Scheduling reports for automatic distribution

For example, Susan is a Service Desk Manager in an organization that provides enterprise monitoring software. Susan's responsibilities include sending out incident assignment reports to the internal and external stakeholders of their software. Her company uses BMC Helix Dashboards to create dashboards that provide insight about all performance parameters of their software. Susan uses the report scheduling feature of BMC Helix Dashboards to send the dashboard reports to all stakeholders on a schedule. With this feature, Susan can perform the following tasks:

• Create a PDF, CSV or XLS report of her dashboards. 
• Create a schedule for the report to be sent to the stakeholders.
• Add or update the list of the stakeholders who would receive the report.
• Limit the number of recipients of scheduled reports. 

Susan can also send a test email to a few recipients to verify that the report is sent correctly.

To schedule reports through email

Refer to the following video (5.12) to see how you can schedule reports through email:

 https://youtu.be/EqBlc90lKgM

To schedule reports through FTP or SFTP server

Refer to the following video (2.53) to see how you can schedule reports through FTP or SFTP server:

 https://youtu.be/e4fq46yFIaQ

To schedule reports through email and FTP

1. On the BMC Helix Dashboards home page, hover over the Report scheduler  icon and select Reports.
2. Click New scheduled report.
3. Enter the name and the description of the report.
4. Select a dashboard for which you will receive the report.
5. Select the Report Type. 
   By default, the reports are generated in PDF.
6. Select the Schedule Type.
   By default, the reports are sent to the recipients by email.
   • To share the reports through email, configure the following options:
     • In Mail Settings, add a list of the recipients of the report.
       You can select the recipients from the list or add a new recipient.
       
     • Add the subject and the custom message for your email.

   • To share the reports through FTP or SFTP servers, select FTP and enter the FTP or SFTP server directory. 
     The FTP server directory is an optional field. You can specify a subfolder when you want the report in that folder.

     Important

     Before sharing reports through FTP or SFTP servers, you must configure the FTP or SFTP server:

     1. Hover over the icon and select Settings.
     2. On the Settings page, enable Show FTP settings.
     3. Select the required protocol. By default, FTP is selected.
     4. Specify the FTP server, FTP port, username, and password. 
     5. Click Save.

7. In Filter Settings, configure the following options:
   • Select the time range. 
     For example, filter the data in the dashboard by days, months, year, fiscal quarter, fiscal year, previous week, previous month, and so on.

1. • Select variables to add data into the subject and message body of the email. You can either select the default variable or create your own custom variables.

2. Select the orientation and the layout for the PDF report. 

   Important

   These options are only visible when PDF is selected as the report type.

3. In Schedule, configure the following options:
   • Time zone
   • Frequency of the schedule
   • Time to send out the report
   • Append date to the report file

   • Append time to the report file

     The date and timestamps are appended to the report file name when the report is shared through FTP or SFTP server. The date and timestamps are appended to the report file name in <filename><MM-DD-YYY> <HH:mm:ss> format. For example, Event data report 10-18-2022 17-43-25.pdf. 

4. Save the report schedule. 

To monitor and manage report schedules

As a tenant administrator, use the report schedule administration console to monitor and manage the scheduled reports in your account.

1. Hover over the Report scheduler icon and select History.
   The scheduled reports are listed by the name of dashboards. You can sort them alphabetically, by the state of the report, and the report type.
2. From the list of scheduled reports, select the appropriate report folder.
3. From the list, select a preconfigured report.
   An overview of the report is displayed. For example, the report ID, the creator, the last run, its next run, and so on, You can perform the following actions:
   • Edit or delete a report
   • View and edit the dashboard for which the report has been scheduled
   • Run the report before its next scheduled run
   • Disable the report
   • View the last 10 run schedules
     
     

Alternatively, a tenant administrator can access an overview of the report schedule from the report scheduler home page.

1. Hover over the Report scheduler icon and select History.
2. From the list of scheduled reports, select the appropriate report folder.
3. Click View more info  to see the overview of the report schedule: 
   
   • Created by
   • Created at
   • Updated at
   • Last run time
   • Next run time

Refer to the following video (2.29) to learn how you can monitor and manage report schedules:

 https://youtu.be/pFgeC-60gOM

To download a report

As a tenant administrator or an editor, download the report copies in the same format as was used during scheduling the automatic distribution. You can download a copy of the report before the automatic distribution is run. 

1. Hover over the Report scheduler icon and select History.
2. Select the appropriate report folder from the list of scheduled reports.
3. From the list, select a preconfigured report.
4. Click Download to save a copy of the last run.
   The Download button is enabled only after the first run of the schedule.

5. If you want to download the last 10 schedule runs, click Show last ten schedules, and click the Download  icon next to each run.
   The report will be downloaded on your computer.

   Important

   You can download reports for last ten schedules only.