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HOW TO

Check Report Freshness

Goal

Detect whether a published report is older than an acceptable freshness threshold.

Prerequisites

  • Runline U Add-in installed in Excel.
  • A report group and report name for the report being monitored.
  • Agreement on the maximum acceptable age for the report.

Steps

1. Subscribe or Identify the Report

Use the same report identifiers used by the publisher.

=U.SUBSCRIBE($B$2,$B$3)

2. Retrieve or Parse the Report Timestamp

Prefer a direct metadata lookup when the metadata key is known and reviewed for the target environment.

=U.GET_METADATA($B$2,$B$3,$B$4,TRUE,,)

Historical examples also show parsing timestamp text from a subscription value, but that should be treated as a workbook-specific convenience rather than the canonical interface.

3. Compare Against Current Time

Compare UTC to UTC.

=U.CONVERT_DATETIME(U.NOW(5),"utc")-$C$6

Put the stale threshold in a visible input cell, for example 10/86400 for ten seconds.

4. Scale to Many Reports

For a monitoring sheet, retrieve U.TOPICS_REPORT() and filter it for reports whose published timestamp is older than the threshold.

Result

The workbook has an explicit stale-data flag that can drive formatting, alerts, or fallback logic.

Common Variations

  • Use U.SEND_EMAIL, U.SEND_TEXT, or U.MESSAGE_BOX after a stale condition persists.
  • Monitor all currently visible topics with U.TOPICS_REPORT.
  • Store the last good value separately so users can distinguish stale-but-known data from missing data.

Troubleshooting

  • If the timestamp comparison is wrong by hours, verify local-time versus UTC conversion.
  • If the report never appears stale, confirm that the checked metadata field changes only when the publisher sends an update.
  • If the monitor itself is stale, check RTD throttling and workbook calculation settings.