IT Performance Reports in Your Inbox - Stay Informed Any Time, Anywhere

[dirk_jenrich]

You want to be constantly informed about the status of your systems – when you are at your desk or through your mobile device when you’re on the move. And you want the information to be exactly where you would normally look for information – in your inbox. You might already be informed about current alerts in this way, but perhaps you want to be informed about the performance of your systems regardless of alerts. And it's always nice to receive good news!

The source of this data is IT Performance Reporting, which is available to you as of SAP Solution Manager 7.0 SP 15, and in an extended and improved version, as of SAP Solution Manager 7.0 EhP1. Use it to display the development over time of the most important monitoring data for your monitored systems, so that you can identify potential problems early, and to obtain an overview of the utilization, the availability, and the performance of your systems (more information: http://help.sap.com/saphelp_smehp1/helpdata/en/48/d1942603646c80e10000000a42189d/frameset.htm).

We deliver IT Performance Reporting with a set of predefined reports, but you can also create your own reports and integrate these into this infrastructure. More information: http://help.sap.com/saphelp_smehp1/helpdata/en/dc/12cf0680444ef6a143e00f178281dd/frameset.htm.

With regard to these possibilities, it is obvious to send reports as emails, automatically, and at definable intervals - whether this is so that the system administrators have details about the status of their systems in their inboxes every morning, or whether it is monthly-generated, more summarized reports for managers – the possibilities are endless. You can send the reports delivered by SAP, and this also applies for your own queries and Web Templates (and, after the relevant setup, you can store all monitoring performance data in BW, to display this data in your queries).

This blog is about sending reports from IT Performance Reporting for SAP Solution Manager 7.0 EhP1.

Prerequisites

To send reports by e-mail, you use the standard functions for Web Templates, which require only that your BW system is connected to your e-mail communication. More information:

• SAPconnect (BC-SRV-COM)
  http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nw70ehp1/helpdata/en/2b/d925bf4b8a11d1894c0000e8323c4f/frameset.htm

• External Sending in the SAP System
  http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nw70ehp1/helpdata/en/55/a8b538891b11d2a25a00a0c943858e/frameset.htm

General information about sending BW object as e-mails:

• Broadcast by E-Mail
  http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nw70ehp1/helpdata/en/cf/700b405bacdd5fe10000000a155106/frameset.htm

Procedure

To send reports by e-mail, perform the following steps for each report that you want to send by e-mail:

1. Call IT Performance Reports in the System Monitoring work center. To do this, choose the System Status entry or the Proactive Monitoring entry, and choose the IT Performance Reporting button.

2. Call the report that you want to send by e-mail, and choose the desired settings for the time interval and the systems to be displayed.

   Ensure that you call the reports with the user under whose name the e-mails are to be sent. Ensure that this user has a working e-mail address in his or her user data (transaction SU01).

3. Right-click any active area of the graphic of the displayed Web Template to display the context menu, and choose Distribute --> By E-Mail.

4. A new screen now appears, on which you can make settings for the sending of the e-mail. If you have not yet created appropriate settings, choose Create New Setting.

5. You can define the title and text of the e-mail here, and to whom it is to be sent:

   • In the Description input field, enter a meaningful description of the settings.

   • If you want to send the report directly as part of the e-mail, and it is to be displayed directly in the e-mail, choose the Output Format 'MHTML'.

   • You can select recipients using their user names in the BW system or their e-mail addresses. You can also define the recipient list using roles. Separate multiple recipients with semicolons.

   • On the Texts tab page, you define the title and text of the e-mail. Note that the e-mails only contain the Web Template itself, that is, they do not contain the selection elements of the IT Performance Reports (report name, time interval, and system ID). Create an e-mail text so that the report can be understood without this information.

   • If, in addition to viewing the sent graphic, the recipient is to be able to directly access all of the functions of the IT Performance Reports, insert the relevant URL in the contents of the e-mail.

   • Leave the data on the General Precalculation and Filter Navigation tab pages unchanged.

6. Choose Save, and specify a technical name for the distribution.

7. If you only want to send this report once, immediately, choose Execute; however, it is more likely that you will want to send the report automatically at regular intervals. In this case, choose the Schedule button.

8. You define the scheduling on a new screen. To create a new periodic schedule, activate the two indicators Create New Scheduling and Periodic…. Now select the desired period and the next start time.

9. Choose the Transfer button, and save your changes. You have now completed the scheduling. The desired recipients will now regularly receive the desired reports.

In this way, you can remain informed about your systems anywhere: