Report Settings for Data Insights

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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 topic describes the available reporting options and the effect of various choices. It also provides instruction about how you define the Report Settings for a data insight when you add or edit one, as well as how to apply your custom formatting to PDF output.

This page includes the following:

Understanding the Report Settings Options

report settings for data insight,

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?

can I change 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

Can I customize my reports?

Yes, you can use a custom template of your own to customize your PDF output. Someone at your organization has to prepare the template and upload it to specific data insights. Then when you, as a user, prints a PDF report for the data insight or a PDF report is produced according to the settings on the Scheduling tab of the data insight definition, the PDF output is based on the custom template. For information, see Report Settings for Data Insights, and the subsection For Users—Differences When Printing a Custom PDF.

When do the Report Settings apply?

where do 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?

can I change report settings

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.

what is in the PDF of a data insight, contents of data insight PDF,

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 Report Settings for Data Insights.

Note:

It is important to note, that when the Report Settings are defined to print only a limited number of pages, you might not see all the data that the filters extract and show on screen.

If the Report Settings are defined to produce a CSV file, then the PDF that you can trigger from the Print (PDF) or Email options on the Actions menu will always contain all pages for the data that the filters extract.

Defining Report Settings

Define report settings for data insight, define PDF settings for data insight,

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:

If you want to define a custom layout for PDF reports based on a data insight, see Report Settings for Data Insights

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.

      To use the report layout an design and design

      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 Custom PDF Reports for a Data Insight.

  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:

    • 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 Custom PDF Reports for a Data Insight.

  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:

    • 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.

Troubleshooting Emailed Output

data insight Email not sent, data insight email not received, data insight prerequisite for email, data insight scheduled email not received, data insight scheduled email not received,

No email being received

If, when you use the Email option from the Action menu of a data insight, you get a message that your email has been successfully sent and, yet, no email is received, or if you define a Schedule for a data insight and no one receives an email with the output, then sending emails has probably not been enabled in your system.

Ask your AAI administrator whether an SMTP server has been defined in your AAI system. This is required to enable any emailing from AAI, whether for data insights or alert notifications. Your administrator can find the information for this in Configuration Tool - Other Tab.