How to Create or Modify Your Own Batch Reports

Understanding the Batch Reporting Process

The batch reporting process consists of several reporting components that are interconnected within a process flow. The components of this process flow are specified and then executed in a standard sequence in order to generate batch reports. For an example of the reporting components and how they work together in the process flow, see Overview of Batch Reporting.
The Adapter Setup wizard enables you to automatically create and connect the reporting components for several adapters and domain categories that you select. However, you might choose to modify elements of specific reports or add to the existing set of reports. SAS IT Resource Management enables you to do so by making each reporting component modifiable. You can make a copy of the supplied components and then modify the copies as needed to accommodate the reporting needs for your organization.
Tip
When you modify or add a specific reporting component, you will likely need to modify the other reporting components downstream in the process flow to accommodate your change. For example, you might add an ITRM Gallery task in a SAS Enterprise Guide project to create a new report definition. You must then add or modify a corresponding Gallery transformation in the report job to identify the new report definition.

Prepare to Create or Modify Your Own Batch Reports

Before you decide to create or modify your own batch reports, visually review the reports that the Adapter Setup wizard creates and determine whether these reports meet your needs. To do so, perform the following steps:
  1. In SAS IT Resource Management, run the Adapter Setup wizard for selected adapters and domain categories.
    For more information, see How to Use the Adapter Setup Wizard.
    Tip
    For best results, use more than one day of data that spans across the week and month boundaries. For example, include data that includes at least the last day of a week and month as well as the first day of the following week and month. This scope of data ensures that you can generate daily, weekly, and monthly reports. If you use data from one day only, then you will not be able to generate weekly or monthly reports.
  2. Deploy and run the resulting jobs.
    For more information, see the “Jobs” chapter in the SAS IT Resource Management: Administrator's Guide.
  3. In Gallery Manager, review the reports and identify the reports that you want to modify, if necessary. For more information, see What Is Gallery Manager?.

Modifying the Data Source

Ways to Modify the Data Source

An information map is the data source for a batch report that is generated from Adapter Setup wizard report jobs. If you modify the information map that serves as the data source for a batch report, then you might need to modify the other reporting components in the batch reporting process to accommodate your change throughout the process.
The following modifications to an information map do not require that you modify the other reporting components in the process:
  • Modify an information map filter expression.
  • Add or remove a data item or information map that is not used in any other currently deployed jobs or SAS Enterprise Guide projects.
The following modifications to an information map require that you also modify the corresponding SAS Enterprise Guide project, report definitions, and deployed jobs:
  • Change the name of an information map or data item that is used in a SAS Enterprise Guide project that is in use or a report job that is currently deployed.
  • Add a data item or information map filter that you want to use in a report.
For instructions about how to perform these tasks, see How to Modify the Data Source.

How to Modify the Data Source

To modify the data source or information map that a batch report uses, perform the following steps:
  1. In Gallery Manager, open the report that you want to modify.
  2. Select Actionthen selectReport Properties in the Gallery pane to open the Report Properties dialog box and note the following information:
    DataSource
    The value in this field is the name of the information map and information map transformation for the report.
    Domain Category
    The value in this field is an abbreviated representation of the adapter and the domain category that corresponds to the report and the reporting components that created it.
  3. In the SAS IT Resource Management client, locate the IT data mart where the Adapter Setup wizard stored the corresponding jobs for the report.
    Note: If you do not know where the jobs were stored, then you can use the adapter and domain category information from the report properties (identified in the previous step) to locate the folders. The Adapter Setup wizard creates folder names in the IT data mart that correspond with the adapter and domain category names.
    For more information, see the “Adapter Setup Wizard” chapter in the SAS IT Resource Management: Administrator's Guide.
  4. Open the information map job for the domain category. In the job, locate the information map transformation that has the same name as the DataSource for the report.
  5. Right-click the information map transformation and select Properties. The Properties dialog box appears and enables you to make modifications to the information map that the transformation creates when executed.
    For more information about working with information maps, see the “Information Maps” chapter in the SAS IT Resource Management: Administrator's Guide.
  6. Redeploy and run the information map job.
  7. Modify the other reporting components if necessary.
    For more information, see Ways to Modify the Data Source.
For more information about working with information maps in SAS IT Resource Management, see Chapter 10, “Information Maps” in the SAS IT Resource Management: Administrator's Guide.

Modifying How Batch Reports Look

Ways to Modify How Batch Reports Look

SAS IT Resource Management supplies SAS Enterprise Guide projects that include several components such as report tasks and ITRM Gallery tasks. The parameters that are specified in these components affect how batch reports look. These parameter specifications are included in the report definition that the Gallery transformation identifies in the corresponding report job.
The following modifications require that you modify components in the SAS Enterprise Guide project, run the ITRM Gallery task to create a new report definition, and then redeploy the report job:
  • Change the title or footnote of a report.
  • Change or add a data item in a report such as an analysis variable or a BY variable.
  • Change the report style for one report.
  • Change the graph format, style sheet, or colors for one report.
If you want to change the style sheet, the graph format, or the colors for all reports in the report job, then you can modify the Gallery transformation only and then redeploy the report job.
For instructions about how to perform these tasks, see How to Modify the Way a Specific Batch Report Looks.

How to Modify the Way a Specific Batch Report Looks

To modify how a specific batch report looks, perform the following steps:
  1. In Gallery Manager, locate and open the report that you want to modify. For more information, see What Is Gallery Manager?.
  2. Select Actionthen selectReport Properties in the Gallery pane to open the Report Properties dialog box and note the following information:
    Project
    The value in this field is the name of the supplied SAS Enterprise Guide project that is associated with the report.
    ProcessFlow
    The value in this field is the page of the SAS Enterprise Guide project that is associated with the report. This page includes the ITRM Gallery task that creates the report definition for the report.
    GalleryTask
    The value in this field is the name of the report definition and the ITRM Gallery task that creates the report definition for the report.
  3. Navigate to the location on the client workstation where you installed SAS IT Resource Management. The projects are located at SASITResourceManagementSASEnterpriseGuideComponents\3.3. For example, if you installed SAS IT Resource Management on a 64-bit machine, the projects might be located at C:\Program Files\SASHome\x86\SASITResourceManagementSASEnterpriseGuideComponents\3.3.
  4. Copy the supplied SAS Enterprise Guide project that you want to modify.
    CAUTION:
    Modify a copy of a supplied SAS Enterprise Guide project only. Do not modify a supplied SAS Enterprise Guide project directly.
    The supplied SAS Enterprise Guide projects include specifications and IT domain intelligence that SAS IT Resource Management provides for reporting. If you modify supplied projects directly, then you will lose the specifications and benefits that these projects provide for future reference. Also, when SAS IT Resource Management provides project updates, your modifications will be overwritten. For more information, see Managing SAS Enterprise Guide Projects for SAS IT Resource Management.
  5. Verify that you have set up SAS Enterprise Guide and migrated your projects so that they can work with the SAS IT Resource Management 3.3 IT data marts. For more information about how to perform these tasks, see About Preparing to Work with SAS Enterprise Guide.
  6. Review the Project Notes and Process Flow Notes for the project if they are available. You can use the information in these notes files to determine the types of reports that the project creates and understand the general conventions that are used to specify the reports.
  7. Modify the reports in the copy of the supplied project. You can use the ProcessFlow and GalleryTask properties that you identified previously to locate the specific branch of components in the project that affect the report.
    For more information, see Working with Supplied SAS Enterprise Guide Projects.
  8. Open the ITRM Gallery task and click Finish to run it and create an updated report definition.
    Note: Report definitions that you create are stored in a User Defined folder. Report definitions that you create do not and should not overwrite the supplied report definitions that are in a Supplied folder.
    For more information, see Working with the ITRM Gallery Task.
  9. If your modifications included adding a new report definition or changing the name of an existing report definition, then you must also update the Gallery transformation in the corresponding report job to add the new report definition or specify the updated report definition with the new name.
    For more information, see Working with Gallery Transformations.
  10. Redeploy and run the corresponding report job.
    For more information, see Deploying and Running Report Jobs.

How to Modify the Look of All Batch Reports That a Report Job Creates

If you want to change only the style sheet, the graph format, or the colors for all reports that a report job creates, then you can modify the Gallery transformation of the report job and redeploy the job. To do so, perform the following tasks:
  1. In SAS IT Resource Management, locate the IT data mart where the Adapter Setup wizard stored the report job that you want to modify.
    Note: If you do not know where the report job is stored, then you can use the Gallery Manager to view the properties for one of the reports that the report job creates. Use the DomainCategory and GalleryTask properties to deduce the IT data mart folder where the job is stored and the report definition that the report job uses to create the report. For more information, see What Is Gallery Manager?.
    For more information, see the “What Does the Adapter Setup Wizard Create” topic in the SAS IT Resource Management: Administrator's Guide.
  2. Double click the report job to open it in the process flow window.
  3. Right-click the Gallery transformation in the process flow window and select Properties. The Properties dialog box appears.
  4. Click the Report Parameters tab. The parameters on this tab enable you to specify the style sheet and graph format that affect the look for all of the reports that the corresponding Gallery transformation and report job create. You can create your own style sheet and design template to change the look of the report output. You can also specify the location for the ActiveX Control and the override location for temporary physical files on the server.
    For more information about designating the style sheet that a report uses, see Working with Gallery Transformations.
  5. Redeploy and run the report job.
    For more information, see Deploying and Running Report Jobs.

Modifying the Metadata for the Reports Generated by a Report Definition

About Modifying Report Definitions for Batch Reports

You might choose to create or modify report definitions for your batch reports if you want to perform the following tasks:
  • Change the report content by adding or removing reports from the list of reports in the report definition.
  • Change a setting or property that is used in a filter.
  • Modify how a report graph looks (graph type) or how many instances of a report are kept (aging).
For more information, see How to Modify a Report Definition for Batch Reports.

How to Modify a Report Definition for Batch Reports

To modify the report definition for batch reports, perform the following steps:
  1. In Gallery Manager, locate and open one of the batch reports that you want to modify. For more information, see What Is Gallery Manager?.
  2. Select Actionthen selectReport Properties in the Gallery pane to open the Report Properties dialog box and note the following information:
    Project
    The value in this field is the name of the supplied SAS Enterprise Guide project that is associated with the report.
    ProcessFlow
    The value in this field is the page of the SAS Enterprise Guide project that is associated with the report. This page includes the ITRM Gallery task that creates the report definition for the report.
    GalleryTask
    The value in this field is the name of the report definition and the ITRM Gallery task that creates the report definition for the report.
  3. If you installed the supplied SAS Enterprise Guide projects, they can be accessed by navigating to the location where you installed SAS IT Resource Management. The projects are located at SASITResourceManagementSASEnterpriseGuideComponents\3.3. For example, if you installed SAS IT Resource Management on a 64-bit machine, the projects might be located at C:\Program Files\SASHome\x86\SASITResourceManagementSASEnterpriseGuideComponents\3.3.
  4. Copy the supplied SAS Enterprise Guide project that you want to modify.
    CAUTION:
    Modify a copy of a supplied SAS Enterprise Guide project only. Do not modify a supplied SAS Enterprise Guide project directly.
    The supplied SAS Enterprise Guide projects include specifications and IT domain intelligence that SAS IT Resource Management provides for reporting. If you modify supplied projects and do not maintain a copy of the original supplied projects, then you will lose the specifications and benefits that these projects provide for future reference. For more information, see Managing SAS Enterprise Guide Projects for SAS IT Resource Management.
  5. Verify that you have set up SAS Enterprise Guide and migrated your projects so that they can work with the SAS IT Resource Management 3.3 IT data marts. For more information about how to perform these tasks, see About Preparing to Work with SAS Enterprise Guide.
  6. Review the Project Notes and Process Flow Notes for the project if they are available. You can use the information in these notes files to determine the types of reports that the project creates and understand the general conventions that are used to specify the reports.
  7. In the copy of the supplied project, modify the ITRM Gallery task that corresponds with the report.
    For more information, see Working with the ITRM Gallery Task.
  8. Select Finish in the ITRM Gallery task to create an updated report definition.
    Note: Report definitions that you create should be stored in a User Defined folder. Report definitions that you create do not and should not overwrite the supplied report definitions that are in a Supplied folder.
  9. If your modifications included adding a new report definition or changing the name of an existing report definition, then you must also update the Gallery transformation in the corresponding report job to add the new report definition or specify the updated report definition with the new name.
    For more information, see Working with Gallery Transformations.
  10. Redeploy and run the corresponding report job.
    For more information, see Deploying and Running Report Jobs.

Creating New Reports Using a Supplied Project as a Template

Why Use a Supplied Project as a Template When Creating New Reports?

The batch reports that the Adapter Setup wizard jobs create include supplied report definitions that are based on IT domain intelligence. These reports also include standard and consistent styles, colors, and filters that are proven to improve legibility and report categorization in the Gallery Manager. All of these report definitions are specified in the supplied SAS Enterprise Guide projects that are used to create them for the batch reports. These SAS Enterprise Guide projects are supplied by SAS IT Resource Management and stored on the client workstation during installation.
If you want to create a new batch report that the Adapter Setup wizard jobs do not create, then you can use a supplied SAS Enterprise Guide project as a template to build the report definition for your new report. You can make a copy of the supplied project that is most closely associated with the type of report that you want to create and then modify only the parameters that are necessary.
Tip
The supplied SAS Enterprise Guide projects include standard titles, footnotes, axis statements, names, labels, styles, colors, and filters that SAS IT Resource Managements supports and recommends for a given adapter and domain category. If you use these supplied projects as templates for the new reports that you create, then you can maintain consistency among the reports that you create and those that SAS IT Resource Management provides.
For example, you might choose to create a new report using a supplied SAS Enterprise Guide project as a template if you want to perform the following tasks:
  • Replicate reports for a domain category for which the Adapter Setup wizard does not already provide reports.
  • Create reports for a user-written adapter.
For more information, see How to Create New Reports Using a Supplied Project as a Template.

How to Create New Reports Using a Supplied Project as a Template

To create a new report by using a supplied SAS Enterprise Guide project as a template, perform the following steps:
  1. Navigate to the location on the client workstation where you installed SAS IT Resource Management. The projects are located at SASITResourceManagementSASEnterpriseGuideComponents\3.3. For example, if you installed SAS IT Resource Management on a 64-bit machine, the projects might be located at C:\Program Files\SASHome\x86\SASITResourceManagementSASEnterpriseGuideComponents\3.3.
  2. Identify the supplied SAS Enterprise Guide project that most closely resembles the type of adapter and domain category that you want to work with. You can use one of the following two methods to determine the supplied project that is most appropriate for your new reports:
    • Use the supplied project that corresponds to the adapter and domain category for your new report. The name of each supplied project begins with the adapter name followed by the domain category. For example, if you are creating a report for the DT Perf Sentry adapter and the Server Disk domain category, then you might choose the DTPerfSentryServerDisk.egp supplied project.
    • Use a supplied project that creates reports that are similar to the report that you want to create. SAS IT Resource Management does not supply a SAS Enterprise Guide project for every domain category. If a project for your domain category does not already exist, then you can use a project for the same adapter. You can also review the reports that SAS IT Resource Management does provide and identify the supplied project for a report that you want to imitate.
  3. Copy the supplied SAS Enterprise Guide project that you want to use as a template.
    CAUTION:
    Modify a copy of a supplied SAS Enterprise Guide project only. Do not modify a supplied SAS Enterprise Guide project directly.
    The supplied SAS Enterprise Guide projects include specifications and IT domain intelligence that SAS IT Resource Management provides for reporting. If you modify supplied projects and do not maintain a copy of the original supplied projects, then you will lose the specifications and benefits that these projects provide for future reference. For more information, see Managing SAS Enterprise Guide Projects for SAS IT Resource Management.
  4. Verify that you have set up SAS Enterprise Guide and migrated your projects so that they can work with the SAS IT Resource Management 3.3 IT data marts. For more information about how to perform these tasks, see About Preparing to Work with SAS Enterprise Guide.
  5. Review the Project Notes and Process Flow Notes for the project if they are available. You can use the information in these notes files to determine the types of reports that the project creates and understand the general conventions that are used to specify the reports.
  6. In the copy of the supplied project, modify the components as needed to specify the report configurations for the new report.
    For more information, see Working with Supplied SAS Enterprise Guide Projects and Working with the ITRM Gallery Task.
  7. Run the SAS Enterprise Guide project and then run the ITRM Gallery task separately to create a new report definition.
  8. Create a new report job or modify the Gallery transformation in an existing report job. The Gallery transformation in the report job must specify the name and location of the report definition that the modified SAS Enterprise Guide project creates.
    For more information, see Working with Gallery Transformations.
  9. Deploy and run the report job.
    For more information, see Deploying and Running Report Jobs.

Creating New Reports from Scratch

Why Create a New Report from Scratch?

SAS IT Resource Management and SAS Enterprise Guide enable you to create batch reports from scratch, without using supplied SAS Enterprise Guide projects or reporting components as templates or models. You might choose to create your own reports from scratch if they are so unique that they do not have a similar counterpart provided by SAS IT Resource Management.
To create new reports from scratch, you must identify or create all of the reporting components that are required to generate reports. For more information, see How to Create a New Report from Scratch.

How to Create a New Report from Scratch

Tip
SAS IT Resource Management uses specific naming conventions and locations when naming and saving reporting objects such as tables, information maps, information map filters, data items, report titles, report footnotes, and report definitions. These conventions simplify the management and maintenance of the various objects that are interrelated. For best results, if you choose to create or edit reporting objects, then use the same naming and storage conventions that SAS IT Resource Management uses for consistency and efficiency. For more information, see About Naming Standards for SAS IT Resource Management Reporting Objects and About Reporting Standards for SAS IT Resource Management Reports.
To create a new report from scratch, perform the following steps:
  1. Identify a data source for the report. The Adapter Setup wizard reports use information maps as data sources. However, SAS IT Resource Management supports other SAS data sets as sources such as aggregation tables.
    For more information, see the ”Aggregating Your Data” or “Information Maps” chapters in the SAS IT Resource Management: Administrator's Guide.
  2. Create a SAS Enterprise Guide project that includes at least the following components:
    • the input data source
    • one or more report tasks to specify the report parameters
    • one or more ITRM Gallery tasks to specify the report definitions
    For more information, see Working with Supplied SAS Enterprise Guide Projects and Working with the ITRM Gallery Task.
  3. Run the SAS Enterprise Guide project interactively to verify that the report output meets your needs.
  4. Then run the ITRM Gallery task manually to create a new report definition.
  5. Create a new report job that includes a Gallery transformation. The Gallery transformation must specify the name and location of the report definition that the SAS Enterprise Guide project created.
    For more information, see Working with Gallery Transformations.
  6. Deploy and run the report job.
    For more information, see Deploying and Running Report Jobs.
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