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Reports in Business Central can be configured to be sent to users when they need them. Instead of generating reports and sending them manually, you can automate reports and save time. There are two methods to schedule reports in Business Central. You can either schedule reports by running a report directly or schedule recurring reports via Job Queue.

Scheduling reports to run once, at a future date or time

From the global search on the top right, run any report you wish to schedule. In this example, we will run the Aged Accounts Receivable.

scheduling reports in the future
On the request page of the report, add your parameters under Options and then select Send to… button. This will open the following screen
On the Choose file type… select Schedule and click OK. This will prompt a dialog box menu screen as per below
On the Edit – Schedule a Report – Aged Accounts Receivable menu screen, you can define the parameters:

  1. Description – Add a meaningful description.
  2. Report Output Type – Choose the report format you want to send out.
  3. Next Run Date Formula – Add a date formula for how often you require the report to run. If you are only scheduling it once, then skip this field. For more information on date formulas, visit Microsoft’s documentation on Working with Calendar Dates and Times and refer to section Using Date Formulas.
  4. Earliest Start/Date Time – This auto populates when you enter the Next Run Date Formula. However, you can overwrite it and enter your preferred date/time.
  5. Expiration Date/Time – Specify last date/time of the report to run or leave this blank if only running the report once.

After verifying your parameters, click OK and you will receive a confirmation message. Once the report finishes running, it then appears in your Report Inbox on your Role Center in Business Central. You can find Report Inbox at the bottom of your Role Center, alternatively, you can navigate to Report Inbox from global search.

Scheduling recurring reports via Job Queue

Navigate to Job Queue Entries and click on New to create a new record.

On the Job Queue Entry Card, under General tab –

  1. Set Object Type to Run field to Report
  2. Assign the Object ID to Run. You don’t need to know the specific Object ID. Clicking on drill-down next to the text field will open another screen showing a list of reports to select from. In our example, we have selected Aged Accounts Receivable. This will auto-populate the Object Caption to Run and Description. You can change the Description to a meaningful title as this will be sent out frequently.
  3. Select your preferred Earliest Date/Time to run this report for the first time.
You can also define parameters under Report Parameters tab similar to verifying parameters on the request page when running the report directly. To specify parameters –

  1. Click on Report Request Page Options. This will open up the report’s request page for you to fill in the values. Upon finishing, Click OK to close the request page.
You will notice that the Report Request Page Options is now activated just like below.
You can now set the frequency of the schedule under Recurrence tab –
This menu provides you with flexibility to set your preferred recurrence method –

  1. Select specific days by toggling on or off on each day. For example, you wish to run the report on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. You will toggle Run on Tuesdays, Run on Wednesdays, and Run on Thursdays OR
  2. Assign Next Run Date Formula to run the report monthly, weekly, bi-weekly etc. For example, if you insert CM in Next Run Date Formula then the report will run on the first of each month. For more information on date formulas, visit Microsoft’s documentation on Working with Calendar Dates and Times and refer to section Using Date Formulas.
  3. Specify Starting Time to decide when your report runs on those recurring days. You will notice that the Starting Time becomes editable only after you select the days or the date formula.

After you finish configuring the schedule, click on Process and select Set Status to Ready. This will activate your schedule in the system. Close the Job Queue Card. You will notice a new record is added to the Job Queue Entries.

The first schedule will run based on the Earliest Start Date/Time. The recurring reports will run based on the combination of days or date formula and starting time parameters under Recurrence tab.

Once the report finishes running, it then appears in your Report Inbox on your Role Center.

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