QCBD Report Engine User s Manual Version 6.0.0.0 Table of Contents OVERVIEW... 1 REPORT ENGINE CONSOLE... 2 EMAIL CONFIGURE... 2 REPORT SETUP... 4 SCHEDULING REPORTS... 8 LOG REPORT HISTORY... 9 REPORT ENGINE SERVICE... 10 APPENDIX A INSTALLATION AND SETUP... 11 FIRST TIME INSTALLATION... 11 SET UP APPLICATION (RE SETUP.EXE)... 12 INSTALLING THE RE CONSOLE APPLICATION... 13 INSTALLING THE RE SERVICE APPLICATION... 13 APPENDIX B TROUBLESHOOTING... 16 REPORTS DO NOT RUN... 16 Overview QCBD Report Engine is an application which allows you to select and schedule reports to run automatically. Reports run unattended, according to a selected schedule. The reports are emailed to recipients that you select. All reports are output as Excel files which are then attached to the email. All reports are based on queries run against the information contained in the QCBD database. QCBD Report Engine includes a large number of standard module based reports. In addition, any saved queries created by QCBD users which are saved as public queries are available to include as reports in QCBD Report Engine. Selecting which reports you want to schedule is easy and quick (see the section Report Engine Console). There are two software components that make up the QCBD Report Engine. The Report Engine Console (RE Console) and the Report Engine Service (RE Service). There is a third application Report Engine Setup (RE Setup) which is used to install and turn on or turn off the other two RE components. The RE Console is where all settings and report selections are made. It is the administrative component of the Report Engine. The RE Service is the software component that runs as a service on your server. The service runs silently in the background and runs reports according to a schedule and sends reports silently (via email) to a list of
recipients. (The scheduling of reports and selection of email recipients is managed in the RE Console.) There is no user interface for the RE Service. QCBD Report Engine is designed to work with your existing installation of QCBD and requires the purchase of a separate QCBD Report Engine license key. NOTE: RE Console and RE setup applications can only be run by users that have been given QCBD System Supervisor rights. Report Engine Console The Report Engine Console (RE_CONSOLE.EXE) is used to configure reports and the email settings used to send the reports. The QCBD Report Engine Console application requires that you log on with QCBD System Supervisor rights. Topics Email Configure Email Configure Report Setup Scheduling Reports Log Report History The EMAIL CONFIGURE tab is where you tell the QCBD Report Engine how to send emails. Here, you define the parameters used by an SMTP mail server for outgoing mail. Begin by creating an email profile. An email profile provides all the required SMTP Server information needed to create and send outgoing mail messages.
Select the command and enter a name to use for this mail profile In QCBD Standard Edition, you can only select the USE SMTP MAIL option. QCBD Enterprise Edition users can also select the USE SQL SERVER DATABASE MAIL option. With the SQL SERVER DATABASE MAIL option, you only have to enter the database mail profile name. No other settings are required. With the USE SMTP MAIL option selected, you must provide the SMTP Server name, Port and a reply to email address. (See your SQL Server documentation for configuring SQL Server Database Mail.) For USE SMTP MAIL users, if your outgoing mail SMTP server uses Secure Socket Layer, check this option and if necessary, assign the required SMPT Port. For USE SMTP MAIL users, if your outgoing mail SMTP server requires authentication, enter the appropriate credentials. (example - settings used for gmail) After entering all the required information, you can send a test message by pressing the command. After successfully testing your email settings, be sure to press the command.
You can create one or more email profiles. If you create more than one email profile, you must designate one of the profiles to be the default profile. The default profile is the profile used by QCBD Report Engine when sending emails. Report Setup The REPORT SETUP tab is where you tell the QCBD Report Engine the what, who and when for sending reports; what reports you want, who you want the reports sent to and when you want the reports to be run. Start by selecting the CREATE NEW command. Step 1. (WHAT Report) Select which QCBD module you want to report on. All the QCBD modules will be listed here in alphabetical order. Two additional report selections are listed at the bottom: Dashboard View and Open Tasks.
Step 2. Depending on which module you select, you can select the appropriate class. NOTE: Three modules (Equipment, Supplier and Training) do not have a class option. OR Step 2A. For the Equipment and Training modules, instead of a class option you must select from a Report Type option instead. Step 3. Select a Report Style. A report style defines the fields that will be displayed in the report. The Report Style selections come directly from the Report section in QCBD. Report Styles are created by you in QCBD and define the fields which you want to appear in the report. This is a screen shot taken from QCBD.
The Report Style selections you see listed are standard QCBD reports which have been configured as a public report. Step 5. For most modules and report styles, you have must select a query. This is a screen shot taken from QCBD. The Query selections come directly from the Filter Criteria section of the Reports screen in QCBD. Saved Queries are created by you in QCBD and define the data which you want to appear in the report. The Query selections you see listed are the Saved Queries you see in the QCBD reports screen. Only saved queries that have been saved as public will be listed. Step 6. (WHO to send to) Select who you want the report sent to. There are two ways to select users; by name and by role. These screen shots were taken from QCBD.
When selecting users by name, you select individual QCBD users from a list of available users. These users must have read and report privileges for the selected report module. When you select users by role, you select from the special role names listed at the top of the available choices list. The roles that appear will vary depending on the selected module. Role %APPROVER% %ASSIGNED TO% %APPROVAL COORDINATOR% %CHANGE COORDINATOR% %EMPLOYEE% Explanation Selecting %Approver% will substitute the names (email addresses) of actual approvers for any records that match the report or query criteria. %Approver% appears as a choice for any module with an approval tab (CAPAs, Complaints, Change Orders, etc.). Selecting %Assigned To% will substitute the name (email address) of QCBD users whose name appears in the assigned to field. %Assigned To% appears as a choice for modules that have an assigned to field (CAPAs, Complaints, and Nonconformance s). Selecting %Approval Coordinator% will substitute the name (email address) of QCBD users who have been assigned as a approval coordinator (refer to the approval tab in QCBD). Selecting %Change Coordinator% will substitute the name (email address) of QCBD users who have been assigned as a change coordinator on the Masterlist Change Order form. %Employee% is used with training module reports and will substitute the name (email address) of the employee.
%INITIATOR% %REPORTS TO% %USER ACCOUNT% Selecting %Initiator% will substitute the name (email address) of QCBD users whose name appears in the initiator field. %Initiator% appears as a choice for modules that have an initiator field (CAPAs, Complaints, and Nonconformance s, etc.). %Reports To% is used with training module reports and will substitute the name (email address) of employees whose name appears in the reports to field. %User Account% is used with Dashboard View reports and will substitute the name (email address) of QCBD user whose name appears in the User Account field. Reports that use roles in the email address will be emailed directly to the QCBD user represented by that role. Roles permit you send reports directly to relevant users without having to select individual users by name. Step 7. (WHEN to send) Select when you want the report be sent. You select the frequency (how often) the report is emailed to the targeted recipients. The Waiting for Approval reports have a special frequency selection. These reports are sent to approvers who have not responded to their initial request for approval (they have neither approved nor rejected, their approval is still waiting). Waiting for Approval reports are used to notify the approver that action is required. Scheduling Reports The SCHEDULE tab allows you to view when your reports were last run and when they are scheduled to run next. You can change the next scheduled run date or run the report immediately.
The STANDARD RUN TIME is the time of day when the report is schedule to run. It is based on a 24 hour clock (01:00 is 1:00 AM and 24:00 is 12:00 AM). All reports run according to the day/time on the server where the SQL Server resides. This time may not be the same as your local time. It is recommended that you run the reports during off hours when there are fewer users and less demand on server, network and mail resources. You can change the scheduled run time or the next scheduled run date by selecting a date. Be sure to select the SAVE command. You can run a report immediately using the RUN NOW command. Once the report has completed, it will automatically be reschedule to run according to the frequency interval you selected for that report (see Step 7 in Report Setup above). Log Report History The LOG tab displays a history of all reports run during the last 60 days.
The log tells you when a report ran and who it was emailed to. If there are errors attempting to run a report, the error will be listed in the Error Message column. Log entries for reports that were run longer than 60 days ago are automatically deleted. Report Engine Service Once the QCBD Report Engine Service application has been installed and started, you can view its status by opening the Windows Event Viewer console. Look for entries where the source is QCBD_RE_SERVICE. Normal processing events are logged at the information level.
Problems or errors are logged at the error level. Appendix A Installation and Setup Topics First Time Installation Set up Application (RE Setup.exe) Installing the RE Console Application Installing the RE Service Application Installing QCBD Report Engine is simple and fast. NOTE: You must be logged on to Windows with LOCAL ADMIN rights in order to perform any of the installation steps described in this section. First Time Installation The software is installed from a self extracting file provided by CAMA Software. Download the QCBD Report Engine installation file from the CAMA Software website (contact CAMA Software). The install application will attempt to locate the QCBD folder on the server. If it is unable to locate that folder, you will be prompted to enter the folder location.
Log on using a QCBD user account with QCBD System Administrator rights. The installation is fast. A new folder will be created in the QCBD Public folder on your server. All the required files will be copied to this folder. The RE_Setup.exe application will open (see below). Set up Application (RE Setup.exe) The RE Setup application is used to install the RE components that you need for the current computer. Refer to the sections below of installing different RE components.
Installing the RE Console Application The Report Engine Console (RE Console) application is used by system administrators to configure and monitor the performance of the QCBD Report Engine (see Report Engine Console for how to use the Console application). The RE Console is installed on one or more computers where the QCBD client software is installed. The RE Console application can be installed on as many computers as you want but is normally only installed on one or two computers used by the person(s) who administer the reports. Step 1: To start the installation, go to the REPORT_ENGINE folder in the QCBD Public folder on the network. Double-click the RE_SETUP.EXE file. Step 2: Select the INSTALL command for RE Console. The consoled application will be copied to you local workstation and a shortcut will appear in you QCBD start menu. Installing the RE Service Application The QCBD Report Engine Service application is designed to be installed as a Windows service application running on the server where QCBD is running. For the Standard edition, this is the server where the QCBD network files are located. For the Enterprise edition, this is the server where the SQL Server is installed. The Service application will run silently in the background and runs reports at their scheduled time. Step 1:
To start the installation, go to the REPORT_ENGINE folder in the QCBD Public folder on the network. Double-click the RE_SETUP.EXE file. Step 2: Click the Install command next to the RE Service description. Step 3: Once the service has been installed it will be started automatically. If for some reason the service is not able to start automatically, you be prompted to manually start the service. To manually start the service, go to the server where the Service application has been installed. Use the Control Panel and open Administrative Tools. Select Services to open the Windows Services MMC. Scroll down and select QCBD_RE_Service and then select Start the service.
Step 4: Verify that the service started and is running. From the server where the Service application has been installed, use the Control Panel and open Administrative Tools. Select Services to open the Event Viewer MMC.
Appendix B Troubleshooting Reports do not run Follow this guide if you have reports scheduled to run but the reports are not being received. Step 1. Open the Report Engine Console. Go to the Log tab and clear the log. Step 2. Verify that the Report Engine Service is installed. Open the SERVICES on the server where the RE Service is installed. Select RESTART to start the service. Step 3. Open the EVENT VIEWER on the server where the RE Service is installed. Review the entries in the EVENT VIEWER. If there are reported errors, record the error messages and send a screen shot of the event viewer, along with any error message to the CAMA Software Help Desk.
Step 4. In the Log tab in the Report Engine Console, press the REFRESH command. Look at the report entries and check to see if any reports show as FAILED. If there are failed reports, note the error messages. If there are reported errors, note the error messages. Use the Export to Excel command and send the log to the CAMA Software Help Desk.