Creating Blueprints

This topic has these sections:

Understanding Blueprints

A blueprint is a report "template" that is used to define the structure, formatting, scheduling, and indexing criteria for each report type that Report Parser processes. You create one blueprint for each type of report that you process, and you configure that blueprint to point to the input directory in which this report type resides. This means that one blueprint points to one input directory, and is applied to one type of report.

For example, suppose that your organization produces an Accounts Receivable report every Friday. This report always contains the same type of information formatted in precisely the same way. Although the format of the report is consistent, it is clumsy and cumbersome for a person to read. The Report Parser enables you to restructure your report, based on criteria that you specify, into one or more paginated, formatted, legible, electronic files. Therefore, you would likely want to configure a blueprint for the weekly Accounts Receivable reports, and schedule it for processing each Friday. The result will be a viewable report, in the output format that you specify, which is now managed by your content management system. You can then access this report from your content management system by performing a full-text or metadata search.

All blueprints are created, configured, and managed through the Report Parser: Blueprint Manager screen.

Terminology

Following are terms used throughout this guide, and their corresponding definitions:

Blueprint: A report "template" that is used to define the structure, formatting, scheduling, and indexing criteria for each report type that Report Parser processes.

Content Item Sequence: A number that enumerates items of content that are generated and checked into the content server by Report Parser. For example, a report can be parsed into several separate content items prior to being checked into the content server. The numeric order in which the items are created by Report Parser equates to the content item sequence.

Content Management System: Stellent Content Server works in conjunction with Report Parser. When a report is processed, Report Parser checks in the generated Content Item(s) to Stellent Content Server for immediate electronic access.

Exemplar Text: Text that is extracted from an actual report. Exemplar Text is used when setting up a blueprint on the Edit Blueprint screen to enable you to validate the appropriate formatting of the output file prior to parsing the report.

Field Info: The descriptive information, sometimes referred to as metadata, that is associated with each document when checked into the content server. Generally, Field Info is the important information about a file that you and others use to find it, such as: the Author, Title, Revision, Content Type, etc. Report Parser Field Info corresponds to Field Info within your content management system.

Header Constant: A string that is extracted (while parsing a report) from a specified location in each page header.

Primary File Format: The file format of the published report that will be stored in the content server.

Alternate File Format: (Optional) A secondary file format for the published report. The Alternate File is specified only if you want to check in another file format in addition to the Primary File Format specified.

Note: If an alternate file is specified, the web-viewable version of the output content item is generated from the alternate file, rather than the primary file.

Watch Directory: The watch directory refers to the location a generated report is placed when ready to be processed through Report Parser. This watched location is set for each blueprint with the Scheduling/Indexing tab "Find Reports In:” option, accessible from Report Parser Blueprint Editor screen. To be valid, a watch directory must have these qualities: