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Eptura Knowledge Center

Schedule Reports

Ever get tired of running the same reports manually on the 1st and 15th of each month? Then you forget to send it to that new employee in Human Resources whose name you can never remember? Now, you can schedule reports and email them using a variety of output file types that automatically attach to an email.  

  • Access the Report Scheduler 
  • Create a Scheduled Report 
  • Edit a Scheduled Report 
  • Remove a Scheduled Report 

Access the Report Scheduler 

There are two ways you can access the Report Scheduler: 

  • Navigate to Insights > Schedule Reports from the sidebar. The My Scheduled Jobs screen displays. 

reports_scheduled_myscheduledjobs_1.png

  • OR while displaying any report in the Insights module, click the Schedule button in the upper-right corner. The My Scheduled Jobs screen displays.  

reports_scheduled_myscheduledjobs_1a.png

If you select All Reports in the Scheduled Jobs section, a list of all scheduled jobs will be listed on the right side of the screen; to create a new schedule, you must first select a specific report type. The Create Schedule option displays. Click this option to begin defining parameters for your new schedule. 

Create a Scheduled Report 

Navigate to Insights >  Schedule Reports from the sidebar menu. The My Scheduled Jobs screen displays.

Using the report scheduler, you can setup a schedule with report parameters, output options, and notifications:

  • Schedule:  This tab allows you to schedule when and how often to run the report.  
  • Parameters: If the report was designed with input controls, this tab allows you to determine which parameters the scheduled report will use.  
  • Output Options: This tab allows you to specify the name of a report output file name, format, locale, and time zone.  
  • Notifications: This tab allows you to specify the email options for sending the report output to recipients (e.g. To, From, CC, BCC, Subject).  

The permissions of the user who schedules the job determines the data that the report displays. As an example, George only has access to inventory data from the Southeast US region. A report that he schedules only shows data from that region, even when the report is viewed by users in other regions. Other users schedule the report themselves to see the data for their own region. 

Administrators should be careful when scheduling a job as an administrative user with no data restrictions because the report will contain all requested data in the data source. Any user who receives the report can view all the data regardless of the user's access restrictions. 

Additional information about the fields and options available in each of these sections are included in the tables below. 

Schedule Tab 

The Schedule tab allows you to schedule the start, recurrence, and potential end dates for a scheduled report. A sample of the Schedule tab screen is shown below. 

reports_create_schedule_tab_1c.png

More information about the available fields and descriptions may be found below. 

Schedule Start 

Start Date 

Allows you to select the start date with two options:

  • Immediately: immediately schedules the report following the recurrence and end criteria you specify.

  • On Specific Date: Allows you to schedule a specific date by clicking the calendar icon. 

Time Zone 

Allows you to select a specific time zone from the drop-down menu. 

Recurrence

The Recurrence section has two possible options: Simple or Calendar type. Both are displayed and described below. 

Simple Recurrence Type 

Schedule the job to recur at a regular interval, specified in hours, days, or weeks. 

reports_recurrence_simple.png

The fields and descriptions of the Simple Recurrence Type are listed in the table below. 

Repeat Every 

Schedule the job to recur at a regular interval, specified in hours, days, or weeks. 

The following options are available: 

  • Hours
  • Days
  • Weeks
  • Minutes 

End Date 

This allows you to determine the end date of your scheduled report. 

Run a set number of times / Number of runs

This allows you to specify a specific number of runs you want to schedule (e.g. run 12 times). 

Run until a specified date 

This allows you to determine a specific date for this schedule to end. 

Run indefinitely 

This field allows you to schedule your report to run indefinitely. 

Calendar Recurrence

Schedule the job to recur on days of the week, days of the month, specific dates, or date ranges. 

reports_recurrence_calendar_1c.png

The fields and descriptions of the Calendar Recurrence Type are listed in the table below. 

Months 

You can select either of the following:

  • Every Month: allows you to select every month. 

  • Selected Months: allows you to select only specific months. If you want to select multiple months, you can click on the starting month and drag your mouse down to include as many months as you want. Or you may also select specific months by holding down the CTRL (CMD button on Mac) button and clicking on them. 

Days 

You can select any of the following: 

  • Every Day: allows you to select every day of the week. 

  • Selected Days: allows you to select only specific days of the week. 

  • Dates in Month: allows you to select specific dates in a month (e.g. 9, 12, 15 or 9-12, 1-17). 

Time (Hours) 

This is a required field. It allows you to enter the hours you want. You can enter 24-hour times, such as 9, 12, 15, or ranges such as 9-12 or 1-17. 

Time (Minutes) 

This is a required field. It allows you to enter the minutes you want. You can enter 0, 15, 30, 45 to run every 1/4 hour. 

Schedule End

End Date 

Allows you to use a calendar to select the date you want your scheduled report to end.  For a schedule to run indefinitely leave the field blank.

Holidays

Calendar of dates to include 

Allows you to exclude specific dates by selecting them from the drop-down menu. 

Parameters Tab

The Parameters tab and the available fields will be dependent on the report you select. If no parameters are available, you can move onto the Output Options tab. A sample report with parameters is displayed below. 

reports_createreport_parameters_1d.png

If parameters are available on your selected report, you can enter information into a field and click the search icon (reports_search_icon_1b.png), or select an item from the drop-down list. Once you have made your selections, click the Output Options tab. 

Output Options Tab

The Output Options tab allows you to choose from a variety of format options. A sample of the Output Options tab screen is shown below. 

reports_output_options_tab_1.png

More information about the fields and options may be found in the table below.  

File Name 

This is the base name for the output file attached to your email notification. The base filename is appended with a timestamp. 

 

Example: 

Running a formatted PDF report 5 Day Peak Request Count by Completed Time would generate the file attachment 5_Day_Peak_Request_Count_by_Completed_Time_201509181658.pdf

Time Zone 

The output time zone for generating the report. 

Output Locale 

This drop-down field allows you to determine the output localization (language). 

Formats 

Allows you to specify the output file format of your report. When you select more than one, each format is attached as a separate file to the notification email. 

Notifications Tab 

The Notifications tab allows you to select who to send the notification email and report to when the scheduler runs. A sample of the Notifications tab screen is displayed below. 

reports_notifications_1a.png

More information about the fields and options may be found in the table below. 

To

One or more email addresses separated by commas for sending email notifications.

 

Note; This is a required field.

CC

One or more email addresses separated by commas for sending email notifications on the CC line.

BCC

One or more email addresses separated by commas for sending blind carbon-copy email notifications. The addresses in this field are not revealed to the other recipients.

Subject

This allows you to determine the subject of the notification email.

 

Note: This is a required field.

Message

This allows you to define the content of the notification email.

Do not send emails for empty reports

Selecting this checkbox prevents the server from attaching empty report output files to emails. This applies to parameterized reports where there is no data that matches the parameters. 

Save Job

Once you have made all of the selections for your scheduled report, you enter a name and a description for your job.

  • Click the Save button to save your job. Click the Cancel button to cancel creating your scheduled report.

reports_schedule_save_job_1c.png

More information about the fields and options may be found in the table below.

Name

Enter the name of your scheduled job. 

Description

Enter a description about your scheduled job. 

Cancel

This button allows you to cancel out of the Save Job screen. 

Save

This button allows you to save your scheduled job. 

If there is a conflict with the selections for your scheduled job, you will receive a notification on what to correct. As an example, if you attempt to schedule a job using a past date or time, you will be unable to save. You would then need to correct the date to be in the present or on a future date, and your job should then save. 

Edit a Scheduled Report

After you have created a scheduled report and want to edit, perform the following: 

  1. From the My Scheduled Jobs screen (Reports > Schedule Reports), click the scheduled report job you want to edit. The selected report opens.

reports_edit_samplereport_1.png

  1. Make any changes to any of the four tabs (Schedule, Parameters, Output Options, Notifications).

If the report you used to create your initial job did not include any parameters (as shown in the example editable report above), the Parameters tab will be unavailable for selection.  

Optional Step:

  1. If you want to change the name or description of the report, click the Edit Details drop-down.

reports_edit_details_1c.png

  1. Select Edit Details. The Edit Job Details screen opens. 

scheduled_reports_edit_job_details_1.png

End Optional Step

  1. Make your changes to the Name or Description fields and click the Save button. Your scheduled job has been updated.

Remove a Scheduled Report

There are two ways you can remove a scheduled report.

Option 1

  1. From the My Scheduled Jobs screen (Reports > Schedule Reports), a list of scheduled reports is listed on the right.

  2. Click the Remove button to the right of the scheduled report you want to remove. A confirmation window opens.

reports_remove_job_confirmation_1.png

  1. Click the Remove button. Your selected scheduled report has been removed. A confirmation appears at the top of the screen.

reports_schedule_remove_confirmation_1b.png

       OR

Option 2

  1. From the My Scheduled Jobs screen (Reports > Schedule Reports), a list of scheduled reports is listed on the right.

  2. Select the report you want to remove. Click the Edit Details drop-down field and select Remove

reports_remove_report_1c.png

  1. A confirmation window opens. 

reports_remove_job_confirmation_1.png

  1. Click the Remove button. Your selected scheduled report has been removed. A confirmation appears at the top of the screen.

reports_schedule_remove_confirmation_1b.png