Scheduling a report to run automatically on a period basis

Overview

Reports in Readysell can be configured to be automatically generated and delivered on a periodic basis. Reports can be delivered in any standard exportable format (PDF, Excel, CSV, etc) and can be delivered using any of the following methods:

  • Output to a network share (folder)

    Sending reports to a network share can be a great way of scheduling reports. Say you wanted for example a debtors trial balance to be run once a week to encourage you to follow up overdue accounts. You could make a shared folder called "Reports". Then inside the shared folder you could make another folder with your name, say "Joe". Then inside the "Joe" folder you could make another folder called "Debtors trial balance". Then when the report runs each week. It would automatically file itself in the correct folder. Even if you were way on holidays for a few weeks, the reports you need to look at would be piling up in your reports folders. Ready for you to review when you get back. Please let us know if you have found some examples of how using folders for scheduled reports helps your business. We are interested in improving our list of examples.

  • Printed on a networked printer

    Actually printing the report is probably not required very often. But could be useful for example for a report you want to be actioned right way by team members that don't normally look at folders or emails. For example a list of products in the warehouse that have been back ordered, but which show available stock in the system. Please let us know if you have found some examples of how using printing for scheduled reports helps your business. We are interested in improving our list of examples.

  • Emailed to a specific recipient

    Emailing a report to a team member can act like an alert, informing them of what needs to be done. For example a overdue sales back orders list. Please let us know if you have found some examples of how using emailed scheduled reports helps your business. We are interested in improving our list of examples.

For scheduled reports to run correctly, you will need to ensure your "Auto Generate Reports" task is correctly configured. Go to Administration > Advanced > Tasks and ensure the task is set as Enabled and has its schedule set to 0 0 * * * ?


Procedure

Make sure you know how to manually run the report before you try to schedule it! Run the report using exactly the parameters you intend to use. Then review the result. Make sure the manual report output looks like it suits your requirements. If you are scheduling a report for someone else. Ask them to approve the report output manually before you schedule it!


  1. In Readysell, navigate to Reports > Form Reports (List or analysis reports)
  2. Find the report you want to schedule and select it
  3. Click on the Settings tab
  4. Set the Export File Type to reflect the format you wish the report to be generated in
  5. Click on the Schedule tab
  6. Click the New button above the schedule list
  7. For each individual instance you wish to schedule:
    1. Create a name (used for identification purposes)
    2. On the Recurrance sub-tab, select how often you wish the report to run
    3. On the Settings sub-tab, enter either:
      1. The UNC path of the network directory where you want the report to output
      2. The UNC path of the network printer where you want the report to print
      3. Check the "Email Report" check box, then enter the name and email address of the recipient (if you want more than one recipient, create a schedule instance for each)
    4. On the Parameters sub-tab select the parameter type you wish to use to run this report (see Report schedule parameters)
    5. Fill in either the Value or the Parameter on each of the relevant rows that are populated based on the parameter type you selected

When you first schedule a report that is only to run occasionally. You might want to schedule it to run a few minutes ago. Then go to tasks and manually run the schedule report task and check it works as expected. Then change your options and run the task again until you are happy with the result. Then finally, change the scheduling to really run when you want it to. Remember to make a note to check the first real run of the report to ensure it did actually work as you expected.

Example

Scheduling form reports is versatile, but can be complicated. Here are some examples of how you can set up the schedules for particular use cases.

Emailing the Customer Spend Variance report to sales people twice per month

Form ReportCustomer Spend Variance
Export File TypePDF
Schedule Recurrence
  • Recur Every Fortnight
  • Hour of Day: 9
  • Day of Fortnight: First Monday
Schedule Settings
  • Email Report: Checked
  • Receiver Name: Sales Rep's Name
  • Email Address: Sales Rep's Email Address
Schedule Parameters
  • Type: Card Filter Parameters
FieldValueParameter
CriteriaPrimarySalesPerson.Username = 'Sales Rep's Username'
CriteriaCreatedAt >= AddDays(LocalDateTimeToday(), -7) && CreatedBy.UserName = 'Service'

Further Reading:

Criteria Language Syntax