CHAPTER 10 MANAGING REPORTSreport in the Pro_SSRS report project download, available in the Source Code/Download section of the
Apress Web site (www.apress.com). The report definition file is AR Reconciliation.rdl. In this section, we’ll
show how to use a deployed version of the AR Reconciliation report to configure its parameter values to
coincide with the scheduled times that it will execute each month.
To deploy the AR Reconciliation report, open the Pro_SSRS project in BIDS and then open the
Solution Explorer. Before deploying this report, however, you need to change the project property that
controls which folder the report will be deployed in on the report server. In the AR Reconciliation
example, you will deploy the report to a folder called End of Month Financials. In the Solution Explorer,
right-click the Pro_SSRS report project, and select Properties. Change the TargetReportFolder value from
Pro_SSRS to End of Month Financials, and click OK. Now, when you right-click the AR Reconciliation
report in the Solution Explorer and select Deploy, the new folder is created on your report server that
contains the AR Reconciliation report.
Creating a Shared Schedule
To create the shared schedule in Report Manager, click Site Settings, and then select Schedules at the
bottom of the navigation tabs on the left of the page. Click the New Schedule button link, and name the
schedule End of Month Financials. In the Schedule Details section, you are presented with the standard
scheduling options: Hour, Day, Week, Month, or Once. For this report, choose Month.
The first challenge, when configuring a shared schedule to run on the last day of each month, is to
overcome the built-in data validation on the Scheduling form. Although it is possible to tell SSRS to
execute the report on the last Sunday of every month, it is not possible to select the last day of each
month because the last day is variable (that is, it could be 28, 29, 30, or 31, depending on the month).
Well, it should be possible to create a single schedule to encompass all four dates, right? Not exactly! If
you try to save the Shared Schedule as shown in Figure 10-1, choosing 31 causes an error when all of the
months are selected because not all months have 31 days.
Note You must be logged in as a user who is a member of the SSRS 2012 System Administrator role to add
new schedules. If you haven’t been added to the site as a System Administrator, but you are in the local
Administrators group, you may need to run your browser with elevated permissions. If using IE, you can right click
the IE icon and select Run as administrator.
The solution in this example—because we know that no activity will occur after 12:00 AM on the last
day of the month—is to set the schedule to run on the first day of the month at 12:01 AM. This essentially
gives you the last day for every month, and you know the first day of the month will always be 1.