Jasper Reporting - ITS Integrator

Transcription

Version: 01Date: 12 April 2021JASPER REPORTINGMarchand Hildebrand

Contents1.INTRODUCTION . 22.PROBLEM STATEMENT . 23.INSTALLATIONS . 33.1.Installs. 33.2.Version Upgrades . 33.3.Maintenance . 33.4.Deployment . 33.5.Jasper Server Back Up. 34.SUPPORT . 35.DEVELOPMENT REQUESTS . 35.1.Standard Development. 35.2.Embedding . 45.3.Local Software . 45.4.Conversion of Workbooks to Jasper Reports . 45.5.iComms . 45.6.Scheduling . 45.7.Management Reports . 45.8.Jasper Standards . 46.TRAINING. 57.CONSULTATION . 58.JASPER SERVICES . 68.1.9.Conversion of discoverer workbooks to Jasper . 6BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE . 6Page 1

1. INTRODUCTIONJasper Reports is an open-source Java reporting tool that can write to a variety of targets, such as a screen, a printer,into PDF, HTML, Microsoft Excel, RTF, ODT, comma-separated values (CSV), or XML files. It can be used in Java-enabledapplications, including Java EE or web applications, to generate dynamic content.Jasper reports were introduced as a reporting strategy for ITS Integrator with the long-term view of replacing thefixed font and length reports in the system.Furthermore, Oracle reports have been deprecated and Jasper is the replacement tool for these and all other typesof reports.As a strategy for the conversion of Oracle reports to Jasper Reports, we do not want to attempt to do one to oneconversion basis but assess the functionality and deciding on the appropriate Jasper replacement solution. Althoughmost “C” and “sql” type reports could be replaced with Jasper reports the intent is not to follow a big bang approachbut an evolutionary approach deprecating reports that are no longer supported by the technology or no longer usedover time.The views and summaries metadata layer have been sold to clients and we have promoted the Oracle Discoverer asthe tool for the client to design custom reports and extract information. Oracle Discoverer tool has been used byclients to build custom workbooks based on the views and summaries metadata layer. Oracle Discoverer howeverhas also been deprecated, which left clients without a reporting tool. Not to disadvantage our clients, we promotedthe Jasper Server Domains and Ad Hoc reports as the replacement tool for Oracle Discoverer and we created relatedJasper domains based on the views and summaries in the metadata layer.In terms of the licensing agreement with Tibco Jasper soft, Jasper Reports are included as part of a client’s annualmaintenance of the ITS Integrator system. Under the very favourable license agreement, Jasper may only be usedwith ITS Integrator. If other databases are linked a different per processor core license needs to be obtained.We have implemented Jasper at clients by creating two different organizations at the clients a BI organization and areporting organization. We maintain the Reporting organization and don’t give the clients access as the organizationis where we store the standard Jasper Domains, Ad Hoc Report and Studio reports that are accessed through theIntegrator back office and management reports.2. PROBLEM STATEMENTAdapt IT Staff and clients are unsure of what is included as part of the annual maintenance, the Jasper service weoffer, and what is included in the Adapt IT / Tibco Jasper soft agreement. Clear direction is required in terms of theroles and responsibilities of Adapt IT staff. The white paper intends to address this in the following areas: Installationo Installso Version Upgradeso MaintenanceSupportDevelopment Requests - Jasper Reportso Standard Developmento Local Softwareo iCommso SchedulingTrainingConsultationJasper ServicesBusiness Intelligence (BI)Page 2

3. INSTALLATIONS3.1. InstallsThe Adapt IT technical service team (DBA’s) are responsible for installing the Jasper Server. It is not recommendedto install Jasper on the Web Logic Server due to the possible degradation of performance. It is the responsibility ofAdapt IT to advise the client on the requirements and infrastructure of the Jasper server, it is the client’sresponsibility to provide the server as per specification. A document with the recommended requirements isprovided to the client’s network administrators. If a client-server does not conform, they are informed that we areunable to support them, for example, if the client installs the server on Windows.First-time installation and upgrades to the newer version of Jasper are included in the maintenance fees. Additionalinstallations will be performed for an additional fee. Under the Adapt IT / Tipco license agreement clients are onlyallowed to use Integrator as a data source. We will install a test and production Jasper server under the Integratorlicense agreement. Should a client wish to use Jasper Reports accessing other data sources this has a licensingimplication to the client and falls outside the Adapt IT / Tipco license agreement.3.2. Version UpgradesWe are currently running and installing version 7.1.1 of the TIBCO Jasper Reports. As Tibco Jasper soft releases anupdated version of Jasper Reports Adapt IT will assess the released version and when appropriate communicatewith a client to upgrade the latest Adapt IT-supported version. It is Adapt IT’s responsibility to communicate andmanage Jasper version upgrades. If a client upgrades Jasper Reports to a version not yet supported by Adapt, theyare to be informed that we are unable to support them.3.3. MaintenanceShould Jasper Reports Server maintenance be required it is the responsibility of the client’s Jasper administrator.Should the client require assistance, such assistance can be provided by the Adapt IT technical service team. Onrequest, the technical service team will investigate and assess the level of assistance required and based on theassessment either assist the client or provide the client with a quote for the assistance.3.4. DeploymentAdapt IT will deploy new reports, domains, and ad hoc views to the client’s Jasper server from time to time as theybecome available. Adapt IT will communicate these reports enhancements bug fixes to clients via the build releasenotes.3.5. Jasper Server Back UpAdapt IT will assist in setting up Jasper Server back-ups if requested. It is the responsibility of the client to ensurethat back-ups are made backup procedures relating to the Jasper servers and environments are in place.4. SUPPORTJasper Reports objects, standard reports, domains, and ad hoc view are included under the client’s annualmaintenance and follows the same incident resolution as any other incident handled under the maintenance contractwith the related SLAs with incident resolution and escalation time frames. Support will do the initial investigation andI any technical intervention is required refer the issue to a Jasper resource that has been allocated to each DevOpsteam. Development requests are not treated the same as a request to develop or change a C-type, SQL, or Java-typereport.5. DEVELOPMENT REQUESTS5.1. Standard DevelopmentThe development of such reports, domains, and ad hoc views are driven through the Product Owners in thefunctional area based on user requests and industry requirements. Development of these reports, domains, andad hoc views are fully at the Product Owners discretion although they must consider the input from BusinessDevelopment and clients, considering the value-added and benefits to the product suite. These requests fordevelopment may emanate from the user community, user group SWT’s and major stakeholders (DHET), etc. Onreceipt of a request, the request must be referred to the relevant Product Owner who will schedule the requeststo be evaluated. Driven by the Product Owners these requests are evaluated in terms of importance, value addedto the product, and effort to develop, and based on these inputs if the request that will add value and result inPage 3

additional revenue is planned for development. Once developed these reports are deployed to the IntegratorJasper Reporting organisation.5.2. EmbeddingStandard reports being converted are managed by the Product Owners and the development teams. Where areport is converted to a Jasper Report the menu instruction is changed to call the report directly from ITSIntegrator. For server reports that have been written by the users in their BI Organization, we can on requesttransfer these reports to the embedded organization. Depending on the number of reports and the effort involvedAdapt IT may be required to quote clients to transfer reports between the organization.5.3. Local SoftwareIn the BI organisation, clients are responsible to develop and maintain their reports, domains, and ad hoc views.Clients’ objects should be put under the USER AREA. This can be done either through their Jasper developers or byoutsourcing such development to Adapt IT Education. On request Adapt IT Education will provide a requirementsdefinition to develop a report, domain, or ad hoc views and once the client has signed off on the requirementsdefinition a quote for the development will be issued.Should we develop a Jasper Report for a client and the requirement is that the report should be embedded, wewill deploy the report to the clients' test and production Jasper Server and assist the client in setting up the requiredmenu instruction to enable the embedding.Adapt IT Education in the implementation of Jasper standardised on the directory structure. Inside the USERAREAlocal software will be put inside the folder called CLIENTNAME Reports.Should we develop a domain or ad hoc report we will deploy the domain or ad hoc report to the clients' testenvironment and once signed off by the client to the production Jasper Server.5.4. Conversion of Workbooks to Jasper ReportsShould clients have developed Discoverer Workbooks, Adapt IT can convert these Discoverer Workbooks onrequest, to be developed using Jasper. If the requirement that these should be embedded, then we will deploy thereport to the clients' test and production Jasper Server, with added assistance in setting up the required menuinstructions to enable the embedding. Adapt IT Education will need access to the Discoverer reports database tobe able to extract them. This Service is billable to the client.5.5. iCommsPossibly Jasper Soft has the capability of iComms. Adapt IT still need to do more research and do development toenable the same functionality from Jasper. Utilising Jasper as a communication tool for report-basedcommunication is on the development backlog.5.6. SchedulingOn the BI organisation server clients can easily schedule reports within Jasper provided that their scheduler is setup. The scheduler setup can be done by Adapt IT on request and requires the client's email server username andpassword to be made available to Adapt IT.On the Reporting Organisation (back office embedded reports) the scheduler can also be set up and scheduling ispossible, however, staff must have access to the server environment to schedule reports which is normally notadvised on the reporting organisation. There is currently no functionality to access the Jasper scheduler from theback office.5.7. Management ReportsManagement report reference the Jasper Domain based on the views and summaries metadata layer. Adapt IT iscurrently in the process of converting the management reports to Jasper Reports.5.8. Jasper StandardsAdapt IT Education in the implementation of Jasper standardised on the directory structure and naming conventionused to set up domains, ad hoc reports, and reports. Adapt IT has allocated a product owner for Jasper responsibleto oversee the Jasper standards which included naming convention, directory structures, deployment, embedding,scheduling, and any other topics relating to the deployment of Jasper Reporting within ITS Integrator.Page 4

6. TRAININGAdapt IT provides Server and Studio training and quotes are provided by the consultation team on requests. Theavailability of a Jasper Server environment is a pre-requisite for Studio training which requires the technical ability ofthe attendees as it requires writing code. We can also present customized training or administrator trainingdepending on client needs.The following is covered in our Jasper Training Day 1 Server Training (Users that will build and View Reports within the Jaspersoft Server)o Successfully navigate through the Interface of the Jaspersoft servero Create Adhoc views and reports from the domaino Create a Dashboard by using existing reportso Gain knowledge of the various export formatso Create a scheduler for existing reportsDay 2 Server Training (Jaspersoft Server Administrators)o Create domains using data sourceso Manage users, roles, and permissionsDay 3 Studio Trainingo Interfaceo Repository Explorero Data Adapterso Server Connectiono Show Existing Reportso Bandso Outlineo Propertieso SQLo Simple Reporto Preview Show ParametersDay 4 Studio Trainingo Advanced Propertieso Expression – If Statemento Parameterso Variableso Totalso Summaryo Page-Counto GroupsDay 5 Studio Trainingo Sub Reporto Publishing to servero Input Controlso SourceServer training is for 2 days.Studio training is an additional 3 days.End-user training is 1 day during which only the using Ad-Hoc Views, Reports and Dashboards are covered.7. CONSULTATIONWe do consult, the idea is that we assess the client’s requirements and assist the client to the extent that it does notconstitute development. On request Adapt IT will quote several days for consultation and on acceptance of thequotation, a consultant will either physically or over the internet meet with the client to discuss their requirements.Page 5

8. JASPER SERVICES8.1. Conversion of discoverer workbooks to JasperClient can do it themselves after training if they have the capacity. If done by us, it must be done as small developmentprojects. This is covered in the development section.9. BUSINESS INTELLIGENCEIt is important to note that there is a BI part and a Reporting (Embedding) part to Jasper Reports, we haveimplemented Jasper at clients by creating two different organizations. Client has full access the BI organization andthis is the environment which client can build the domains, ad hoc views, reports and dashboards.Adapt IT Education has created a BI team that can assist the client with bespoke BI requirements and projects thatare of a larger nature. Jasper is the preferred tool!Page 6

Oracle Discoverer however has also been deprecated, which left clients without a reporting tool. Not to disadvantage our clients, we promoted the Jasper Server Domains and Ad Hoc reports as the replacement tool for Oracle Discoverer and we created related Jasper domain