Reynolds Lockouts - Query Builder

[ewalraven]

I think if some wants their data from Reynolds there's plenty of ways to do it .. plenty. For me, it's just more of an annoyance to get calls and then have to resetup the user.

At the very least, Reynolds is providing a little job security /semi-sarcasm

 

[craigh]

Care to expand on "plenty of ways to do it"?
I've looked at numerous things, but if you're not paying to be RCI certified you can't use telnet anymore (without their password), query builder has issues and the report scheduler account gets locked out if they don't like the behaviour.

 

[ewalraven]

Are we talking from the vendor side or from the dealer side? Are you internal or external? How big are the reports you're running?

 

[craigh]

For a dealership to be able to export their own information.
Size of the report shouldn't matter - we're talking about "their data" - as an example though, let's say I want all service records. I want to create an in-house report of all service for the past 6 years, etc.

These types of reports, at the dealership level where they "own" that data, are not easy and there aren't plenty of ways to do it AFAIK.

 

[ewalraven]

I'm assuming we don't have access to the files we need in query builder or query builder at all?

6910 --> Create report based off the SERINDEX file --> Use Download Report Wizard --> Exports to excel.

To many fields so it's not 100% readable? Just break into muliple reports and merge on a common unique field used in both reports.

 

[craigh]

It's not a great solution, but technically workable.
Our issue is that we want rolling data and they keep causing issues.

We currently have query builder, but it crashes when:
a) Anything happens on the "main server"
b) It randomly throws a captcha
c) The user account expires
d) The account is locked out due to "suspicious activity"

and various other times it just doesn't run, even though it hasn't crashed.
It works out to us manually exporting data on an almost daily basis. We're lucky to get 3 days in a row without issues.

 

[ewalraven]

I don't see these as huge hurdles in comparison to the extra unnecessarily work that's done in the auto biz everyday. Worst case scenerio you enter a captcha, unlock an account, or create another account. If you are internal and are ADMIN you can do this easily.

Now if you are on the vendor side and you are doing this 1000x per day. There's better solutions. Far better ones, but this will do the trick for your everyday user.

 

[Viracocha]

I'm assuming we don't have access to the files we need in query builder or query builder at all?

6910 --> Create report based off the SERINDEX file --> Use Download Report Wizard --> Exports to excel.

To many fields so it's not 100% readable? Just break into muliple reports and merge on a common unique field used in both reports.

That's the part that absolutely kills me. Its basically the same as Query Builder but now instead of it being a 2 minute extract its a 30 minute extract because of the inherent limitations in Report Generator. Does this mean that unauthorized folks only steal from Query Builder and not Report Generator? Magical. I wonder when the Unicorn enhancement is being delivered.

 

[ewalraven]

That's the part that absolutely kills me. Its basically the same as Query Builder but now instead of it being a 2 minute extract its a 30 minute extract because of the inherent limitations in Report Generator. Does this mean that unauthorized folks only steal from Query Builder and not Report Generator? Magical. I wonder when the Unicorn enhancement is being delivered.

Ah, I gotcha, I mean it does take a little longer this way, but it's not the end of the world. You still get the data you want even though it's not what we're used to.

 

[Jlewis74]

We make switching from RR as painless as it can be considering and we are able to get all the data out, its not easy but we do it!