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    Scheduling and Subscribing to Alma Analytics Reports

    To schedule Analytics reports, you must have one of the following roles:

    • Analytics Administrator

    • General System Administrator

    This page describes the actions that you can perform with the old layout of the Analytics Object List that is available as an option. The new redesigned Analytics Object List is available by default from August 2023. For more information about the new Analytics User Interface and Object List, see Working with Analytics Objects.

    You can schedule Alma Analytics reports and dashboards to run at specific times and have them emailed to subscribed users. You can also create links and widgets to reports and links to dashboards that can be accessed in Alma by users with specific roles. To do this, you add an Analytics object.

    Only reports can be displayed as widgets, but both reports and dashboards can be displayed from the Analytics link.

    For information about creating reports and dashboards for Alma analytics, see Creating a New Report and Creating a Dashboard. For Primo VE environments, also see Primo VE Analytics.

    For a video that describes how to provide reports to other users, see Providing Reports to Other Users.

    The analytics objects, such as widgets, dashboards and scheduled reports, are created and edited via the Analytics Objects List at Analytics > Analytics Objects > Analytics Objects List. Each user can subscribe and unsubscribe to scheduled reports at Analytics > Analytics > Subscribe to Analytics.

    analytics_configuration_and_subscription_ux.png
    Analytics Objects List

    On this page, you can:

    • Add an Analytics object (schedule a report/dashboard to run or create access to one in Alma) – See the procedure below.

    • View an Analytics object – Select View in the row actions list.

    • Edit an Analytics object – Select Edit in the row actions list.

    • Duplicate an Analytics object – Select Duplicate in the row actions list.

    • Delete an Analytics object – Select Delete in the row actions list.

    • Preview an Analytics object – Select Preview in the row actions list. A Preview pane appears, displaying the report or dashboard. Select Open in a New Window to open a new window at the main Analytics page of the report/dashboard, or select Close to close the pane.

    • Manage subscriptions to a scheduled Analytics object – See Subscribing to Scheduled Reports.

    Only the first tab of a dashboard is exported when a scheduled dashboard is run.

    For a video on enhancements to analytics scheduling options, see the Enhancements to Analytics Scheduling Options video (3:05 mins).
    To run reports or dashboards on a schedule or create access to them in Alma:
    1. On the Analytics Configuration and Subscription page (Analytics > Analytics Objects > Analytics Objects List), select Add New Analytics Object. The Alma Analytics Object page appears.
      analytics_configuration_ux.png
      Analytics Configuration Page

      In Primo VE environments, you will have to select the Oracle BI database for which you want to create an analytics object:

      • Alma – Select Add New Alma Analytics Object from the drop-down list. For more details, see Alma Analytics.

      • Primo VE – Select Add New Primo Analytics Object from the drop-down list. For more details, see Primo VE Analytics.

    2. Fill in the following fields:

      • Title (mandatory) – The title of the object to create.

      • Analytic Folder (mandatory) – The folder of the report or dashboard. (Empty folders do not appear.)

        Analytics objects of type Widget, Report and Scheduled report are available only from the Analytics institutional directory and not from the Alma directory. If the desired Analytics report is in the Alma directory, copy the report to your institutional directory and define the Analytics object from there. For example, if your institution is named Alma University and you want to define the default out-of-the-box report Shared Folders/Alma/Acquisitions/Reports/Expenditure Per Acquisition Method as a widget, you should first copy it to a directory under Shared Folders/Alma University/ (such as Shared Folders/Alma University/Acquisitions). The report can be copied from one directory to another either by opening it in edit mode, selecting Save as, and saving it in the new directory, or by dragging it from one directory to another (while ensuring that it remains in the previous directory as well—for example, by pressing the CTRL key).

      • Name (mandatory) – The name of the report or dashboard. The list of names comes from the folder you selected. Note that folder, report, or dashboard names should not contain the following characters: ampersands (&), commas (,) , semicolons (;), colons (:), hashtags (#), or slashes (/)

      • Type (mandatory) – The object that you want to create.

        • Dashboard – A link to view a dashboard in Analytics > Reports.

        • Data Visualization Project – A link to view a data visualization project in Analytics > Data Visualizations.

        • Report – A link to view a report in Analytics > Reports.

        • Scheduled Dashboard – A scheduled dashboard. If you select this, the Status and Schedule fields appear.

        • Scheduled Report – A scheduled report. If you select this, the Format, Status, and Schedule fields and the FTP checkbox appear.

        • Widget – A widget for a report. See Managing Widgets.

      • Format (scheduled report only, mandatory) – The format for the report: PDF, Excel, Text (tab delimited), or CSV. When sending the report by email, if the file size is over 2MB, it is compressed into a zip file. The maximum size of the compressed file is 7 MB. There is no limit to the file size when sending the report by FTP.

        For Text format, the encoding of the report is UCS2 (which is the same as UTF16).
      • Status (mandatory) – Whether the schedule is Active or Inactive.

      • Schedule (mandatory) – The time and period (daily, weekly or monthly) that you want the report or dashboard to be run. Scheduled reports and dashboards are run by the scheduled jobs Schedule of Analytics Reports and Dashboards. To run, the report must be enabled and scheduled here, and the job that runs reports at the selected time period must be enabled (Admin > Manage Jobs and Sets > Monitor Jobs). Scheduled times are relative to your institution's time zone. When scheduled, the Email Notifications action appears.

        To activate new scheduled jobs, Ex Libris Support needs to be contacted.
      • FTP – Select FTP to have scheduled analytics reports placed on an FTP server. If you select this, the FTP Configuration,Sub-directory, and Timestamp fields appear.

      • FTP Configuration – select the FTP configuration on which to place the report. For information on configuring this, see Configuring S/FTP Connections.

      • Sub-directory –  the sub-directory in which you want to place the report on the FTP server.

      • Timestamp – select to include a timestamp in the file name. This prevents the file from being overwritten the next time the report is run.
        For a video that explains how to share a scheduled report via FTP, see Share Alma Analytics Scheduled Reports via FTP.
      • Select Email Notifications to configure who is notified when the job is complete. The Email Notifications for Scheduled Jobs appears. For more information, see Configuring Email Notifications for Scheduled Jobs.

        Email notifications are sent for a scheduled time and not for each report or dashboard.

      • Description – A description for the report or dashboard.

    3. (Mandatory) You must have the roles required to subscribe to a scheduled report/dashboard or to view the link or widget of a report/dashboard: Select Add Role or select Add from Profiles and select the roles or the profile of roles that can subscribe or access the link or widget. To remove a role, select Delete in the row actions list.  Users must have at least one of the roles defined for the object to subscribe to or view the object. When adding the roles from a profile the roles are taken into account and the scopes of the roles are not taken into account. This means for example that if a role is added from a profile, such as "Circulation Desk Operator", and it has the scope of "Law Library", any user with the role "Circulation Desk Operator" can access the widget, even if the user does not have the scope "Law Library".

    4. Select Save.

    All users with the relevant roles can add the widgets to their home page (see Managing Widgets) or view the reports/dashboards in the Analytics > Reports menu. Scheduled reports/dashboards do not appear as links or widgets, but all users with the relevant roles may subscribe to them; see Subscribing to Scheduled Reports.

    Subscribing to Scheduled Reports and Dashboards

    The Analytics Configuration and Subscription page (Analytics > Analytics > Subscribe to Analytics) enables users with a permitted role to subscribe themselves to scheduled dashboards and reports. To subscribe to a scheduled dashboard or report, move the slider in the Subscribe column to the right for the dashboard or report to which you want to subscribe. You receive the Analytics Letter (code: AnalyticsLetter) when the report/dashboard runs. To configure the letter, see Configuring Alma Letters.

    subscribe_to_analytics.png

    Subscribe to Analytics

    Managing Subscriptions to Scheduled Reports and Dashboards

    To manage Analytics report subscriptions, you must have one of the following roles:

    • Analytics Administrator

    • General System Administrator

    The Manage Subscription page enables administrators to add and delete user subscriptions to scheduled reports/dashboards.

    For a detailed presentation on creating a scheduled report, see Analytics - How to create a scheduled report from an Alma Analytics report to be sent to Alma and non-Alma users.pptx.

    To manage subscriptions to a scheduled report or dashboard:
    1. Open the Analytics Configuration and Subscription page (Analytics > Analytics Objects > Analytics Objects List).

    2. Select Manage Subscription in the row actions list for the scheduled report/dashboard that you want to modify. The Manage Subscriptions page opens.

      manage_subscriptions_ux.png

      Manage Subscriptions Page
    3. On the Manage Subscription page, you can perform the following actions:

      • Delete user: Select Delete in the row actions list.

      • Add user:

        1. Select Add Row. The Add Row pane appears.

          add_row_pane_ux.png

          Add Row Pane
        2. To add an Alma user, enter or select a user name in the User field. To add a non-Alma user, enter a valid email address in the Preferred Email field.

        3. Select Add and Close to add the subscriber.

        4. Select Save in the Manage Subscription page to save your changes.