Administrative Tasks Using ITRM Report Center :: SAS(R) IT Resource Management 3.5: Reporting Guide

Accessing the ITRM Report Center Administration Workspace

The SAS IT Resource Management administrator performs many tasks from ITRM Report Center. To access the ITRM Report Center Administration workspace, sign in to ITRM Report Center with a user ID that is in the IT Resource Management Report Center Administrators group.

Create and Assign Access to SAS Content Server Locations

About Root Locations

All reports that are generated by Performance Report and Exception transformations are stored in the SASContentServer/repository/default/sasdav/<root-location> folder. At installation, the default root location for SAS IT Resource Management is set as ITRM. Additional root locations can be created for use by SAS IT Resource Management. These root locations are useful when a site wants to grant different groups of users access to view subsets of SAS IT Resource Management reports.

Note: Additional root locations that you create are at the same hierarchical level in the SAS Content Server as the ITRM folder, which is the default location for reports.

By default, all IT Resource Management Report Center groups are also members of the SASUSERS group. Therefore, they can access reports in the SASContentServer/repository/default/sasdav/ITRM location. When multiple SAS IT Resource Management root locations are used, you can change the location for specific groups to a general, or even empty, SAS Content Server folder location. (This technique might also be useful when reports from SAS IT Resource Management 3.3 or earlier are migrated because those reports are migrated to the default SAS IT Resource Management SAS Content Server folder.) When no reports will be shared between groups, do not write any reports to the default SAS Content Server location used by SAS IT Resource Management.

Note: All members of the IT Resource Management Report Center Administrators group have permission to access all SAS Content Server locations that are used by SAS IT Resource Management.

When you set up an additional root location, use the SAS IT Resource Management client to open the job that contains the Performance Report or Exception transformation whose reports you want to store in that root location. Right-click the transformation and select Properties. On the Server tab, select the root location that you want to work with. This action ensures that your reports are stored in the selected root location, not in the default ITRM location on the SAS Content Server. To allow members of IT Resource Management Report Center Users groups in ITRM Report Center to access these reports, assign access to the SAS Content Server locations that you added to those user groups. For more information, see How to Create and Assign Access to a SAS Content Server Location Using ITRM Report Center.

Tip

After assigning a SAS Content Server root location to a user group, be sure to redeploy your job. Then, sign out of ITRM Report Center and sign in again. This action enables you to avoid unexpected errors.

Working with Multiple SAS Content Server Locations

To restrict access to certain sets of SAS IT Resource Management reports that are stored on the SAS Content Server, you need to set up additional root locations on the SAS Content Server. For example, you might set up an additional root location called ITRM_Sales that contains reports for people who have privileges for viewing SAS IT Resource Management reports for IT resources allocated to the Sales division. Alternatively, you might want to set up a root location called ITRM_Accounting that permits access only by people who have privileges for viewing IT Resource Management reports for IT resources allocated to the Accounting division.

As shown in the following diagram, there are three IT Resource Management Report Center User groups. Each of these groups has access to SAS Content Server locations that are used by SAS IT Resource Management. The ITRM_Sales and ITRM_Accounting groups are created as members of the IT Resource Management Report Center Users group. (The IT Resource Management Report Center Users group that is supplied by SAS IT Resource Management is a member of the IT Resource Management: Report Center User role.)

Members of the SASUSERS group can access the SAS IT Resource Management reports that are written to the default ITRM Report Center SAS Content Server location.
Because they are members of the SASUSERS group, ITRM_Sales members have access to reports that are written to the default ITRM Report Center SAS Content Server location. ITRM_Sales members also have access to reports that are written to the ITRM_Sales location in the ITRM Report Center SAS Content Server.
Because they are members of the SASUSERS group, ITRM_Accounting members have access to reports that are written to the default ITRM Report Center SAS Content Server location. ITRM_Accounting members also have access to reports that are written to the ITRM_Accounting location in the ITRM Report Center SAS Content Server.

Example of Multiple Accessing of SAS Content Server Locations

Note: If you want access to all of the SAS IT Resource Management reports in this example, then you need to be a member of both ITRM_Sales and ITRM_Accounting. Alternatively, you could be an IT Resource Management Report Center Administrator.

How to Create and Assign Access to a SAS Content Server Location Using ITRM Report Center

To add an additional location to the SAS Content Server, sign in to ITRM Report Center as a SAS IT Resource Management administrator and select the Administration workspace to access the following window.

Administration Workspace

Then, perform the following steps:

Create a New SAS Content Server Location

Click Create Location. This dialog box appears:

Create Location Dialog Box
In the Create Location dialog box, enter the Folder Name. Entering text in the Description box is optional.
- In the Folder Name field, enter the name of the folder where you want to store your reports. (Only alphabetic characters, numbers, and the underscore character are valid when entering text into this field.)
- [Optional] Enter a description of the folder.
- Click Save.
  
  When the new root location is created, the principal user (jcr:authenticated) is set to Yes for the newly created path for all permissions, such as Read, Write, and so on.

Assign the New Location to an IT Resource Management User Group

Navigate to the Assign Location to User Group section of the workspace.

Assign Location to User Group

Select a user group and click Change Location.
The Change Location dialog box appears.

Change Location

In the Change Location dialog box, click the arrow in the Location field. A list of all available SAS Content Server locations that are used by SAS IT Resource Management is displayed. Select the location to be assigned to the user group.

How to Delete a Location from the SAS Content Server

To remove a location from the SAS Content Server, perform the following steps:

Sign in to ITRM Report Center as an IT Resource Management Report Center Administrator.
From the list of locations under Content server locations, select the location that you want to delete. Click Delete Location.

Note: You cannot delete a location that is assigned to the SASUSERS group.
Click OK to delete the location.

Note: Deleting the location does not delete folders or reports from the SAS Content Server. This action only deletes the location so that it cannot be accessed from the SAS IT Resource Management client and from ITRM Report Center.

Tip

After deleting a SAS Content Server root location, sign out of ITRM Report Center and then sign in again. This action enables you to avoid unexpected errors.

Purge Reports from the SAS Content Server

To purge reports from the SAS Content Server, perform the following steps:

Sign in to ITRM Report Center as an IT Resource Management Report Center administrator. Then navigate to the Content Server Locations section of the Administration workspace:

Content Server Locations of the Administration Workspace
Select the location whose reports you want to purge.
Click Purge Reports. The following dialog box appears:

Purge Reports from the SAS Content Server
Click the option that indicates how to determine whether a report should be purged:
- If you select the first option, the expiration date of reports is examined. Reports in the selected location that meet the criteria are deleted.
- If you select the second option, the current system date is examined. Reports in the selected location that meet the criteria are deleted.
Then click Purge. If you select the option to purge content that is older than the specified number of days, only those reports that satisfy those criteria are purged. Expired reports whose content is not older than the specified number of days are not purged.
A note is displayed at the bottom of the window when the purge is finished.

Note: The cache is refreshed when you purge reports.

Refresh the ITRM Report Center Cache

About the ITRM Report Center Cache

ITRM Report Center enables you to access, view, and manage all of the SAS IT Resource Management reports that are stored within the root-location folder and its subfolders. The root-location folder on the SAS Content Server is scanned and the report metadata that is retrieved is stored in the ITRM Report Center cache. Using this cache enables ITRM Report Center to retrieve reports from the SAS Content Server more quickly.

The cache is updated during the following events:

when ITRM Report Center starts
when a SAS IT Resource Management performance report or exception job is run
when the SAS IT Resource Management administrator forces a cache update
when reports are purged

How to Refresh the ITRM Report Center Cache

To force a cache update, sign in to ITRM Report Center as an IT Resource Management Report Center administrator and select the Administration workspace. The following window appears:

Administration Workspace of ITRM Report Center

Select the location that you want to refresh. Then click Refresh Cache. When the cache is being updated, a message appears at the bottom of the UI.

Note: Refreshing the cache might cause a temporary disruption to users who are signed in.