REP - Reporting

REP is an optional itmSUITE® module that defines functionality to manage and excute reports created by Eclipse BIRT Designer tool.
It allows to load one or more report templates (BIRT.rptdesign file) and to create and to execute report instances through the BIRT Viewer integrated on itmSUITE®.

BIRT Architecture

BIRT (Business Intelligence Reporting Tool) is an open source tool installed as Eclipse IDE plug-in for report developing. It has origin from collaboration between Actuate (along with IBM) and Eclipse.org open source community.
BIRT is a Java based tool that allows to extract data from many data source types for report generation in several output format (pdf, xlsx, docx, etc.).

Birt Architecture

BIRT architecture includes two main components:

1. Report Designer: a UI component to create report template (.rptdesign file)
2. Report Engine: runtime component for report rendering

The Design Engine generates a .rptdesign file (in XML format) structured according to configurations applied by user (by BIRT Designer) and the Report Engine, through BIRT Viewer, parse and renders it as report in HTML,or other, format.

BIRT Report on itmSUITE®

In itmSUITE®, the steps required to upload and execute BIRT report previously created through the BIRT Designer are following:

1. Data source configuration
2. Load report template (.rptdesign file)
3. Create a report instance
4. Add report on menu and execute it

Data Source Configuration

In itmSUITE®, BIRT report data can be extracted only from data sources connected to database. Data Source settings are accessible on the General > Company > Report Engine > Data Source menu.

Data Source list - more data source items can be created

Data source creation steps:

1. Click on Add New button
2. Fill following fields (* mandatory):

Field Name	Description	Example Value
Name*	Logic data source item name	"Sample DB"
Description	Data source item description	"Sample data source"
Company*	Company to which data source item is assigned	"Sample Company"
Status*	Configurable Active/Inactive statuses	"Active"
Type*	Driver type used to connect to data source	"JDBC"
Data Driver*	Driver used to connect to data source	"MSSQL"
DB Server*	URL (or IP) of data source server	"192.168.10.5"
Port*	Connection data source port	"1433"
DB Name*	Database name to which data source item refers	"PMSM_SAMPLE_DB"
Username*	Username used to connect to database	-
Password*	Password used to connect to database	-

3. Click on Check And Save button to check database connection and to save data source settings

Load report template

Report template (.rptdesign) file defines the report structure in a well-formed XML document. In itmSUITE®, a report template can be associated to more report instances. Report template configuration is accessible on the General > Company > Report Engine > Report template menu.

The report template creation requires following steps:

1. Click on Add New button
2. Fill following fields on General tab:

Field Name	Description	Example Value
Name*	Logic report template name	"Sample Report Template"
Description	Report template description	"A report tamplate as sample"
Status*	Configurable Active/Inactive statuses	"Active"
BIRT Report Template*	Load .rptdesign file	"Sample_Report_Template"

3. Fill the following fields on Data source tab:

Field Name	Description	Example Value
Data source*	Data source imported from .rptdesign file	"PMSM_DB_TEST"
Mapped on	itmSUITE® data source item to which report template can refers for data extraction. If it is empty, data source defined in .rptdesign file is used	"PMSM DB Test"
Type*	Connection type to data source (always JDBC)	"JDBC"

4. Click on Save button to save report template settings

Create Report Instance

Report instance defines a BIRT report that can refer to only a report template and can be launched directly from itmSUITE® menu. A report instance is configurable on the General > Company > Report Engine > Report Management menu

The report instance creation requires following steps:

1. Click on Add New button
2. Fill following fields on General tab:

Field Name	Description	Example Value
Name*	Report name	"Sample Report"
Description	Report description	"A sample report"
Status*	Configurable Active/Inactive statuses. If Inactive report cannot be shown on itmSUITE® menu	"Active"
Template*	Report template name to which report instance refers	"Sample_Report_Template"

1. Check that all report parameters are visible on Parameters tab:

4. On Filter Designer tab, it is possible to customize a report launcher box (at default it contains the same parameters defined on report template):
• Hide/show report parameters
• Add/delete parameters sections
• Edit each report parameter item (read-only,label editing, mandatory, etc.)
• Add (as drag&drop ) Output field to extract report in several format (html, word, excel, pdf, ppt)
• Add (as drag&drop) Open Report in New Window check box to visualize report ouput on a new tab


It is possible to see a report launcher preview by clicking on Preview button

5. On Assignments tab, set report visibility grants on itmSUITE® menu
   

   by following filter fields:

   Filter Name	Description
   Role	it limits visibility to users that belong to following roles: superadmin, administrator, manager, pm, resource, requester. It works also as prefilter for Resource filter
   Resource	it limits visibility to selected resources
   Group	it limits visibility to members of selected groups
   Organization unit	it limits visibility to resources that belong to selected organization units

6. On Filter tab, it is possible to manage personal filters selectable by user directly from report
   

Add report on itmSUITE® menu

After report instance has been created on Report Management, it needs to add a report entry in itmSUITE® menu.

Report menu entry is configurable on the General > Company > Main Navigation Menu, under the Not Used/Reporting section.
Important: administrator re-login is required in order user can drag and drop new report entry from Not Used/Reporting section to any Main Navigation Menu section.
Finally report can be run in new itmSUITE® menu entry by users that have visibility grants.