Scheduling Reports and Documents: Subscriptions

Normally, Intelligence Server executes report or document requests immediately after they are made. A subscription allows these requests to be executed according to a schedule specified by the administrator. Users can create subscriptions for themselves, or system administrators can subscribe users to reports. In addition, if you have a Distribution Services license, you can deliver subscribed reports or documents to other users by email, file, FTP, or print.

Scheduling reports and documents execution reduces the load on the system in the following ways:

• You can create caches for frequently accessed reports and documents, which provides fast response times to users without generating additional load on the database system.
• Large, long-running reports and documents can be postponed to later when the system load is lighter.

A subscription for a document creates or updates only that document's cache for the default mode of the document (HTML, PDF, Excel, or XML/Flash). If the document is viewed in other modes, it does not use this cache. For more information about how Intelligence Server determines whether to use a cache, see Cache Matching Algorithm.

When a user subscribes or is subscribed to a report or document, that user's personalization selections apply to the subscription. Personalization selections can include language choice, delivery method, delivery location, delivery format, and so on. Personalization options vary depending on what a report or document supports, whether the user's MicroStrategy environment is internationalized in the appropriate language for the user, and so on.

This section provides the following information about subscriptions:

• Types of Subscriptions
• Creating Subscriptions
• Managing Subscriptions