5.12 Reports

5.12.1 Schedule Reports

Schedule Reports allow the Administrator to configure the system to automatically send reports via email to Supervisor, Technician, Finance, Partner and Manager Users on a regular basis. The content of the email is defined on a per Role basis with the reports drawn from the default system reports or those built using the system report builder.

Setting Up Scheduled Reports

To set up scheduled reports:

  1. Select Setup>Reports

  2. Select the relevant Role link

    The screen defaults to the Details screen.

  3. Click Yes within the Active field

    Scheduled reports are enabled for all Users of selected Role.

    email

    Description

    Send

    Define if the automated reports are to be sent Daily, Weekly or Monthly.

    Time

    Using the 24 hour clock, set what time of day the report is to be emailed to the User Role group.

    Content

    Date Range

    Set the number of previous days, weeks or months that the report is to be calculated over.

    Page Size

    Nominate A4, Legal or Letter as the page format size for the report.

    Selected Reports

    Add or remove reports in this section.

  4. Complete the email details

    Nominate the frequency and time of day the reports are to be sent.

  5. Complete the Date Range for the emailed reports

    The Date Range intervals include daily, weekly and monthly. Define the number and interval type for sending the reports.

  6. Set the paper size

  7. Click to add reports to the schedule

    The screen defaults to the display Category and Name drop down lists.

  8. Select the Report Category

    The Name list is refined based on the Category selected. For example, if KPI is set as the Report Category the Names list includes all types of KPI summary reports included by default in the system.

  9. Define the report Name and any other required options

    Based on the Report Name selected, the options to create a trend report or define the results by specific parameters (i.e., Customer Name, Item Type, etc) are displayed.

  10. Click Add

    Repeats steps 7 to 10 to associate all the required reports with the scheduled reports email.

  11. Select Test, if required

  12. Search and select the User who is to receive the test report

  13. Click Test

    A test copy of the report is sent to the defined User with the test interval range based on one day, week or month, not the actual number defined in the Previous field for the scheduled reporting period.

  14. Click Save.

    Repeat the above process for all relevant User Roles.

5.12.2 Customize Reports

The Customize tab displays a list of sample customized reports that have been created within Pentaho and made available for publication within the Supervisor>Reports>Customize tab. These default customized reports can be deleted, if required. Alternatively, more reports can be imported for publication within the support system using the Customize tab.

For more information about creating customized reports using Pentaho, see Creating Custom Reports.

Importing Reports

Using the ZIP files exported from Pentaho, to import the customized reports:

  1. Select Setup>Reports

  2. Click Import

  3. Select Choose File to search and select the Zip file to be imported

  4. Click Upload

  5. Click Import.

Deleting Reports

To remove custom reports from the system:

  1. Select Setup>Reports

  2. Check the report in the list to be removed

  3. Click Delete.

5.12.3 Creating Custom Reports

To provide Users with access to service management data that is meaningful to their organization, the reporting capability of the system has been extended through the integration with Pentaho Design Wizard. Pentaho allows Users to create customized reports relevant to their organizational requirements that are published in the Reports tab .

Creating a Custom Report - Example

To create a report using Pentaho Report Design Wizard:

  1. Start Pentaho Report Design Wizard

  2. Enter a Title and Description for the report

  3. Select a Template

    For this example, LiveTime.xreportarc is selected. This template is available from system support and can be supplied on request.

  4. Click Next

  5. Enter Database Connection information

    Select the Connection Type: JNDI.

  6. Click Add

    The Add JNDI Connection page appears.

    NOTE:It is important to note that the appropriate JDBC driver must to be added in order to connect to the database. To add the driver go to

    < Design_Wizard_Home>\Jfree\designwizard\lib\jdbc .

  7. Enter database connection details, click Test to confirm the connection

  8. Click OK

  9. Select the Query Designer button to open the Query Designer window (ensure that the database is selected first)

    Alternatively, enter a query in the text area provided.

    NOTE:For a description of the system schema please contact support@livetime.com for a current Entity-Relationship Diagram.

  10. Create a query as desired

  11. Click Done when complete

    The Query String will be displayed.

  12. Click Next

  13. Replace any variables within the template. For example, rename the Report Title, Page Headers and Footers

    Select the Property to Map, then modify the property by selecting the Custom Value or Column options where relevant.

  14. Click Next

  15. Configure the report layout

    Select and position the fields that will appear in the report and arrange them into groups.

  16. Click Next

  17. Set the formatting and group computations

    These include options such as SUM, AVG, MIN and MAX.

  18. Select and update the display name for each field

  19. Click Next

  20. Configure the page layout

    The options include orientation, margins or add a watermark.

  21. Click Next

  22. Add to the report by configuring a chart or grand total

  23. Modify column sizes or fonts

  24. Click Publish.

Publishing a Report

For a newly created report to be available within the Reports tab of the service management application, it must be published.

To publish a Report:

  1. Open a report within the Pentaho Report Design Wizard

  2. Click the Publish button

    The Publish Report to Server screen is displayed.

  3. Select Publish To: Location

  4. Enter a Name for the published report

  5. Update the Publish Location to Desktop or on your local disk

  6. Click OK

  7. Locate the files and zip them into a single archive.

Customize

The Customized tab displays a list of sample customized reports that have been created within Pentaho and made available for publication within the Supervisor>Reports>Customize tab. These default customized reports can be deleted, if required. Alternatively, more reports can be imported for publication within the support system using the Customize tab.

Importing Reports

Using the ZIP files exported from Pentaho, to import the customized reports:

  1. Select Setup>Reports

  2. Click

  3. Select Choose File to search and select the Zip file to be imported

  4. Click

  5. Click .

Sample Reports

A number of sample reports are included with the system, which can be accessed by the system Administrator in Admin>Setup>Reports>Customize tab.

Deleting Reports

To remove custom reports from the system:

  1. Select Setup>Reports

  2. Check the report in the list to be removed

  3. Click .

NOTE:For more information about configuring Pentaho and customizing parameters, see the following Articles in the support Knowledge Base:

  • Enhancing LiveTime Custom Reports

  • Creating Custom Reports within LiveTime.