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Schedule Automated Reports
Schedule Automated Reports

Schedule reports for when you need data the most

Isabel Lopez avatar
Written by Isabel Lopez
Updated over a week ago

Ubidots allows system integrators, OEM's, and industrial IoT providers to offer their own IoT portal to end-customers. Without the need for an internal software team, administrators are able to offer customized access portals to their end-customers or employees. Along the way when you need your data the most, Ubidots reports are available and able to be scheduled for regular reception. In some cases, preventing product losses with a simple but regular update via your email inbox.

Requirements

1. Creating reports

Follow the below steps to create a scheduled report.

  1. Go to the Reports module from the DataAnalytics tab.

  2. Click on the upper right ‘+’ button to create a new report.

  3. Give it a name and description.

  4. Add tags to it to sort your reports or to even define which your reports are seen by end users in your app by creating tag matches between them. Learn more about tags here.

  5. Click on the “Scheduling” tab to adjust the scheduling settings.

  6. Toggle the “send scheduled report” to enable the scheduling settings.

  7. Customize the settings as needed:
    Data Range: Time frame of the data you wish to display. If Set by report, the date range will take the one set from the preview.
    Timezone: In which timezone you desire your report to be generated.
    Send report every: How regular you wish the report to be sent.
    Format: In which format between PDF and XLSX the report should be generated.
    Message body: It is important to include the key {{url}} in the message to receive the link to download the report.
    Recipients: A comma-separated list of the email addresses to which the report will be sent.

2. Adding content to reports

Once the report is created, a preview should be displayed. At this point is empty, so it’s time to add sections and data to your report. Click on the ‘+’ button just below the Global time and aggregation options to add new sections. Available options are:

a. Header: Assign headers to your reports to differentiate the tables and charts below them. You can set the font family, size, alignment, and color of the header to your desired preference. Also, if you want it to be rendered on a new page.

b. Body: Add a single text that describes different sections of the report or even complete paragraphs. You can set the font family, size, alignment, and color of the text to your desired preference.

**TIP**: You may recreate date headers within the body by using the keys {{now}} , {{start}} and {{end}}, as shown below:

The result would look something like this:

c. Line chart: Generate a graph with devices and variables data. Follow the below steps to add line charts to your report.

  1. Click on ‘+’ to add variables.

  2. Search for the device and variable(s) you want to add. Click on “Select” to confirm.

  3. The variables will be displayed in row format. Click on each to customize its chart type, aggregation method and sample period.
    Chart type: How the data will be represented. The available options are line (default), bars, scatter or step.
    Aggregation method: Set how the data should be computed based on the variable's data over a selectable sample period. Available options are set by report (default), raw, maximum, minimum, count, average or sum. If 'set by report', the aggregation method from the preview will be used to build the report.
    ─ Sample period: Choose the time span to compute the data aggregation. If ‘set by report’, the sample period from the preview will be used to build the report. This option is not available if you selected ‘raw’ as the aggregation method.

  4. (Optional) you can delete, copy or hide a variable by clicking on the options in front of the variable name.

  5. Click on “Save” to add the line chart to the report. You should be able to see it from the preview.

d. Widget snapshot: Add existing widgets from your dashboards. Follow the below steps to add widgets to your report.

  1. Click on the ‘+’ to add a widget.

  2. Search for the dashboard and click on the widget you want to add. Click on “Select” to confirm.

  3. Choose the size behavior from the following options:
    - Auto: Use the default size.
    - Inherit: The widget's size from the selected dashboard.
    - Custom: Enter the Height and Width in pixels (px).

  4. Pick the device you'd like to load your widget snapshot data.

  5. Click on “Save” to add the widget to the report. You should be able to see it from the preview.

e. Table: Generates a sheet with variables data. Follow the below steps to add tables to your report.

  1. Click on ‘+’ to add variables.

  2. Search for the device and variable(s) you want to add. Click on “Select” to confirm.

  3. The variables will be displayed in row format. Click on each to customize its aggregation method and sample period.
    Aggregation method: Set how the data should be computed based on the variable's data over a selectable sample period. Available options are set by report (default), raw, maximum, minimum, count, average or sum. If 'set by report', the aggregation method from the preview will be used to build the report.
    Sample period: Choose the time span to compute the data aggregation. If ‘set by report’, the sample period from the preview will be used to build the report. This option is not available if you selected ‘raw’ as the aggregation method.

  4. (Optional) you can delete, copy or hide a variable by clicking on the options in front of the variable name.

  5. Click on “Save” to add the line chart to the report. You should be able to see it from the preview.

3. Adding widgets to reports

As part of the content that goes into your report, you can create widgets directly on them and, thus, have more control over the way they look and behave in comparison to a widget snapshot. Click on the ‘+ ADD SECTION’ button (just below the global time and aggregation options) and go to the “WIDGETS” tab to add one. These are the available widgets (more will be added in the future):

  1. Image: Add images that enhance your report, either by improving its look (with your company’s logo, for example) or by contributing to its content. Upload the image and control these characteristics in the appearance tab:

    • Its name.

    • Whether the image is aligned to the left, center, or right of the report.

    • Its width.

    • Whether the image scales automatically or not.

    • Its background color.

    • Your custom style.

  2. Text: In comparison to the text option already available in the “SECTIONS” tab, the text widget gives you more control over its appearance, allowing you to add background images or colors to your text.

  3. Clock: Display the time and date in your reports with the style that best suits your needs.

4. Managing and editing reports

PREVIEW AND REPORT OPTIONS

1. The list of existing reports allows you to move to other report's preview. To deploy the list, click on the name of the current report. Then, select which one you want to display.

2. Global time and aggregation options allow you to select a global sample period and aggregation method that governs all sections with the “Set by report” option configured.

3. Report actions: From here, you can edit, save or select advanced options of the report.

**IMPORTANT NOTE**: It’s recommended to save the report after every change. If not, unsaved changes will not be stored or taken into account when generating the report.

a. Advanced options

- Save as new: In short, it allows you to duplicate the report.

- Show logs of the report already sent and their status.

- Delete the report.

- Build and send manually the report.

- Name: Desired name for a report.

- Timezone: In which timezone do you desire your report to be generated.

- Data Time: Time frame of the data you wish to display.

SECTIONS OPTIONS

Hover the mouse over a section to display its options.

  1. Move the section 1 position down.

  2. Add a new section above.

  3. Move the section 1 position up.

  4. Edit the section.

  5. Delete the section.

5. Enable reports for end users

**IMPORTANT NOTE**: This functionality is onily available for Industrial plans or above.

  1. Create an user if you don't have one.

  2. Assign a role with permission to see, edit and delete reports.

  3. Go to the DataAnalytics tab.

  4. Click on the reports action button.

  5. Select Organization.

  6. Choose the organization in which the user is assigned.

  7. Click on Save

Now, each time an end-user logs in to the app, they will see a new section called Analytics in the Data tab, where they will find the reports assigned to their organization.

6. Notification Center

NOTE #1: You can keep track of the reports manually generated or in-progress by clicking on the inbox icon next to the left of My Profile icon in the Ubidots Navbar.

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Starting with Ubidots

This feature is available under the Professional license and above. Please contact our Sales Team if you have any questions about Ubidots licenses and prices for your IoT or cloud solution.

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