EMC ApplicationXtender Reports Management 6.0 Administrator s Quick Reference 300-008-284 REV A01 EMC Corporation Corporate Headquarters: Hopkinton, MA 01748-9103 1-508-435-1000 www.emc.com
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Contents ApplicationXtender Reports Management Administrator s Quick Reference... 4 Using the AppXtender Configuration Toolbar... 4 Exporting Data with AppXtender Reports Mgmt... 5 Starting an AppXtender Workflow Business Process... 6 Processing Report Files... 7 Processing Print Stream Files... 8 Glossary... 9 3
ApplicationXtender Reports Management Administrator s Quick Reference The ApplicationXtender Reports Management Administrator s Quick Reference is designed to provide quick reference and setup information for ApplicationXtender Reports Management (AppXtender Reports Mgmt) to experienced administrators and is not intended to take the place of the ApplicationXtender Reports Management Administrator s Guide. Using the AppXtender Configuration Toolbar The following table describes each button on the AppXtender Reports Mgmt Configuration Toolbar. Table 1 Configuration Toolbar Buttons Button Function Allows you to retrace your steps backward. Allows you to retrace your steps forward. This button is available only when you have already used the Back button to retrace your steps backward. Selects the node up one level from the currently selected node. This button is not available when the AppXtender Reports Mgmt Configuration node (the root node of the AppXtender Reports Mgmt Configuration Admin tree structure) is selected. Shows or hides the left pane of the AppXtender Reports Mgmt Configuration Admin, which contains the AppXtender Reports Mgmt Configuration Admin tree structure. Refreshes the selected list of print stream type, report type, or processor logs. Deletes the selected print stream type, report type, procedure, source specification, or AppXtender Workflow server connection. This button is available only when one of those items is selected. Displays the Properties dialog box for the selected print stream type, report type, procedure, index field, data field, AppXtender Workflow server connection, source specification, or one of many other configuration items. The Properties dialog box allows you to view or modify properties for the selected item. This button is available only when an item that has properties is selected. Displays the Save As dialog box for the selected item. The Save As dialog box allows you to export information about the selected item. Displays Online Help. 4 4
Exporting Data with AppXtender Reports Mgmt 1. Configure AppXtender Reports Mgmt to process report files (and print stream files, if necessary). For instructions, see Processing Report Files and Processing Print Stream Files. 2. Perform the following additional configurations in the AppXtender Reports Mgmt Configuration Admin: Specify the Data Export Path. (Expand the Report Processors node. Right-click the Local Computer node. Select Suspend. Expand the Local Computer node and the Configuration node. Select the Paths node. From the list on the right, double-click Data Export Path. Specify the path to and name of the directory in which you want the AppXtender Reports Mgmt Report Processor to export files for use in data mining applications. Click OK. Right-click the Local Computer node. Select Resume.) Configure the B.I. Gateway tab for the report type. (Expand the Report Types node. Right-click the report type. Select Start update. Right-click the report type. Select Properties. Click the B.I. Gateway tab. Follow the prompts. Click OK. Right-click the report type. Select Accept changes.) 3. If you want AppXtender Reports Mgmt to extract additional information for business intelligence purposes (in addition to the index information extracted for ApplicationXtender (AppXtender) document creation): Create additional data fields for the report type. (Expand the Report Types node. Right-click the report type. Select Start update. Expand the report type's node. Right-click Data Fields. Select New Data Field. Follow the prompts. Click Finish.) Edit the report type s procedures to extract and store values in the new data fields. (Select the Procedures node. From the list of procedures on the right, right-click the procedure. Select Properties. Edit the procedure. Click OK. Right-click the report type. Select Accept changes.) 4. If you want to configure AppXtender Reports Mgmt and AppXtender to export a file for business intelligence from indexed documents: Specify the B.I. Gateway Path in AppXtender Reports Mgmt. (Expand the Report Processors node. Right-click the Local Computer node. Select Suspend. Expand the Local Computer node and the Configuration node. Select the Paths node. From the list on the right, double-click B.I. Gateway Path. Specify the path to and name of the directory in which you want AppXtender Reports Mgmt to generate an ERMX.INI file for AppXtender to find. Click OK.) 5
Configure a report source to use an INI file and specify a UNC path as the source directory. (Select the Report Sources node. Double-click the source. When finished, click OK. Right-click the Local Computer node. Select Resume.) AppXtender Reports Mgmt generates information about the report type and report source in an ERMX.INI file in the specified B.I. Gateway Path. Specify a Business Intelligence Gateway Path in AppXtender. This path must be equivalent to the B.I. Gateway Path in AppXtender Reports Mgmt so that AppXtender can find the ERMX.INI file. Submit reports from AppXtender to AppXtender Reports Mgmt. (For instructions, see the ApplicationXtender Core Components Administrator s Guide and the ApplicationXtender User s Guide.) Starting an AppXtender Workflow Business Process 1. Install and configure ApplicationXtender and ApplicationXtender Workflow (AppXtender Workflow) so that fields for the business process that you want AppXtender Reports Mgmt to start are associated with fields in the AppXtender application to which you want AppXtender Reports Mgmt to upload documents. Also make sure that the AppXtender Workflow Workbox has been installed on the same computer as AppXtender Reports Mgmt. For instructions, refer to the ApplicationXtender Core Components Administrator s Guide and the ApplicationXtender Workflow Administrator s Guide. 2. In the AppXtender Reports Mgmt Configuration Admin, create a connection to the AppXtender Workflow server. (Right-click the AppXtender Workflow Servers node. Select Configure AppXtender Workflow Server. Follow the prompts. Click Finish.) 3. Configure AppXtender Reports Mgmt to process report files (and print stream files, if necessary). For instructions, see Processing Report Files and Processing Print Stream Files. 4. Enable the Send BP Notification to AppXtender Workflow Server option for a report type. (Expand the Report Types node. Rightclick the report type. Select Start update. Right-click the report type. Select Properties. Click the Upload tab. Enable the Send BP Notification to AppXtender Workflow Server option. Click OK.) 5. Make sure that the report type s procedures will extract and store values for the AppXtender index fields that were created for the AppXtender Workflow business process. (Expand the Report Types node. Expand a report. Select the Procedures node. From the list of procedures on the right, right-click the procedure. Select Properties. Edit the procedure. Click OK. Right-click the report type. Select Accept changes.) 6 6
Processing Report Files 1. Make sure the computer on which AppXtender Reports Mgmt is installed can connect to the system AppXtender data source to which you intend to upload indexed documents. If you intend to submit documents in AppXtender to AppXtender Reports Mgmt for the purpose of exporting files for a business intelligence application, locate the data source from which you intend to send AppXtender documents. (Select Content Repositories > AppXtender Data Source Selector. Click Locate. Specify the connection to the data source.) 2. Make sure the AppXtender application to which you intend to store indexed documents has been created. For instructions, see the ApplicationXtender Core Components Administrator s Guide. 3. Create a report type for the set of report files that you want to process. (Right-click the Report Types node. Select New Report Type. Follow the prompts.) 4. Make sure the propagation of index fields is appropriate for the structure of the report files. (Expand the Report Types node. Rightclick the report type. Select Start update. Expand the report type's node. Select the Data Fields node. From the list of index fields on the right, double-click the index field that you want to modify. Select the type and level of propagation that you want to use for the selected index field. Click OK.) 5. Create extraction procedures. (Right-click Procedures. Select New Procedure. Enter the text of the procedure using XDS. To test the syntax of the procedure, click Check syntax. Click Finish. Rightclick the report type. Select Accept changes.) 6. Use XDS Visual Tester to test these procedures. (Select the report type. Right-click the report type. Select View and then select Visual Tester. Use the toolbar to test the procedures in various ways.) 7. Create at least one source specification for the report type. (Expand the Report Processors node. Right-click the Local Computer node. Select Suspend. Expand the Local Computer node and the Configuration node. Right-click the Report Sources node. Select New Source. Follow the prompts. Click Finish. Rightclick the Local Computer node. Select Resume.) 8. Place the files that you want to process in the report source directory. The AppXtender Reports Mgmt Report Processor processes the files according to the current report type configuration, procedures, index field propagation settings, and source specifications. 7
Processing Print Stream Files 1. Create a print stream type for the set of print stream files. (Rightclick the Print Stream Types node. Select New Print Stream Type. Follow the prompts.) 2. Create at least one source specification for the print stream type. You can specify the source directory for an existing report type as the output directory for the print stream type. (Expand the Print Stream Processors node. Right-click the Local Computer node. Select Suspend. Expand the Local Computer node and the Configuration node. Right-click the Print Stream Sources node. Select New Source. Follow the prompts. Click Finish. Right-click the Local Computer node. Select Resume.) 3. Place the files that you want to convert in the print stream source directory. The AppXtender Reports Mgmt Print Stream Processor processes the files according to the current print stream type configuration and source specifications for the print stream type. Note: Remember to suspend the relevant processor before adding a source or changing source or processor configuration, and then resume the processor when finished. Similarly, remember to start update for a report type before changing the report type s configuration, and then accept changes when finished. 8 8
Glossary The following table lists terms used in AppXtender Reports Mgmt. Table 2 AppXtender Reports Mgmt Terms Term Conversion Business intelligence Business process Data export path Data field Description A conversion, in the case of AFP, Metacode, or PCL print stream files, refers to the generation of a PDF file from the original print stream file. In the case of EBCDIC, EBCDIK, or non-standard ASCII print stream files, this term refers to the generation of a standard ASCII file from the original print stream file. Business intelligence solutions allow users to access and analyze data, identify patterns and correlations within their set of data, and create predictive models that anticipate behavior based on historic trends in the data. A business process in AppXtender Workflow is a collection of interactions, or workflows, through which work is transacted for a particular purpose. Rules are set to create a defined sequence for the flow of work within a business process. AppXtender Reports Mgmt and AppXtender Workflow can be configured to allow business process instances to be automatically initiated by the upload of documents from AppXtender Reports Mgmt to AppXtender. The data export path is the path to which AppXtender Reports Mgmt exports files for use in business intelligence applications, if you configure report types to allow the export of data to this directory. The term data field is used in two different ways: A data field is any field for which AppXtender Reports Mgmt extracts data from reports, including index fields. Sometimes this term is used to refer to the data fields that are not index fields. If you have specified an appropriate application for each report type, the AppXtender Reports Mgmt Configuration Admin automatically lists all of the index fields that you need for each of those report types. Data source A data source is a composite of the database where an application stores information and the data provider used by the application (or consumer) to access the data. 9
Table 2 AppXtender Reports Mgmt Terms (Continued) Term Index field Print stream file Print stream type Procedure Report file Report type Source specification Standard ASCII XDS Description An index field is a container for extracted values. Index fields are created in the AppXtender component AppXtender AppGen for each application. When the AppXtender Reports Mgmt Report Processor processes a report, it extracts values and stores them in a set of index fields called an index record. When the processing is complete, AppXtender Reports Mgmt uploads the index record together with the appropriate pages of the report as a new document to AppXtender. When a user retrieves this document in AppXtender, the values in the index field identify the document. A print stream file is output that would normally be destined for the printer but has been diverted to a computer file instead. A print stream type is a set of parameters defining how AppXtender Reports Mgmt processes a set of print stream files. A procedure is a script written in Extract Definition Script (XDS) that indicates to AppXtender Reports Mgmt how index values should be extracted from reports. Also known as extraction procedure. A report file is any generated file that provides information in an organized way. A report type is a set of parameters and extraction procedures defining how AppXtender Reports Mgmt processes a set of report files. A source specification is a set of parameters you specify to indicate how AppXtender Reports Mgmt should detect files for processing and how AppXtender Reports Mgmt should handle those files when processing is complete. The AppXtender Reports Mgmt Report Processor can extract index information from ASCII files that use carriage return line feed for each line break and use form feed carriage return line feed for each page break. Extract Definition Script (XDS) is a high-level procedure language developed specifically for AppXtender Reports Mgmt, which allows you to define extraction procedures for each report type. 10 10