Scheduling a presentation report

Administrator Help | TRITON AP-EMAIL | Version 8.2.x

You can run presentation reports as they are needed, or you can use the Presentation Reports > Scheduler page to create jobs that define a schedule for running 1 or more reports. In an appliance cluster, only the primary machine can schedule a report.

Reports generated by scheduled jobs are distributed to 1 or more recipients via email. As you create scheduled jobs, consider whether your email server will be able to handle the size and quantity of the attached report files.

The completed reports are also added to the Presentation Reports > Review Reports page (see Reviewing scheduled presentation reports).

You can access the Scheduler in one of the following ways:

Click Scheduler at the top of the Presentation Reports page (above the Report Catalog).

When editing a report filter, choose Save and schedule in the Save tab, and then click Finish (see Defining the report filter).

Click the job name link on the Job Queue page to edit a job.

Click Add Job on the Job Queue page to create a new job.

The Scheduler page contains several tabs for selecting the reports to run and the schedule for running them. For detailed instructions on completing each tab, see:

Setting the schedule

Selecting reports to schedule

Setting the date range

Selecting output options

After creating jobs, use the Job Queue to review job status and find other helpful information (see Viewing the scheduled jobs list).

When a scheduled presentation report has run, the report file is sent to recipients as an email attachment. The name of the attachment is the report name. For example, for a report with an output format of PDF, an attachment file may be named Hybrid Service Messages.pdf.

Scheduled reports are also automatically saved to a report output directory on the email management server (C:\Program Files (x86)\Websense\Email Security\ESG Manager\tomcat\temp\report\output, by default). Note that the name of the attachment sent via email does not match the name of the file stored in the output directory. The best way to find a specific report is to use the Review Reports page, which can be searched by date or job name, as well as report name.

Reports are automatically deleted from the Review Reports page and the report output directory after the period specified on the Settings > Reporting > Preferences page (5 days, by default). If you want to retain the reports for a longer time, include them in your backup routine or save them in a location that permits long-term storage.

An alert is displayed on the Review Reports page for a period of time before the report is deleted (3 days, by default). Use the Settings > Reporting > Preferences page to change this warning period.

Depending on the number of reports you generate daily, report files can occupy considerable amounts of disk space. Be sure adequate disk space is available on the email management server. If the report output directory grows too large before the files are automatically deleted, you can delete the files manually.

Forcepoint software generates the report in the format you choose: XLS (Microsoft Excel), PDF (Adobe Reader), or HTML. If you choose HTML format, the report may display in the Email module content pane. Reports displayed in the content pane cannot be printed or saved to a file. To print or save a report to file, choose the PDF or XLS output format.


	Important To display presentation reports in PDF format, Adobe Reader v7.0 or later must be installed on the machine from which you are accessing the email management server. To display presentation reports in XLS format, Microsoft Excel 2003 or later must be installed on the machine from which you are accessing the email management server.

Setting the schedule

Schedule a reporting job to occur once or on a repeating cycle on the Schedule Report tab of the Presentation Reports > Scheduler page.


	Note It is advisable to schedule report jobs on different days or at different times, to avoid overloading the Log Database and slowing performance for logging and interactive reporting.

Enter a name that uniquely identifies this scheduled job in the Job name field.

Select Recurrence Options for the job based on the Recurrence Pattern you want, as follows:


Recurrence Pattern	Recurrence Options
Once	Enter the exact date on which to run the job, or click the icon to select from a calendar.
Daily	No additional recurrence options are available.
Weekly	Mark the check box for each day of the week the job is to run.
Monthly	Enter the dates during the month for running the job. Dates must be a number between 1 and 31, and must be separated by commas (1,10,20). To run the job on consecutive dates each month, enter a start and end date separated by a hyphen (3-5).

In the Schedule Time box, set the start time for running the job.

The job begins according to the time on the email appliance.


	Note To start generating the scheduled reports today, select a time late enough that you can complete the job definition before the start time.

In the Schedule Period box, select a date for starting the job. Options for ending the job are as follows:


No end date	The job continues to run indefinitely, according to the established schedule. To discontinue the job at some time in the future, either edit or delete the job. See Viewing the scheduled jobs list.
End after	Select the number of times to run the job. After that number of occurrences, the job does not run again, but it stays in the Job Queue until you delete it. See Viewing the scheduled jobs list.
End by	Set the date when the job stops running. It does not run on or after this date.

Click Next to open the Select Report tab.

Selecting reports to schedule

Use the Select Report tab of the Presentation Reports > Scheduler page to choose reports for the job.

Highlight a report for this job in the Report Catalog tree.

Click the right arrow (>) button to move that report to the Selected Reports list.

Repeat steps 1 and 2 until all reports for this job appear in the Selected Reports list.

Click Next to open the Date Range tab.

Setting the date range

Use the Date Range tab of the Presentation Reports > Scheduler page to set the date range for the job. If you selected Once in the Schedule Report tab, the Specific dates field displays the report date specified on that tab.

If you selected a recurring report schedule, you can specify the number of periods to report in the Relative dates field (Current, Last, Last 2, and so forth), along with the type of period (Days, Weeks, or Months). For example, the job might cover the Last 2 Weeks or Current Month.

Week represents a calendar week, Sunday through Saturday. Month represents a calendar month. For example, Current Week produces a report from Sunday through today; This Month produces a report from the first of the month through today; Last Week produces a report for the preceding Sunday through Saturday; and so forth.

After setting the date range for the job, click Next to display the Output tab.

Selecting output options

After you select the reports for a job, use the Output tab to select the output format and distribution options.

Select the file format for the finished report.


XLS	Excel Spreadsheet. Recipients must have Microsoft Excel 2003 or later to view the XLS reports.
PDF	Portable Document Format. Recipients must have Adobe Reader v7.0 or later to view the PDF reports.
HTML	HyperText Markup Language. Recipients must have a Web browser.

Select the number of items you want to appear in a Top format report from the Top N drop-down list. The value range is from 1 to 200; default value is 10.

Enter recipient email addresses for report distribution.

Each address should be separated by a semicolon.

Optionally, you can also enter email addresses to notify recipients that report generation failed.

Mark the Customize subject and message body of notification email check box, if desired. Then, enter the custom subject and body text for this job's distribution email.

Click Save Job to save and implement the job definition, and display the Job Queue page.

Review this job and any other scheduled jobs. See Viewing the scheduled jobs list.