Summation Levels 

Use

In Report Painter reports and Report Writer reports you can use sets, groups, or set variables to display a hierarchy in the rows. The totals rows in a report are represented by summation levels.

Features

Each summation level is represented by one or more asterisks. In the report definition, you can specify in the layout that this hierarchy should be marked with special characters. You activate this function with Settings ® Layout ® Row totals ® Mark totals.

In the layout, you can specify whether you can choose the position of the totals (top or bottom) in the display.

For more information, see Layout.

The number of masking characters within a report depends on the number of hierarchy levels. Row totals at the lowest level in a hierarchy display with one asterisk. Individual values receive the summation level zero (no masking characters).

Hierarchy Levels and Their Representation by Masking Characters

Hierarchy Level

Number of Masking Characters

Highest level of hierarchy

n

Next level down

n-1

Next level down

n-2

Next level down

n-3

Next level down

n-4

...

...

Lowest hierarchy level

n-(n-1) = 1

Single values

No masking character (n-n)

There are two types of hierarchies:

If values exist for all levels and branches of the hierarchy, the hierarchy is balanced. A balanced hierarchy looks symmetrical.

Which hierarchy level is the highest depends on which levels have values. The individual branches of the hierarchy can differ considerably from one another, resulting in an asymmetrical hierarchy.

Summation Level with Unbalanced Hierarchy

If not every level of the hierarchy has a value, the maximum summation level can take on widely different values.

The method for determining the maximum summation level always starts at the lowest set level.

Summation Level with Balanced Hierarchy

With a balanced hierarchy, the maximum summation level is always the same, regardless of the selected data.

Summation Levels in Report Layout/Section Layout

When you set the summation level in the report layout or section layout of reports with an unbalanced hierarchy, you should take into account how the maximum summation level is determined, as described above.

Different hierarchy levels will be displayed, depending on the selected data.

In the above examples for the summation level with an unbalanced hierarchy, if you specify the interval 2 to 3 for the summation level, the result is:

For the first example: Set 1 **

For the second example: Set 12 ***, Set 13***, Set 131**, Set 132**

You can avoid this discrepancy by inserting dummy nodes into the unbalanced hierarchy to balance it. This results in additional rows in the report, which you can hide with the layout setting Suppress duplicated totals.