Creating Report Subscriptions for IT Analytics

IT Analytics offers customers unparalleled flexibility in the way they visualize, analyze, and consume their business critical data. In addition to providing users a valuable and comprehensive reporting solution out of the box, IT Analytics’ flexible architecture and use of standard technologies gives users several options for report consumption. This article outlines creating report subscriptions using SQL Reporting Services so that reports can be delivered via e-mail to specific users on a set schedule.

NOTE: This article assumes IT Analytics is already installed and configured, and that you have the proper rights to SQL Reporting Services. 

Creating a Subscription

1. On the server hosting SQL Reporting Services, open a web browser and go to the following URL: http://localhost/Reports/
2. Click on the IT Analytics folder.

3. Locate the report or dashboard you would like to subscribe to, in our example we will use the Computer Inventory Dashboard, however you can select any report from any the installed content packs (SEP, DLP, CSP, ServiceDesk or Altiris Client Server Management). Once you have located the desired report, click the downward facing triangle and select Subscribe.

4. Specify Windows File Share in the Delivered by field, assign a File Name, Specify a UNC Path, select a Render Format, provide credentials to access the file share, and specify appropriate overwrite options.

5. Click on the Select Schedule button to define the subscription schedule.

6. Define the schedule as required and select OK.

7. If your report or dashboard contains parameters, specify them as required, in our case we will select the Use Default options, then click OK.

8. Navigate to the UNC path specified above to view the subscription (will be empty until the execution time has occurred).

9. View your report to ensure it appears as expected.

Modifying an Existing Subscription (E-mail Delivery Option)

In this section, we will modify the subscription previously created to send an email instead of posting to a UNC share. In order to use this functionality, SQL Reporting Services must have properly configured E-Mail settings.

1. On the server hosting SQL Reporting Services, navigate again to the Report Server home page http://localhost/Reports/
2. In the upper right hand corner of the page click on My Subscriptions.

3. Click the Edit link next to Computer Inventory Dashboard.

4. Change the Delivered by option to E-Mail and specify the To address as required.

5. Click on the Select Schedule button to define the subscription schedule.

6. Define the schedule as required and select OK.

7. If your report or dashboard contains parameters, specify them as required, in our case we will select the Use Default options, then click OK.

8. At the scheduled time, the report will be emailed to recipients specified in step 4.