Workflow notifications let users collaborate on the quality assurance process before making reports available to everyone. But what about users who want to know when a new report is available or when a favorite report has changed? Fortunately, you don’t have to set up a notification system for this group of users because MOSS includes a self-service alert system. However, you should try out the system so you can show others how it works.
Main article: SSRS and MOSS 2007: Deploying the Power
Users can create alerts for individual reports or for an entire library. To set up a new alert on a report, open the context menu for the desired report, and click Alert Me. Users with Visitor or Member permission level can send the alert only to themselves. But if you’re an Owner, you can send to yourself or any list of users you specify in the alert.
You can select from several different alert-triggering events, from any change to the selected report to only changes by someone else to a report that was last modified by you. Finally, you specify the frequency of notifications. For example, you can receive an alert for every change made, or you can consolidate multiple alerts into a single email that you receive daily or weekly. If you choose the daily or weekly option, you can select a specific day and time to receive the alert.
If you configure a lot of alerts across multiple document libraries in a site, remembering which reports are affected can be challenging. To view a consolidated list of your alerts, click the Welcome menu in the top right corner of the browser, click My Settings, and then click My Alerts. You can use the My Alerts On This Site page to add an alert for a document library or a list, to edit existing alerts, or to delete alerts you no longer want. Site administrators can view alerts for other users by opening the Site Settings page and clicking User Alerts in the Site Administration section.
The alert email includes a link to the changed report as well as report metadata in the email body and links to the alert settings and to the report’s document library. Changes to report metadata qualify as a change to trigger an alert, as does redeployment of the report—whether or not the report definition actually changed. Deletion of a report also merits an alert, although the alert is deleted along with the report if the alert was configured at the report level. Therefore, if someone redeploys the report, you’ll need to create a new alert if you’re not managing alerts at the document-library level.
