Run Report Using a Web Browser

You can access and run your SQL Server Reports by using a standard Web Browser. To see the list of reports that are deployed into your reporting server, type http://xxxxx/ReportServer in the web browser’s address bar, where xxxxx should be replaced with your reporting server name. If your credentials have rights to view and run the reports, you will see a screen with a link to the ActiveBatchVXXReports folder (the default; if you changed the name during the Reporting Manager Configuration it will be that one). If you then click on that link you’ll see a screen similar to the one depicted below.

 

 

While deploying your reports as part of the Instance Reporting configuration process, two folders are created; DataSources and Reports. The DataSources folder contains two data sources to link the reports to the reporting database and OLAP cube.

 

The Reports folder contains the SQL reports that you previously deployed. Look for the file “ActiveBatchReports_Home”. Clicking on this link allows you to obtain a nicely formatted and readable webpage.

 

 

In order to run a report, click on the desired report name. The report is generated based on default parameters that are a part of your OLAP database. By default, the parameters section is hidden when the report is generated. However, a small centered arrow appears at the top of the web page, as depicted in the image below.

 

 

 

Clicking on the arrow causes the parameters section for the report to be displayed. The arrow acts as a toggle, so clicking it again causes the parameters section to be hidden.

 

 

The parameter names in the reports are very similar. The following parameters can be found in most reports. Please note that the actual values are usually populated from the database itself, so a single Job Scheduler will usually appear, unless you’ve directed the ETL on each one to use the same database.

 

• Job Scheduler

• Execution Machine

• Job State

• Tag

• Owner

• Report Title

• Start Date

• End Date

 

Please note that while you may modify parameters in any order, we highly recommend that you start from the top left and move right and then down. This is because some parameters are affected by others, for example, you need to complete the Job Scheduler parameters first, since only the Execution Machines from the selected job scheduler(s) are displayed in the Execution Machine parameter. Moreover, a parameter value is only displayed when there is at least one instance associated with it. For example, if you have a job tagged as “Tag1”, the “Tag1” value will not show up in the Tag parameter until you run the job at least once. This property allows the users to obtain non-empty values when they run the reports.

 

Since filling in all parameters can be time costly, the parameters in the built-in reports are assigned with default values. By default, all values of the multi-value (dropdown) type parameters are selected. Also the default date range is set as the day before the report is run. 

 

In each of the built-in reports (except for CompletedJobStatus_Chart) only the default value for the key parameter is not set, and left to the user. This is because, if all parameters are set to default values, the SQL Server Reporting Service automatically runs the report when you click the report’s link. Another important note about the parameters are their values are dependent on each other in the displayed order. For example, when you select a Job Scheduler machine, the execution machines that are defined for that Job Scheduler will be listed in the Execution Machine parameter. Similarly, after you select Execution Machine(s) and State(s), only the tags of the jobs that ran on the selected execution machine(s) and job scheduler machine(s) will be displayed in the Tags parameter. The Tags parameter contains a special tag named “No Tag”, which can be used to select jobs with no tags. 

 

The menu between the Parameters area and the Reportarea allows you to navigate between the pages of a report, print the report, or export the report into one of the six available formats (XML, CSV, TIFF, PDF, MHTML and XLS).

 

SQL Reports – Menu Bar (Browser)

 

The built-in reports that are provided with ActiveBatch can be categorized into four (4) groups: The AverageJobXXXX_Chart reports display average run and wait times in charts. Similarly, CompletedJobBreakdownXXXX reports display statistics about completed jobs. Top50JobsXXXX_List reports display the list of Top 50 jobs or instances grouped by different parameters. Finally, Top50MachinesXXXX_Stats display the list of Top 50 machines based on different parameters.