Existing reports may contain more data than is relevant to a specific user. The
high-level easy to use Report Processing Language (RPL) option is provided for breaking
down reports and sending only the information a recipient is authorized and/or needs
to receive.
The RPL provides the ability to extract/modify data and even insert data from mainframe
databases before sending. In addition, data within documents can be used for routing
purposes.
Report Splitting
A "Split Script" file controls the Report Splitting process by determining
what data in the report is to be used as a 'break' point. The Script language
has functions to find fixed or floating values in a report, and to determine if
there is a 'break' in the report.
Addressing of 'Report Segments' or SubReports can come from data in the
report page itself, or data in the report page can be used to 'Look up'
an address in an external table. For example, a salesman ID could be used as a key
in a list of salesmen and their e-mail addresses. If desired, after extracting the
address information from the report page, the page can be updated, or the line deleted
from the report page.
Another use of report splitting can be to replace each page of the report with an
HTML formatted page. For example, a report could really be a set of 'Purchase
Orders' or 'Shipping Confirmations'. The RPL script could extract addressing
and other data from the report page, then delete the report page, and replace it
with an HTML page, and have data from the original report page inserted into the
HTML page before sending.
SubReport e-mails can also contain attachments.
Splitting Report Bundles
With the advent of report distribution systems, reports may actually be bundles
of sub-reports that have been collated by target user. For example, an organization
might bundle all the month end reports to be repackaged by the recipient.
JES2MAIL has three choices for processing such report bundles:
- Deliver the entire bundle as a single report, in a single e-mail message.
- Break out the sub-reports and send each sub-report as an individual attachment in
its own message.
- With bundle mode, the sub-reports are split into separate attachments, but are delivered
in a single e-mail. The recipient gets one e-mail with a separate attachment for
each sub-report.