Reports

When you choose Inventory > Reports > Inventory Reports, a tree of reports appears in the data pane. Click on the + sign for each folder in the data pane and you receive a listing of all the provided reports. The non-SAMPLE reports in the L2VPN folder and the non-SAMPLE reports in the MPLS folder are explained in the Cisco Prime Fulfillment User Guide 6.1.

Click on any of the specific reports and you can define how to set up the report. Figure 53-1, shows the sample file under the folder Inventory.

Figure 53-1 Inventory > SAMPLE - Template Report - Report Window

This section explains the Reports feature and how to use it in the following areas:

•Introducing Reports

•Accessing Reports

•Using Reports GUI

•Running Reports

•Creating Custom Reports

Introducing Reports

Network operators often want to have detailed reports on the services provisioned. For example, for a given customer, you might want to see a list of the PE-CE connections and their detailed PE-CE configuration parameters or you might want to see specific Layer2 or Layer3 service requests on a PE. These reports help network operators by providing a centralized location for finding Service Requests (SRs) and VPN information.

When you choose Inventory > Reports > Inventory Reports, reports are grouped by type to allow for easy navigation. Prime Fulfillment displays only predefined (canned) reports for which the user has RBAC permission.

You can select the filtering criteria and the outputs to be displayed in the report. You can save reports to a variety of formats.

In addition to the predefined reports that are documented in the Cisco Prime Fulfillment User Guide 6.1, Prime Fulfillment provides additional sample reports. Sample reports are provided for informational purposes only and are untested and unsupported.

The data structures that Prime Fulfillment uses to provide reports in the GUI are defined in an XML format.

Accessing Reports

To access the reports, follow these steps:

Step 1 To access the reports framework in the Prime Fulfillment GUI, choose Inventory > Reports > Inventory Reports.

Step 2 Click on the folders to display the available reports.

The Reports window appears, as shown in Figure 53-1.

Step 3 From the reports listed under one of the folders in the left navigation tree, click on the desired report to bring up the window associated with that report.

Note Several sample reports are provided in the each of the reports folders. These reports begin with the title SAMPLE-. These reports are provided for informational purposes only. They are untested and unsupported. You might want to use them, along with the supported reports, as a basis for creating your own custom reports. See the "Creating Custom Reports" section for information about custom reports.

Using Reports GUI

This section provides some general comments on using the reports GUI. This information applies to all reports. When you invoke a report, you see a window like the one shown in Figure 53-1.

The window is divided into several areas:

•Layout

•Filters

•Output Fields

•Sorting

Layout

This area displays the title of the report and allows you to select the chart type. You can enter your own report title by overwriting the Title field.

Note Only tabular output is supported.

Filters

In this pane you can define inputs or search criteria for the reports. Values entered here are compared against corresponding values associated with data objects in the Prime Fulfillment repository. Values must be entered for all fields. An asterisk (*) can be used as a wild-card character for an entire string.

For each filterable field, the GUI displays a label and a text input field. For certain fields, the GUI also displays a Select button that allows you to choose an existing object (for example, customer, Service Type, SR State, and so on). All available output fields are displayed in the window, allowing you to select the fields to include in the report. All output fields are selected by default.

Note Filter values must be in the same format as the values represented within Prime Fulfillment. For example, a Service Request (SR) ID must be a number.

Output Fields

In this pane you can choose output fields to be displayed in the report. You can choose any or all of the output fields by selecting them with the mouse. Use the Shift key to select a continuous range of output values. Or, use the Control key to select random output values.

Sorting

This pane allows you to select how you want to sort the report output. For Field:, use the first drop-down list to select each filter field and then the second drop-down list to choose whether to display the report fields in ascending or descending order. The sort order can also be changed after you have the report output displayed (see Figure 53-2).

Running Reports

To run the report, click View in the lower right corner of the report window. This generates the report output. An example of a report output is shown in Figure 53-2.

Figure 53-2 Report Output

The reports GUI supports output in tabular format. The output is listed in columns, which are derived form the outputs you selected in the reports window.

Each row (or record) represents one match of the search criteria you set using the filter fields in the reports window.

In some cases, the value returned in a field can be displayed as one of the following:

•-1 means no information updated for this field

•F means false

•T means true

The column heading with a triangle icon is the output by which the records are sorted. By clicking on any column heading, you can toggle between ascending and descending sort order. To sort on another output value, click on the heading for that value.

From the report output window, you can export, print, or e-mail using the following button:

•Export explained in the "Exporting Reports" section

•Print explained in the "Printing Reports" section

•E-mail explained in the "E-mailing Reports" section

Exporting Reports

Click on the Export icon in Figure 53-2, to bring up a window like the one shown in Figure 53-3 and then follow these steps.

Figure 53-3 Exporting Report Window

Step 1 Select the appropriate radio button for the format you want:

•PDF file—Adobe's portable document format.

•CSV file—Comma Separated Values format that allows for the data to be easily exported into a variety of applications.

Step 2 Select the rows you would like to save, then click OK.

Prime Fulfillment generates the report in the format you selected.

Note You must have the appropriate application on your system (for example, Acrobat Reader or Excel) to view and save the output.

Printing Reports

Click on the Print icon in Figure 53-2, to bring up a window like the one shown in Figure 53-4.

Figure 53-4 Print Report

This window allows you to display the report in a form more appropriate for printing. Select the desired rows, then click OK. The results are displayed in your web browser, from which you can print the report.

E-mailing Reports

Click on the E-mail icon in Figure 53-2, to bring up a window like the one shown in Figure 53-5 and then follow these steps.

Figure 53-5 E-mail Report

Step 1 In the To: field (required), specify one or more e-mail addresses to which the report should be sent.

Step 2 In the From: field (optional), enter an e-mail address you want to appear in the message header.

This allows a reply message to be sent to a valid e-mail address.

Step 3 In the CC: field (optional), enter e-mail addresses for recipients you want to receive copies of this report.

Step 4 The subject field shows the title of the report being sent.

You can overwrite this field to rename the report. This is what appears in the Subject field of the e-mail message.

Step 5 Select the radio button for the output format (PDF or CSV) in which you want the report sent.

Step 6 Select the number of rows you want sent.

Step 7 If applicable, in the Message field, write a message to announce the report, then click Send.

Creating Custom Reports

The reports listed in the Prime Fulfillment GUI in the each folder are derived from an underlying configuration file. The file is in XML format. You can access the file in the following location:

$PRIMEF_HOME/resources/nbi/reports/PrimeFulfillment/<folder_name>_report.xml

where <folder_name> is Inventory, L2, or MPLS.

Each of the available reports (including sample reports) is defined by XML content contained within an <objectDef name> start and end tag under packageDef name = "<folder_name>". The intervening XML content specifies the title of the report, all allowable filter parameters, outputs, and the default sorting behavior. You can modify existing reports or copy them to use as templates for new reports.

To do this, follow these steps:

Step 1 Stop the Prime Fulfillment server using the ./prime.sh stopall command.

See Appendix C, "WatchDog Commands" for information on starting and stopping Prime Fulfillment.

Step 2 Open the $PRIMEF_HOME/resources/nbi/reports/PrimeFulfillment/<folder_name>_report.xml (where: <folder_name> is Inventory, L2, or MPLS) configuration file using an editing tool of your choice.

Note You should back up the file before making any changes to it.

Step 3 Depending on your needs, either modify an existing report or copy one and use it as the basis for a new one.

Step 4 Save the modified $PRIMEF_HOME/resources/nbi/reports/PrimeFulfillment/<folder_name>_report.xml file.

Step 5 Restart the Prime Fulfillment server using the ./prime.sh startwd command.

See Appendix C, "WatchDog Commands" for information on starting and stopping Prime Fulfillment.

After restarting Prime Fulfillment, the modifications take effect, based on changes you made to the $PRIMEF_HOME/resources/nbi/reports/PrimeFulfillment/<folder_name>_report.xml file.