Report Settings for Data Insights

Every data insight definition includes Report Settings that control the type of output that is produced and attached to scheduled runs and produced when manually triggered as emails and PDFs from the Action menu for a data insight. Data insights support two output formats: PDF and CSV. You define Report Settings when adding a new data insight or when editing an existing data insight definition.

For PDFs, you can use the default layout and formatting of the related data or you can generate customized PDF output by using an uploaded template of your own.

This page includes the following:

Because the report setting options affect all users of a data insight and the output they can produce or receive, there are several things that are good to understand before defining Report Settings.

Where are the format settings for PDF output?

When you add or edit a data insight, you can define the PDF format options on the Reporting Settings tab.

Who can define Report Settings?

Only the owner and editors of a data insight can open the data insight to update the Report Settings. However, anyone who can view the data insight can print it as it is defined.

What are the Report Settings options?

You can choose one of the following output types as the Format of the Report in the Report Settings:

• PDF (default) This offers two options:

  • Printing PDF reports using the AAI default template for the data insight type

  • Using your own custom template for PDF reports

• CSV

When do the Report Settings apply?

The settings on the Report Settings tab are used in the following situations:

• The data insight is scheduled to be automatically emailed to specified recipients with a snapshot of the data at the scheduled time. The attached snapshot is in the Format for the Report that is defined on the Report Settings tab.

• When PDF is defined as the Format for the Report, then the template and PDF Format settings defined in the Reporting Settings tab for the PDFs are used when you or another user chooses either of the following options from the Actions menu (on either the Data Insights list, or while viewing a specific data insight):

  • Print (PDF)

  • Email

  Note:

  If the Format of the Report is set to CSV, and someone selects the Print (PDF) or Email action, then the PDF that is produced or attached uses the default PDF settings, which include the default template and PDF Format options. This also means that all pages (the default) are produced. If the data exceeds the limit, you have to adjust the filters to reduce the data volume.

What does PDF output contain?

Most important to understand is that if you are viewing a data insight and you trigger the Print (PDF) option on the Actions menu, the PDF that is produced will be based on the filters and the column configurations that you see at that time, even if you have not saved those changes. This allows you to play with the data and its presentation to get different perspectives on it without having to change the definition of the data insight. If you only have view rights to a shared data insight, this is particularly helpful.

Please note that, if you have clicked a segment or data point on the graphic to quick-filter the table, the quick-filter is ignored. For more information, see Quick Filtering with the Graph in Using a Data Insight.

A PDF output contains three kinds of information:

• Header information with the following:

  • The name, type, time zone for the data insight

  • The date and time the PDF was generated and the number of pages

  • The filters that were applied when the PDF was generated and the Group By column name.

• The graphic that was showing at the time the PDF was generated. In the case of scheduled PDFs, it is the graphic that is configured in the data insight definition.

• The data table, configured as it was at the time the PDF was generated.

You can also define your own custom layout and formatting for PDF output. For information, see Using a Custom PDF Template.

The owner and any editors of a data insight can define the Report Settings for a data insight. When adding a new or editing an existing data insight, use the following steps to define the Report Settings. See also, Understanding the Report Settings Options.

Use the steps for the kind of output you want to define:

• Defining Reporting Settings for PDF output

• Defining Reporting Settings for CSV output

If you want to define a custom layout for PDF reports based on a data insight, see Using a Custom PDF Template

Defining Reporting Settings for PDF output

1. Open the Report Settings tab.

2. In Format of the Report, select PDF. This is the default value.

3. In the Template section, select which template should be used for the report layout and design.

   • Default: To use the layout and design that comes with AAI for this data insight type.

   • Custom: To upload your own JXML file with the layout and design that you want the PDF output to use.

     In this case, if you have your file ready for upload, click Choose File and select the file. For more information about this approach and how to prepare your own template, see Preparing a Custom Template for a Reports.

4. Under PDF Format define the following:

   • Page Orientation: Select either Landscape, Portrait, or Automatic (default). Automatic bases the orientation on the width of the table data.

   • Page Size: Select from a list of standard paper sizes.

   • Maximum Pages: You can limit the number of pages that are included in the PDF or have all the data print regardless of how many pages it ends up being.

     This can be helpful to limit the size of the attachment that goes out with emails. However, the PDF might not have all data rows. It contains the header information, the graphic, and as many data rows in the table that can fit within the page limit.

   • Color: Select either Color, Outline (lower quality and smaller sized files), or Black and White.

5. Continue in one of the following ways:

   • Define settings on any or all of the remaining tabs of the data insight before saving it. For information see:

     • Scheduling Data Insights

     • Sharing Data Insights

     • For instructions for the Basic Information, Columns, and Filters settings, see Adding, Editing, Copying, and Deleting Data Insights.

   • Save the data insight by clicking one of the following:

     • Save: This saves all settings, closes the definition, and returns to the Data Insights list.

     • Save & Run: This saves all the settings and then produces and downloads an output file as defined on this tab.

Defining Reporting Settings for CSV output

For CSV output, you don't have to define much because format is no relevant to this kind of output. However it is good to know the following about using CSV as the note that if you want

1. Open the Report Settings tab.

2. In Format of the Report, select CSV.

3. Do nothing with the settings in the Template section. They have no effect on the CSV output, however, they appear here for all output types so that you can download files as needed for other purposes. For more information, see Preparing a Custom Template for a Reports.

4. Continue in one of the following ways:

   • Define settings on any or all of the remaining tabs of the data insight before saving it. For information see:

     • Scheduling Data Insights

     • Sharing Data Insights

     • For instructions for the Basic Information, Columns, and Filters settings, see Adding, Editing, Copying, and Deleting Data Insights.

   • Save the data insight by clicking one of the following:

     • Save: This saves all settings, closes the definition, and returns to the Data Insights list.

     • Save & Run: This saves all the settings and then produces and downloads an output file as defined this tab.

For any data insight, you can print PDF output based on a custom template that you create and upload into the data insight definition. Then when PDFs are printed for the data insight, the data is taken from the data insight and presented with your layout.

Preparing a Custom Template for a Reports

To facilitate creating the template, you can download the default template and use that as a starting point. The default template that you download and the custom template that you upload are in XML file format, and can be converted to JXML to be edited in a Jaspersoft or other report formatting tool.

To download the default template for a specific data insight, use the following steps:

1. Open the Report Settings tab.

2. In the Template section, in the far right of the Default option, click the Download [XML] button.

3. Click Cancel to leave the data insight definition.

4. In your reporting tool or directly in the XML file edit the downloaded template file as you want. Then save it anywhere on your computer.

Attaching a Custom Template to a Data Insight

To upload an XML file with the reporting template that you prepared for a data insight, use the following steps:

1. Open the Report Settings tab.

2. In the Template section, select Custom.

3. Click Choose File and locate and select your prepared template XML file.

4. Under PDF Format define the following print options:

   • Page Orientation: Select either Landscape, Portrait, or Automatic (default). Automatic bases the orientation on the width of the table data.

   • Page Size: Select from a list of standard paper sizes.

   • Maximum Pages: You can limit the number of pages that are included in the PDF or have all the data print regardless of how many pages it ends up being.

     This can be helpful to limit the size of the attachment that goes out with emails. However, the PDF might not have all data rows. It contains the header information, the graphic, and as many data rows in the table that can fit within the page limit.

   • Color: Select either Color, Outline (lower quality and smaller sized files), or Black and White.

5. Save the data insight by clicking one of the following:

   • Save: This saves all settings, closes the definition, and returns to the Data Insights list.

   • Save & Run: This saves all the settings and then produces and downloads an output file as defined this tab.

6. To test the results, select Print (PDF) from the Action menu either on the open data insight or from the Data Insights list.

Changing a Custom Template for a Data Insight

You can attach a different custom template to a data insight definition, or you can edit the current template and upload the revised version. In either case, you must edit your custom templates outside of AAI, and then upload the new version.

When you have the edited version of your template ready, continue with the following steps to add it to your data insight:

1. Open the Report Settings tab.

2. In the Custom option of the Template section, click Choose File and then find and select the new template XML.

3. Optionally, change the PDF Format settings.

4. Save the data insight by clicking one of the following:

   • Save: This saves all settings, closes the definition, and returns to the Data Insights list.

   • Save & Run: This saves all the settings and then produces and downloads an output file as defined this tab.

5. To test the results, select Print (PDF) from the Action menu either on the open data insight or from the Data Insights list.

Deleting a Custom Template from a Data Insight

To remove a custom template from a data insight definition, use the following steps:

1. Open the Report Settings tab.

2. In the Custom option of the Template section, click Delete. Then confirm the deletion.

3. To remove the warning icon and activate the save buttons, click the Default option.

4. Optionally, change the PDF Format settings.

5. Save the data insight by clicking one of the following:

   • Save: This saves all settings, closes the definition, and returns to the Data Insights list.

   • Save & Run: This saves all the settings and then produces and downloads an output file as defined this tab.

See also:

• Scheduling Data Insights

• Actions for Downloading, Printing, and Emailing Data Insights

• Using a Data Insight

• Understanding Data Insights