Creating reports
If you have the Manage Personal Reports or Manage Shared Reports permission, you can create reports.
For more information about granting permissions, see Setting Permissions.
Creating a new report
To create a new report
- Click Reports in the left navigation (if you're already on the Reports page in your default view, you can skip to step 2).
The Reports page lists the default reports (identified by the lock icon) and your user reports (identified by the user icon):
- Click the + icon in the upper right hand corner.
The Create New Report page displays, showing the report configuration panel.
Setting a date range
To set a date range
- Select the desired date range from the selection list:
- Yesterday
- The current or previous month, quarter or year
- The previous 7, 14, 30, 60 or 90 days
- The previous 12 or 13 months
- A custom date range
If you select dates manually from the calendars in the from and to fields, the custom date range option is automatically selected.
Adding fields
The next step is to add fields to the report.
To add fields
- In the Fields list, click the checkbox next to each field you want to include as a column in the report.
- An administrator might have hidden some fields, such as tags and fields used in SmartTags rules. To display/hide fields, toggle the eye icon.
- You can mouse over a field name and click the information icon to open a Detail dialog box that displays the field's type, the collections that use the field, and a sample of actual data for that field. This information can help you identify which fields should be included in your report.
- You can add no more than 10 string based (text) columns to a report.
- To remove a column from your report, you can either uncheck the field in the Fields list, or right-click it in the Columns list and click Remove Field.
To quickly identify the right resource name in a report (a VM, for example), try using the Component Name, Component ID, or Resource ID fields.
If necessary, you can use the selection list at the top of the Fields list to select a field package that limits the fields listed. Field packages organize fields for convenience, and might include other groups of fields. For example, the All Fields package includes the Billing Fields and Utilization Fields groups (for more information about fields and field packages, see Fields and field packages).
As you add fields to the Columns list, they appear as columns in the report display, and the report updates to include a row for each unique combination of data.
In this example, you've added the Department, Device ID, Hypervisor, and Cost fields to your report:
Grouping and filtering
You can use grouping and filtering to make your report more concise and meaningful.
Grouping rows
You can group rows by any field.
To group your rows
- Drag the field to the Groups list.
A Group column is added to your report, with a row for each unique value for the field you selected.
For example, if you want to group report data by Department, drag the Department field to the Groups list:
- If you group by more than one field, groupings are nested according to the order in the list.
- If you group data in a report, and a row of data is missing a value for that group field, that row is grouped in the (no value) group.
Filtering the report
You can filter your report down to a subset of the selected data.
To filter your report
- Add one or more filters by dragging the desired field(s) to the Filters list.
- Define the filter in the Filter Manager popup:
Since they aren't stored in the database, calculated fields (e.g., Capacity free percent, Capacity used percent) can't be used for filtering purposes.
Any filters you define as part of the report are saved with the report.
If you share the report with other users (as described in the next step), they can add their own filters but they cannot remove the filters you defined with the report.
For more information about defining filters, see Filtering data.
- Click Save to close the Filter Manager.
The filtered results display:
Working with aggregation
There are several aggregation options you can choose from if you want to summarize data for a column.
Aggregating data
To include an aggregate summary for a field
- Select an aggregation option from the pulldown in the Columns list:
| Aggregation option | Description |
|---|---|
| Do Not Aggregate | If you select this option, the report does not summarize data for this column. Each row for this column includes a raw value from the database. |
| Sum | If you select this option, rows for this column show the sum of the data available. This option is available only for number fields. For example, if your report includes the Provider, Product, and Cost columns, and you select this option for the Cost column, the Cost column shows the cumulative cost for each provider and product. |
| Maximum | If you select this option, rows for this column show the highest value available. This option is available only for number fields. For example, if your report includes the Provider, Product, and Rate columns, and you select this option for the Rate column, the Rate column shows the maximum rate for each provider and product. |
| Minimum | If you select this option, rows for this column show the lowest value available. This option is available only for number fields. |
| Average | If you select this option, rows for this column show the average of the values available. This option is available only for number fields. |
| Count (Not Blanks) | If you select this option, rows for this column show the raw number of values matching the unique combinations of the other columns in the report. These matching values might not be unique. The number can be very large, since there might be many non-unique rows for this column that match the unique combinations of other columns in the report. For example, if your report includes the Provider, Product, and Account ID columns, and you select this option for the Provider column, the Provider column shows the raw number of its matching values for each unique row of product and account ID. |
| Count (Distinct) | Rows for this column show the number of unique values matching the unique combinations of the other columns in the report. For example, if your report includes the Provider, Product, and Account ID columns, and you select this option for the Provider column, the Provider column shows the number of its unique matching values for each unique row of product and account ID. |
Using pivot fields
You can organize aggregated data as sub-columns of another column using the pivot field.
To use a pivot field
- Drag the field from the Columns list to the Pivot Field box.
A new super-column is added for each value of the pivot field, with sub-columns for each aggregated field in the Columns list. For example, if you drag the Cost Center field to the Pivot Field box, HPE Consumption Analytics portal adds a super-column for each cost center value, with aggregated Cost columns beneath it:
- When using a pivot field, a report will display no more than 25 columns of data.
- The pivot field cannot be a field that is marked for aggregation, or a field that is used for grouping.
- Ensure that you have at least one aggregated field in the Columns list before dragging a field to the Pivot Field box. If you try to pivot on a field, and you have no aggregated fields on which to pivot, an error message will display:
Saving the report
To save your report
- Click the Save icon.
The Save Report dialog box displays:
- Enter values in Report Name and Report Description.
- If you have the Manage Shared Reports permission and want to share the report, click Share With All Users. If you want only certain users or groups to use this report, select one or more users or groups that will have permission to use it. For more information about managing users and groups, see Setting Permissions.
- Click Save.
Your new report is now listed in the Reports page; select Reports in the left navigation to view and maintain it:
Your new report is also available in the Reports tab of your home page; select it in the Report pulldown to view and maintain it:
See Managing reports for more information.
What to do after creating reports
Create Insight rules that alert you by email about situations in your cloud that are either costing you money or harming your environment in some other way.