Components of a prompt

The pieces that make up a prompt control how a prompt appears and how it functions. These components include the following:

• Answer requirement: This component lets you determine whether users will be required to answer the prompt or an answer will be optional. If an answer is required, a report with this prompt cannot be executed until an answer is provided.

Keep in mind that, because a report with a required prompt cannot be executed until an answer is provided, a report with this type of prompt is not a good choice to be subscribed to. This is because the subscription will be unable to answer the required prompt and thus unable to execute the report. The subscription is then automatically invalidated and deleted. To avoid this scenario, always add a default prompt answer when you make an answer required.

• Default prompt answers: This component lets you include a pre-selected answer for the prompt, which the user can then accept, replace with a different answer, or accept and add more answers.
• Personal answers: This component lets a user save prompt answers for a specific prompt, and then reuse the answers on any report that uses the prompt. Personal answers are saved for each prompt and each user, but they can be used on different reports. Allowing users to save personal answers can help reduce the storage space taken up by saved static reports.
• Title and instructions: This component lets you provide a useful name for the prompt, which can significantly impact how straightforward or complex a user finds prompts to be. You can also include instructions on how to use the prompt.

Consider your users' needs as well as the purpose of the report and the objects on it when you decide on these options.

These prompt components are defined from the Create Prompt page. See Creating a prompt for steps to access the Create Prompt page. Each prompt component is described below.

If you plan to apply a schedule to a prompted report, the decisions you make about answer requirements and default answers will affect how the report is filtered when it is automatically executed on schedule. For a table showing how various combinations of these options affect how a scheduled report is filtered when executed, see the Advanced Prompts chapter in the Advanced Reporting Help.