External Report Auto Synchronization Overview

Metric Insights includes the ability to Auto Synchronize content with BI tools. This functionality automates creation of External Reports from the BI tool's objects and simplifies the process of updating existing External Reports.

This article describes how to:

PREREQUISITES:

The following Plugins are supported for External Reports Auto Sync:

The example below shows how to use Auto Sync with Tableau, but all the Plugins follow the same steps.

Pulling Additional Metadata Upon External Reports Autos Sync

  • For Tableau, the system pulls Workbook Names, Descriptions, Tags, and Owners.

NOTE: To be able to pull this data, Include metadata under Optional Tableau Parameters in Data Source Editor must be set to "true".

  • For MicroStrategy, Metric Insights can pull Description and Technical Owner.

NOTE: A user with the same name as used in MicroStrategy must exist in Metric Insights.

  • For TIBCO Spotfire, the system pulls information about folders and sub-folders.

1. Enable Auto Synchronization

Access Admin > Collection & Storage > Data Sources and click the Data Source Active Name link

To create External Reports from the BI tool system:

  1. [Enable Content Auto Synchronization] to display the next two fields.
  2. Parent Category: Choose the Category where External Reports are synced.
  3. External Report Template: Choose a Template for External Reports.
  4. [Save]

1.1. Mirror Hierarchy Option

This function is only implemented for the following BI tools:

  • Cognos
  • MicroStrategy
  • Qlik Sense
  • QlikView
  • TIBCO Spotfire
  • SAP Analytics Cloud
  • Microsoft SharePoint

Enabling Mirror Folder Hierarchy will automatically create Subcategories to mirror the structure in the selected BI tool.

Special characters listed below are handled as an underscore “_” in the system upon "Mirror folder hierarchy":

  • Double quote "
  • Single quote '
  • Less than <
  • Greater than >
  • Caret ^
  • Grave accent (backtick) `

1.2. Collecting Report Images

This feature is shown only if the Content Autosync is enabled.

If the Try to collect preview image for newly created elements in spite of template setting is enabled, the system will collect images for Reports created during the Autosync and enable the "Manually Uploaded" setting for their Image field (Configuration tab of the External Report Editor).

1.3. Preventing Element Deletion

If the source object of the Report is not fount during the Autosync, the Report itself is deleted. However, it can be prevented by enabling Do not delete Element when the associated object is not found. This feature is shown only if the Content Autosync is enabled.

2. Synchronize Content

In Source Objects tab:

  1. [Refresh List & Sync Content] updates the Objects list and creates new External Reports placing them into the Category selected in Info tab.
  2. [Run History] provides data on all previous sync runs.

Each new automatically created External Report is named after the object of its origin.

3. View Synced External Reports

Once synchronization completes, synced External Reports are available in their assigned Category under Content > Categories.

NOTE: If source reports are deleted from the source tool, then associated MI Elements are also deleted on the next auto-sync. This is valid for the versions up to 7.0.2.

From version 7.1.0, Elements deletion can be prevented by enabling Do not delete Element when the associated object is not found.