Altiris reports or IT Analytics reports that can be used by non-Altiris users

Products

• IT Management Suite
• IT Analytics

Issue/Introduction

Can Altiris reports or IT Analytics reports be used by non-Altiris users?

Altiris standard out-of-box reports and IT Analytics (ITA) reports (basically, anything under the Reports button) are not able to be viewed by non-Altiris users via links to the Console/report. For example, a manager that is not an Altiris user requests to see certain reports. However, when they try to go directly to a URL that would open the report for an Altiris user, this results in an Access Denied error.

Environment

ITMS 8.x

ITA 8.x

Cause

This is working as designed. There is no method to enable non-Altiris users to view Altiris reports of any type via links to the Console/report. This is because Altiris requires user security roles to maintain data integrity, thereby preventing unauthorized users from accessing its Console and any data therein.

Resolution

Workarounds to this are:

• For all report types: Add the user as an Altiris user in the necessary security roles. Also, a custom role could be used that would include Authenticated Users or something similar and then make the reports visible to these users. This would have the benefit of not having to constantly add non-Altiris users for this purpose.
• Standard reports only: Export the data to a file. This function is available directly on the standard report. File types include Webpart, Snapshot, Spreadsheet, HTML File, Static Filter and XML File. Note: This process is manual and cannot be scheduled.
• Standard reports only: Create an Automation Policy that will email the report's results to a non-Altiris user. This can be schedule or ran on demand. Note: This only works for standard reports, not for ITA reports.
• ITA reports only: If only ITA reports are desired to be used, but the user is not going to be added into an Altiris security role, they can be given access to the Microsoft SQL Server Report Server so that they can access reports directly from that instead. They can then use a browser or Excel to directly access the Microsoft Report Server (SSRS) or the cubes.
• ITA reports only: Export the data to a file. This function is available directly on the ITA report. Files types include XML, CSV, PDF, MHTML, Excel, Tiff and Word. Note: This process is manual and cannot be scheduled.