Manage Subscription Delivery Devices

A delivery device specifies the format of the transmission process to send a report, document, or dashboard to users who subscribed to deliver content using MicroStrategy Distribution Services.

Check out the video below to learn more!

For example, if you want to send reports via email, and your recipients use an email client such as Microsoft Outlook, you can create a Microsoft Outlook email device that has settings appropriate for working with Outlook. If you need to send reports to a file location on a computer on your network, you can create a file device specifying the network file location. If you want to send reports to a printer on your network, you can create a printer device specifying the network printer location and printer properties.

In Workstation, you can create the following types of devices:

• Email An email device automatically sends emails, which contain reports, documents, or dashboards that have been subscribed to by users, or for users by other users or administrators. You create a new email device whenever you need a specific combination of properties and settings to deliver files via email. You can also specify various MIME options for the emails sent by an email device, such as the type of encoding for the emails, the type of attachments the emails, can support, and so on.

• File A file device can automatically send a report, document, or dashboard in the form of a file to a storage location such as a folder on a computer on your network. Users subscribe to a report, document, or dashboard that triggers the file device to send the subscribed content to the specified location when the subscription requires it to be sent. You can specify your network file location and file properties for the file device to deliver the file to.

• Print A print device sends a report, document, or dashboard to a specified network printer, where the content is automatically printed. You create a new print device whenever you need a specific combination of properties and settings to deliver files to a printer. You can create a new print device, define new printer properties for the default print device that comes with MicroStrategy, or use the default device with its default printer settings.

• FTP An FTP device automatically sends a report, document, or dashboard in the form of a file to a location on an FTP server. Users subscribed to content triggers the FTP device to send the subscribed report, document, or dashboard to the specified location when the subscription is sent.

• Mobile An iPhone or iPad delivery device is used to automatically push real-time updates of reports, documents, or dashboards to a user's iPhone or iPad. These subscriptions are available if you have MicroStrategy Mobile or MicroStrategy Library. Users subscribe to content, which triggers the iPhone or iPad device to send the subscribed content to the user's device.

You create new devices when you need a specific combination of properties and settings for a device to deliver files. You can create a new device in two ways. You can either create a completely new device and enter all the supporting information for the device manually, or you can duplicate an existing device and edit the supporting information, so it suits your new device. You create and configure devices using the Device Editor.