Report Activity

1. What Is a Report Activity
1. 1.1. Properties
2. 1.2. Parameters
3. 1.3. Report Results Delivery
4. 1.4. Results File Format
5. 1.5. Process Flow

What Is a Report Activity

A report activity defines the parameters for running a report once to be used every time the report is run using the activity. You can also run reports outside of activities.

You can create a report activity to run every standard report available in the application, as well as custom reports in your account. See the Reports document for information about the available standard reports.

Properties

When you create the report activity, you provide the name, external key, and description that you use to identify and describe the report within the application interface and through API calls. You also select the report to be run with this activity.

Parameters

The report parameters that appear when you create a report activity depend on the report that you select in the Properties section. The values that you select in this section will be used each time the activity runs the report.

Report Results Delivery

When you create a report activity, you specify how you receive the report. You can choose the following options:

Save Report in My FTP folder - This option saves the report to your organization's reports folder or imports folder on the enhanced FTP server. If you are reimporting the report later, as part of a remarketing program for example, you should save the report in your imports folder. You specify the name of the file so you can retrieve the report when it is complete.
Email the Report results - This option attaches the report to an email message. You specify the email address to which to send the report, the subject line of the email, and a comment that appears in the body of the email.

Note: Some email servers block large attachments. You should select FTP delivery if the report you are running is large. You must have enhanced FTP enabled on your account to use reporting, regardless of whether you select the FTP option here.

Results File Format

When you create the report activity, you select a file type that the system uses for your report. The available file formats depend on the report being run, and may include the following:

Data File (.csv)
Excel spreadsheet (.xls)
TIFF Image (.tif)
Adobe (.pdf)
XML (.xml)
Web Archive (.mht)

Process Flow

When you create the report activity to include in a program, you indicate when the report activity runs relative to the other steps in the program. You can select one of the following options:

Run In Step - The system begins and completes the report before beginning the next step in the program.
Run Out Of Step - The system logs the report request with the parameters in the report activity and begins the offset before the beginning the next step. If you select this option, you must specify an offset time. The system uses the offset time to determine when to begin running the report.