Adding a new schedule

 

 

 

When you click the New button a new field is displayed, Add new schedule, along with two new buttons, Add and Done. The schedule must have a unique name, if you try to add a name that is not unique you sill see a warning error message box.

 

 

As well as being unique, we recommend that you use a descriptive name for your schedules. This makes it easier to keep track of which schedules you have and when they are supposed to run.

 

 

 

Once you have entered a unique name you have to configure the various options required by the CCS Report Server. First you need to enter the start date and time for the scheudle to run.

 

     

 

Enter the first date that you want the schedule to be processed by the report server. From that date on the schedule will be active. The time you enter will be the time of day at which the schedule is run, when the reports are actually generated and exported.

 

 

You may want to enter an end date for the schedule, although you don't have to. If you enter an end date, the schedule will be automatically deleted by the report server on that date. If you do not enter an end date, the schedule will run continually until you choose to remove it. Obviously, the end date cannot be set prior to the start date.

 

 

The schedule frequency deterimes how often the schedule is run. You must choose a frequency. Once only frequency means the schedule will be run once, at the time entered, after which it will be automatically deleted by the report server. Daily frequency means that the schedule will be run every day at the time entered. However, the reports in the schedule may not be generated on any given day depending on the Days on settings you enter (see below). Weekly frequency means that the schedule will be run every week, at the time entered, on the same day of each subsequent week as the day the start date falls on. In the screenshot above the user has selected the 23rd of February, a Tuesday. If the user then selects a weekly frequency, the schedule will be run every Tuesday for as long as it is active. Monthly frequency means the schedule will be run once a month, at the time entered. In the case of monthly frequencies, the schedule falls on the same date of the month as the start date, so in the example above, a monthly schedule would run on the 23rd day of February and then on the 23rd of each month thereafter.

 

If you select a Daily frequency then the Select days to include in report selection field will be enabled, which otherwise is disabled.

 

 

This is a simple drop-down selector which allows you to trun particular days on or off. The report server will only run daily schedules if they are turned on, if they are turned off the schedule is ignored. If you select no days at all, the schedule assumes all days are on. But you can, for instance, turn the weekend off by selecting only weekdays and leaving Saturday/Sunday unchecked. You can find out more about how to use this feature in Example 1.

 

If you try and save a schedule without selecting a frequency you wil see a warning error message box.

 

 

When the schedule runs, all the reports in the schedule will be generated and converted into export files. The report server needs to know where to save these. Each schedule must have a destination path-name for the exported files. Because the browser does not allow user apps to access the underlying file system of the PC, you cannot enter destination path-names manually, you must choose from a list of known destinations. Some default path-names are added during the installation, but you can add and remove destinations from that list using the CCS Destinations program which is installed in the programs folder during installation. See Adding export destinations for details of how to maintain schedule destinations.

 

 

Again, you must enter a destination, if you try and add the schedule without selecting one a warning error box is displayed.

 

 

As well as deciding where to save the exported data, you must tell the schedule what format you want the data to be saved as. A range of different formats are available to choose from, you need only select one from the drop-down list of options.

 

 

Failure to select an export format will result in a warnig error box when you try to add the schedule.

 

 

There are a number of different format options for naming the exported data files that you can choose from.

 

 

All the files exported when the schedule is run will be named according to the option you select. If a file with the same name already exists, the report server will automatically overwrite the old file with the new file. You must select a file name format.

 

 

You can set a particular schedule number to be used in conjunction with the export file name format. The sequence number will be incremented everytime it's used, but only as long as you have chosen an export file name format that includes the sequence number, otherwise it is ignored.

 

 

Last of all, you must select the saved reports which you want to be included in the schedule. At least one report, of any type, must be selected, or you will get an error message box, but otherwise there are no restictions on what you can select. A report can be included in more than one schedule, for instance, and you can mix reports of different type in the same schedule, like agent reports and skill reports. You can even select reports with different relative date options, such as 'last week' and 'yesterday', if you want. Sometimes it might not be immediately obvious what a report is from just it's name. If you hover the mouse cursor over a particular report you will see a tooltip window open with some useful information about the report in it.

 

 

The info will include the name of the standard report that the named report is based on, the relative date which is currently configured for the report, the time range covered by the report, and the items that have been selected for inclusion in the report. This info is very useful when you are trying to group similar reports together into one schedule, it saves you having to go back to the Reports tab and look at the named report in the list there to find it's options.

 

The checkboxes underneath the selection list allow you to turn particular types of report 'on' or 'off'. This is useful, for instance, if you have lots of named reports and just want to focus on a particular type, like skill reports.

 

 

Just uncheck the Show saved agent reports and Show other saved reports checkboxes and only skill reports are displayed. To see other reports, neither skill or agent, just check Show other saved reports.

 

 

All skill and agent based reports will be hidden. One thing to remember, hidden reports will NOT be included in the schedule when you Add it, even if you previously selected a report before hiding it.

 

 

When you are happy, click the Add button. Any errors will be reported, but if there are no errors, you will see a success information box.

 

 

The schedule has now been added and is immediately active. You will see it in the Available schedules list.

 

 

 

 

Hover the mouse cursor over it to see when it will next be run. Because this is a new schedule you won't see a Last run date in the tooltip box, and if the Next run date is the current date, and the time is less than the current time, the schedule will run within the next minute after being added.