Troubleshoot Scheduled Report Issues in DataNow

Description: Use this guide to diagnose and resolve common scheduled report delivery failures in DataNow, including empty reports, SFTP errors, S3 failures, email size limits, and mismatched order counts.

Report Delivered But Contains No Data

This is most commonly caused by the date filter being set to "today" instead of "last 24 hours."

When scheduled queries are delayed — due to high system load or multiple concurrent schedules running at the same time — a query can start after midnight. If the date filter is set to "today," the query pulls data for the new day instead of the intended event date and returns an empty report.

Important: Change the Calendar Date filter to "last 24 hours." This captures the correct data even if the query starts slightly late.

Other causes to check:

• Too many concurrent schedules: If multiple reports are set to run at the same time, queries queue and delay each other. Stagger schedules by at least 5–10 minutes.
• Filters too narrow: Check that revenue center, order state, or other filters are not excluding all data for the time period.
• No activity during the window: If there were no orders in the filtered time range, the report will be empty — this is expected behavior.

SFTP Delivery Failing

Error: "Upload to SFTP host failed due to error: Net::SSH::ConnectionTimeout"

This is a network connectivity issue on the client's SFTP server — not a DataNow configuration problem.

What to check:

• SFTP server status: Confirm the server is online and reachable externally.
• IP allow list: The following Looker outbound IPs must be whitelisted on port 22:
  • 34.200.121.56
  • 3.83.72.41
  • 54.197.142.238
• Recent network changes: Check for any recent firewall, DNS, or security configuration changes on the client's end.
• Concurrent SFTP deliveries: If multiple schedules are hitting the same SFTP server at the same time, stagger their delivery times.

Error: "Something went wrong while sending the scheduled delivery" (SFTP)

This typically means DataNow can reach the server but cannot authenticate. Check:

• SFTP credentials: Verify the username, password, or SSH key are correct and have not expired.
• Server configuration: Confirm the server supports the required host key algorithms and ciphers listed in the setup guide.
• Port: Port 22 must be open and accessible from external connections.

Amazon S3 Delivery Failing

• Expired credentials: The most common cause. Have the client re-enter current Access Key and Secret Key credentials in the schedule settings.
• Wrong region: The region selected in DataNow must match the AWS region the S3 bucket is deployed in.
• Bucket path error: Do not include leading or trailing slashes ("/") in the Bucket or Optional Path fields.
• Insufficient permissions: The IAM policy must include s3:PutObject, s3:PutObjectAcl, and s3:List* on the bucket. See the setup guide for the full required policy.

Email Delivery Failing or Not Arriving

• Report too large: Email has a file size limit. High-volume event reports covering multiple locations frequently exceed it. Switch the delivery destination to Amazon S3 or SFTP.
• Recipient not confirmed: When adding recipients, each email address must be followed by pressing Tab to confirm it. Addresses that are not confirmed will not receive the delivery.
• Spam or junk folder: Scheduled reports can land in spam. Ask the recipient to check their junk folder and whitelist the sending address.

Important: Reports that are too large to deliver via email will fail silently and the schedule may be removed. If a report covers game-day volumes or multiple revenue centers, always use S3 or SFTP.

Scheduled Delivery vs. Manual Export — Different Order Counts

This is one of the most common questions. The two methods can return different counts for legitimate reasons:

• Timezone mismatch: If the DataNow viewer timezone does not match the timezone set in the scheduled delivery, the same date range covers different time windows. Confirm the timezone in Advanced Options.
• Updated Date vs. Created Date: If the date filter is set to Updated Date, orders created outside the window but updated within it (such as a refund applied later) will appear in the scheduled export but not in a manual export using Created Date — and vice versa.
• Timing of the query: A manual export and dashboards load the moment you click it. A scheduled delivery runs at a defined time. Orders created and updated between those two moments will cause a count difference.
• Orders in an adjacent delivery: If a scheduled delivery runs daily, some orders may fall in the previous or next day's delivery window. Check adjacent exports before assuming data is missing.

Note: If you have confirmed matching filters, timezone, and date field, and counts still differ significantly, contact support with both CSV files attached for investigation.

Schedule Disappeared or Reset

• Repeated delivery failures: Schedules that consistently error out may be removed to prevent unnecessary system load. 
• Report retired or renamed: If the underlying report is deprecated, the associated schedule is also removed. Recreate the schedule against the current report.
• Permissions change: If a user's DataNow access is modified or removed, schedules they created may be affected.

Schedule Time Boundary Behavior

• Upper time limit is exclusive: If you set a delivery range of 6:00am–11:00pm, a report will not be sent at 11:00pm. Set the upper limit to 11:30pm or later if you need an 11:00pm delivery.
• Midnight cutover: Schedules using a "today" date filter that run near midnight are at risk of capturing the wrong day's data. Use "last 24 hours" instead.

Best Practices at a Glance

• Date filter: Use "last 24 hours" — never "today" for scheduled deliveries.
• Format: Always use CSV.
• Delivery destination: Use S3 or SFTP for any report covering a full event day or multiple locations. Email is for small, low-volume exports only.
• Stagger schedules: Offset start times by 5–10 minutes when running multiple reports.
• Timezone: Double-check the timezone in Advanced Options every time you create or edit a schedule.
• No hourly schedules: For near real-time data, use a Kinesis data stream — contact your account manager.

Additional Resources

• For setup instructions, see: Schedule DataNow Reports in Shift4 Venue
• For field definitions in exports, see: Understanding Key Field Definitions in Shift4 Venue DataNow