Usage Note 53757: Frequently asked questions about report alerts in SAS® Visual Analytics in 7.5 and earlier
 |  |  |  |
Overview
SAS Visual Analytics can be configured to send a notification to specific users when report objects contain data that meets certain criteria. In addition to specifying the criteria for the alert, the report designer specifies how frequently the system checks to see whether alert criteria have been met, and how frequently a notification is sent to a user or group of users. This SAS note contains frequently asked questions about alerts.
Note: For information about report alerts in release 8.2 and later, see "Working with Alerts" in SAS Visual Analytics: Working with Report Data.
Q. How do I set up an alert for a report object?
A. For information about how to create and set up an alert, see the topic "Working with Alerts for Report Objects" in the SAS Visual Analytics: User's Guide. For information about administration tasks related to alerts, see the SAS Visual Analytics: Administration Guide. For links to all of the available documentation for SAS Visual Analytics, see the SAS Visual Analytics Product Documentation page.
Q. I want to select users to receive email alerts but there are no users available to select. Why?
A. In order to receive alerts, users must be registered in metadata with both a login and an email address. You cannot send alerts to an internal-only (@saspw) account, even if the account has a valid email address in metadata.
Q. What is the system default for how often to query the system?
A. The default is 600000 milliseconds (10 minutes).
Q. How do the system frequency and the notification frequency settings interact? For example, suppose that the system frequency is set to once a day and the notification frequency is set to once every 7 days.
A. After the alert is defined, a notification is sent the first time the alert condition is triggered. For example, suppose that an alert created on Day 1 is triggered for the first time at 10:00 a.m. on Day 2. As a result, a notification is sent at 10 a.m. on Day 2.
Because the notification frequency is set to once every 7 days, the soonest that the next alert notification can be sent is on Day 9 at 10:00 a.m. This is true regardless of how often the alert criteria are met before that time.
At 10 a.m. on Day 9, SAS Visual Analytics determines whether the alert condition was triggered at the last system check. If it was, then a notification is sent. If it was not, then a notification is sent the next time the alert condition is triggered. For example, if the next alert is triggered at 8:00 a.m. on Day 11, then the notification is sent out. Based on this activity, the soonest that the next notification can be sent is 8:00 a.m. on Day 18.
If the notification frequency is modified, then the notification history is reset. Continuing with the example, if, on Day 14, the report designer changes the notification frequency to 3 days, then a notification is sent the next time the alert is triggered. The notification is sent even if the alert is triggered before 8:00 a.m. on Day 18. After the notification is sent, SAS Visual Analytics begins sending subsequent notifications based on the 3-day frequency.
Q. Can I set a specific time for an alert notification to be sent?
A. No. Currently, you cannot set a specific time for an alert notification to be sent. You can indicate only how often the notifications are sent. The actual time is determined by the first time the alert is triggered, as described previously.
Q. Who needs access to the report so that alerts are successfully sent?
A. The SAS Trusted User (a member of the SAS System Services group) is responsible for sending alerts. The SAS Trusted User must have ReadMetadata access to the following objects.
- The report itself.
- All SAS® LASR™ Analytic Server tables used by the report.
- All LASR libraries that contain the tables.
- All metadata folders associated with the report, the tables, and the libraries.
Generally, the correct permissions are granted by default. If you need to deny access to any reports, tables, libraries, or folders, then ensure that you do not inadvertently deny access to the SAS Trusted User.
Q. After upgrading to release 7.1 or later, users no longer receive alerts. What could be the problem?
A. Beginning with 7.1, a new Use the system default for alert notifications preference has been added. The Use the system default for alert notifications option uses the defaults that are set by an administrator in the SAS® Management Console. Typically, the default is set to Portal. To resolve this issue, one of the following items must be changed:
- Global change - The administrator can change the default to either E-mail or SMS by following these steps:
- Log on to SAS Management Console as an administrator
- From the Plug-ins tab, navigate to Application Management ► Configuration Manager ► SAS Application Infrastructure.
- Right-click SAS Application Infrastructure and select Properties.
- On the Settings tab, navigate to Notifications ► General Configuration.
- Under Alert Notifications Type, you see that Portal is in the Selected box by default.
- Select Portal and click the X button to remove Portal as a selected notification type.
- In the Available box, select E-mail and then click the arrow button to add E-mail to the Selected box.
- Click OK to save the changes.
- To enforce the changes, restart all of your web application servers.
- Individual user change - Users can set their alert preferences within SAS Visual Analytics Designer or SAS Visual Analytics Viewer using the Preferences option on the File menu.
For more information about setting preferences, see "Specify General Preferences for the Designer" in the SAS Visual Analytics: User's Guide. For links to all of the available documentation for SAS Visual Analytics, see the SAS Visual Analytics Product Documentation page.
Note: If changes are made to the user preferences or the system default for notifications, then new alerts must be created to ensure that all users receive the notifications.
Q. Only some of the subscribed users are receiving alerts. What could be the problem?
A. Start by checking individual preferences for each user in SAS Visual Analytics Designer or SAS Visual Analytics Viewer. If Send e-mail messages is selected, ensure that the user has a valid email address defined in metadata. If Send SMS text message is selected, ensure that the user has a valid email address in metadata that is of the type SMS. If Use the system default for alert notifications is selected, then ensure that the system default is either E-mail or SMS.
For more information about setting preferences, see "Specify General Preferences for the Designer" in the SAS Visual Analytics: User's Guide. For links to all of the available documentation for SAS Visual Analytics, see the SAS Visual Analytics Product Documentation page.
Note: If changes are made to the user preferences or the system default for notifications, then new alerts must be created to ensure that all users receive the notifications.
Note: Internal accounts (@saspw) cannot receive alerts.
Q. Can I change the default email address used to send alerts?
A. Yes. To change the email address that is used to send notifications, follow these steps:
- Log on to SAS Management Console.
- On the Plug-ins tab, expand Application Management ► Configuration Manager.
- Right-click SAS Application Infrastructure and select Properties.
- On the Settings tab, click the Notifications menu.
- Edit the Sender of messages field to your preferred email address.
- Click OK to save the changes.
- To enforce the changes, restart your web application server.
Q. Can a user receive alert notifications at more than one address?
A. For email notifications, users receive email notifications for all non-SMS email addresses defined in metadata for that user. For SMS text message notifications, only one email address of the type SMS per user can be defined in metadata, so only one address can be used for SMS text message notifications.
Q. If alerts do not seem to be working, are there any logs I can check?
A. The SASVisualAnalyticsHyperlink.log contains any exceptions related to alerts. It is located in the <sas-config-dir>/Levn/Web/Logs/SASServer_n directory. If necessary, debugging might need to be enabled on the com.sas.bicommon.alerting.eventgen component. Set this in the <sas-config-dir>/Levn/Web/Common/LogConfig/SASVisualAnalytics-log4j.xml file.
Q. I deleted a report that had alerts and now I see errors for the alerts in the SASVisualAnalyticsHyperlink.log file. Why?
A. If a report that contains alerts is deleted, the underlying alerts still remain. An administrator who has access to the SAS Visual Analytics Administrator application can delete the alerts. To access the alerts, select Tools ► Manage Alerts.
Operating System and Release Information
| Product Family | Product | System | Product Release | SAS Release | ||
| Reported | Fixed* | Reported | Fixed* | |||
| SAS System | SAS Visual Analytics | Microsoft® Windows® for x64 | 6.4 | 9.4 TS1M1 | ||
| Linux for x64 | 6.4 | 9.4 TS1M1 | ||||