Broadcast by E-Mail 

Use

Broadcasting by e-mail is one way in which you can distribute BI objects (queries, query views, Web templates, reports, or workbooks).

Prerequisites

You selected Broadcast by E-Mail as the distribution type when you created the broadcast setting.

Your system administrator has maintained the possible recipients as communication type E-Mail in user maintenance and has entered the e-mail addresses. For more information, see Tasks for System Administration.

Features

To broadcast by e-mail, make the following settings on the following tab pages:

Recipients

You can specify recipients in various ways:

●     User: Enter the BI user names of the recipients manually or by choosing  with the quick info text Selection; user names must be separated by semicolons.

●     Users in Role: Enter the BI roles manually or by choosing  with the quick info text Selection; roles must be separated by semicolons. The e-mail is sent to all users assigned to one of the roles specified here.

If an e-mail address for a user that you have specified under User or User in Role has not been maintained in user maintenance, the user does not receive the distributed file as an e-mail. Instead, the user receives a message in the business workplace (transaction SO01).

●     E-Mail Addresses: Enter the e-mail addresses of the recipients, separated by semicolons.

To send e-mails to a distribution list, the distribution list must be recognized with a valid e-mail address (SMTP address) on the SMTP server. The e-mail can be sent to the distribution list as soon as this e-mail address has been specified under E-Mail Addresses in the broadcast setting.

The SMTP server uses the sender’s SMTP address to check whether the sender is authorized to send to the distribution list. In broadcasting, the Internet mail address specified in the user master data is used as the sender’s SMTP address.

For more information about managing distribution lists on the SMTP server and specifying addresses using a valid SMTP address, see the product documentation for the SMTP server (Microsoft Exchange/Microsoft Outlook, for example).

Example (Microsoft Exchange/Microsoft Outlook)

Your Microsoft Outlook address book contains the global distribution list DL EMEA EMPLOYEES. In the properties of the distribution list, the SMTP address is DL_EMEA_EMPLOYEES@exchange.myCompany.com. If you specify this SMTP address as the e-mail address in the broadcast setting, the system sends the e-mail to all recipients on the distribution list.

E-mails sent using an SMTP server can be signed, encrypted, or both. For more information about the prerequisites, see Configuration for Information Broadcasting. You must also specify the user settings for the default values for encryption and the use of signatures.

...

                                                  i.       Choose System → User Profile → Own Data → Parameters.

                                                ii.       In the Parameter ID column, use the input help to select the SET and GET parameters BCSSIGN (for signatures) and BCSENCRYPT (for encryption).

                                               iii.       To activate signatures and encryption, enter X in the Parameter Value column for these parameters.

When you set these parameters, all e-mails for the user are signed, encrypted, or both.

●     Authorization User: If you schedule the broadcast setting for background processing (for example, for a specific time), you can enter a BI user name manually or by choosing  with the quick info text Selection. The system generates the document with the settings (for example, date format) and authorizations of the specified user.

If you want to distribute the broadcast setting immediately, the system generates the document using the authorizations and settings for the current user who is logged on to the system and is defining the broadcast setting.

●     Language: If you schedule the broadcast setting for background processing (for example, for a specific time), you can select the language in which the document is to be generated. The system displays the languages that are installed on the BI system.

If you want to distribute the broadcast setting immediately, the system generates the document using the logon language for the current user who is logged on to the system and is defining the broadcast setting.

●     User-Specific: If you schedule the broadcast setting for background processing (for example, for a specific time), you can generate the document as user-specific. The system generates the document for each of the specified recipients, using their personal settings (date format, language) and data authorizations. Recipients specified with e-mail addresses only are not included. For these recipients, the system generates the document using the settings for the authorization user.

If you want to distribute the broadcast setting immediately, the system generates the document using the settings for the current user.

Texts

You can specify values for the following:

●     Subject: Enter a subject line for the e-mail manually or use a text variable from  Attach Text Variable. The text can contain up to 50 characters.

●     Importance: Select the importance level for the e-mail (low, medium, high).

●     Contents: Enter text for the contents of the e-mail manually or use a text variable by choosing  with the quick info text Attach Text Variable. When online links are sent, the system automatically adds a link to the text of the e-mail if the text does not contain the link using the PR_ONLINE_LINK variable.

For more information, see Use of Text Variables.

 

You can also make settings on the Filter Navigation, General Precalculation, General Link Generation, Layout, and Header/Footer tab pages. The tab pages are context sensitive and are displayed depending on the selected output format. For more information, see Filter Navigation, General Settings for Precalculation and the Creation of Links, and Creating Print Versions of BI Applications (with the PDF output format for the Layout and Header/Footer tab pages).