5.5 Generating Reports

  1. Select the report template and click Generate Report Generate Report icon.

    The Generate Report dialog box is displayed.

    Figure 5-10 Generate Report Dialog Box

  2. Select a delivery types for the report. By default, the report is delivered to the Report Explorer. Other delivery options include:

    • Sending it by e-mail

    • Saving it to a network file

    • Uploading it to an FTP server

  3. Configure delivery options:

    • For the Email delivery option, click Email Options. The Email Delivery Options dialog box is displayed.

    • Provide the requested information. Only one recipient is required in the To field, although if you enter more than one, you need to separate the addresses with a semicolon. The CC and BCC fields can be left blank. Any default values supplied for the Subject and Name can be changed. The From Address is mandatory, but the Reply To address can be left blank. The SMTP Server and SMTP Port are mandatory. Credentials are only optional if they are not required for your SMTP server, which is unlikely.

      Email Delivery Options dialog box
    • For the FTP and Network File delivery types, use the adjacent option buttons to open dialog boxes and specify an FTP path or UNC/local folder path. Choose to have later recurrences overwrite the report saved at that location, or append the date and time to the specified filename so that previous reports are preserved.

      FTP Delivery Options dialog box
      Network File Delivery dialog box
    • For delivery options other than Report Explorer, the default format for the report is PDF. Additionally, there are several other available delivery formats.

  4. If desired, select the option to compress the report in a ZIP file. Optionally, the file can be password-protected.

  5. You can also set options in the Schedule area to specify whether to generate the report immediately, at a later time, or at a recurring interval. For information about scheduling options, see Section C.0, Schedule Options.

  6. Click Generate.

    When the report is generated, it is delivered using the delivery types specified. If this includes Report Explorer, the report is cached for quick viewing at any time. An item is added to the Report Explorer beneath the report template used to generate the report, named with the date and time the report was generated.

    NOTE:Only reports that have tables are successfully exported to Excel format. Reports that contain histograms or charts cannot be exported to the Excel format.

To view a report, double-click the generated instance. The report is displayed in the Document Viewer. For information, see Section 5.5, Generating Reports. To delete a report, right-click the report and select Delete Report on the menu.