Sending scheduled reports

Note: The following information is considered a PLUS feature and requires additional licensing. The Staff site navigation item related to this content contains the PLUS icon whether you are licensed for the feature or not. For more information, contact your AiSP or ASI Technical Support.

You can automatically send up-to-date reports to users at regular intervals on the dates and times you specify. The reports are sent as PDF attachments to emails. For example, you can send the following types of reports on a regular schedule:

  • Event registration reports to event managers
  • New member reports to the membership director
  • Large or new donor reports to fundraising staff

To send automated reports, you need to create a communication and a scheduled task.

The communication provides the recipient data source, email template, and report file. The task automatically sends the email with the attached report on the scheduled days and times.

Each task can have Process Automation Triggers, Data sources, Conditions, and Actions. A scheduled task must contain Process Automation Triggers and Actions; Data sources and Conditions are optional.

You must have the advanced tasks license key to create, copy, edit, or delete scheduled tasks.

  1. In the Staff site, go to Community > Manage communication templates.
  2. Select New > Communication.
  3. Create the communication you want to use in the scheduled task.
    1. Enter the From email address.
    2. Choose the email recipients that will receive the scheduled report. You can:
      • Create a static recipient list by manually adding email addresses in the To field.
      • Create a dynamic recipient list by selecting Choose Recipients to select a recipient data source query. For more information on creating these queries, see Creating a list of contacts to email.
    1. Enter the email message.
    2. Select Add attachment and select the SSRS report (RDL file) that you want to send the recipients.

      3. Warning!  

      The SSRS report (RDL file) you choose must be a standalone SSRS report. IQA-based reports are not supported in communication templates or process automation. See Creating standalone SSRS reports for more information.

If the recipient data source uses an ID property, such as PartyId, as a display column or an alias and the SSRS report uses ContactId, CustomerId, ID, iMISId, PartyId, or StudentId as a parameter, a personalized report can be generated for each email recipient. Otherwise, a static report is sent to all email recipients using the data sources defined in the report.

For more information about creating a communication, see Creating email communication templates.

  1. In the Staff site, go to RiSE > Process automation. A list of existing tasks displays.
  2. Select the Tasks tab.
  3. Select Add new task.

    Note: You must have the advanced tasks license key to create, copy, edit, or delete tasks.

  4. Enter a Name that indicates the purpose of the task.
  5. (optional) It is recommend that you enter a task Description.
  6. Select Scheduled task as the task Type.
  7. (Triggers tab) Create Triggers that tell the task when to run.
    1. Click Add trigger.
    2. Select the Frequency. You can select One time, Daily, Weekly, or Monthly.
    3. If you select a Frequency of Daily, Weekly, or Monthly, you can Schedule the task to run at specified intervals. For example, you can schedule a weekly task to run every 3 weeks.
    4. If you select a Frequency of Weekly or Monthly, you can select the Day of week or Day of month when the task will run.

      5. Note: Add additional triggers to run scheduled reports for multiple days of the week or multiple days of the month. For example, to schedule a report to run every week on Monday and Wednesday at 8:00 AM, create two separate triggers. The first trigger should be scheduled to run Monday at 8:00 AM and the second trigger on Wednesday at 8:00 AM.

    5. Select the Start date and time. When using a Frequency of Daily, Weekly, or Monthly, you can also select an End date and time.
    6. To activate the trigger, select Enabled.
    7. Save the trigger.
    8. Add additional triggers if needed.

      9. Note: You can also edit and remove triggers from the Triggers tab.

  1. (optional) (Data sources tab) Create and manage query data sources for the task.

    2. All query data sources created for this task are listed. The name of all data sources will populate in a drop-down when defining a Condition or Action. You cannot delete a data source if the data source is selected within a Condition or Action, however not every data source you have defined must be used when creating a Condition or Action.

    1. Select Add data source.
      • Enter a Data source name. It is recommended that you choose a name that indicates the type of records returned by the data source. The name must be unique.
      • Select an existing query or click Create source query to add a new query.
        • If you select an existing query, the $/Common/Tasks/Queries folder opens by default.
        • If you choose to add a new query, you are taken to the Intelligent Query Architect where you can define a new query.
    2. Save your data source.
    3. If needed, add additional data sources.
  2. (optional) (Conditions tab) Specify Conditions that must be met in order for the task to run.
    1. If a query data source was defined on the Data sources or Actions tab, select one of the following options:
      • Use existing data sources - select a previously defined data source from the drop-down that will only display data sources that are not being used in any otherConditions.
      • Use results of IQA query as data source - select this option to define a new data source.
        • Enter a Data source name. It is recommended that you choose a name that indicates the type of records returned by the data source.
        • Select an existing query or click Create source query to add a new query.
          • If you select an existing query, the $/Common/Tasks/Queries folder opens by default.
          • If you choose to add a new query, you are taken to the Intelligent Query Architect where you can define a new query.
    2. If there were no previously defined data sources from the Data sources or Actions tab, provide the following required information:

      • Enter a Data source name. It is recommended that you choose a name that indicates the type of records returned by the data source.

        Select an existing query or click Create source query to add a new query.

        • If you select an existing query, the $/Common/Tasks/Queries folder opens by default.
        • If you choose to add a new query, you are taken to the Intelligent Query Architect where you can define a new query.

    3. Save your data source.
    4. If needed, add additional data sources.

    Note: This data source will populate on the Data sources tab once you click Save.

  1. (Actions tab) Define the action the task performs when it runs. In this case, you are selecting the email communication template with an attached SSRS report that the task sends.
    1. Click Add action.
    2. Select Run a report as the action Type.

      3. Note: If you want to send a personalized report to members of your organization, or you already have a communication template defined that has the report attached, you can use the Send a communication action type and select a communication job that has a report attached. See Creating a scheduled communication task for more information.

    3. Select an SSRS report to run. The report must be a standalone SSRS report, and not an IQA-based report.
    4. Enter an Email from address. You are required to enter an email address from which you send the report.
    5. Enter the addresses to Email results to. You must enter at least one recipient for the email. Click select contact to select existing contacts to which you can send the results, or you can enter email addresses separated by semi-colons.
    6. (optional) Enter an Email subject. If you do not enter a subject for the email, the title of the report is used as the subject.
    7. Save the action.

      Note: You can also edit and remove actions from the Actions tab.

  2. To activate the task, select Enabled.
  3. Save the task.
  4. (optional) Click Run task now to instantly execute the task.