Scheduling a FastTrack Standard Report

Owned by Kim Pickering
Last updated: 24 December 2021 by Dmitry Vinarsky (Deactivated)

Where a report requires filter options to be submitted in order run, ie you need to click Submit, a blank report will occur if a schedule has been setup. To schedule these reports, the filter options will need to be defaulted.

Below are the steps required to default the filter options on a FastTrack Standard Report so it can be scheduled.

Step 1 Copy the Report

Reports in the FT Standard Reports folder cannot be edited. To edit the report, it needs to be copied. If the report has already been copied, go to Step 2.

  1. Select Reports
  2. Expand FT Standard Reports and find the report that needs to be scheduled
  3. Select Action > Copy
  4. Select the folder the copied report is to appear in > click Copy – if a new folder is needed, Cancel this screen, then right click on Reports and select Add Folder 

     

   




Step 2 Edit the Report

The report needs to be opened in Report Designer in order to edit the filter options.

  1. Go to the folder the report was copied to
  2. Select Action > Edit – Edit will only appear if the Security Role linked to your user has permissions to edit reports
  3. Report Designer will open in a new browser tab.

For best performance, we recommend Google Chrome is used. If prompted to Run Flash, click Allow.  

Remove Submit Requirement

For a report to run without submitting the filter options, the request for the filters need to be changed.

  1. In Properties, click on the drop down and select Report:Report
  2. Click on Request Parameters > click the arrow and select False

Set Filter Defaults

The filter defaults determine what will be included in the scheduled report.

  1. In Dictionary, click + to expand Variables

Non-date Filters

By setting All as the default, all options for these filters will be included in the report.  

  1. Right click on a non-date filter > select Edit
  2. In Value, enter All > click OK
  3. This must be done for Country, Brand, Region, Office as well as any other non-date filters

Date Filters

The day the report is scheduled to run will affect what the default value needs to entered.

Example

If a report is to cover the previous Monday to Sunday and it’s scheduled to run weekly on a Thursday, the default date values need to be:

  • From: -10 days – Monday being 10 days before Thursday
  • To: -4 days – Sunday being 4 days before Thursday
  1.  Right click on a DateFrom > select Edit
  2. In Expression, change the number inside the brackets to (-10) > click OK – the number entered will depend on what the From date needs to be compared to the date the report is run
  3. Right click on DateTo > select Edit
  4. In Expression, enter Today.AddDays(-4) > click OK – if the To date is to be the day the report is run, leave it as Today

If the default date is to be after the date the report is run, remove the minus sign from inside the bracket. IE If the Expressions is Today.AddDays(5) the date will be 5 days after the report is run.

Save & Preview

Click Save Report.

Click the Preview tab to confirm the report is running without needing to click Submit and that the default filters are working. If any changes are needed, click Page 1 to get back to the report editor.


Step 3 Schedule the Report

  1. Select Reports
  2. Go to the folder the report was copied to
  3. Select Action > Schedule
  4. Enter the required fields:
    1. Report Recipients: the email address the report is to be sent to. Multiple email addresses can be entered
    2. Run as User: this will determine what permissions will be used to run the report
    3. Report Format: options are PDF, HTML or Excel
    4. Frequency:
    5. Frequency Type: options will vary depending on the Frequency selected
    6. Start Date: the first day the report will run based on the frequency options selected
    7. End Date: the last day the report will run based on the frequency options selected
    8. Preferred Start Time: the time the report will be run.  
  5. Click Save

Scheduled reports are run sequentially, for best results we recommend the Preferred Start Time is set outside working hours. 


Troubleshooting

If a report is populated when being run manually and appears blank when run as a scheduled report, this may resolve the issue. 

  • Select the Report > Click Edit

  • In the Edit Report view, expand the variables section and for each Variable click edit

  • Check to see if any of the Variables are a List

  • If there are Variables that are Type: List scroll down until you see

  • Select Properties, then change Number of Passes from Single-Pass to Double Pass

  • Save the report

Now the scheduled report should appear populated (not blank)