Projects generate a lot of data. Processing large amounts of data in the information system can adversely affect system performance. This topic aims to give you some advice on how you can get around this problem.

The less data the system needs to select for processing, the quicker that processing will be and the sooner your report will be displayed. You can achieve this by restricting the data selected in the following ways:

• Use selection variants. If you later need to see this data again, save time by entering the variant name. The system does not then need to search the database again for this data, but simply displays the variant, with the data updated as necessary.

• If you are not using variants, you can still make processing in Report Writer faster by:

• Choosing Variation in the selection screen to determine the level to which the data displayed in the report is broken down. We recommend that you do not use the Single value option.

• In the report itself, choose Edit ® Variation, then select no detailing.

• To improve system performance when accessing line item reports, choose Further settings and set the Variant fields only indicator. The result of this is that only those fields needed for the current variant are selected from the database. If you do this, however, only limited changes to the chosen display variant are possible in the line item display.

• Configure the database profile as appropriate.

If you use dynamic selections to exclude elements from the evaluation, the system does not need to select them from the database, thereby making processing faster.

While this may mean that, for example, the hierarchy is not displayed in full, dynamic selections alter only the appearance of the project hierarchy in the evaluations. They make no actual changes to the hierarchy.

You can narrow down the data to be viewed by setting filters, for example, if you only want to see the dates of networks for which a particular project manager is responsible, or only those projects that have a certain priority.

Filters have no effect on the range of data selected, so they do not speed up report processing. They can, however, make a report easier to read as they hide data you do not want to see.

When you remove the filters, the display shows all the data selected, without your having to leave the evaluation first.

In the hierarchy reports, the system evaluates the cost, revenue, and payment data, based on value categories. You can improve system performance when running such evaluations by combining cost/revenue elements and commitment items in value categories.

If you want to see how a particular object is developing in a number of projects, you do not need to analyze that object in each project individually. A more efficient method is to use project summarizations. This enables you to view the data you want in a single report, rather than having to access individual reports for each project.