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Scheduled Delivery

A saved report can be e-mailed automatically every day, week or month, as a CSV file or a spreadsheet. The people who need the figures get them without opening the platform, and the report always reflects the data at the moment it runs.

Where to find it

Architect Panel → Data:

  • Report Builder — Open… then "Send on a schedule…" on a saved report

Admin Panel → Reporting:

  • Report Builder — the same screen, once granted

Before the first schedule: switch the tasks on

Scheduled delivery is carried out by two scheduled tasks, and both ship switched off. An architect must enable both in Tasks:

  • Scheduled Query Delivery, which decides which schedules are due and queues them.
  • Background Jobs, which runs the queued work and sends the e-mail.

With only the first enabled, schedules are queued but nothing is ever sent. The installation also needs a working outgoing mail account. See E-mail Accounts.

Setting up a schedule

  1. Open the report in the Report Builder. If it is not saved yet, save it: "A schedule needs a saved query."
  2. In the Open… list, choose Send on a schedule…. The dialog "Send this query on a schedule" opens.
  3. Give the schedule a Name.
  4. In Send to, enter the e-mail addresses.
  5. Under When, choose Every day, Every week or Every month; for a weekly schedule choose the day after on; set the time after at (07:00 unless changed); and choose CSV or Spreadsheet after as.
  6. Tick Switched on and save.

Each saved report has one schedule. To send it to different people at different times, save a copy of the report and schedule that.

It runs as you

The dialog says so plainly: the schedule runs with your permissions, not the recipients'. If your access changes, what arrives changes with it, and if your account is disabled or leaves every security group, the schedule fails. Recipients receive whatever you could see, so check the report before sending it outside your own team.

What is sent

The report's data as a file, not a chart. A report saved with a Report period sends the same fixed dates every time; see Report Periods. Delivery is by e-mail only.

What goes wrong and how to tell

Reopen the schedule to see its last run: a failure is shown with its reason.

  • Nothing arrives and there is no last run: one or both tasks are switched off.
  • "A schedule that is switched on needs at least one valid e-mail address."
  • "The person this schedule runs as no longer has an account", or has been disabled, or is in no security groups: the owner's account changed. Recreate the schedule as somebody current.
  • "There is no mail account to send from.": set up an outgoing mail account.
  • "Spreadsheet export is not available on this system.": choose CSV.
  • "The saved query this schedule runs is no longer shared with its owner.": restore the report's visibility.

Worked example

An operations manager saves "Overdue repairs by contractor" and chooses Send on a schedule…. They name it "Monday overdue repairs", send it to the three contract managers, every week on Monday at 07:00 as a spreadsheet, and tick Switched on. The architect enables Scheduled Query Delivery and Background Jobs. The first e-mail arrives the following Monday morning.

Recommendations

  • Enable both tasks and test with a schedule to yourself first.
  • Own schedules from a stable account, not a temporary member of staff.
  • Do not save rolling reports with a fixed period.
  • Send to groups' shared addresses where possible, so leavers are not left on the list.