Creating Report Group and Report Definitions

This topic provides information on creating report group and report definitions as well as copying report definitions.

Introduction

Each report group houses a list of report definitions and corresponding subreports. Report groups have a one-to-one correlation with RDM processors. Cypress uses these groups to determine which set of report definitions it should apply to an incoming report.

In addition to providing organization, report groups improve processing speed as they channel RDM’s focus to a limited set of report definitions to consider during processing. Report groups also simplify maintaining and managing your report distribution environment, and offer a low risk method to create and test applications without tampering with production applications. For more information on report groups, see Creating Report Group Definitions.

RDM selects report definitions to apply to report files based on identify criteria. For example, an identify criteria expression could test for the word Performance or Orders in a specific region within the report file. If the test is TRUE, that report definition is used. If it is FALSE, the report definition is ignored. The identify criteria can reference data on any page of a report file, allowing the actual report data to determine which report definition to apply. For more information on report definitions, see Creating a Report Definition.

Although not mandatory, it is possible to create a default report definition. The default report definition is intended to catch a report file if none of the report definitions within a report group are a match. By defining a default report definition within each report group, you can ensure that you immediately detect errors. For more information, see Creating a Default Report Definition.

Creating Report Group Definitions

This topic provides step-by-step instructions for creating a report group definition.

To create a report group definition

1. Open the RDM.
2. From the Report Definition Manager tree view, select the DocuVault in which you want to store the new report group.
3. Click the Report Group button on the right side of the Distribution Manager window.
4. Click the General tab if it is not already selected.

5. Enter the name of the report group in the Group Name field.
6. Enter a brief description of the new report group in the Description field.
7. Select the Security tab, where you can define who can access and modify the report group definition you are creating.

This table describes the security permissions available on the Security tab:

Permission Description

Permission

Description

Read

The user can see the device in Cypress applications.

Append

The user can queue jobs to the device.

Write

The user can modify defined attributes of the device in the Administration Tools module.

Delete

The user can delete the device definition.

Copy

The user can clone the device definition.

Control

The user can suspend, resume, disable, enable, and change stock on the device and can modify the job tickets (JTICs) associated with the device, including deleting them.

Execute

The user can copy JTICs queued to a device and paste the copies to a device.

Owner

The user can modify the security defined for the device.

8. Specify desired security permissions.
9. Click the Apply button on the right side of the Distribution Manager window to store this Report Group in the DocuVault.

Creating a Report Definition

This topic provides step-by-step instructions for creating a report definition.

To create a report definition

1. Open the RDM.
2. From the Report Definition tree view, select the DocuVault in which you want to create the new report and expand its node.
3. Select the report group that you want to contain the report definition you are creating.
4. To create a new report, click the Report button on the right side of the Distribution Manager application.

 

If the report you want to create is very similar to an existing report, you can clone or copy the existing report as the basis for the new report (see Copying Report Definitions).
5. Select the General tab if it is not already selected, and enter the name of the report definition in the Report Name field.
6. Enter a brief description of the report definition in the Description field.
7. Select the Default Report option if you want RDM to run this report for jobs that do not match any other report’s identify criteria.
8. Select the Identifier tab, where you can enter the identify criteria to be applied by the RDM processor for each report within the report group.
9. Enter the desired evaluation criteria in the Report Identify Criteria field. You can use these conditions:
equal to (==)
not equal to (!=)
match
mismatch
When the match or mismatch condition is used, you can use the asterisk (*) as a wildcard character.

For more information, see Specifying Report Identify Criteria.

10. Select the Document tab, where you can configure the report’s retention and security information.
11. Specify desired Retain Time and Document Security. For more information, see Specifying Retention and Security Settings.
12. Select the Variable tab, which enables you to create variables to use for Auto Role domains when specifying Document Security settings on the new Document tab. Auto Role functions the same way it does for defining subreport security settings, except that the settings apply to the documents processed by the report definition.
13. Enter desired variables. For more information, see Configuring Auto Role.
14. Select the Security tab, which provides controls for defining who can access and modify the report definition you are creating.
15. Enter desired security settings. For information on Security Tab options, see step 7. .
16. Click the Apply button to store this report definition in the DocuVault. The report definition displays in the upper-left frame.

Specifying Retention and Security Settings

You can use the Document tab to specify a report’s retention and security settings.

The Document tab’s Retain Time area allows you to choose a document retention setting.

The retention time you set applies to the input document only and does not affect the retention time of any subreports.

To specify retention settings

1. Select the Keep Original option to use the existing settings of the document that was submitted for report processing.

Or  

Select Keep Forever to retain the document indefinitely.

2. If you want to specify a specific period of time that the document should be kept, clear both the Keep Original and Keep Forever options.
3. Enter the number of days you want to keep the document in the Retain For (Days) field.
4. Specify whether the retention period should begin at document creation time or the report processing time using the option buttons in the Relative To area.
If you expect the report to include data from jobs submitted from other platforms (e.g., LPD In, FT In, TCP In, or DDI jobs), consider the document archive settings in the relevant format definition before configuring the retention time. Otherwise, you might inadvertently archive the original report file twice. For more information, see Submitting Jobs from Other Platforms.

The archive settings appear on the format definition’s Time tab.

The Document tab’s Document Security area allows you to specify the security settings for the report. These security settings define who will have access to the incoming document, not the subsequent subreports.

Security for subreports is defined within the Document tab of a subreport definition or through the Auto Role feature.

In addition, you must specify how the security settings in the Document Security area should be combined with the report’s original security settings.

If you click the Keep Original option button to maintain the original document permissions, none of the user permissions configured on the Document tab will take effect.
If you click Replace to replace the original document permissions with the specified permissions, the security settings will change after the reports have been distributed.
If you click Merge to add the security settings specified here to the original document’s permissions, the settings will change after the reports have been distributed.
If you click Replace First, the original document permissions are replaced with the specified permissions before the reports are distributed.
If you select Merge First, the security settings you have specified are added to the original report’s permissions before the reports are distributed.

If a document is processed by more than one report definition and conflicts exist between two or more of these reports’ security settings, Cypress applies these rules:

Merge First takes precedence over Replace First.
More than one Replace First becomes a Merge First.
Merge First and Replace First take precedence over all other settings.
Replace takes precedence over Keep Original.
Merge takes precedence over Replace.
More than one Replace becomes a Merge.

Creating a Default Report Definition

Default report definitions are not mandatory, but ASG recommends that you create one for every report group in your RDM environment.

The default report definition can solve these and other common reporting problems:

A report being sent to the wrong RDM Processor
The content of the report file being changed, but the user is not notified
Someone modifying a report definition without the user’s knowledge

RDM selects a report definition only if the identify criteria return a value of TRUE. If none of the identify criteria return a value of TRUE, the default report definition catches report files in the event that no report definitions within a Report Group are selected, immediately detecting reports that fail to be processed. Any report file that fails to be processed can be forwarded to a hold queue, Inbox reserved for errors, local printer, or other specified Cypress destination. Should you receive a failed report, you should begin troubleshooting in the order specified.

To create a default report definition

1. Create a report definition (see Creating a Report Definition).

Select the General tab, and select the Default Report check box.

2. Select the Identifier tab, and change the criteria setting from TRUE to FALSE.
3. Create a subreport definition for failed reports.
Definitions for failed reports are far more abbreviated than most subreport definitions as you will only be changing criteria from their default values.
4. Select the new default report definition from the upper-left window.
5. Click the New Sub-report button on the right side of the Distribution Manager window.
6. Select the General tab if it is not already displayed.
7. Enter the name of the subreport definition in the Subreport field.
8. Enter a description of the subreport definition in the Description field. Use a description that identifies the subreport as an error report for a particular report group. You also can enter this description on the Destination tab, but you will probably find it easier to leave that field blank and enter the description in the General tab.
9. Select the Destination tab.
10. From the lower-left window, select the device or recipient to which failed reports for this report group are to be delivered.
11. Click the New button to the immediate to the right of the General tab to display characteristics of the selected destination within the tab.
12. Enter the relative job priority in the Priority field. The default is 50; however, you can specify a higher priority for failed reports.
13. Optional. Select a banner sheet from the Banner drop-down list to be used during printing.
14. Click the Apply button to store this subreport definition in the DocuVault. The definition is displayed in the upper-left window, nested under the corresponding report definition.

Copying Report Definitions

If you need to copy a report’s configuration information to a new report in a different group, you can use RDM’s copy/paste feature. You also can use this feature to copy a subreport definition into a different report (see Copying Subreport Definitions).

To copy a report’s configuration information to a new report in the same report group, you can use the Clone button on the right side of the Distribution Manager window.

To copy a report’s configuration information into a different report group

1. From RDM’s main tree view, located in the upper left frame of the application window, select the report you want to copy.
If you do not select the report before right-clicking it, RDM might copy the wrong report.
2. Right-click the report and choose Copy from the context menu.
If you do not have Copy permissions for the report, RDM will not allow you to copy it.
3. Right-click the report group into which you want to copy the report, and select Paste from the context menu.
If you do not have Append permissions for the destination report group, RDM will not allow you to paste in the content of the source report.

When you paste in the report, it retains its original same name in the new report group unless a report with that name already exists. If that is the case, RDM appends _<index> to the name, where <index> is a unique integer. This example shows a report into which a user has pasted in the Q1 Gross subreport five times:

Each time RDM makes the report name unique by adding an index number.

4. After you copy the report into the report group, RDM attempts to resolve the report’s regions:
If the source report uses only global regions or no regions at all, the copy and paste process completes, and you can modify the report in the destination report group or report as necessary.

If the source report uses a local region that is not defined in the destination report group or report, RDM notifies you, and the copy and paste process is unable to complete.

Click OK to close the message box, and use Enterprise Output Manager to adjust the region definitions and scope.

If the source report uses a local region that is defined in the destination report group, RDM displays a message box that asks whether it should employ the region definition in the destination report group:

To use the region in the destination report group, click Yes. The copy and paste process will complete, and you can modify the copied report as desired.
If you do not wish to use the region in the destination report group or report, click No. Open the Enterprise Output Manager and create new region definitions as necessary.
You can use the same steps to copy a subreport into a report (see Copying Subreport Definitions). Keep in mind, however, that you cannot copy a subreport directly into a report group.