A report schedule is a recurring delivery of a saved report, sent via email to admin users or to non-users. Each time the report is scheduled to deliver, it will run the latest up-to-the-minute data and send the report at the previously scheduled time. If you make any changes to the saved report, these changes will be reflected in future deliveries of the report.

For reports under 10MB, the email delivery includes the report attached as a CSV. All reports delivered include a link to the report, viewable in your web browser. This version of the report allows basic functions like sorting, but more advanced tools like grouping, filters, or column adjustments can only be accessed in the report builder in the Admin. The linked report also provides an option to download the CSV from that page.

Create A Report Schedule

To create a report schedule, you must already have a saved report. To learn about creating and saving a report, visit Reporting.

• Visit your Saved Reports list
• Locate the saved report for which you want to create a schedule.
• In the far right, click the down arrow icon next to Run Report.
• Click Schedule.

This will open the report schedule config menu, where you will build your new schedule.

Setting the First Run and the Date Range

Each schedule is based on three basic settings: a start date, an end date, and an interval.

• The Start Date determines the first time the report will run and deliver the report. 
  • Importantly, the start date also determines the time of day when the report will run. 
  • Example: If you want to run your report every morning at 8am, make sure your start date is at 8am,
• The End Date determines when your schedule will stop. Reports will stop being delivered after the end date.
  • Note: The end date does not deliver a final report. It simply determines when to disable the schedule.
• The interval (or Run and Deliver Report option) determines how often you want to deliver the report.
• As noted above, the start date setting will determine the time of day when the report runs, regardless of the interval setting.

To create your schedule, you will need to fill out all three settings and provide at least one recipient.

• Enter a date/time for the Start Date. Your first report delivery will happen at this time.
• In the Run and Deliver Report setting, there are a few presets as well as a custom option. All scheduled runs and deliveries will occur at the same time of day as the start date.
  • Presets include the following:
    • Daily - Once a day
    • Weekdays - Once a day, Monday through Friday only
    • Weekly - Once a week, on the same day of the week as the start date (e.g., Monday)
    • Every 2 weeks - Once every other week, on the same day of the week as the start date
    • Monthly - Once a month, on the same day of the month as the start date (e.g., the 15th — if the start date falls on the 31st, the report will simply run on the last day of the month)
    • Every 3 months / Every 6 months - Once every 3 or 6 months depending on the setting, on the same day of the month as the start date
• The Custom option provides more specific controls than the presets, using the same basic concepts
  • For your custom interval, you must select a unit of time (days, weeks, or months) and then a number of days, weeks, or months to determine how often to receive your report.
  • Example: If I want to receive my report once every 2 months, I should enter “2” and select Months in the dropdown.
• Provide a date/time for the End Date to determine when to stop delivering the report.
  • An end date is required. You may not set a report to run indefinitely.

Adding Recipients

By default, all newly created report schedules will deliver the report to the user who creates the schedule.

• Using the Send report to field provided, you may paste a list or manually add other recipients to whom you will send the report on the same schedule. (Email addresses must be comma-separated.)
  • Note: If you attempt to add email addresses that are not associated with users in the seller organization, the menu will display a warning. Reports may contain PII (personally identifiable information), so we include this warning to remind the schedule author to verify that the people receiving these reports are authorized to see this info.

Viewing Recipients

• When viewing a previously created schedule, users can view the recipients of that schedule
  • Click "View Schedules" from the top of the open report. 
  • Click “Show Recipients”
    
• A recipient is someone who is currently receiving the schedule. Unsubscribed or removed email addresses are not displayed.

Enabling Password Protection

All reports delivered via these schedules are secure and require the user to visit the link in the email directly. For the user’s convenience, and to support the ability to send reports to users who do not have accounts in the Ticketbooth Admin, viewing a report does not require signing in to the Admin. (Users may also share this link with other users in their organization.)

As an added layer of security, however, users may enable password protection for reports delivered via these schedules.

• Click the Require a password checkbox.
• In the Password field, enter a custom password. 
  • Passwords must be at least 8 characters long and include at least three of the following character types:
    • Uppercase letter
    • Lowercase letter
    • Number
    • Special characters (e.g., &, #, etc.)
• Repeat the same password in the Confirm Password field.
• When you have enabled password protection, any time someone visits any of the reports delivered on this schedule, they will be prompted to enter your password before they can view the report’s info.

Schedule Preview

Once you have completed the initial schedule setup, click the blue Schedule button.

Before your schedule is finalized and started, you will see a preview of the schedule. 

The preview displays how often and at what time of day the report will run, the schedule’s recipients, and the start and end dates/times of the schedule.

Click Confirm to complete your schedule.

About Relative Date/Time Ranges

Along with scheduled report deliveries, this project includes an expansion of the report builder’s functionality. Prior to this update, all reports were required to use absolute time, i.e. a specific start date/time until a specific end date/time.

Now with the latest improvements, reports can also run on a relative time range, i.e. a rolling timeframe that changes what data is shown in the report based on the time the report is run. With relative time reports, you can create a single report that always looks at yesterday’s scan logs or last month’s ticket sales.

Relative Time Presets

Relative time ranges are configured in the initial steps of creating a new report, as an alternative to the traditional absolute time range. 

Click the Relative Time tab to see the dropdown, which includes some presets based on common report scenarios.

For each preset, there is a start date/time and an end date/time. These dates/times are determined based on the time the report is run.

Therefore, if you create the report and open the same report a week later, the second time you view the report, you may be looking at a completely different range.

Supported presets include the following, each with a basic explanation included when the preset is selected:

• Today - From 12 am until right now
• Yesterday - From 12 am until 11:59 pm of the previous day
• This week - From 12 am of the most recent Sunday until right now
• Since Monday - From 12 am of the most recent Monday until right now
• This month - From 12 am of the 1st of the current month until right now
• Quarter-to-date - From 12 am of the 1st of the start of the quarter (i.e., Jan/Apr/Jul/Oct) until right now
• Year-to-date - From 12 am of January 1st of the current year until right now

Custom Relative Time Settings

If the relative time presets are insufficient for your reporting needs, the new feature also includes a more customizable option. Select Custom in the dropdown to get started.

With the Custom option selected, you must provide a unit of time and the number of hours, days, etc. on which you want to run the report.

By default, the Custom setting always uses the current time (i.e. right now) as the end date/time.

For example, if you ran a report for the last 7 days on January 15th, 2020 at 8pm, the report would look at data from 1/8/2020 8:00pm - 1/15/2020 8:00pm.

However, you also have the ability to round your range and report on other useful time ranges. Rather than using the current time as the end date/time, the rounding option uses the last full unit of time as the end of the range.

This is much easier to understand with an example:

• In the first week of the new month, Arthur always wants to run a report on last month’s ticket sales.
• In October, Arthur creates a new report and selects the Custom option.
• Arthur enters 1 month(s) in the fields provided and clicks the Round to… checkbox.
• When Arthur opens the report, the report’s date range is all of September (or September 1st at 12am until September 30th at 11:59pm).

The same logic applies to all the other units (hours, days, weeks). The rolling timeframe for all units of time is as follows:

Reminder: With the "Round to" option disabled, the report looks at data up to the minute the report is run.

• With the "Round to" option enabled for hours, 
  • The report’s start date/time is the first minute of the hour X number of hours before the current time.
  • The report’s end date/time is the last minute of the most recent full hour.
  • For example, if I run a report at 8:15pm on the last 6 hours with the rounding option enabled, the report will look at 2:00pm - 8:00pm. 
  • (If I run the report with rounding disabled, the report looks at 2:15pm - 8:15pm.)
• With the Round to… option enabled for days, 
  • The report’s start date/time is 12am on the first day X number of full days before the current time.
  • The report’s end date/time is 11:59pm of the most recent full day.
  • For example, if I run a report at 8:15pm on October 7th the last 3 days with the rounding option enabled, the report will look at October 4th 12am - October 6th 11:59pm. 
  • (If I run the report with rounding disabled, the report looks at October 4th 8:15pm - October 7th 8:15pm.)
• With the Round to… option enabled for weeks, 
  • The report’s start date/time is 12am on the first Sunday X number of full weeks before the current time.
  • The report’s end date/time is 11:59pm of the most recent Saturday.
  • For example, if I run a report at 8:15pm on Wednesday on the last 1 week with the rounding option enabled, the report will look at Sunday 12am - Saturday 11:59pm in the previous full week. 
  • (If I run the report with rounding disabled, the report looks at last Wednesday at 8:15pm until today at 8:15pm.)
• With the Round to… option enabled for months, 
  • The report’s start date/time is 12am on the 1st of the month X number of full months before the current time.
  • The report’s end date/time is 11:59pm of the last day of the most recent full month.
  • For example, if I run a report at 8:15pm on October 7th on the last 6 months with the rounding option enabled, the report will look at April 1st 12am - September 30th 11:59pm. 
  • (If I run the report with rounding disabled, the report looks at April 7th 8:15pm - October 7th 8:15pm.)

Scheduled Report Emails

Scheduled reports are delivered to any recipients whose email addresses are provided when the schedule is configured. The report will be run at the scheduled time and delivered when it is completed.

• When you receive a scheduled report delivery, the email will contain the following:
  • A short summary of the report schedule (almost identical to the summary in the schedule preview).
  • A link to the report. This is viewable without signing in to the Ticketbooth Admin and includes a button to download a CSV of the report. 
    • Advanced reporting features and tools to actually manipulate what data is in the report remain restricted to the report builder.
    • If password protection is enabled, the password created by the author must be entered before the report can be viewed.
  • A CSV attachment of the report. Reports over 10mb will not be attached to the emails as larger attachments can be automatically filtered out or blocked by many email clients.