutes. For example, to run the report every half hour from 9:00 am to 5:00pm, enter the following: 0900-1700@30 To run the report every hour from 8:00 to 6:00, and then again at 11:00pm you would enter: 0800-1800@60,2300

File Options Save Report File If this box is checked, a copy of the report will be saved to disk. Overwrite Existing? If this box is checked, the report will overwrite an existing file of this name. By default, report file names are generated so that they include a date and time stamp, it is highly unlikely that any overwriting will occur. Save Report as: PDF DBReport HTML Text CSV Selects the format the report file; PDF is selected by default. Note that the intended user must be running Data-Basics in order to view a DBReport file. If Text is selected, the report will be embedded in the body of the e-mail instead of being sent as attachment. File Name This field may be used to override the default file name generated by the system. Directory Name Specifies the directory that the report will be saved in (e.g., C:\archive\reports). This field will default from the dbreportfiles registry entry.

Schedule a Report 10. When your Options have been entered correctly, click the OK button.

Schedule a Report 11. Finally, click the Go button.

Schedule a Report 12. The system will display the Scheduled Event Id for this report. Click to confirm.

Turning Off a Repeating Report Tip: Turning Off a Repeating Report To turn off a repeating report, go to the Scheduled Event for the report, and set its Event Status to Cancelled.