Scenario reports
A scenario report is a detailed description of what changes need to be made to meet your scenario requirements and is provided in PDF format. The report includes a summary of the state of the hosts and VMs both before and after all your operations have been applied. It also lists the operations, both in summary and in detail, just as they appear in the Forward Thinking scenario editor.
A scenario report can be used to compare the outcomes, combine them and save them to build up your plan for the future. You can generate reports from each scenario to show the before and after in a direct comparison in a single document.
When you create and save a scenario report, its content does not change. It is a snapshot of the scenario as soon as you save it. Reports are not updated when you add new data to your project, the way your Forward Thinking scenario models and Baseline View are.
Note: It is important to distinguish the Baseline View and Forward Thinking scenario reports from the more advanced reporting features of Capacity Planner where you can summarise utilisation, create RAG reports, analyse relationships between metrics, and so on. To learn more about reporting, see Using advanced reports.
One view, multiple reports Copied
Each Forward Thinking scenario model can store multiple reports, which means you can create an archive of reports over time to represent different operations.
This also means that you can create new reports for the same scenario model at regular intervals, without having to configure a new scenario to do so.
There is no limit to the number of reports you can create from a Forward Thinking scenario model.
Report structure Copied
The report shows a comparison of before and after the scenario operations have been applied. This includes a look at the Baseline View and tables showing how each VM and host is affected by the operations.
The report is divided into the following sections:
- Introduction — the name of the report, and the date and time the report was created.
- Pre Scenario Resource Consumption Summary — a copy of theBaseline View chart before your operations are applied. This also includes a table summarising the details of each host and VM.
- Post Scenario Resource Consumption Summary — a copy of the Baseline View chart after your operations are applied. This also includes a table summarising the details of each host and VM.
- Scenario summary— breakdown of each server by type (physical and virtual) and each host that is present in the estate and has been modified, removed, added, or migrated.
- Operations — a summary of each operation you performed and a detailed list of what each operation entails.
Create a scenario report Copied
To create a new scenario report, follow the steps:
- Open the Forward Thinking scenario model you want to create a new report for.
- From the application menu bar, select Reports > Generate Scenario report.
- Enter the name for your new report and click Generate report. Note that the report name includes the scenario model name by default but you can change it.
The report is created in PDF format.
Depending on how much data needs to be added to the report, it may take a few minutes for the report to generate. When the report is generated, it appears on the list of your available reports under Reports > View reports.
Open a scenario report Copied
To view a scenario report that you previously generated, follow the steps:
- Open the Forward Thinking scenario model you want to view the report for.
- From the application menu bar, select Reports > View reports.
- Select the report you wish to open.
The report is downloaded to your computer in PDF format.
Alternatively, reports can be accessed from the project home screen:
- Open the Forward Thinking accordion.
- Locate the Forward Thinking scenario model for which you created a report. The number of created reports appears on the list.
- Click the number and select the report you wish to open.
You can also delete a report directly form this list.