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 and the Add Domain Category wizard enable you to automatically create 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 might need to modify the other reporting components downstream in the process flow to accommodate your change. For example, you might add an ITRM Report Definition task in a SAS Enterprise Guide project to create a new report definition. You must then add or modify a corresponding Performance Report transformation in the report job to specify the new report definition.

Prepare to Create or Modify Your Own Batch Reports

Before you decide to create your own batch reports, visually review the reports that the Adapter Setup or Add Domain Category wizard creates. Then you can determine whether these reports meet your needs. To do so, perform the following steps:
  1. In SAS IT Resource Management, run the Adapter Setup or Add Domain Category wizard for selected adapters and domain categories.
    For more information, see How to Use the Adapter Setup or Add Domain Category Wizards.
    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 cannot generate weekly or monthly reports.
  2. Deploy and run the resulting jobs.
    For more information, see Chapter 14, “Jobs,” in the SAS IT Resource Management 3.5: Administrator's Guide.
  3. In the Gallery workspace of ITRM Report Center, review the reports and identify the ones that you want to modify, if necessary. For more information, see What Is ITRM Report Center?.
To modify your batch reports, examine the properties of the reports. Using ITRM Report Center, view or select the report that you want to modify and click the Properties icon [Properties Icon]. This action opens the Expanded Report Properties window.
Expanded Report Properties Viewed in ITRM Report Center
Expanded Report Properties Viewed in ITRM Report Center
1 domain category
2 IT data mart name
3 job name
4 SAS Enterprise Guide project name
5 information map or data source name
6 SAS Enterprise Guide process flow name
7 ITRM Performance Report transformation name
8 ITRM report definition name

Modifying the Information Map

Ways to Modify the Information Map

An information map is the data source for a batch report that is generated from Adapter Setup or Add Domain Category wizard report jobs. If you modify the information map for a batch report, then you might need to modify the other reporting components in the batch reporting process to accommodate your change.
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.
    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.

How to Modify the Data Source or Information Map

To modify the data source or information map that a batch report uses, perform the following steps:
  1. Using ITRM Report Center, view or select the report for which you want to modify the information map and click the Properties icon [Properties Icon]. This action opens the Expanded Report Properties window. To view the expanded report properties, see Expanded Report Properties Viewed in ITRM Report Center.
  2. Note the following information:
    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.
    IT Data Mart Name
    The value in this field is the name of the IT data mart that contains the report job.
    Data Source
    The value in this field is the name of the information map and the Information Map transformation for the report.
  3. In the SAS IT Resource Management client, navigate to the IT data mart and domain category that you noted in the previous step.
  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 Data Source for the report.
  5. Right-click the Information Map transformation and select Properties. The Properties dialog box appears and enables you to modify the information map that the transformation creates when executed.
    For more information about working with information maps, see Chapter 12, “Information Maps,” in the SAS IT Resource Management 3.5: Administrator's Guide.
  6. Redeploy and run the information map job.
  7. Modify the other reporting components if necessary.

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 report definition 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 Performance Report transformation identifies in the corresponding report job.
The following changes require that you modify components in the SAS Enterprise Guide project, modify and deploy the ITRM Report Definition 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.
For instructions about how to perform these tasks, see How to Modify Components in a SAS Enterprise Guide Project.

How to Modify Components in a SAS Enterprise Guide Project

To modify components in a SAS Enterprise Guide project, perform the following steps:
  1. Using ITRM Report Center, view or select the report that you want to change, and click the Properties icon [Properties icon]. This action opens the Expanded Report Properties window.To view the expanded report properties, see Expanded Report Properties Viewed in ITRM Report Center.
  2. Note the following information:
    IT Data Mart Name
    The value in this field is the name of the IT data mart that contains the report job.
    Job Name
    The value in this field is the name of the job that generates the report job.
    Project
    The value in this field is the name of the supplied SAS Enterprise Guide project that is associated with the report.
    Process Flow
    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 Report Definition task that creates the report definition for the report.
    Report Definition
    The value in this field is the name of the report definition and the ITRM Report Definition task in SAS Enterprise Guide 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\3.5. For example, if you installed SAS IT Resource Management on a 64-bit machine, the projects might be located at C:\Program Files\SASHome\SASITResourceManagementSASEnterpriseGuideComponents\3.5.
  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 might 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 3.5 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 to determine the types of reports that the project creates. They can help you understand the general conventions that are used to specify the reports.
  7. Modify the relevant reporting component in the copy of the supplied project. You can use the Process Flow and Report Definition 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 Report Definition task and click Deploy to run it and 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 the Supplied folder.
    For more information, see Working with the ITRM Report Definition Task.
  9. Your modifications might have included adding a new report definition or changing the name of an existing report definition. If so, you must also update the Performance Report 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 Performance Report Transformations.
  10. Using the SAS IT Resource Management client, redeploy and run the corresponding report job.
    You can use the IT Data Mart Name and Job Name to locate the report job that you want to redeploy.
    For more information, see Deploying and Running Report Jobs.

How to Modify the Characteristics of All Reports in a Report Job

You might want to change the style sheet, the graph format, or the colors for all reports in the report job. If so, modify the Performance Report transformation only and then redeploy the report job. To do so, perform the following tasks:
  1. In SAS IT Resource Management, locate the IT data mart where the Adapter Setup or the Add Domain Category 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 workspace of ITRM Report Center to view the properties for one of the reports that the report job creates. Use the Domain Category, Report Definition Task, IT Data Mart Name, and Job Name 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 ITRM Report Center?.
    For more information, see “What Does the Adapter Setup Wizard Create” and “What Does the Add Domain Category Wizard Create” in the SAS IT Resource Management 3.5: Administrator's Guide.
  2. Double click the report job to open it in the Process Flow window.
  3. Right-click the Performance Report 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 Performance Report 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 Performance Report 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 Components in a SAS Enterprise Guide Project.

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 and the Add Domain Category 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 ITRM Report Center. 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.
You might want to create a new batch report that the Adapter Setup wizard jobs do not create. If so, 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. Then modify only the necessary parameters.
Tip
The supplied SAS Enterprise Guide projects include standard titles, footnotes, axis statements, names, labels, styles, colors, and filters that SAS IT Resource Management supports and recommends for a given adapter and domain category. Using these supplied projects as templates for the new reports that you create enables you to 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 or Add Domain Category wizards do 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\3.5. For example, if you installed SAS IT Resource Management on a 64-bit machine, the projects might be located at C:\Program Files\SASHome\SASITResourceManagementSASEnterpriseGuideComponents\3.5.
  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 another adapter that has a similar domain category. Review the reports that SAS IT Resource Management provides to 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, maintain a copy of the original supplied projects. Otherwise, you could 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 3.5 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. They can help you 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 Report Definition Task.
  7. Run the SAS Enterprise Guide project and then modify and deploy the ITRM Report Definition task separately to create a new report definition.
  8. Using the IT Resource Management client, create a new report job or modify the Performance Report transformation in an existing report job. The Performance Report 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 Performance Report 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 a similar counterpart is not provided by SAS IT Resource Management.
To create new reports from scratch, you must 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 reports created by the Adapter Setup and the Add Domain Category wizard 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 Chapter 8, “Aggregating the Data,” or Chapter 12, “Information Maps,” in the SAS IT Resource Management 3.5: 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 Report Definition tasks to specify the report definitions
    For more information, see Working with Supplied SAS Enterprise Guide Projects and Working with the ITRM Report Definition Task.
  3. Run the SAS Enterprise Guide project interactively to verify that the report output meets your needs.
  4. Then modify and deploy the ITRM Report Definition task manually to create a new report definition.
  5. Using the IT Resource Management client, create a new report job that includes a Performance Report transformation. The Performance Report transformation must specify the name and location of the report definition that the SAS Enterprise Guide project created.
    For more information, see Working with Performance Report Transformations.
  6. Deploy and run the report job.
    For more information, see Deploying and Running Report Jobs.
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