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Schedule reports

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Learn how to schedule and reschedule reports as well as how to retrieve them using various tools.

You can schedule standard and custom reports, both individual institution and group,  to run at a predetermined time and on a consistent basis with a Report Author or Report Scheduler role.

 Note:

  • Users with the Report Scheduler role will be able to access Web Intelligence from the Applications menu but will not be able to create a new report. The New button will be inactive.
  • Reports should not be scheduled from folder 3.0 as you will not be notified if the original author edits or deletes the report. To schedule a report from the community folder, save the template locally and then schedule it form My Favorites or folder 2.0.

Schedule a custom or standard report

Open the Schedule screen

  1. In the left navigation, click Report Launch Pad.
  2. Open the Schedule screen.
    • From a standard report:
      1. Click a report category folder from the Folders screen.
      2. Locate the report you want to schedule and click the More button (Screenshot of WorldShare Reports More options button).
      3. Select Schedule from the pop-up menu. The General tab of the Schedule screen opens by default.
    • From a custom report:
      1. In the left navigation of the Folders screen, click the folder where your custom reports are located.
      2. Locate the report you want to schedule and click the More button (Screenshot of WorldShare Reports More options button).
      3. Select Schedule from the pop-up menu. The General tab of the Schedule screen opens by default.

Complete the General tab

 Note: The Notification section is not available for use.

  1. Enter a title for the report instance you create. An instance is a specific occurrence of the report being run. By default, the instance name is the report's name.
    Your instance title should follow these guidelines:
    • Limit to 70 or fewer characters
    • Use only the basic Latin alphabet (A-Z, a-z) and/or numerals (0-9)
    • Do not use special characters other than a hyphen (-) or underscore (_)
  2. (Optional) Click Add below Delivery Destinations. From the Destinations dialog, select a destination.
    • Default Enterprise Location (selected by default) - Delivers scheduled reports to the Default Enterprise Location, available only via the History menu in the Report Launch Pad. This destination is ideal for users who wish to schedule a report that should not be visible in My Files (i.e., reports with patron PII or other sensitive data).
    • File system - Delivers scheduled reports to My Files and your institution's OCLC FTP account.
      1. Confirm that the Keep instance in history checkbox is selected.
      2. Select the Use default settings checkbox.

         Note: The Use default settings checkbox is not selected by default but is necessary to ensure that a file is delivered successfully via the File System.

  3. Select a recurrence from the Run Report drop-down list.
    Recurrence options - Table
    Recurrence Workflow
    Now (default) Select to immediately run the report once.
    Once Select to run the report once at a specified time.
    1. Enter a Start Date and time using the Date picker button (Screenshot of WorldShare Reports Date picker button).
    2. Enter an End Date and time using the Date picker button (Screenshot of WorldShare Reports Date picker button).
    Recurring Select to run the report once every selected recurrence pattern.
    1. Select how often the report should be run from the Repeat drop-down list.
      • Hourly (default) - If selected:
        1. Enter an hourly repeat value (e.g., every 2 hours) in the Every field using the Time picker button (Screenshot of WorldShare Reports Time picker button).
        2. Enter a Start Date and time using the Date picker button (Screenshot of WorldShare Reports Date picker button).
        3. Enter an End Date and time using the Date picker button (Screenshot of WorldShare Reports Date picker button).
      • Daily - If selected:
        1. Enter how often you want the report to run (e.g., 2 for every 2 days) in the Every field.
        2. Enter a Start Date and time using the Date picker button (Screenshot of WorldShare Reports Date picker button).
        3. Enter an End Date and time using the Date picker button (Screenshot of WorldShare Reports Date picker button).
      • Weekly - If selected:
        1. Select the day of the week you want the report to run from the On section.
        2. Enter a Start Date and time using the Date picker button (Screenshot of WorldShare Reports Date picker button).
        3. Enter an End Date and time using the Date picker button (Screenshot of WorldShare Reports Date picker button).
      • Business Hours - If selected:
        1. Enter your business start and end hours using the Time button (Screenshot of WorldShare Reports Date picker button).
        2. Enter an hourly repeat value (e.g., every 2 hours) in the Every field using the Time picker button (Screenshot of WorldShare Reports Time picker button).
        3. Enter a Start Date and time using the Date picker button (Screenshot of WorldShare Reports Date picker button).
        4. Enter an End Date and time using the Date picker button (Screenshot of WorldShare Reports Date picker button).
      • Monthly - If selected:
        1. Select a monthly run value from the Every drop-down list.
        2. Enter a Start Date and time using the Date picker button (Screenshot of WorldShare Reports Date picker button).
        3. Enter an End Date and time using the Date picker button (Screenshot of WorldShare Reports Date picker button).
      • Specific day of a month - If selected:
        1. Select one of the following from the On drop-down list.
          • Day of the month (default) - If selected, select which day (e.g., 13) of the month you want the report to run from the drop-down list. By default, the drop-down list is set to 1.
          • Week-day of the month - If selected:
            1. Select the occurrence of the day of the week from the drop-down list.
              • First
              • Second
              • Third
              • Fourth
              • Fifth
            2. Select the day of the week you want the report to run.
        2. Enter a Start Date and time using the Date picker button (Screenshot of WorldShare Reports Date picker button).
        3. Enter an End Date and time using the Date picker button (Screenshot of WorldShare Reports Date picker button).
    Calendar Do not use.
  4. (Optional) Click the Allow retries button to allow the scheduled report to retry if it fails initially. By default, this option is off.
  5. Scheduling server group - As a best practice, if your deployment of the BI Platform uses federation and you want to run the document at the site where it is located, select the Run at origin site button to switch it on.

Complete the Report Features tab

  1. Click the Report Features tab.
  2. Select the output format for the scheduled report from the Formats drop-down list.
    • Web Intelligence (default)
    • Microsoft Excel - Data
    • Microsoft Excel - Reports
    • Adobe Acrobat
    • Comma Separated Values (CSV) - Data
    • Comma Separated Values (CSV) Archive - Reports
    • Plain Text
    • HTML Archive
  3. Select the Use prompt values from source document checkbox to use the default prompts for the report. The default prompts and answered values are in the table below the checkbox.
    • (Optional) Click Edit Prompt Values to open the Prompts dialog and edit the prompt values. Click Apply to save your changes.
  4. Select the conditions you want to apply under Delivery Rules.
    • The scheduled content has been successfully refreshed and is not partial. - The scheduled report is only delivered if the content of the report has been successfully refreshed and is not partial.
    • The scheduled content contains data. - The scheduled report is only delivered if it contains data.
       Note: Some provided standard reports may not be able to utilize this option, as they have complex queries that may not correctly trigger the “no data” inaction.
  5. Select a status for the condition(s) you selected.
    • Warning - The report will be delivered if the condition is not met.
    • Failed - The report will not be delivered if the condition is not met.

Confirm the report schedule

Once you have confirmed all options are set to your preferences, click Schedule. The report now runs based on your scheduling parameters.

Reschedule a custom or standard report

  1. In the left navigation, click Report Launch Pad.
  2. Open the Schedule screen.
    • From a standard report:
      1. Click a report category folder from the Folders screen.
      2. Locate the report you want to reschedule and click the More button (Screenshot of the More button in WorldShare Reports and Report Designer).
      3. Select History from the pop-up menu. The General tab of the Schedule screen opens by default.
    • From a custom report:
      1. In the left navigation of the Folders screen, click the folder where your custom reports are located.
      2. Locate the report you want to reschedule and click the More button (Screenshot of the More button in WorldShare Reports and Report Designer).
      3. Select History from the pop-up menu. The General tab of the Schedule screen opens by default.
  3. Select the report instance you want to reschedule.
  4. Click the More button (Screenshot of the More button in WorldShare Reports and Report Designer) and select Reschedule from the pop-up menu. The Schedule screen opens.
  5. Update the settings on the General and Report Features tabs as needed.
  6. Click Schedule to apply the changes to all future scheduled report runs.

Delete a scheduled custom or standard report

  1. In the left navigation, click Report Launch Pad.
  2. Open the Schedule screen.
    • From a standard report:
      1. Click a report category folder from the Folders screen.
      2. Locate the report you want to schedule and click the More button ( Screenshot of the More button in WorldShare Reports and Report Designer ).
      3. Select History from the pop-up menu. The General tab of the Schedule screen opens by default.
    • From a custom report:
      1. In the left navigation of the Folders screen, click the folder where your custom reports are located.
      2. Locate the report you want to schedule and click the More button ( Screenshot of the More button in WorldShare Reports and Report Designer ).
      3. Select History from the pop-up menu. The General tab of the Schedule screen opens by default.
  3. Click the More button ( Screenshot of the More button in WorldShare Reports and Report Designer ) and select Delete from the pop-up menu. A Delete confirmation dialog opens.
  4. Click OK in the Delete confirmation dialog to delete the instance of the scheduled report.
     Note: This will not delete the custom or standard report from your repository.

Retrieve a scheduled custom or standard report using My Files

Files scheduled for delivery to the File System destination will be available within four hours of the completion of the scheduled report run.

  1. In the left navigation, click My Files.
  2. Click Download Files.
  3. Locate the file you want to download:
    • In the File Name column, find the file you want to download, or
    • Select WorldShare Reports from the Filter by drop-down list to limit your results to only WorldShare reports
    • Select Hide downloaded files to hide files that have been previously downloaded.
       Note: Hide downloaded files is enabled by default.
  4. In the File Name column, locate the file you want to download. Click the File Name column to sort alphabetically.
  5. In the Action column, click Download. The file will automatically download to your workstation.

Retrieve a scheduled custom or standard report using SFTP

You can download reports scheduled for delivery to the File System destination using an open-source SFTP client. Filezilla is recommended, as it works consistently with multiple operating systems. See Exchange files with OCLC for more information on securely retrieving files from OCLC using SFTP

  1. Enter the host and port for your institution.
  2. Enter your institution's username and password (supplied by your regional OCLC Support office).
  3. Select the /xfer/analytic/reports directory to retrieve your reports.

Retrieve a scheduled custom or standard report using the Report Launch Pad

 Note: In the Default Enterprise Location, report instances are limited to five instances per user per schedule and are retained for 90 days (e.g., if you have a report scheduled for daily recurrence, you will only be able to retrieve the last 5 instances from the History dialog).

  1. In the left navigation, click Report Launch Pad.
  2. Open the Schedule screen.
    • From a standard report:
      1. Click a report category folder from the Folders screen.
      2. Locate the report you want to schedule and click the More button ( Screenshot of the More button in WorldShare Reports and Report Designer ).
      3. Select History from the pop-up menu. The General tab of the Schedule screen opens by default.
    • From a custom report:
      1. In the left navigation of the Folders screen, click the folder where your custom reports are located.
      2. Locate the report you want to schedule and click the More button ( Screenshot of the More button in WorldShare Reports and Report Designer ).
      3. Select History from the pop-up menu. The General tab of the Schedule screen opens by default.
  3. Double-click a report instance to open it.