Using Deferred Reporting

In this section:

The following topics provide an overview of the Deferred Report Status Interface, including a detailed description of its appearance and functions. Specific procedures guide you through viewing, saving and deleting reports, deleting deferred reports that are being processed but are not yet complete, and reviewing parameters for reports containing amper variables.

A Deferred Report is a report that you can run as a background task, while continuing other work. Once you submit a report, you can continue working while WebFOCUS processes the report. Deferred Reporting is a very useful WebFOCUS option. For more information about Deferred Reporting, see the TIBCO WebFOCUS® Security Administration and the TIBCO WebFOCUS® Deferred Reporting Administration manuals.

Running a Report as Deferred

How to:

When you run a report as deferred, the report title is assigned as the deferred report description by default. If the Custom Deferred Report Description feature is enabled, you are prompted to edit a report description. This feature allows you to distinguish between the outputs of the same report that you ran at different times.

You can view information about a deferred report in the Deferred Report Status interface window. The window indicates the time the report was submitted and whether the report was completed, and also provides Delete, View, Save, as well as Run or Parameters options.

Procedure: How to Run a Report as Deferred

  1. From the Resources tree, right-click a report that you want to run as deferred, and then click Run Deferred.

    If the Custom Deferred Report Description feature is enabled, the Deferred Report Description dialog box opens, as shown in the following image. If you run a parameterized report as deferred, the Deferred Report Description field is displayed in the Parameters prompt window.

    Deferred Report Description dialog box

    Note: The Custom Deferred Report Description feature is disabled by default. To enable this feature, in the Administration Console, on the Configuration tab, expand the Application Settings folder, then click Deferred Reporting. Set the Prompt for Custom Deferred Report Description (IBI_DEFERRED_CUSTOM_DESCRIPTION) setting to True.

  2. Optionally, type a new or updated description and click OK.

    The Deferred Report Notification dialog box appears, reflecting the updated description, as shown in the following image.

    Deferred Report Notification dialog box
  3. To open the Deferred Report Status window directly from the dialog box, click the Deferred Report Status link.

    To review the deferred report later, close the dialog box. On the BI Portal Menu bar, click Tools, then click Deferred Status.

Using the Properties Option

In this section:

The Properties option for a procedure (FEX) displays a dialog box that contains a number of different options that define the use and accessibility of a report, as shown in the following image. You can use the Use Title for Deferred Report Description Properties option to specify to use the Title of the report and not prompt for a custom Deferred Report description when the report is run deferred. This option is not evaluated when the configuration setting to prompt for a custom Deferred Report description is set to False (Prompt for Custom Deferred Report Description (IBI_DEFERRED_CUSTOM_DESCRIPTION)).

When the Use Title for Deferred Report Description is selected, the prompt for the custom Deferred Report description does not appear and the title of the deferred report is assigned as the Deferred Report description when the report is run deferred. If you want to customize the Deferred Report description, do not select the Use Title for Deferred Report Description property and verify the configuration setting to prompt for a custom Deferred Report description is set to True.

Deferred Report Status Interface Overview

In this section:

The Deferred Report Status Interface enables you to obtain information about deferred reports. From this Interface, you can perform the following actions on a deferred report:

  • Sort deferred report output by date, description, Domains, and server ID.
  • View deferred report output.
  • Delete a deferred report from the WebFOCUS Reporting Server.
  • Save the report output as private content.
  • Run the deferred report again.
  • Review parameters and select new parameters with which you can run a new report.

    Note: Selecting new parameters generates a new deferred report, which will appear in the Deferred Report Status Interface.

  • View the number of days remaining prior to expiration (deletion) on the server.
  • Terminate a deferred request that is in the deferred report queue.
  • Terminate a deferred report that is running.
  • Delete all expired, unknown, completed, running, and queued tickets.

The Deferred Report Status Interface includes:

  • A banner at the top of the window that lists the date and time of the request.
  • A gray toolbar below the banner that contains Refresh and Help options, a Sort By drop-down list to select sort values, a sort order button to toggle between ascending and descending order, and a Delete drop-down list. The Delete drop-down list has options to delete All, All Completed, All Running, All Queued, All Expired, or All Unknown reports, depending on which report status types exist in the Interface.
  • The status of each report within the Interface.

You can access the Deferred Status Report Interface from:

  • WebFOCUS App Studio, by selecting the Deferred Status option from the WebFOCUS Administration menu.
  • BI Portal, by selecting Tools on the Menu bar, then clicking Deferred Status.
  • Deferred Report Submit Notification, which appears when you run a report as deferred.

    Note: The Deferred Report Submit Notification feature is enabled by default. To disable this feature, in the Administration Console, on the Configuration tab, expand the Application Settings folder. Then click Deferred Reporting, and set the Display Deferred Request Submitted Notification (IBI_DEFERRED_NOTIFY_SUBMITTED)) setting to False.

Sort Controls for the Deferred Report Status Interface

The sorting feature pertains to the entire report. When the default sort value (Date/Time Submitted) is changed, the new primary sort becomes your choice, but the secondary sort is always fixed as Date/Time Submitted. To resort the list, select the Sort by option:

You can optionally change the sort order (ascending or descending) by clicking the Reverse Sort Order Sort Order button button, which toggles between A to Z and Z to A.

Note: When the sort value is Date, the sort order option A to Z means from new to old and not alphabetical from A to Z.

To see the results of the new sort options, click Refresh.

Deferred Report Status

The status of deferred requests are organized under the following sections within the Interface:

  • Completed. Indicates that the Deferred Receipt request has finished processing.
  • Running. Indicates that the Deferred Receipt request is processing.
  • Queued. Indicates that the Deferred Receipt request is queued for processing.
  • Unknown. Indicates that the Deferred Receipt request cannot be identified. The following table shows the tickets that are identified as Unknown and the information that is displayed in the Status column for each of these tickets.

    Reason

    Status Column Information

    Deferred processing confirms the ticket does not exist on the WebFOCUS Reporting Server.

    Expired.

    Error comes from WebFOCUS Reporting Server limit.

    The size of the report exceeds limit.

    WebFOCUS Reporting Server Agent failure.

    Abnormal termination of WebFOCUS Reporting Server agent.

    Failed to connect to the WebFOCUS Reporting Server.

    Server <srv_name> unavailable.

    WebFOCUS Reporting Server is not defined in odin.cfg.

    Server <srv_name> unavailable.

    For more information, see Deferred Report Expiration Setting.

The following image shows a sample Deferred Report Status window with one completed report and two queued reports.


Deferred Report Status window

Column headings provide information about the published content including the date and time the published content was submitted, the domain of origin, a description of the report (the report name), an expiration indicator, and an Options heading for options within the Deferred Report Status Interface.

When you select the Deferred Status option, the status for all the deferred requests submitted by your Managed Reporting user ID is retrieved. Depending on how Managed Reporting is configured, deferred status may be coming from multiple WebFOCUS WebFOCUS Reporting Servers on various platforms. If credentials are required for the connections, you are prompted by the WebFOCUS Dynamic Server System Signon feature. You can view the status of all the deferred requests submitted by your Managed Reporting user ID, but can only delete, view, save, stop, or review parameters for deferred requests submitted with an identical WebFOCUS WebFOCUS Reporting Server user ID.

Caution: Sharing Managed Reporting user IDs is not recommended.

The options available in the Deferred Report Status Interface are based upon the status of the report request and security validation. You can perform various functions by clicking the buttons under the following options.

For more information on configuring Deferred Report Status options and buttons, see Technical Memo 4719: Managed Reporting - Deferred Status Interface How to Hide Deferred Report Options (Buttons).

  • Delete. Available for all report status types. The Delete option deletes the deferred request according to the report status, as follows:
    • Queued. When a deferred request is listed in the Queued tab, the Delete option removes the deferred report from the WebFOCUS WebFOCUS Reporting Server and deletes the deferred request ticket from the WebFOCUS Repository.
    • Unknown. When a deferred request is listed in the Unknown tab, the Delete option deletes the deferred request ticket from the WebFOCUS Repository.
    • Completed. When a deferred request is listed in the Completed tab, the Delete option removes the report from the window, deletes the deferred report results from the WebFOCUS WebFOCUS Reporting Server, and deletes the deferred request ticket from the WebFOCUS Repository.
    • Running. When a deferred request is listed in the Running tab, the Delete option deletes the deferred request ticket from the WebFOCUS Repository and cancels the job on the WebFOCUS WebFOCUS Reporting Server.

    Note: The Delete drop-down list in the toolbar at the top of the Interface provides options to delete All, All Completed, All Running, All Queued, All Expired, or All Unknown reports, depending on which report status types exist in the Interface.

  • View. Available when the report status is Completed.

    The View option displays the completed report in a new browser session, or the report format may result in the opening of a Windows dialog box that prompts you to save the report to disk or open the report within an application (such as Microsoft® Excel®, Microsoft® Word®, or Adobe® Acrobat®).

  • Save. Available when the report status is Completed.

    The Save option allows you to save Deferred Receipt reports to the WebFOCUS Repository, if your administrator has authorized you to save deferred reports and to create private content. You can save the report output to your My Content folder or a folder you are authorized to create content in and write to. When your deferred report is saved to the WebFOCUS Repository, it is removed from the Deferred Report Status Interface. For more information on security privileges, see the TIBCO WebFOCUS® Security Administration manual.

    Note: This option appears for users authorized to save deferred reports.

  • Run. Available for reports without parameters when the report status is completed or queued. The Run option runs the report deferred again. If the Custom Deferred Report Description feature is enabled, you are also prompted for a new deferred report description.

    Note: The Custom Deferred Report Description feature is disabled by default. To enable this feature, in the Administration Console, on the Configuration tab, expand the Application Settings folder. Then click Deferred Reporting, and set the Prompt for Custom Deferred Report Description (IBI_DEFERRED_CUSTOM_DESCRIPTION) setting to True.

  • Parameters. Available for reports with parameters when the report status is completed or queued. The Parameters option allows you to review parameters or select new parameters when the parameter prompting configuration specifies to always prompt for parameters (XMLPROMPT). When the parameter prompting configuration specifies to run the report when all parameters for the report are assigned a default value (XMLRUN), the parameters saved with the deferred ticket are used and prompting only occurs if there are parameters that are not assigned a default value. Selecting new values for the parameters or running with the same parameter values generates a new deferred report, which will appear in the Deferred Report Status Interface. If the Custom Deferred Report Description feature is enabled, you are also prompted for a new deferred report description.

    Note: Deferred reports run from within any report development tool do not have an option to view or change amper variable parameter values in the Deferred Status Interface window.

Under certain circumstances, WebFOCUS is unable to submit the request to run in deferred mode. This can occur, for example, when the WebFOCUS WebFOCUS Reporting Server is unavailable. When WebFOCUS is unable to submit a deferred request, a Deferred Receipt Notification window opens, notifying you of the failure.

Note: The Deferred Report Submit Notification feature is enabled by default. To disable this feature, in the Administration Console, on the Configuration tab, expand the Application Settings folder. Then click Deferred Reporting, and set the Display Deferred Request Submitted Notification (IBI_DEFERRED_NOTIFY_SUBMITTED) setting to False.

Deferred Report Expiration Setting

The number of days until expiration appears next to each report. On the last day, the value Today appears.

The following image shows the results of a deferred status request, run on the afternoon of Friday, April 27. (The current date appears in the status bar at the top of the page.) Each report is listed with the time remaining before it is deleted from the WebFOCUS WebFOCUS Reporting Server. The time remaining is based on 24-hour intervals (rather than whole days), beginning with the time that the report was submitted. For example, the last report shown on the list will be deleted shortly after 1:10 pm on April 28, not at midnight on April 27.


Deferred Report Status window

If a deferred report is not saved or deleted prior to its expiration, the output is automatically deleted from the WebFOCUS WebFOCUS Reporting Server dfm_dir directory and the deferred report is moved to the Unknown status tab in the Deferred Report Status Interface. From here, you can only delete the orphaned report.

If deferred output expiration is not configured on your WebFOCUS WebFOCUS Reporting Server, then the value Never appears next to each report under the Expires In column.

Note: This setting does not affect deferred output saved to your private content area.

Special Behavior for Sorting by TIBCO WebFOCUS Reporting Server User ID

Sorting by WebFOCUS WebFOCUS Reporting Server user ID enables you to bring deferred reports you want to interact with to the top of the list. At the same time, the deferred reports that you cannot interact with are pushed to the bottom of the list and sorted alphabetically.

This is a special sort. Regardless of the setting for A to Z or Z to A when the sort value is Server ID, deferred reports for the current ID appear at the top. These are followed, in sort order, by deferred reports for other Server IDs, if any exist. The Server ID automatically appears in the Options column.

Example: Sorting by Server ID

You may see deferred reports listed that you are not allowed to interact with if they:

  • Are inconsistent with the case that you use when you log on with your WebFOCUS WebFOCUS Reporting Server ID.
  • Connect to different WebFOCUS WebFOCUS Reporting Servers, or to the same WebFOCUS WebFOCUS Reporting Server at different times with different WebFOCUS WebFOCUS Reporting Server user IDs.

The following image shows a sample Deferred Report Status window with three reports that have no options for interaction.


Deferred Report Status window - sorted reports

Setting the Automatic Refresh Interval

How to:

You can set the automatic refresh interval to any value. The default is 5 seconds and there is no maximum value.

Procedure: How to Set the Automatic Refresh Interval
  1. Enter a time interval (in seconds) in the input box below the gray toolbar.

    The default value is 5 seconds. There is no maximum value.

  2. Select the Enable Refresh check box to enable automatic refresh.

Viewing Deferred Reports

How to:

You must access the Deferred Report Status Interface to view deferred reports.

Procedure: How to View a Deferred Status Report
  1. Open the Deferred Report Status Interface.
  2. To view the output of a deferred report:
    1. Locate the report description under the Completed tab.
    2. Click View, under the Options column, to view the report.

      The output appears in a new window.

  3. The Deferred Report Status Interface remains open until closed.
    1. To return to the Deferred Report Status Interface, close or minimize the report output window.
    2. To return to your reporting environment, close or minimize the report output window, then close the Deferred Report Status Interface.
  4. Click Refresh to obtain the most current status of deferred requests.

Reviewing Deferred Report Parameters

How to:

The Deferred Report Status Interface enables you to retrieve parameters submitted with a deferred request. You access parameters by opening the Deferred Report Status Interface and clicking the parameters button for the report of your choice. The parameters button is not available when the deferred request is submitted from within a report development tool, such as InfoAssist.

You can also change the parameters associated with a report and submit the report to run deferred with the new parameters you specified. WebFOCUS generates your report again using the new parameters and does not overwrite your original report request. If the Custom Deferred Report Description feature is enabled, you are also prompted for a new deferred report description.

Procedure: How to Retrieve Deferred Request Parameters
  1. Open the Deferred Report Status Interface.
  2. In the Completed or Unknown tabs, identify the report containing the parameters to review.
  3. Click Parameter under the Options column heading.

    The Parameters prompt window opens. If the Custom Deferred Report Description feature is enabled, the Deferred Report Description field displays in the Parameters prompt window.

    1. Required: To review and accept the original parameters, close the browser window.
    2. Required: To change the parameters, select a new value in the input box, type a new or updated description, and click Run.

      The Deferred Report Notification window opens.

      Note: The Deferred Report Submit Notification feature is enabled by default. To disable this feature, in the Administration Console, on the Configuration tab, expand the Application Settings folder. Then click Deferred Reporting, and set the Display Deferred Request Submitted Notification (IBI_DEFERRED_NOTIFY_SUBMITTED) setting to False.

  4. Close the Deferred Report Notification window to return to the Deferred Report Status Interface.
Example: Using Deferred Report Status Interface Options

In the following example, you will manipulate a report called Current Salary Report that has been submitted as a deferred request. This example is based on a report developed using the Employee Master File and is intended to offer a practical demonstration of some of the options available in the Deferred Report Status Interface. You should note that an administrator can develop a similar file for training purposes.

  1. Open the Deferred Report Status Interface.
  2. Under the Completed tab, locate Current Salary Report, as shown in the following image.

    Deferred Report Status window

  3. Under the Options column heading, click Parameters.

    The Parameters prompt window opens. If the Custom Deferred Report Description feature is enabled, the Deferred Report Description field displays in the Parameters prompt window.

  4. In the input box, select the A17 value, type a new or updated description, and click Run.

    The Deferred Report Notification window opens confirming receipt of your request.

    Note: The Deferred Report Submit Notification feature is enabled by default. To disable this feature, in the Administration Console, on the Configuration tab, expand the Application Settings folder. Then click Deferred Reporting, and set the Display Deferred Request Submitted Notification (IBI_DEFERRED_NOTIFY_SUBMITTED) setting to False.

  5. Close the Deferred Report Notification window to return to the Deferred Report Status Interface.

To view Current Salary Report:

  1. Under the Completed tab, locate Current Salary Report again.
  2. Click View.

    WebFOCUS displays Current Salary Report in a separate browser window, as shown in the following image.


    Current Salary Report

  3. Close the window to return to the Deferred Report Status Interface.
  4. Under the Options column, click Save.

    WebFOCUS saves Current Salary Report to the Managed Reporting Repository as private content.

  5. Close the Deferred Report Status Interface to return to your reporting environment.

Saving Deferred Reports

How to:

You can save Deferred Receipt reports to the WebFOCUS Repository, if your administrator has authorized you to save deferred reports. You can save the report output to your My Content folder or a folder you are authorized to create content in and write to. When your deferred report is saved to the WebFOCUS Repository, it is removed from the Deferred Report Status Interface. For more information on security privileges, see the TIBCO WebFOCUS® Security Administration manual.

Procedure: How to Save a Deferred Report
  1. Open the Deferred Report Status Interface.
  2. Under the Completed tab, locate the report you want to save.
  3. Under the Options column, click Save, which is located to the right of the deferred report description.

    Note: Only users authorized to save deferred reports will see the Save button.

    The Save File Content dialog box opens.

  4. Navigate to your My Content folder or another folder you are permitted to create content in and write to.
  5. Click Save to save the deferred report results.

To return to your reporting environment, close the Deferred Report Status Interface.

Deleting Tickets for All Report Status Types

How to:

From the Deferred Status Interface, you can delete tickets for all report status types using the Delete drop-down list located in the toolbar at the top of the Interface. The drop-down list provides options to delete All, All Completed, All Running, All Queued, All Expired, and All Unknown reports, but only when one or more reports exist for that status type in the Deferred Status Interface. If a report status type is not displayed in the Interface, the corresponding status option does not appear in the Delete drop-down list.

You can also delete individual tickets using the Delete button, located in the Options column next to each report.

The following image shows the Deferred Status Interface with the Delete drop-down list expanded showing the available options.


Deferred Status Interface

For unknown tickets, the status column shows:

  • Expired if the report has expired and is no longer stored on the WebFOCUS Reporting Server.
  • Unknown for cases where the status cannot be determined, including situations where the server is not running so a connection could not be made to determine the status.

    Note: For Unknown reports, the Options column displays the Server ID that submitted the report along with the Current ID.

Procedure: How to Delete Tickets for All Report Status Types
  1. Open the Deferred Status Interface.
  2. Click the down-arrow next to Delete and select one of the following from the drop-down list that opens:
    • All
    • All Completed
    • All Running
    • All Queued
    • All Expired
    • All Unknown

    You are prompted to confirm the deletion.

  3. Click OK to delete all tickets for the selected status type or click Cancel to cancel the request.

Deferred Status Delete Confirmation Messages

The Deferred Status Interface presents the user with a delete confirmation message before deleting a deferred report that is in Completed, Running, or Queued states. A confirmation message is already displayed for deferred reports in Unknown status.

Note: The deletion confirmation message is controlled by the IBI_Deferred_Ticket_Delete_Confirm setting, which you can configure in the Administration Console. To disable the deletion confirmation message feature, in the Administration Console, on the Configuration tab, expand the Application Settings folder. Then click Deferred Reporting, and set the Display Deferred Ticket Delete Confirmation (IBI_DEFERRED_TICKET_DELETE_CONFIRM) setting to False.

When you click the delete button from the Deferred Status page, you are prompted to confirm the delete before the deferred report is actually deleted. A similar confirmation message is used for all deferred reports, but the message varies depending on the conditions.

The following are the confirmation messages and the associated conditions:

  • If the report is expired or was deleted from the server, the message recommends deletion and indicates that there is no report output on the specific WebFOCUS Reporting Server.
  • If the WebFOCUS Reporting Server is unavailable, the message indicates there is an error attaching to the specific WebFOCUS Reporting Server.
  • If there is no entry for the server in the WebFOCUS client configuration, the message recommends deletion and indicates that the specific WebFOCUS Reporting Server is not defined in the WebFOCUS client configuration file.

Each of the deletion confirmation messages also displays the date and time the deferred report was submitted, and the description that is displayed in the Deferred Status Interface.