Running PS/nVision Reports on the Web

This chapter provides an overview of PS/nVision web services and describes how to:

• Configure the report node.

• Create scope definition.

• Set up report requests.

• Submit report requests.

• Use report books.

• Use DrillDown.

Understanding PS/nVision Reporting on the Web

Users with Internet access can run, view, DrillDown and distribute PS/nVision reports through a browser, without needing PeopleSoft installed on client machines. Users can send reports as email attachments rather than requiring recipients to navigate to a location on a file server.

PS/nVision on the web includes the following:

• Internet versions of report requests, report books, and scope definitions.

• Output in both Excel (XLS) and HTML formats.

• DrillDown for both Excel and HTML reports.

• Email options to send PS/nVision reports to individual users or users in specified roles.

• Integration with Process Scheduler and Report Manager to send bursting report instances to designated users or users in specified roles.

• Support for multiple PS/nVision sessions when PS/nVision is invoked from PeopleSoft Process Scheduler.

• A restart feature that allows the system to restart a process if it is marked No Success.

Note. To take full advantage of the web features, you need Microsoft Office 2000 on the PS/nVision report server. Microsoft Office 2000 is not required on any other servers or on any computers used to initiate report books or report requests from the browser. A report server is a Windows NT machine with PS/nVision (PeopleTools client software), Excel, and PeopleSoft Process Scheduler installed. Process Scheduler is needed to schedule all PS/nVision processes. Office 2000 is required for creating reports in HTML format.

See Also

Defining Process Definitions

Configuring PS/nVision on the Web

PS/nVision processes on the web are all run via Process Scheduler. All the equivalent settings that PS/nVision needs in the Windows client (such as layout directory and instance directory) are defined in the nVision section of the Process Scheduler Configuration file. Other configurable options include:

• The EnableDrillDownDownForFile parameter, which supports DrillDown on File output type reports in the web-based nVision environment. The setting only takes effect when the report request is defined to run in File output type on the web. By default, EnableDrillDownDownForFile is set to be 0 (false). When the option is set to 1, users are allowed to access the report instances in the instance directory and drill down the report instances on the web. When the option is set to 0, the generated report instances are not drillable.

• The EnablePollDialogs and PollDialogSeconds parameters, which dismiss unattended PS/nVision dialog boxes.

  Note. Because this option can affect performance, it should be used with caution.

• The TraceLevel option, which allows you to generate and view trace logs specifically for PS/nVision.

• The SaveTempFile parameter allows you to save or delete the temporary reports that are created when running nVision to email, print, or web output. When SaveTempFile parameter is set to true (1), temporary report(s) will not be deleted. If run to email or print output, the report(s) will be saved to the folder specified in the “Directory name template” field of the report request. If that field is left blank, the report will be saved to the nVision instance directory. If run to web output, the report will always be saved in the nVision instance directory.

See Also

Using the PSADMIN Utility

Setting Trace Files

Dismissing Unattended Dialogs

Using Configuration Manager

Configuring the Report Node

Both PeopleSoft Process Scheduler and Report Manager use report distribution nodes to deliver PS/nVision reports. The distribution node definition specifies the report repository location and the location of the stored content (the files) for Report Manager. When PS/nVision creates a report instance, it passes the physical file location information to PeopleSoft Process Scheduler. Process Scheduler then passes the file to Report Manager using the information defined on the Distribution Node page.

See Also

Setting Distribution Options

Defining Report Nodes

Creating Scope Definitions

Select Reporting Tools, PS/nVision, Define Scope.

See Defining Report Scopes.

See Creating Report Requests.

Creating a scope definition on the web is similar to defining it in the Windows client with the following exception: You cannot specify an effective date for the tree node table or value table. The current date is used as the effective date.

The following example shows a Scope Definition page.

Scopes are defined based on a tree node record or a value table such as Department table or Product table. By defining your scope based on a table that includes an email address or user ID for each value you can direct each scope based-report instance to a different user. For example, the record shown below can be used with a scope definition as a value table to have each report instance emailed or posted to a different user in Report Manager.

Scope variables are used in the Email and Security templates the same way that you use them to create unique file names with the File template or directory names with the Directory template in your report request. The Scope Descriptive Variable (%DES%) is used to select a related field value from the Scope Value table or the Tree Node table. You can use values for email addresses, user Ids, or role Ids. The general syntax of the %DES% variable is:

%DES.[scope field].[detail field].[node field]%

If your scope is based on a value table, replace [node field] with [detail field]. The [detail field] is repeated so that the basic format of the syntax remains the same.

Note. The %DES% variable requires the associated field value be in the same table that the scope is based on.

Email Template Variables

To have each report instance sent as email to the associated department manager’s email address you would enter the following values in your email template:

%DES.DEPTID.EMAILID.EMAILID%

This tells PS/nVision to use the associated email address from the EMAILID field from the value table where the DEPTID is located. You need to specify email as the output type on the report request.

The scope descriptive variable (%DES%) is used to select a related field value from the scope value table. For example, if your scope were based on the record shown above, you would produce three report instances, and each instance would be sent to the associated email address. The report for department 12000 would be emailed to [email protected], and the report for 13000 would be emailed to [email protected]. The report for department 14000 would be emailed to several recipients—Kathy Lin, Peter Yu, and the email addresses for the users who belong to the role Asia Manager. You can specify the user email addresses associated with users and roles in the user profiles of Maintain Security.

Security Template Variables

Using the record above for the value table, you could post each report instance to Report Manager for the associated user. In this case you would use web as the output type and enter the following variables in the security template:

%DES.DEPTID.OPRID.OPRID%

The report for department 12000 would be posted to Report Manager for user JOHNSMITH, and the report for 13000 would be posted for user JANEWHITE. John Smith would not be able to access the Department 13000 report. The report for department 14000 would be posted to Report Manager for Kathy Lin, Peter Yu, and the other users belonging to the role Asia Manager.

Sample Record Definition

The record definition shown below was used to create a view that joins the department record (DEPT_TBL) with a PeopleSoft security record (PSOPRDEFN).

SQL View Text

The SQL view text joins the PS_DEPT_TBL.MANAGER_ID with the PSOPRDEFN.EMPLID in security. The email address and user ID (OPRID) are taken from PSOPRDEFN.

SELECT B.DEPTID 
, B.DESCR 
, B.DESCRSHORT 
, ‘U:’ + A.OPRID 
, A.EMAILID 
, A.EMPLID 
FROM PSOPRDEFN A 
, PS_DEPT_TBL B 
WHERE B.EFFDT = ( 
SELECT MAX(B_ED.EFFDT) 
FROM PS_DEPT_TBL B_ED 
WHERE B.DEPTID = B_ED.DEPTID 
AND B_ED.EFFDT <= SUBSTRING(CONVERT(CHAR,GETDATE(),121), 1, 10)) 
AND A.EMPLID = B.MANAGER_ID AND B.MANAGER_ID <> ‘’

Note. This is a simple example with Microsoft SQL database platform specific syntax and should not be used without careful evaluation. You may get unpredictable results if the scope definition returns more than one row from the value table for each scope value.

Setting Up Report Requests

This section describes how to:

• Create report requests.

• Configure delivery templates.

• Use portal folders.

• Copy report requests.

• Set advanced options.

Creating Report Requests

Access the nVision Report Request page.

Select Reporting Tools, PS/nVision, Define Report Request to display the Report Request search page.

By default, report requests you create are secure, meaning that they are available only to you and to any users or groups you assign. You can make a report request public, allowing access to any user.

The report request security options are configurable using the PeopleTools Options page.

See Creating Report Requests.

See Securing Report Requests.

See PeopleTools Options.

Searching Report Requests

When you search for report requests, the search returns only the reports to which you have access. These include your own report requests, any to which you have been given access by other users, and any that are public.

Configuring Delivery Templates

Click Scope and Delivery Templates on the nVision Report Request page.

See Creating Report Requests.

Report Request template options allow you to use PS/nVision variables or static text to specify report delivery options, including using portal folders. Using this page, you can also specify scope fields to personalize reports. Template options are displayed dynamically based on your output type on the PS/nVision Web Output page—only the options that you must specify for that output type appear. By combining scope and DES variables in templates, you can have different instances of the same report delivered to different email addresses, or posted to individual users in Report Manager.

To see all available template options, select Scope and Delivery Templates − View All from the Advanced Options tab of the Report Request page.

Using Portal Folders

Portal folders can be used to organize nVision report results into meaningful groups. When creating a report request with the output option of Web or Window, you can select the top level folder, and then define a sub folder where the report result will be posted. Sub folders can be created dynamically by using nVision variables to generate the folder names, or statically by entering the actual folder name. Sub folders will be created under the selected top level folder and can be viewed from Report Manager.

To create a sub folder:

1. Select Reporting Tools, PS/nVision, Define Report Request.

2. Enter report request information. Select Web or Window as the Output Option.

3. Click on the Scope and Delivery Templates link to display the nVision Web Output page

4. Choose the Top Level Folder from the Folder Name drop-down list.

5. Enter the name of your sub folder in the Directory Name Template field. You can use variables to create unique folder names.

   If the folder doesn’t exist, PS/nVision will create the folder in Report Manager. For example:

   Reports\%SFV%- %RID%
   \My Folder\Finance Reports

Selecting Portal Folders

Portal folders can be selected from:

• Distribution Detail page.

  Select report request and run report. Change Output Type to Web or Window and then click on the Distribute To icon.

• Scope and Delivery Templates - nVision Web Output page.

• Process Definition page.

  Select PeopleTools, Process Scheduler, Processes. Select Process Type as nVision-Report and enter NVSRUN as the Process Name. Select Destination tab.

Note. Sub folders can only be created from the Enter Delivery Options - nVision Web Output page.

At runtime, Process Scheduler will create the top level folder based on the following priority order:

• Distribution Detail page.

• Enter delivery Options - nVision Web Output page.

• Process Definition page.

If a folder has not been selected on any of the above pages, the default folder defined by the administrator will be used.

See Also

Working With Processes and Reports

Copying Requests

Select Copy to Another Business Unit/Clone from the nVision Report Request page.

Business Unit	Select a business unit to copy the report request to. To clone the request, choose the same business unit as the original request.
Report ID Text Box	Enter a new report ID to copy the report request to another business unit. Enter the same report ID to clone the request.

Security and Copying Report Requests

When you copy a secure report request, all the groups and users associated with that request are copied from the original request to the new copy.

If you want to copy a report request to another existing report request, the existing request must either be public or you must have access to it. If you do not have access, an error message will display. Note also that if you copy a report request to another report request, only those users and groups with access to the original will have access to the target after the copy. Any users or groups who had access to the target prior to the copy but not the original are removed from the access list; if you want them to have access, you must re-assign it after the copy is complete.

For example, assume users A and B have access to Report Request 1, and users A and C have access to Report Request 2. If User A copies Report Request 1 to Report Request 2, following the copy only users A and B will have access to Report Request 2—user C no longer has access.

Setting Advanced Options

Select the Advanced Options tab on the nVision Report Request page.

This page allows you to change high level specifications for your report request.

See Creating Report Requests.

See Also

Using PS/nVision Reporting for Global Implementations

Creating Report Requests

Submitting Report Requests

This section describes how to:

• Run reports.

• Set report distribution.

Running Reports

Changes to the nVision report request are not saved when the user clicks the Run button, thus enabling the user to run adhoc reports as they would from the nVision windows client. If changes have been made to the report request, and the user attempts to navigate to a different page such as using the Process Monitor link, the user is prompted to either save or discard the changes made to the report request.

Select the Run Report button to display the Process Scheduler Request page.

Choose Default in the Type and Format menus to use the options specified in the report request, or override the request by making new choices.

PS/nVision reports have two different formats for creating report instances: HTML and Excel. Both formats are valid with all output types. To use HTML, Excel 2000 or later must be installed on your PS/nVision report server.

The Type menu includes these choices:

Setting Report Distribution

Select the Distribution icon to display the Distribution Detail page. This page appears only when the output type is web, window, or email.

This page enables you to choose the recipients of your report instances separate from what you have specified in your report request. If the output type is email, beside email addresses you can also enter an email subject and message. If you are entering a list of email addresses, make sure to use a semicolon (;) to separate each address from the others.

Note. To distribute reports to a role ID or a user ID using email, all recipients must have an email address entered in their Security user profile.

See Also

Administering User Profiles

Using Report Books

This section describes how to:

• Define report books.

• Run report books.

• Set type and output options.

• Run multiple report books.

Understanding Report Books

You can group multiple report requests into a single report book. Report book features include:

• An interface to Process Scheduler Manager.

  Using a browser, you schedule a group of reports to run using a Process Scheduler request. Your reports are executed on the server in the format that you choose, and you can run the entire report book with the same output type and format without changing any individual component requests. You can also schedule your report books to run at a particular time on a regular basis.

• An effective status associated with each request in the report book.

  You can set individual report requests within a report book as inactive. Inactive report requests remain part of the report book but are not run as part of a request.

• Security associated with each request in the report book.

  Each individual report request in a report book has its own security setting that allows it to be accessed by specific users and groups or by the public.

• A method for individual report requests to inherit dates from the report book.

  You can run an entire report nook using the same as of date, without changing any individual component requests.

• Multiple nVision sessions can be scheduled on a single report server.

  Each nVision session is associated with its own Excel executable. This enables you to maximize use of your report server without requiring multiple report servers for multiple report books.

• Robust batch processing of message logging.

  You can generate an entire set of reports without the process being interrupted due to an error condition.

Note. Date and time variables are resolved based on the calendar being used by the PS/nVision report server that runs the report.

Defining Report Books

Before creating a report book, make sure you have report requests defined for all the reports you want to include in the book. The report book is a list of requests, not a substitute for the request. You might also want to review the requests you plan to use to ensure they use the desired scope and layout, and ensure that you have access to all the reports you want to include in the report book.

Open a report book by selecting Reporting Tools, PS/nVision, Define Report Book. Then from the Define Report Book page you enter the run control ID of an existing report book to modify it, or select the Add a New Value tab to create a new report book.

As Of Date	Select Default to use the As Of Date from the report request. Select Today’s Date to use the current date for the report. Select Business Unit Reporting Date to use the date specified for the business unit. Select Specify to enter the date you want to report on.
Tree Effective Date	Select Default to use the specified Tree Effective Date from the report request. Select Specify to enter the date you want to report on. Select Use As of Reporting Date to create the report based on the As Of Reporting Date that you’ve specified in the report.
Ignore Runtime Errors	Select this check box to keep the entire Report Book from stopping if one of the reports encounters an error. Note. In such a case, the completion status will be Success even though one or more reports may have had errors.
View button	Click to launch another browser window displaying the report request.
Business Unit and Report ID	Select the business unit and report ID of the report requests for this report book. To reorder your entries, insert or delete rows as necessary.
Run	Select for all reports you want to run when this book is requested. For example, you might define a book of reports to be run at month end, and include a report that is only run quarterly, but select its Run indicator only at quarter end.
	Adds a new, blank row, allowing you to enter a new report request. Note. You cannot add a report request to a report book if you do not have access to it.
	Deletes the current row.

Running Report Books

Access the Report Book page.

You can run all the reports in a group or select specific reports by selecting their check boxes in the Run column.

Note. If the report book contains secured report requests to which you don't have access, these report requests will appear inactive and you will not be allowed to select them.

Report books are run through Process Scheduler Request page. However, when the report begins to run, you are returned to the Report Book page. If you want to check the status of your job, select the link to Process Monitor, where you can view the status of your job. Click Report Manager to see the list of reports that you have access to.

If you chose to run all the report requests in a report book that contains secured report requests, only those requests to which you have access will be run. PS/nVision will not process reports you don't have access to, and an error message will appear in the error log.

See Also

Submitting and Scheduling Process Requests

Securing Report Requests

Selecting Type and Output Options

Choose Default in the Type and Format menus to use the options specified in the report book, or override the report book by making new choices.

See Running Reports.

Running Multiple Report Books

To define your process server to handle multiple report book jobs:

1. Select PeopleTools, Process Scheduler Manager, Use, Server Definitions.

2. Choose the server name you're using for your report books (generally this is PSNT).

   On the lower half of the page, you'll see the list of servers available.

3. Find the process type named nVision − Report Book and make sure that the Max Concurrent field is set to the required number.

   This allows multiple report book jobs to run concurrently.

Using DrillDown on the Web

DrillDowns are run on the PS/nVision report server (like report requests and report books), and are accessible through Report Manager. You can also select to run the DrillDown using the output type of Window, which automatically delivers the results to a new browser window. A copy of the results will also be accessible through Report Manager.

You can drill down on individual cells within the report by clicking on the amount cells within an HTML report or by selecting the cell and using Drill from the nVisionDrill menu for an Excel report. This section describes how to:

• Install required software to drill down on Excel reports.

• Register DrillDown layouts.

• Use DrillDown.

• Use DrillDown with multiple application servers.

A drilldown result report inherits the output format of its parent report. So if the parent instance is in Excel format, then the drilldown result is in Excel format.

Note. DrillDown in a web browser does not include the AutoDrill, Drill-to-Query, and Drill-to-Panel options.

Installing Required Software to Drill Down on Excel Reports

To drill down on Excel reports, the Microsoft VBA (Visual Basic Application) add-in DrillToPIA.xla file needs to be installed on your client machine. This file is stored in the %PS_HOME%\Excel directory on the Application Server. Your System Administrator will need to distribute a copy of this file to all users who need to drilldown on Excel reports on the Web. The file is not required if you are drilling down from reports that are in HTML format.

Note. If a non-English version of Excel is used, translated versions of DrillToPIA.xla can be found in the %PS_HOME%\Excel\%LANG% directory on the Application Server.

Note. In Apple Macintosh systems, nVision DrillToPIA add-in launches Internet Explorer for the drilldown page when drilling is performed on an Excel report, regardless of the browser from which the original report is opened.

To load the add-in DrillToPIA.xla file into the Excel environment:

1. Place the file DrillToPIA.xla into the Excel add-in directory

   If Microsoft Office is installed in %MS_OFFICE%, then the Excel add-ins directory is %MS_OFFICE%\Office\Library.

2. Launch Excel, select Tools, Add-ins, and then select DrillToPIA in the Add-ins dialog box.

   The nVisionDrill menu appears in the Excel menu bar.

Note. To remove the add-in from the Excel menu, clear DrillToPIA from the Add-Ins dialog box.

Registering DrillDown Layouts

All DrillDown layouts are created in the Windows version of PS/nVision, but can be used in both Windows and a browser.

When you register a DrillDown layout, you associate it with a Process Scheduler server. You can have a set of DrillDown layouts specific to financial applications registered to a Process Scheduler server that is dedicated to financial applications and have a set of DrillDown layouts specific to Human Resources registered to its own Process Scheduler server. To make a DrillDown layout available to multiple Process Scheduler servers, register the DrillDown layout on each server. When you drill down, you can choose a report server to run the report.

To register a DrillDown Layout:

1. Select Reporting Tools, PS/nVision, Register Drilldown Layout.

2. Enter a server name, or use the Search button to select from a list of available servers.

   The Drilldown Layouts page appears.

3. Add another row to the page.

4. Enter the name of the DrillDown layout and its description. The name of the layout must match the name of the DrillDown layout that you created in Windows.

5. Click Save.

The following example shows a DrillDown Layout page.

See Also

Setting Report Distribution

Using DrillDown Layout Formats

DrillDown and Summary Ledger

Using DrillDown

Once a report has been run as web, window, or file output, you can open it and run drill down on specific amount fields.

Note. To drill down on a report that will be run as file output, you must first set the Process Scheduler configuration for the nVision - EnableDrillDownForFile option as 1.The default value is 0, which means drilldown is disabled.

Note that if you drill down on a report that has been run to file output, and you are not logged onto a PeopleSoft domain—or the PeopleSoft webserver domain that you are logged onto is not the report server's webserver domain—and your ByPassSignOn Web server configuration property is set to True, then you will not be able to access the drilldown results. The system will return the signon page with an error message indicating that your default password is not authorized.

When using http/https as the transfer protocol (in report node), there is an additional criterion that needs to be met to enable drill down from a report sent to file output. The security template of the parent report request should be set to specify which Users or Roles will have the authorization to be able to perform a web drilldown on the report. If the Security Template is left blank, then only the user that ran the parent report will be able to perform a web drilldown on it. When using file output type, you can access the security template by going into the advanced tab of the report request, and clicking on the hyperlink Enter Delivery Template Options - View All.

Also, note that in prior PeopleTools releases, web drilldown from an Excel report (using the DrillToPIA add-in) would not work if the report sheetname had spaces in it. This has been fixed in 8.47. However, do not use special characters such as ‘ , ” , < , > , [ , ] , / , \ , * , ?.

Finally, a PeopleTools upgrade may cause the web server domain name, port number, or servlet path required to access web server resources in the PeopleSoft Pure Internet Architecture to change. As a result, PS/nVision drilldown operations on reports that were created prior to upgrade would fail. This is primarily because drilldown hyperlinks are by design hard-coded into PS/nVision reports. We have provided a simple search and replace utility that you can use to replace old hyperlinks with new ones. This MS Excel macro is located in the PS_HOME\nVision directory.

See Editing the PeopleSoft Process Scheduler Configuration File.

To perform a DrillDown on a HTML or Excel report:

1. Open the report in Report Manager.

2. Click the link for the field that you want to drill on for a HTML report, or highlight the field you want to drill on for an Excel report. Click on the Drill menu when the cell is selected.

   The Run Drilldown page is displayed in a new browser window.

   For HTML reports, a field is drillable if you pass your cursor over the field and the cursor changes to a hand. For Excel reports, if the selected cell is not drillable, you receive a warning message.

3. Select the output type Window or Web from the Type drop-down list.

4. Select the server you want your report to run on for the drilldown layout you want.

   The dropdown list only includes the servers that have the associated layout registered with them.

5. Click Run Drilldown for the drilldown layout you want to use.

   • Web: The Report Manager Report List page appears again.

   • Window: Result of the DrillDown will be automatically delivered to a new browser window, and a copy sent to Report Manager.

     Note. When you select to run the DrillDown, a new browser window opens and displays the processing page. When processing is complete the results of the DrillDown will be delivered to this window. If the window is closed before processing is complete, you will need to go to Report Manager to view the results.

6. On the Report Manager, Report List page, click Refresh.

   After your DrillDown runs, it appears as a report in your report list. DrillDown report descriptions always include DR, the parent process instance number, and the original report description.

7. Click the Report link for the DrillDown to display the Report Index page.

8. Click the link for the DrillDown to see the DrillDown results.

Web-based DrillDowns persist—they are files that permanently exist on your report server, not just temporary files as in the Windows client. DrillDown instances in the Web can be viewed and distributed in the same manner as any other report that you run on the browser.