Creating and Scheduling Web-Based Asset Reports

AssetTrack provides a simple, web-based reporting tool called Saved Searches, accessible via the AssetTrack web interface.  It allows users to define and save custom searches that can be run on demand or scheduled to be delivered via email on a schedule.  The results of the reports are simple, tabular data that can be exported to CSV for more advanced pivot-table or graphing functions using a program like Excel.

Create a Saved Search

1. From the left-hand navigation list on the AssetTrack application page, click Saved Searches.
   
   
   
   
2. In the Saved Searches content pane, click the New Saved Search button.
   
   
   
   
3. In the Search Name box, provide a descriptive name for the search. The name that you provide displays in the list on the Saved Searches page. Type a name that distinguishes this search from other saved searches.

   
   
   
   

4. Use the Filters tab to specify your search criteria.
   
   
5. On the Layout tab, choose which fields you want returned by the search.
   
   
6. Use the Notifications tab to schedule your report and specific email recipients for it. 

Specify your search criteria

The Filters tab is where you specify the criteria for the data in your report.  You can add as many Filters as you want, which you use to retrieve the data you want in the report.

To specify search criteria (Filter tab):

1. Click the Add Filter button to add as many filter boxes as you may need to define your search. If you add too many, you can remove the unused filter boxes later.
   

2. Choose the field, operator and value to use in the filter.  

    

3. If your search definition includes conditional criteria, such as searches for items made by more than one Manufacturer, select the checkbox beside the related filter boxes, and then click the Group Selected button.
   
   

Search Criteria Operators

The following table defines the behavior of each search criteria operator.

Define the Columns to Include in the Report

The layout tab allows you to specify which columns of data you want returned in the report.

To define the initial layout of the results list (Layout tab):

1. In the Sort columns section:
   1. In the box on the left, specify the column by which you want the results list to be sorted.
   2. In the box on the right, specify the order in which you want the results list to be sorted, either Ascending or Descending.
      
      
2. In the Data columns section, configure the columns that you want to display in the results list by dragging items from the Available columns list to the Columns to return list.
   In the Columns to return list, configure the order in which you want the columns to appear by dragging-and-dropping items in the desired order.
   
   
3. Click the Preview Results button to ensure that the layout of the results list is defined correctly.
4. If you want to make additional changes to the layout, click the Edit Search button.
5. Click the Save Search button to save the search and return to the Saved Search list.

    

Schedule Your Search and Send Email Notifications

You can schedule saved searches to run automatically at regular intervals. This is helpful when you want to generate reports about the status of your assets on a recurring basis. For example, you might want to schedule a saved search to generate a report of assets that have been received or installed each day.

When setting up notifications, you must specify at least one person to whom the notification will be sent. The notification email notes how many results were returned by the saved search, and includes a hyperlink for viewing the detailed results. To view the results, users must be granted the Search and view assets group permission. 

To schedule a saved search (Notifications tab):

1. Under Scheduled notification, select Enable scheduled notification with the following settings.

   

2. Under Settings, define the time and day that you want the saved search to run.

   Time is based on the time zone in which the AssetTrack server is running.

3. Under Settings, provide an email address for each person to whom you want to send notification that the saved search has been run, and then click the Add button. You can add only one email address at a time. 
4. If you want to send a notification even if the search results are empty, select the Notify this list even if the search returns no matches box.
5. Click the Save Search button.

Running a Saved Search On-Demand

To run a saved search:

1. From the left-hand navigation list on the AssetTrack application page, click Saved Searches.
2. In the Saved Searches content pane, find the saved search that you want to run and click Run.

Edit a saved search

To edit a saved search:

1. From the left-hand navigation list on the AssetTrack application page, click Saved Searches.
2. In the Saved Searches content pane, find the saved search that you want to run and click Edit.

Delete a saved search

To delete a saved search:

1. From the left-hand navigation list on the AssetTrack application page, click Saved Searches.
2. Select the checkbox beside the search that you want to delete.
3. Click the Delete button.

Sorting search results

You can sort lists of search results returned by Advanced Search and Saved Searches.

To sort the list of search results:

• After running a search, click the header of the column that you want to sort by. Use the paging controls at the bottom of each result list to navigate through the pages of results.

  
  

Exporting search results

You can export search results returned by Advanced Search and Saved Searches as a comma-separated values (CSV) file that can be opened by applications such as Microsoft Excel. This is helpful if, for example, you want to email the search results to someone else, perform advanced reporting on the data, or import the data into other business systems.

To export search results:

1. Click the Export These Results hyperlink located at the top of the Search Results page.
   
   
   
   
2. In the File Download window, click Open to open the results directly in an application that can read CSV files, such as Excel, or click Save to save the file to a location on your computer or local network.