An excellent video describing Automatic Summary Reports and their setup can be found at http://www.storminfo.net/trainingvideo/2011u/ASR/ASR.html .

The setup of automated summary reports can be selected via the Tools menu option or via the Command Bar Icons.

A dialog screen is displayed showing all of the current summary reports. The system comes predefined with one of each type of summary report. Feel free to use the copy command to copy these predefined reports to create your personalized one.

Important: There are 2 pre-requirements to successfully Email these reports.

1.     You need to have setup your Email via the User Preferences Option (EMAIL Setup).

2.     You must define the email addresses or groups you would like have the ability to send these reports to… via the User Preferences (Email Addressbook). This is required even if you have selected the Outlook method for emailing in the Email setup.

There are 3 types of automatic summary reports… Regular (Location based), Executive (Location Group based) and Risk Impact (Location Group).

More information on Automatic Summary Reports (including examples)

The following section will discuss the setup of each type of report as well as discussing the “error catching” feature of the setup option. Please note that the definition of Email Alerts and “Other” Automations have a similar look and feel.

The Automated Summary Report Setup screen looks similar to the following.

Sections 1, 2, 3, Tabs 6 and 7 are essentially the same for all 3 types of Summary Reports. Section 4 and Tab 5 may vary by type of report.

Let’s look at the sections that do not vary by type of report.

Section 1 indicates the Name of the report as well as indicators that control whether this report is active and also whether it should be automatically generated. It is valid to have a report that is active with the automatic option turned off. This is typically used when you only want to generate the report manually… i.e. selected from the Hurrtrak menu.

Section 2 defines the storms you would like considered when running the report. The “all active storms” selection will select only storms that are currently having advisories issued for them. When you manually run the report, it will only include storms that have data no more than 18 hours old (the “age” setting can be changed in the user options). With this option you can specify storms to “ignore” via the Select Exceptions command.

The “Selected Storms” option will run the report for only storms you manually select. You can select those storms via the Select Storms command.

Finally, Global/Advanced users can select or de-select the storm basins they want to include for storm selection. i.e. if you are only interested in the Atlantic and Western Pacific then check only those 2 items.

Section 3 defines how you want to handle the report output and in some cases, its format. The valid options are to Print to the default printer, Preview it on your screen, Email it as a PDF file or Email as HTML. A couple of notes here… First, when testing your reports, we suggest you use the Preview option. Also.. we suggest you Email the summary reports in PDF format, as they are much more attractive in that format. If you select the Email option, you need to select an email address or group.

Section/Tab 6 defines additional text you would like included within the email body. This is optional. See example below.

Section/Tab 7 allows the user to adjust the schedule of when this report can automatically be run. In this way you can have the report only created on certain days and times. See example below.

Now let’s look at the sections and tabs that DO vary by Automated Summary Report TYPE.

Section 4 is information that is specific to the report type being defined.

For the Regular (location based) report type, it looks like the image below. As you can see, you can define the location (or location group) you want to create the report for as well as additional details of what sections you would like included. FYI… you do not have to define a location for this report to run.. It will just contain general information about the storm not specific to an location.

For the Executive (location group based) report type, section 4 looks like the image below. It is similar to the Regular report but expects the user to define the location group they would like to create a report for. Also… just like the regular report, you do not have to define a location group for this report to run. It will only contain general information.

Finally, for the Risk Impact report type, section 4 just contains the location group and 3 additional options. Note.. A Location Group is required.

Now on to the last section which varies by Report Type... Section/Tab 5.

For the Regular and Executive report types, this tab allows the user to define the elements they want included on the tracking map. This includes which tracking map to use (we suggest BEST CHART), the locations (location group) to plot on the map, as well as several other obvious options below. The Risk Impact report does not include a tracking map. Please note... if you select to plot the wind band, the generation of the report will take longer. In addition the wind band legend will appear in the lower left portion of the tracking map. 

One last topic in this section…. Error Assistance…

The Summary Report Setup dialog is designed to help you along the way. It does this by highlighting areas that need correcting as well as changing the color of the border. So far all of the examples above show a nice green border… which means “all is well”. Let’s look at conditions which will cause errors and how they are demonstrated.

The image below actually shows 3 errors… First no storm basin is selected, next… there are no storms selected (the Selected Storms option is on) and finally no Email address is defined when the output type specifies EMAIL. Correcting each of these will turn the border green.

For the Risk Impact report you can also have an error condition when no Location Group is selected.

Finally, there is also a “WARNING” type error conditions. A yellow border will appear if the report is defined correctly but either the ACTIVE or AUTOMATION boxes are not checked. This is acceptable under certain conditions of when you only want to run the report manually.

Remember, an ALL GREEN border means you have defined a “proper” Summary Report. Of course, this report will only be generated when the Active or Selected Storm option is satisfied.