Developer Help
This section provides information to assist developers working on the eDocument Distribution System (eDDS). If you have authorization, you may access the test server at https://edocs-test.ais.psu.edu.
Developer Tips for eDocument Distribution System
Request a Report Definition
Send an e-mail to the eDDS team with the following information indicating if this is for eDDS Test or Production system:
- Unique Report ID (Also called eDDS key, eDDS ID or report key)
- Company
- Department
- Account
- Folder name/report title
- Retention period override (See Retention Period below)
An example of the e-mail for an eDDS Report Definition:
Please define a report on eDDS for the following:
- Unique Report ID: VPAR0103
- Company: AIS
- Department: AIS REPORTS
- Account: MISC
- Folder name/report title: MESSAGE LOG BY USER
- Company, department, account, and folder can each be a maximum of 50 bytes. If the job/procedure name is not part of the Unique Report ID, include it in the report title if possible.
- Retention period override: 3 months
Create the Report
The job that creates the report on the Enterprise Server (mainframe) must use the Output Destination of U3337. This will automatically send the report to eDDS.
Report Stewards and Access Privileges for Reports
All access to report data is granted first by the report steward. Check this list to make sure your report steward is identified. To update the Report Steward list, e-mail the eDDS Server Administrator with the names, e-mail addresses, and report area of the designated person. User access can be limited at any level (company, department, account, folder) desired.
Notes on Report IDs and Retention Periods
Report IDs on the eDocument Distribution System
Each report ID must be unique and is a 25 byte field, which must be padded with blanks. This ID must appear in the first seven lines of the report. We recommend that it appear on the first line of the report in the upper left hand corner, by itself. This will avoid possible confusion with 'reserved words' such as "Penn State" which might be in the report title(s). If you already use a standard report identifier such as a VPAR number, this should be your Report ID; otherwise you'll need to contact the eDDS Server Administrator to request a unique report ID.
Retention Periods for Reports on the eDocument Distribution System
The retention period default is 1.2 months and this will be used unless otherwise specified. At this time, there are override retention periods of .2, .3, .5, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 months, 2, 5, 7 years or indefinitely. Once the report's retention period has expired and has been deleted, there is no way for AIS to restore the report. If the report retention period should be different, the specific override period must be indicated in the report definition request.
Test Server Information
We have a test server for the eDDS system. No test reports should go to the production server. The url for it is: https://edocs-test.ais.psu.edu/. The output destination for the test server is U7035. We will be setting up access on an as needed basis, so if you need to test an eDDS report, please send an e-mail to edds@psu.edu. In the e-mail, include your name (first, middle initial and last), your user ID, your phone number, your preferred e-mail address, and a list of the companies that you develop for.
The Test server will be set up differently from the production server. You will not have to request a report definition for each test report. A report definition will be set up for your user ID. Simply replace the eDDS identifier, or vpar number, with the prefix for the company that you want the report to go to and your user ID. For example, AIS XXX123 for your folder in the Administrative Information Services (AIS) company. The complete list of these prefixes follows. So the short of it, you will have a folder within your company to which you can send your reports to look view. We can also allow anyone else within your company to view these reports. In addition, you will have a folder in the various companies that you do programming for, so you can send reports to those companies for others to view. Indexed reports will continue to be the exception since we have to set up the indexes on them prior to them going out to the cascade We will handle them on an individual basis. If you have any questions or concerns, e-mail edds@psu.edu.
Report Definition Prefixes
| Name | Prefix |
|---|---|
| Accounting Operations | ACCTOP |
| Admissions | ADM |
| Adult Learner Services | ALS |
| Administrative Information Services | AIS |
| Alumni Development | ADIS |
| Auditing | AUD |
| Board of Trustees | BOT |
| Bursar | BUR |
| Business Services | BUS |
| Capital Admissions | CADM |
| Controller | CNTRLR |
| Division of Undergraduate Studies | DUS |
| eLion | ELION |
| Financial Officers | FO |
| Graduate School | GRAD |
| ITS Billing | ITSB |
| Multicultural Resource Center | MRC |
| Office of Human Resources | OHR |
| Payroll | PAY |
| Purchasing | PUR |
| Registrar | REG |
| Security | SEC |
| Student Aid | STAID |
| University Budget Office | UBO |