Types of Subscriptions

You can create the following types of subscriptions for a report or document:

Cache update subscriptions refresh the cache for the specified report or document. For example, your system contains a set of standard weekly and monthly reports. These reports should be kept in cache because they are frequently accessed. Certain tables in the database are refreshed weekly, and other tables are refreshed monthly. Whenever these tables are updated, the appropriate caches should be refreshed.
Cache update subscriptions often use event-triggered schedules because caches generally do not need to be refreshed unless the underlying data changes from an event like a data warehouse load. For additional suggestions for scheduling strategies, see Managing Result Caches. For detailed information about caches, see Result Caches.
WebDAV subscriptions are a special type of cache update subscriptions. These subscriptions update an Intelligence Server folder whose contents are hosted by a WebDAV server so that the information in the folder can be served to mobile devices. For information about WebDAV folders, see the Advanced Reporting Help.

History List subscriptions create a History List message for the specified report or document. Users can then retrieve the report or document from the History List message in their History List folder. For detailed information about the History List, see Saving Report Results: History List.
Mobile subscriptions deliver the report or document to a mobile device, such as an iPhone or an Android device, via MicroStrategy Mobile. These subscriptions are available if you own the MicroStrategy Mobile product. For detailed information about mobile subscriptions and MicroStrategy Mobile, see the MicroStrategy Mobile Administration Help .
Intelligent Cube update subscriptions retrieve the most recent information for an Intelligent Cube from the data warehouse and then publish that Intelligent Cube. Like cache update subscriptions, Intelligent Cube update subscriptions are good candidates for event-triggered schedules. For detailed information about Intelligent Cubes, see the In-memory Analytics Help.
Email subscriptions deliver a report or document to one or more email addresses.
File subscriptions save the report or document as an Excel or PDF file to a disk location on the network.
Print subscriptions automatically print a report or document from a specified printer.
FTP subscriptions automatically save the report or document to a location on an FTP server in the file format the user chooses: command separated values (CSV), PDF, HTML, MS Excel, and plain text.

Email, file, print, and FTP subscriptions are available if you have purchased a Distribution Services license. For information on purchasing Distribution Services, contact your MicroStrategy account representative.

Distribution Services Subscriptions

If you have a Distribution Services license, you can set up information flows for yourself and other users by subscribing to report and document deliveries. Users can freely personalize these deliveries by selecting delivery formats and locations, such as:

Format: HTML, Flash, PDF, Excel, ZIP file, plain text, CSV, bulk export, or .mstr (dashboard) file
Delivery location: Email, network printer, FTP location, file server (including portals and PCs), or the user's MicroStrategy History List, which serves as a report archive and immediately informs the user of the delivery by email

Reports or documents that are subscribed to for delivery through Distribution Services can be compressed and password protected. Standard MicroStrategy security credentials are applied for each user subscribed to receive a report or document.

Before you can use Distribution Services to deliver reports and documents, you must create the appropriate devices, transmitters, and contacts. For detailed information on these objects and instructions on setting up Distribution Services system, see Configuring and Administering Distribution Services.