IT Analytics offers customers unparalleled flexibility in the way they visualize, analyze, and consume their business critical data. In addition to providing users a valuable and comprehensive reporting solution out of the box, IT Analytics’ flexible architecture and use of standard technologies gives users several options for report creation. This article outlines the various way the same report can be created within IT Analytics Symantec Endpoint Protection Content Pack.
This example shows how to create a report showing computers with critical patches through using the pivot table cube viewer in IT Analytics.
The above example illustrates the ease of use with creating a report in IT Analytics, without previous knowledge of the Symantec Endpoint Protection Manager database schema or requiring any other programming skills. This very specific view can be saved for re-use or can be shared with other individuals in the organization.
This example shows how to export a pivot table view from IT Analytics and work with it in Microsoft Excel.
This example includes building a report utilizing IT Analytics cubes in Microsoft Report Builder. Report Builder is a component included with SQL Server Reporting Services that allows ad-hoc reporting functionality, enabling end users to build their own reports and charts. Report Builder uses wizard driven steps to easily connect to data sources and locate the desired fields for creating a report. Users can then publish these reports back into the Symantec Management Platform console for viewing, as well as other venues like SharePoint and Reporting Services. For more information on using Report Builder, please see the Microsoft website.
IT Analytics provides users several ways to author custom reports, from simple drag-and-drop views to leveraging proven 3rd party applications, all in an effort to deliver flexible and robust reporting. Creating the above examples without IT Analytics would require advanced knowledge of the underlying database schema, as well as proficiency in writing SQL queries. By utilizing IT Analytics and the techniques described above, users can significantly expand their options for custom reporting with very little effort or programming experience.