Sending scheduled reports

Note: This is a licensed feature. 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.

Note: The Default publishing server must be enabled; if this publishing server is disabled, your scheduled tasks will not run. To determine the Default publishing server, go to RiSE > Maintenance > Publishing servers. The Default column will indicate which publishing server (if there are more than one) is the default.

Sending a scheduled communication with an attached report

Do the following to send a scheduled communication with an attached report:

1. Create a communication template with an attached report:
   • For SSRS reports, see Creating a communication with an attached SSRS report.
   • For Report Writer reports, see Attaching a Report Writer report to a communication template.
2. Create a task to send the communication with the report attached. For more information, see Sending scheduled communications.

Creating a scheduled report task

Do the following to create a scheduled report task:

1. Go to RiSE > Process automation.
2. Click 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. Select Scheduled task as the task Type.
6. (Triggers tab) Create Triggers that tell the task when to run.
Click for details

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.

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. The start date and time is based on the system Time zone setting.
6. To activate the trigger, select Enabled.
7. Save the trigger.
8. Add additional triggers if needed.

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

7. (optional) (Data sources tab) Create and manage query data sources for the task.
Click for details
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.
8. (optional) (Conditions tab) Specify Conditions that must be met in order for the task to run.
Click for details

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.

9. (Actions tab) Define the action the task performs when it runs.
Click for details

1. Click Add action.
2. Select Run a report as the action Type.

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 a report to run. The report must be a standalone SSRS report (not an IQA-based report) or Report Writer 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.

10. To activate the task, select Enabled.
11. Save the task.
12. (optional) Click Run task now to instantly execute the task.

Understanding the communication log

Although you enter an Email from address, the communication is not logged against the "from" contact's account and instead is attached to a dummy contact. In this type of action (Run a report), you type a static email address, so there is not necessarily always a contact that the log can be attached to; therefore, the communication is always attached to a dummy contact.

For this type of action, the log is only intended to be viewed from the list of logs (RiSE > Process automation > Logs tab) and not from a contact's account page.