Scheduling objects overview

Scheduling an object lets you run it automatically at specified times. You can schedule report objects, program objects, and object packages. (For details about object types and object management, see Managing objects overview.)

When you schedule an object, Crystal Enterprise generates an instance that contains information that is captured when the object is run. Report instances contain relevant database information; for example, instances for program objects contain the standard out and standard error produced by that instance of the program. Your instance uses all of the settings that you have set in the CMC for the original object. This section explains how to schedule and manage object instances through the Crystal Management Console (CMC).

This chapter is organized into three main sections:

• Setting up scheduling

  This section describes how to prepare your system for scheduling. You can specify the servers that objects use for scheduling, and you can create calendars to provide your users with sets of common scheduling dates.

• Scheduling objects

  This section provides information on scheduling objects in various ways, such as scheduling objects on demand, daily or monthly, in batches, or with events.

• Managing instances

  This section describes how to manage instances that are created after you schedule objects. In the CMC, you can choose from various notification options, or you can distribute objects by choosing output formats and destinations. You can also manage an object's historical instances and control how many instances are available for each object.