Report Properties and Parameters
In the Edit Report page, you can set details and filters for your report, and can save the configuration as a customized report instance for future re-use.
Details and criteria are set in multiple sections.
Properties Common to All Reports
Every type of report includes a Standard Report Properties and Report Layout sections, as the first and last sections, respectively.
Report-Specific Details
Parameters and filters that are specific to a given report are defined in one or more sections between the Standard Properties and the Report Layout. Navigate between the "section" pages by clicking the section in the Sections list, or by clicking Next and Previous at the bottom of the Edit Report page.
Standard Report Properties
All reports use a set of standard properties for basic information, such as name and description, and for setting controls such as email recipients and required signoff.
Note
The Name field is required for all reports; the other standard properties are optional.
Enter or edit the standard properties information as required when creating or editing a report.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Name | Name of the report. |
| Description | Brief description of the report. |
| Require Signoff | Require signoff on the results of this task. Reports that require sign off generate work items and email notifications that are assigned to the designated signers. Signoff decisions are stored with the report results for tracking purposes. |
| Previous Result Action | Previous result actions determine how subsequent runs of this report affect existing report results. Delete - overwrite the previous report results with the new information. Rename Old - append a numeral to the name of the old report result. Rename New - append a numeral to the name of the new report result. Cancel - cancel the new run of the report if a report result with the same name exists. |
| Allow Concurrency | Enable two identical reports to run at the same time. If enabled, allow concurrency appends a numeric value to the name of the report that started second. If disabled, the second report is canceled and an exception is sent to the requester. |
| Email Recipient | Specify a user or workgroup to whom an email should be sent when the report is finished running. Sending an email notification removes the need to log in to the product to check the progress of long-running reports or reports that are scheduled to run periodically. |
| Email Attachment Format | Select either or both checkboxes for PDF or CSV to have the report include an attachment copy. Clear the checkboxes to not receive an attachment. |
| Don't email empty reports | If the report is empty, do not email the report. |
| Maximum results to display | Set the maximum number of results to display in the results report. This option is available on a limited number of reports. |
| Scope | Set the scope for this report. Scope control access. Only identities that control the scope specified can see the results of this report. The scope information is not available for all reports. For those reports that support this feature, the Administrator must enable and configure the scope option. |
For a list of available report templates, see IdentityIQ Standard Reports.
Report Layout
The Report Layout page shows the columns that are available for inclusion on the report and the columns selected for inclusion on the report. It allows the user to select a sort field and a group field if desired. It also allows suppression of either the summary or the detail information as needed.
These are the fields on the Report Layout page, along with descriptions of their usage.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Sort by | Use the dropdown list to select the criteria by which the report is sorted. If a Group By field is also selected, grouping supersedes sorting. |
| Group by | Use the dropdown list to select the criteria by which the report is grouped. The resulting report displays the data in collapsible groups. |
| Columns | All the columns listed in the right panel appear in the final report; the list on the left indicates available columns that are not selected for inclusion in the report body. Column names can be dragged from one side to the other, and can be reordered within the list with drag-and-drop. The arrow buttons between the two lists can also be used to move columns around. |
| Disable Report Parameters Display | Report parameters are included in the report results by default. Select this option to disable the display of report parameters in the report results. |
| Disable Report Summary Display | Select this option to disable the display of a summary in the report results. |
| Disable Report Detail Display | Select this option to disable the display of a report details in the report results. |
| Include Report Parameters in CSV File | Select this option to include report parameter names and values in the CSV file, as comments. These comments are preceded with a # character. This output may not be compatible with some CSV parsers. |
For a list of available report templates, see IdentityIQ Standard Reports.
Report-Specific Parameters
Most reports offer at least one page of configuration options between the Standard Properties and Report Layout pages. These pages can be different for each report, and some reports use several pages, while others include only one. These pages allow the user to set filter parameters for the report instance. For example, the Uncorrelated Accounts Report contains one report-specific settings page called Uncorrelated Accounts Parameters; this page lets the user select the Application for which they want to see a list of accounts that could not be correlated to existing Identities (from the authoritative application). If no application is selected in this filter, the report shows all uncorrelated accounts from all applications.
In some cases, the Report Layout column list will change based on the parameters that are set on the report-specific parameters pages. For example, the User Account Attributes Report can display account attributes on selected applications. If the application selected has attributes (for example, privileged or service accounts) which other applications don't have, when that application is selected for the report, those columns appear on the Report Layout page for optional inclusion in the report.
Saving, Previewing, and Running Reports
Once a report has been customized with filtering parameters, sorting and grouping choices, and layout preferences, it can be saved as a My Reports report instance for future use/re-use. There are several save options available:
-
Save – saves the report instance, with its parameters and options, to the My Reports tab, using the name provided on the Standard Properties window.
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Save and Preview – saves the report instance to the My Reports tab and runs a preview of the report, which displays the summary section (unless suppressed) and the first page of detail results (20 records); this allows the user to verify that the report shows the data they want to see; this option does not save the report results for later viewing.
-
Save and Execute – saves the report specification to the My Reports tab and runs the report; the report results are saved to the database and can be recalled from the Report Results tab until they are deleted.
Modifying in the Preview Mode
The Save and Preview option lets you modify the report output layout, including rearranging columns, changing the detail sort order, and hiding either the summary or detail section. Any changes made in preview mode can be saved to the report specification, allowing Preview mode to function as an interactive method of reconfiguring the report output. A message at the top of the report prompts the user to choose whether to Save Changes or Cancel Changes when they alter the appearance of the report preview.
When a report is executed (as opposed to previewed), the final results cannot be reordered in the on-screen display of the report. The report can, however, be downloaded as a CSV and manipulated in a spreadsheet application as needed.
Reports Without a Preview Option
A few of the reports cannot be viewed in preview mode; this is because the data in these reports cannot be polled without fully executing the report. For example, the Identity Forwarding Report shows the forwarding user for all Identities who have one specified. Because the forwarding property is not searchable, these cannot be counted up front, and the report cannot be previewed. In some cases, a report can be previewed unless certain options on it are selected. The Manager Access Review Report, for example, can be previewed unless the Show Excluded Items option is selected. In these cases, a message is shown indicating that preview is not available when the user clicks Save and Preview.
XML Representation of Reports and Instances
Standard report templates are represented in the IdentityIQ object model as TaskDefinition objects. The XML representation of these can be seen in the IdentityIQ Debug pages by selecting Task Definition from the Object Browser list and searching for the report's name in the Name column.
When a report is saved as a customized instance, a new XML object is created in the system to represent its custom configuration. The instance's XML is far simpler than the template's because it references the template for most of the report generation details.
Details on these XML representations are explored further in Developing Custom Reports.