Reporting - Overview

This article contains information on using Mimecast Reporting graphs to analyze email volumes, flows, and user activity, including graph customization, data export options, and differences between reports and archiving due to de-duplication.

Reports can assist with infrastructure planning through data load analysis, gauge user efficiency, and provide a graphical representation of email volumes and flows. These default reports give Administrators a quick view of their environment, showing different aspects of their email data volumes and bandwidth usage. Administrators can also determine which users in the company are sending large volumes of emails and analyze what is causing inbound emails to be rejected.

Reporting Overview shows groups of graphs as follows:

• • • Summary Graphs: Display the volumes of email split into Outbound, Inbound, and Internal messages, as well as Rejected volumes
    • Outbound Email: Displays email communication from Internal users to External users and domains
    • Inbound Email: Displays email communication from External users to Internal users and domains
    • Internal Email: Displays email communication between Internal users
    • Custom Reports: Displays any Custom Report Definitions that have been configured

View the Reporting Definitions page for a detailed breakdown of what each of the different graph data types represents. Reporting Data is available for a year, although scheduled reports can be stored in PDF for a longer period.

Using the Reporting Graphs

See the Reporting page for details on how to access the reporting graphs.

This page displays an accordion menu on the left that is split into various groups of reports. The page on the right displays a graph based on your menu selection:

Working with Graphs

There are certain guidelines to be aware of when working with graphs:

• • • By default, the graphs will display Today's results. Use the calendar control to select the time period you wish to view. Note that the calendar control is not included in the Email Statistics Report as the information displayed relates to a rolling 12-month period.
    • For most graphs, the X-axis shows the email volume, while the Y axis shows the date, email address, or domain. If the graph is based on a single day i.e., Yesterday, hourly results are shown; otherwise, the total for each day is displayed.
    • Graphs can be downloaded by clicking on the download Reporting - Download.png icon. The following file types are available: PNG, JPEG, PDF, and SVG Vector image.
    • Graphs can be printed by clicking on the print Reporting - Print.png icon and then confirming the printer and settings.
    • For graphs displaying email volumes, the total volumes are shown as well as the split of traffic. i.e., the email route is shown in different colors:
      • Green – Internal
      • Red – Outbound
      • Blue - Inbound
    • If you hover over the graph columns, the totals are displayed. Administrators are also able to toggle the results by clicking on the graph legend. For example, in the graph below, if you wanted to view your external email volumes, you can click on Internal in the legend, which removes these results from the graph. To reinstate the Internal results, simply click on Internal again in the graph legend:

View Data

Certain graphs also include a View Data menu option under the graph. Expanding this menu displays the traffic split into hourly totals represented in a table format. Administrators can also download this data in CSV format by clicking on the Download as CSV button:

Graphs can also be downloaded or emailed out using the PDF Reports option.

There is a discrepancy between the Archive while searching for messages and the Reports (either CSV or Assessment) comes down to the de-duplication seen on Archiving. While the reports show sent messages per SMTP thread, the archive will condense and de-duplicate messages down.

For example:
If a person sends to 100 people in one email thread, in the archive this is seen as one message as it is de-duplicated and condensed down. The report will show 100 emails being sent to 100 different people from one person. Similarly, if an email was sent to a Distribution List, it will show under archiving that it was sent to a person within a distribution list as a journal copy would be received, and de-duplication would condense this to one email; however, on the report it will not show this as it was sent to a Distribution List as the primary email and not to the end user directly.

See Also...

• • • Reporting Definitions
    • PDF Reports