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Generating reports using jobs

MBI is a Centreon extension that has some terms you may not have heard elsewhere in our documentation. We strongly suggest you read the Concepts page before following MBI-related procedures.

Reports are created using jobs. A job is a report definition, that can include several output formats, and several publication modes.

Step 1: Create a new job​

  1. Make sure you have prepared your data as per the MBI requirements.
  2. Go to Reporting > Monitoring Business Intelligence > Jobs.
  3. Click the Add button to create a new job.
  4. On the Configuration tab, in the Report design field, select the report template you want. Each report template contains specific data: use our catalog of available reports to choose the template best suited to your needs (once you have selected a report template, the contents of the Report parameters tab display the options concerning this specific report template).

Step 2: Configure the job​

Go to the Configuration tab of the job creation page.

Configure the main parameters​

In the Job Configuration section of the Configuration tab:

  • Enter a Name for the job. This will also be the name of the generated report in the Reporting > Monitoring Business Intelligence > Report view page.
  • Select the Language of the report: you can generate reports in French or English (ignore the refresh icon next to the list).
  • Select the Output formats you want for this report: bear in mind that not all report designs support all formats. Refer to the catalog of available reports to find out which outputs are supported for the report design you selected.
  • Select the job groups you want so as to share your report with other non-admin users:
    • They will be able to edit the job (if they have the correct ACL to access the Reporting > Monitoring Business Intelligence > Jobs page).
    • They will be able to see the generated report in the Reporting > Monitoring Business Intelligence > Report view page (if they have the correct ACL to access this page).
    • This is not the same as publishing your report for other users, which is done using the Publication tab.

Schedule job execution​

In the Scheduling parameters section of the Configuration tab:

  • Select an Execution mode:
    • Immediate execution: specify the reporting period (i.e. the time range) covered by the report. The report will be generated when you click the Save button once you have finished configuring the job. (Note that if you uncheck the Periods box, the report will be blank.)
    • Scheduled execution, choose between:
      • Regular basis: Executes at defined intervals (daily, weekly or monthly) and uses its own interval as the reporting period i.e. weekly reports contain information about the past week.
      • One shot job: Executes once at the scheduled time. You need to specify the reporting period (i.e. the time range) covered by the report. (Note that if you uncheck the Periods box, the report will be blank.)
  • If needed, select a State:
    • Schedule (default): The job will run at the intended time.
    • Stop: The job will be put hold and will just not be run.
    • Finished: Select Schedule and save to run again.
    • Failed: Checked after a job was canceled because of an error, select Schedule after resolving the issue to rerun.

Define report-specific parameters​

Go to the Report Parameters tab of the job configuration page. The contents of this tab varies according to the report design you selected on the Configuration tab (it will be empty if no report design is selected yet).

  • Typically, fields will allow you to define which host groups, host categories and service categories to include in the report. Fields with two sections (Available/Selected) must have at least one category or group in the Selected section.
  • You may need to select which time periods to include in the report.

Select publication rules to share your generated report (optional)​

If you want to share the generated reports for example via email or on a server, go to the Publication tab of the configuration page.

Select the Publication rules you want.

  • Global rules are not listed on this tab, but they are applied automatically every time the job is executed.
  • Reports with custom rules will be sent every time they are generated, based on the job's schedule.

Adjust tuning options (optional)​

If you want to define extra settings for your job, go to the Tuning tab of the configuration page.

  • Select a Report color theme. The default color scheme is defined in the scheduler options when configuring MBI.
  • Set the Job weight multiplicator to increase job priority if MBI cannot generate all scheduled reports at once.
  • Enable administrator notification for administrators to be alerted whenever this report is generated. This option must be enabled in the Reporting > Monitoring Business Intelligence > General Options page, under Notification options.

Step 3: Save the job​

Once you are satisfied with its configuration, save the job.

  • The job appears in the list of jobs in the Reporting > Monitoring Business Intelligence > Jobs page. An icon on the left shows you the current status of the job (scheduled, running, failed, stopped, finished).
  • Once generated, reports will be available on the Reporting > Monitoring Business Intelligence > Report view page. Click the output icons on the right to download them.

Ran into any issues? Try troubleshooting your configuration.