What are reports and dashboards?
Analytics reports
Analytics reports enable a network operator to quickly determine the overall status of network functions and monitor trends. For example, you can identify the top subscribers in terms of overall network traffic, or based on application usage. Analytics allows a user to specify the reporting period, the objects on which to report, and the desired view. A report can be displayed in different formats such as a pie chart, trend diagram, or histogram.
You can schedule reports, or save them to be run again.
You can also export reports to files using the following formats:
Viewing reports
An NSP Analytics report consists of one or more charts and tables. By default, each chart or table is displayed on a separate page; you can select an option to display all on one page. To enhance the analysis, you can refine the chart display by clicking on a legend entry to include or exclude the data associated with the legend entry. Also, for increased granularity, you can click on any data portion in a chart to zoom in and view a chart that contains only the selected data portion.
From the report view, you can click on the menu items under the Repository menu to search results or configure schedules, custom dashboards, or ad hoc reports. To return to the report repository, click on Repository Top.
Note: When viewing a report, be aware of the number of objects in the dataset. The report may become unreadable if more than 10 to 20 data points are present.
Similarly, it may not be possible to create a drill-down report on a subset of data if the subset includes more than 1000 groups or services.
Report runtime error
If the report output involves a horizontally growing table (crosstab-based output), running the report without narrowing down the data using the input controls may generate one of the following error messages: “Crosstab bucket/measure limit (100,000) exceeded“ or “Please re-run the report with reduced report range or try again with different granularity". This is caused by the configured limit for crosstab components.
If you encounter this issue while running a report, re-run the report, narrowing down the result set. For example, instead of selecting all metrics available to report on, select a subset. Similarly select a subset of applications, select hourly or daily statistics instead of raw, or reduce the reporting period. If this fails, consider using a table which does not have this limit.
In-context launch
You can launch compatible reports from the Network Map and Health dashboard; see the Network and Service Assurance Guide.
Note: The top-level report opens with the parameters selected. If you drill down from this report you can change the parameters on the drill-down report.
Language localization
Analytics supports language localization. Wording that is in all reports, such as on the Apply button, the labels of the Reports and Administration areas, and page labels such as Repository and Search Results, are localized according to the NSP language localization configuration. Wording that is report-specific, such as an input parameter name, is in English only.
Dashboards
An NSP Analytics dashboard consists of multiple dashlets that are displayed on one page. Each dashlet displays a chart or table based on key performance indicators; collectively, the dashlets provide a high-level view of various network management conditions.
The entire dashboard display automatically refreshes at 15-minute intervals; you can choose to refresh the display of an individual dashlet on demand using the circle icon in the dashlet title bar, and can enlarge a dashlet for closer scrutiny using the double-arrow icon in the dashlet title bar.
Workspaces
The initial use of Analytics automatically creates a personal folder for the user in the Results folder. The Results folder also provides user access to a Shared subfolder, in which all Analytics users can share items such as reports, dashboards, and ad hoc reports.
Note: Because of a security limitation, an NSP user with Analytics access cannot have the following username:
samuser
Note: Deleting an Analytics user also permanently deletes the associated personal folder, workspace, and scheduled tasks.
Users with Administrator privileges have access to the Administrators subfolder in the Results folder, and can manage the folders of other users.
The Users and Security dashboard specifies which reports or resources a user group can access; see the NSP System Administrator Guide. Upgrade to the User Access Control (UAC) model is not supported.
Saving reports
Reports are saved in user-specific folders below the Results folder, and optionally in the Shared folder in the Results folder, as described in Workspaces. You can save a report with your inputs by clicking Save As, and later run the report using the saved input values. You can save multiple report versions that each use different input values, as required.
Within the Results folder, you can create custom folders to reflect report requirements, for example, a folder for use by a particular team; see How do I manage saved reports?.
Note: After an NSP system upgrade, some saved Analytics reports or scheduled reporting jobs may not be available, depending on the functional differences between the old and new NSP releases; see the NSP Release Description for the new release, and any intervening release, for information.
In such an instance, Nokia recommends that you delete the unavailable old reports and scheduled jobs before the upgrade, and then run, save, and reschedule the reports after the upgrade.
Exporting reports
Click on Export and choose your file format to export a report to your PC. You can export a report in the following formats:
Note: If you export a file to PDF, clicking Download from the PDF viewer may generate an error. To download a PDF, open the Print menu and choose Save as PDF.
Scheduled report creation
You can create reports on demand, or schedule regular report creation. To schedule a report, right-click on the report name in the Reports repository.
The following general guidelines match data-aggregation levels and time spans to enable the creation of meaningful reports.
Scheduled report results are saved to the Results folder. You can create and manage subfolders in the Results folder as needed. See Workspaces for more information about the Results folder.
Scheduled reports can be transferred to external systems using FTP or SFTP; on the Schedules view, enable the Output to FTP Server parameter and configure the required parameters. Additionally, scheduled reports can also be sent to an email address; see the NSP System Administrator Guide.
After an NSP system upgrade, scheduled reporting jobs created before the upgrade remain available and functional, but run the new report version.
Report purging
Saved reports that are no longer of interest consume database space unnecessarily. Reports that exceed a configured maximum number are purged automatically every 24 hours. The default maximum is 5000. You can configure the maximum number of reports, or run the purge operation manually from the System Settings form; see How do I configure application preferences?.
If you need to save more than 5000 reports at a time, Nokia recommends saving them to another location using the Output to FTP Server option when you create the report schedule.
Custom reporting
You can create and deploy custom reports and dashboards using your specifications, as described in Part VI: Custom. For information about custom reports created by Nokia, contact your support representative.
If the NSP has been upgraded, custom reports from the previous release cannot be run in the current release. Nokia recommends creating the reports again after the upgrade is completed.