5.2 Editing a Report Definition

  1. Click the name of the report definition in the list on the Repository page.

    Alternatively, you can mouse over the report definition (or select the check box beside the name) and click Edit.

    When you edit a report definition, a page displays to allow you to make changes to the definition:

    The fields at the top of the page allow you to modify the name, description, tags, comments, and output format (PDF or CSV) for the report. Tags can be used to organize reports according to common words or phrases that suggest how the reports are related. Tag names share a common namespace for all users, so you need to specify tag names that make sense for all users. Tag names cannot be localized.

    You can specify one or more tags for a report definition. If you specify multiple tags, the tags must be separated by commas. After they are defined, tags are also shown in the list displayed on the Repository page, and in the Detail dialog box for a report listed on the Completed and Running Reports page. In the list displayed on the Repository page, the tags are alphabetized to allow for sorting.

    NOTE:The next time you edit the report definition, the tags appear in alphabetical order, regardless of how they were originally entered. The tags are also alphabetized in the Repository list, even if you did not alphabetize them when you first entered them.

    The other fields on the page are organized into the following sections:

    • Criteria

    • Default Notifications

    • Schedule

  2. To edit the criteria for the report, open the Criteria section and make changes as necessary:

    The Criteria section does not appear unless the imported definition included one or more report parameters.

    The number of fields displayed in the Criteria section and the way these fields behave depend on how they were specified in the original report definition object imported into the reporting module. For example, this object includes several fields for defining criteria:

    The reporting module supports the following data types for criteria fields:

    • String

    • String with Options

    • Date

    • Integer

    • Boolean

    • Lookup

    The control displayed for each data type varies depending on how the parameter is defined in the report definition. For multivalued options, a multiselect control is displayed, but a single value control is displayed for a parameter that only accepts a single value.

    Some criteria fields are required by the report definition, but others are optional. If you do not provide a value for a required field, the user interface displays an error message.

    The following criteria parameters are available with most of the reports installed with the reporting module:

    Parameter

    Description

    Language

    Defines the target language for the report.

    Date Range

    Allows you to define a range of dates for the data include in the report. The following choices are available:

    • Current Day

    • Previous Day

    • Week to Date

    • Previous Week

    • Month to Date

    • Previous Month

    • Custom Date Range

    From Date

    Allows you to specify a fixed start date for the report data. This parameter is only enabled when Custom Data Range is selected for the Data Range parameter.

    To Date

    Allows you to specify a fixed end date for the report data. This parameter is only enabled when Custom Data Range is selected for the Data Range parameter.

    Limit Results to

    Controls the maximum number of rows that will be included in the report data.

    If a report definition includes one or more fields for defining dates, such as Date Range, From Date, and To Date, you need to be aware that the date range you specify affects the data returned with the report, not the dates on which the report is run. Therefore, if a report is run on a monthly basis, you should not define a custom date range that fixes the dates in the From Date and To Date fields. It does not make sense for a monthly scheduled report to report on a fixed date range (such as 3/10/2010 - 3/17/2010). If you want to report on a fixed date range, you should schedule the report to run only once. For a monthly report, use one of the relative date range settings included in the Date Range field, such as Month to Date. This ensures that the data in the report is updated each month.

    Some criteria fields support automatic completion, which allows you to type several characters and then select an item from a list of possible choices. For example, an Identity Vault user(s) field might allow you to type the first few characters of a user’s name and then select the user from a list of users whose names contain the characters you have typed:

    Some reports allow you to define the display name order used by other criteria fields that support the auto complete feature. For example, a report definition might include a Name order field that lets you specify the name order pattern used for the Identity Vault user(s) criteria field. The Name order field allows you to select one of the following name order patterns:

  3. To edit the e-mail settings associated with the report definition, open the Default Notifications section and make changes as necessary:

  4. To add a new schedule for the report definition, click the Add button on the far right side of the Schedule section:

    The page displays the following fields to allow you to define the schedule:

    1. Provide a name for the schedule in the Schedule Name field.

      The name for a schedule must be unique within the report definition, but does not need to be unique within the Identity Reporting Module as a whole.

    2. If you want the name of the report definition to be added to the beginning of the schedule name, select the Prepend Report Definition Name field.

      This option allows you to see which report has been scheduled with each schedule instance in the Calendar page. This option is enabled by default.

    3. Click in the Start Date field to display a simplified calendar for selecting dates.

    4. Select the date in the calendar on which you want to initiate the first run of the report.

    5. Select the approximate time of day for each run in the Time of day field. The time of day is based on the clock on the server where the report is executed. The actual execution time depends on server activity.

    6. In the Frequency field, type the repeat interval (a number that specifies how often the report will run) and select the time period for report runs, such as Month(s), Week(s), or Day(s).

    7. Click in the End date field to display the calendar. Select the date in the calendar after which no more runs should occur. Note that the last report run may not actually occur on this date. For example, if you choose October 15 as the start date, and specify a repeat interval of two weeks and an end date of November 1, the report will be run on October 15 and October 29. In this case, October 29 is the last run.

    8. If you want the reporting module to execute a data collection procedure prior to report generation, select the Attempt data collection before scheduled run check box.

      The report runs at its scheduled time, regardless of whether the data collection completed successfully.

  5. To edit an existing schedule, open the Scheduled Run section for the schedule you want to edit and make any changes you like.

  6. To save the report definition and schedule, click Save.

  7. To queue a report to run immediately, click Run Now.

If you make changes to a report definition, and then try to go to another page in the Identity Reporting Module, the interface displays a warning message: