Define biExport schedules for SAC in Excel

    biExport Scheduler allows you to schedule SAC Stories as well as SAC Analytics Designer Applications, as described in this blog post. You can use the online editor to create and maintain schedules, or you can use the download to / upload from Excel features to edit them comfortably in Microsoft Excel or Apple's Numbers.

    Before clicking on the Download button, you can optionally mark those schedules that you want to edit offline. You can then open and edit the file in Excel, and finally click Upload in the biExport Scheduler to update the changes on the database.

    The generated file contains four tabs, which we will describe in the following:

    Schedule List

    The Schedule List shows all schedules that have been selected for download. Each schedule takes one line. You can create new lines to add schedules or delete the Schedule ID to copy.

    With version 2021.10 of biExport we are providing an improved UI for scheduling exports! This makes the process of creating a schedule even more intuitive and also very easy to learn for key users without a technical background! Read more

    General Parameters:

    Column
    Documentation
    Column
    Active
    Documentation
    Set to empty to deactivate the job.
    Column
    Schedule ID
    Documentation
    The unique job ID in the system. If blank, a new job will be created.
    Column
    Caption
    Documentation
    The name of the schedule visible on the UI.
    Column
    Start date
    Documentation
    The start date of the schedule in dd.mm.yyyy format.
    Column
    Start time
    Documentation
    The start time of the schedule in hh:mm format.
    Column
    End date
    Documentation
    The end date of the schedule in dd.mm.yyyy format.
    Column
    End time
    Documentation
    The end time of the schedule in hh:mm format.
    Column
    Every
    Documentation
    In combination with a Frequence this number allows for schedules to be executed e.g. “every second week”.
    Column
    Frequence
    Documentation
    once, minutely, hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, yearly
    Column
    Event Name
    Documentation
    For event-triggered schedules, enter your event name here instead of start / end / frequency. Example: "NEW_DATA_LOADED".
    Column
    Event Value
    Documentation
    For event-triggered schedules, you can specify the event even more. Example: "SD" to specify that Sales Data is newly loaded .

    Export Document:

    Column
    Documentation
    Column
    Export Format
    Documentation
    PDF, PPTX, DOCX, XLSX, CSV
    Column
    Filename
    Documentation
    The name of the document without extension.
    Column
    Export Format
    Documentation
    The name of the document that has been uploaded to the Template Manager (see here).
    Column
    Visible Components
    Documentation
    If you are using no Export Template or the CONTENT placeholder, you can specify the Widgets you want to export separated by semicolon.

    Output Channel:

    Column
    Documentation
    Column
    Output Channel
    Documentation
    FILE, SHAREPOINT, MAIL, etc. (see here).
    Column
    Mail Sender
    Documentation
    Optional. The account to send the mail (SMTP account must be enabled to send mails via other accounts, see here).
    Column
    Mail Recipient
    Documentation
    Mail recipients separated by semicolon.
    Column
    Mail CC
    Documentation
    Mail CC recipients separated by semicolon.
    Column
    Mail Subject
    Documentation
    Mail Subject
    Column
    Mail Body
    Documentation
    Detailed Message to the recipients.

    SAC Content:

    Column
    Documentation
    Column
    Tenant URL
    Documentation
    Optional. Must be specified if biExport Cloud is used or you have connected multiple tenants to one biExport service.
    Column
    User
    Documentation
    The user whose authorization shall be used for the schedule. The user must be authorized via oAuth (see here). If left empty, SSO is used with a central user.
    Column
    Story
    Documentation
    SAC Story ID that shall be executed. Multiple stories to be separated by semicolon.
    Column
    Designer Application
    Documentation
    SAC Analytics Designer Application ID that shall be executed. Multiple applications to be separated by semicolon.

    Column
    Documentation
    Column
    Tables Add Hidden Cells
    Documentation
    If you want to export a long table which shows scrollbars in the application, add its technical name here to export all hidden cells.
    Column
    Screen Width
    Documentation
    For dynamic dashboards which adapt to the screen resolution, you can fix a width here to get the best result.
    Column
    Height
    Documentation
    For dynamic dashboards which adapt to the screen resolution, you can fix a height here to get the best result.
    Column
    Parameters
    Documentation
    ID to link to the Parameter List tab.

    Mail Recipients

    The Mail Recipients tab can be used for Information Bursting scenarios, where specific views or contexts (which are defined by specific URL Parameters) are sent to specific mail recipients.

    Mail Recipients are connected to a schedule by specifiying same IDs in column A (Mail Recipients tab) and column R (Schedule List tab):

    Make sure the Mail Recipient (column R) on the Schedule List tab contains the same ID as Mail Recipient ID (column A) on the Mail Recipient tab – all those mail recipients are assigned to the same schedule when uploading it to the biExport Scheduler.

    Column
    Documentation
    Column
    Mail Recipient ID
    Documentation
    Freely selectable ID which references the definition to a schedule (via column R on Schedule List).
    Column
    Mail To
    Documentation
    One or more mail recipients separated by semicolon.
    Column
    Mail CC
    Documentation
    Optional: Mail CC recipients separated by semicolon.
    Column
    Context
    Documentation
    Only those views are sent to the recipients, whose URL parameters (defined on the Parameter List tab) match the condition contained here.
    Column
    Mail From
    Documentation
    Optionally you can designate specific mail senders for specific contexts. Make sure that the SMTP account is set up accordingly, see here!

    PDF Sections

    biExport also supports simple One Pager PDFs as an alternative to perfectly styled documents, which you can generate using Export Templates in Word, PowerPoint or Excel format. For One Pagers you can define multiple sections - each row on the PDF Sections tab represents one section in the PDF document.

    Multiple sections are grouped into one document using the same PDF ID for each section. Each section starts on a new page.

    If you want to define a One Pager, specify a freely selectable ID for Export Template (column N) on the Schedule List tab and use it as PDF ID on the PDF Sections tab.

    Column
    Documentation
    Column
    PDF ID
    Documentation
    Freely selectable ID which references the definition to a schedule (via column N on Schedule List).
    Column
    PDF Section Name
    Documentation
    Optional description of this section.
    Column
    Format
    Documentation
    "L" for Landscape or P" for Portrait orientation.
    Column
    Header
    Documentation
    HTML to specify a specific header for this section.
    Column
    Footer
    Documentation
    HTML to specify a specific footer for this section.
    Column
    Content
    Documentation
    HTML to specify the content for this section.
    Column
    Iterative
    Documentation
    “X” if this section shall be repeated for each iteration that is defined on the Parameter List.

    Parameter List

    If you want to collect different views of an application, you can do so by passing parameters with the URL.

    To define URL parameters for a schedule, specify a freely selectable ID for Parameters (column AC) on the Schedule List tab and use it as Parameter ID on the Parameter List tab.

    Column
    Documentation
    Column
    Parameter ID
    Documentation
    Freely selectable ID which references the definition to a schedule (via column AC on Schedule List).
    Column
    Iterative
    Documentation
    If set to “X”, all Values that are separated by semicolon (column D) are executed with a separate URL.
    Column
    Parameter
    Documentation
    The name of the URL parameter to be passed.
    Column
    Value
    Documentation
    The value(s) that shall be passed for the parameter, separated by semicolon.
    Column
    Separate Files
    Documentation
    By default, only one document is generated that contains all views. If you set this parameter to “X” biExport generates separate files for each view of this iteration. These documents can e.g. be send to separate mail recipients in Information Bursting scenarios.
    Column
    Parent Value
    Documentation
    Only used for dependent iterations.
    Column
    Story or Application ID
    Documentation
    Optionally you can maintain a specific ID here, if you are merging multiple dashboards into one export document and you want to pass a parameter only to one of them.

    If you specify multiple iterative parameters, biExport creates the cartesian product, so you can e.g. export all pages for three different countries (see screenshot above). Please note that this might multiply the number of URL executions extensively if not used with care. In certain scenarios it makes sense to define a Dependent Parameter instead.

    Thilo Knötzele
    Author: Thilo Knötzele
    Creation date: 01.06.2021
    Category: Scheduling & Broadcasting
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