11Delivering Content
Delivering Content
Agent
Agents
Agents enable you to automate your business processes. You can use them to provide event-driven alerting, scheduled content publishing, and conditional event-driven action execution.
A schedule that the Agent runs on
A data condition that determines what the Agent does
An analysis that can be distributed
Actions that can be automatically executed depending on whether the data condition is met
Agents can dynamically detect information-based problems and opportunities, determine the appropriate individuals to notify, and deliver information to them through a wide range of devices (email, and so on).
Alerts
An alert is a notification generated by an agent that delivers personalized and actionable content to specified recipients and to subscribers to the agent.
You can see the alerts that have been delivered to you throughout Oracle BI, for example:
In the Alerts section of the Home page.
On the first page of My Dashboard. (An Alerts section is automatically added to the first page of My Dashboard, if you do not manually place one there.)
On a dashboard page, if the content designer adds an Alerts section to the page. See "Dashboard Content".
In the Alerts dialog displayed from the Alerts! button in the global header.
In specified delivery devices, such as a phone. See "Devices and Delivery Profiles"
For more information, see "Accessing and Managing Your Alerts".
How Agents Work
In the simplest format, an agent automatically performs a specified catalog analysis based on a defined schedule, and examines the results for a specific problem or opportunity. If the specific problem or opportunity is detected in the results, then an alert is generated and delivered to specified recipients and to subscribers to the agent, using the delivery options that are specified for each person.
For more information on alerts, see "Alerts" For more information on delivery options, see "Devices and Delivery Profiles"
To handle more complex requirements, agents can invoke actions that trigger other agents. For example, an agent might run an analysis to identify all current product orders over a specified dollar amount that cannot be filled from a regional warehouse. The results can be passed to another agent that runs an analysis to locate alternative sources for these products.
You might automatically be a recipient of alerts generated by some agents, and agents created by others might be available for you to subscribe to. You can also create your own agents if you have the appropriate permissions and responsibilities. Depending on the level of authority that you have, you can selectively share agents with others or make agents available for all users.
Agent Editor
The Agent editor lets you create agents to deliver personalized and actionable content to users. It also lets you view a summary of the current settings of agents.
The Agent editor contains the following tabs:
General — Lets you specify the priority of the content that an agent is to deliver and how to generate the delivery content (that is, what user to run the query as).
Schedule — Lets you specify whether the agent is to be run based on a schedule, how often it runs, and when its running is to start and end.
Condition — Lets you specify whether an agent always delivers its content and executes its actions, or conditionally delivers its content and executes its actions.
Delivery Content — Lets you specify the content to deliver with an agent, such as a dashboard page or a saved analysis.
Recipients — Lets you specify who is to receive the delivery content of the agent and who is allowed to subscribe to the agent.
Destinations — Lets you specify where the content is to be delivered.
Actions — Lets you specify one or more actions to execute when an agent finishes.
You access the Agent editor when you create or edit an agent. See "Creating an Agent".
Customization in Agents
Using customization in agents enables you to create generic agents that you can use for more than one circumstance. This helps you to reduce the number of agents and conditions that you must create for your organization. It also lets you provide the specific alert required for a particular circumstance.
Customization in an agent is accomplished by overriding the operators and values of prompted filters associated with analyses that are used in the agent. (A prompted filter is a filter whose operator is set to Is Prompted. For more information on prompted filters, see "Creating a Column Filter".)
You use analyses in an agent when you specify that the agent is to:
Conditionally deliver its content and execute its actions using a condition (either named or inline) that is based on an analysis. For more information on conditions, see "Working with Conditions."
Deliver an analysis as its content.
Prompted filters can be customized at various points, depending on how the analysis with which it is associated is used:
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If the analysis is used as the basis for a named condition, then the chain for customization is as follows:
In the analysis
In the named condition
In the agent customization of the condition
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If the analysis is used as the basis for an inline condition created in an agent, then the chain of customization is as follows:
In the analysis
In the agent customization of the condition
- In the subscription customization of the agent condition
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If the analysis is specified as the delivery content for an agent, then the chain for customization is as follows:
In the analysis
In the agent customization of the delivery content
In the subscription customization of the delivery content
When using customization in an agent, keep the following points in mind:
Once a filter is overridden, it cannot be overridden again further in the customization chain. For example, if you override a filter in the agent customization of the delivery content, then the subscriber cannot override it later in the subscription customization of the delivery content.
If any filters in an analysis are combined (that is, constructed using AND and OR), then this AND and OR structure is not displayed in the customization.
If the same filters are used more than once in an agent, then only a unique set of the filters is displayed for customization. The customized values that you specify are applied to all instances of the repeated filter. Exception: If the analysis is the result of combining two or more analyses based on a union operation, then unique filters from each part of the union are displayed for customization. For more information on combining analyses, see "Combining Columns Using Set Operations".
Filters passed between agents participating in a chain do not support customization. The filters passed from the parent agent are those without subscriber customizations. The filters passed to the child agent replace the respective prompted filters before subscriber customizations are applied.
Creating an Agent
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Saving Agents
If an agent is available for subscription, then you must save it in a subfolder in /Shared Folders, for example, /Shared Folders/Shared Agents/Sales/Agent1. (Note that you cannot save an agent directly in /Shared Folders, for example, /Shared Folders/Agent1.)
If an agent is not available for subscription, then you can save it in a subfolder in /Shared Folders, in /My Folders, or in a subfolder in /My Folders, for example, /My Folders/Sales/Agent1. (Note that you cannot save an agent directly in /Shared Folders, for example, /Shared Folders/Agent1.)
For more information about subscribing to agents, see "Subscribing to an Agent".
Saving an Agent
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In the "Agent editor" toolbar, click one of the following buttons:
To save a new agent or to save an existing agent with the same name in the same folder, click the Save this Agent button.
To save an existing agent with another name or in another folder, click the Save this Agent as button.
Complete the "Save Agent dialog", if displayed, and click OK.
Subscribing to an Agent
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In the global header, click Catalog and navigate to the agent to which you want to subscribe.
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Click the More link for the agent and select Subscribe.
Displaying a List of the Agents that you Subscribe to or That You Own
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In the global header, click Home. The "Home page" is displayed.
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In the Browse/Manage. . . area:
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To show a list of the agents that you currently subscribe to, click the My Agent Subscriptions folder/binocular button.
The "Catalog page" is displayed with a list of the agents to which you are currently subscribed. (Note that agents that you have been designated a recipient of are not included in this list.) You can then perform various tasks, such as customizing your subscription, unsubscribing from the agent, or printing a summary of the agent settings.
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To show a list of the agents that you own, click the My Agents folder/binocular button.
The "Catalog page" is displayed with a list of the agents saved in your personal folder (My Folders). You can then perform various tasks, such as running the agent or editing the agent.
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Unsubscribing from an Agent
Customizing Your Agent Subscriptions
Suppose an agent has been set up to allow users to customize the subscription and the agent uses an analysis that includes a prompted filter for either its condition, the delivery content, or both. You can customize the filter values for the conditional analysis, the delivery content analysis, or both to suit your needs.
To allow users to customize an agent subscription, you must select the Allow Subscribers to Customize Agents option in the "Agent editor: Recipients tab".
Customizing an Agent Subscription
The agent creator must have allowed subscribers to customize agents.
Displaying Customized Filter Values in an Agent Result
If you have customized filter values in an agent subscription and want to display the filter values in the agent results, then you must add a Filters view to the analysis.
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Edit the analysis that is being customized.
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Display the "Analysis editor: Results tab".
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Add the Filters view to the analysis. For how, see "Adding Views to the Results of Analyses"
Disabling and Enabling Agents' Schedules
You can temporarily disable (and then enable) an agent's schedule. Disabling an agent's schedule stops the agent from running on its defined schedule. It does not stop it from being run by other means, for example, by the Run Agent Now toolbar button in the "Agent editor".
Disabling an agent's schedule is useful if you have defined a schedule for an agent but find you want to stop it for a certain period of time.
In addition, an agent's schedule may be temporarily disabled by default. For example, if you copy a folder that contains one or more agents, then the schedule of each agent copy is disabled by default, and the agent does not run on its defined schedule until you enable it.
Disabling or Enabling an Agent's Schedule
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Devices and Delivery Profiles
Device — A device is the medium used to deliver content to you. The content of an agent can be delivered to a range of devices, such as an email.
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Delivery profile — A delivery profile specifies which devices to use to deliver content to you, based on the priority of the content. You can define several delivery profiles to meet your needs, and switch among them. However, only one profile can be active at any given time.
You configure your devices and your delivery profiles from the "My Account dialog: Delivery Options tab". For more information, see "Configuring Your Devices and Delivery Profiles".
Depending on the destinations that are specified for an agent, content can be delivered to the:
Home page and dashboard.
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Active delivery profile or specific devices.
When the destinations are specific devices, content is delivered to the devices that you have configured rather than to the devices in your active delivery profile. For example, if an Agent is defined to be delivered to Email devices, then the default Email device that you configured is used rather than any Email devices that you configured in your active delivery profile.
Delivery content is assigned a specific priority. The default priority is normal. When you select devices for your active profile, you can indicate what priority content should be sent to that device. For example, if you have added a cell phone to your delivery profile, then you might associate it with high priority content only. When you know that you will be away from the office frequently and out of email range, you can select to receive only low priority content through your office email.
Configuring your Devices and Delivery Profiles
Accessing and Managing Your Alerts
You can access a list of your alerts. The list shows the name of each alert along with its delivery date and time, and number of occurrences.
View the content for an alert.
Clear an alert and all its occurrences.
Edit the agent that generated the alert, if you have permission to modify the agent.
Run the agent that generated the alert, if you have permission to execute the agent.
Clear all your alerts and all their occurrences.
For more information about alerts, see "Alerts"
Accessing or Managing Alerts