Freezing Report Data and Printing Reports in the Background

This section describes how you can select and freeze data in the background for a report . Using variants and variant groups to save data means that, when you execute the report, data no longer needs to be selected from the EC-EIS database. The data is already formatted, which greatly reduces the amount of time it takes to execute the report. For general information on system performance in reporting, see Optimizing Response Times

This section also describes how you can print reports using variants and variant groups. As with saving data, you can also have reports printed out in background processing at specific points in time, including periodically.

Note Note

The variants and variant groups in Release 4.0 replace the variable groups of earlier releases. You can get details on the conversion from Release 3.x to 4.0 in the Release Information in the system.

End of the note.

1. Step: Creating Variants

In order to freeze report data or print a report, you first have to define variants . In a variant you determine how the variables are filled in the report, in order to be able to process the report in the background. Select Start of the navigation path Information system Next navigation step Report data Maintain variants End of the navigation path .

Establish the selection data for the report and set how the report should be processed in the background:

Printing a report

If you wish to print data, choose Print report(s) . You must specify whether you wish to print the drilldown or detail list. You must also decide whether you want a new selection of data, or to print existing frozen data.

Selecting and freezing data

If you wish to select data in the background, choose Freeze report data . The selected data will then be saved.

Checking exceptions in the report portfolio

If the report is stored in the report portfolio, you can choose Check exceptions . This flag controls whether the exceptions created in a report portfolio report are to be evaluated in the report portfolio. If you select this flag, the system first selects the data and then checks whether any exception thresholds have been exceeded. For more information on this topic see Exception Reporting in the Report Portfolio .

If you have made your entries select Start of the navigation path Goto Next navigation step Variants Save as variant... End of the navigation path (see the online documentation BC Computing Center Management System ). You can schedule this variant in the background processing or execute the report directly online. If it is necessary to schedule several reports regularly in background processing, you can combine several reports with their variants in one variant group (see step 2).

2. Step: Defining and Maintaining Variant Groups

Using a variant group you can do the following in one step:

schedule several variants for one report, meaning that you can process different variable combinations of a report,

schedule variants for several reports, meaning that you can process different reports (see Example of the Use of a Variant Group )

Using Start of the navigation path Information system Next navigation step Report data Define variant gr. you can create a variant group. Then under Information system Report data Maintain variant gr. End of the navigation path you enter the reports and variants that you wish to process with this variant group. On the start screen you determine for which report type you would now like to enter variants. You can however, enter drilldown reports and report portfolio reports in the same variant group.

3. Step: Scheduling Variant Groups in Background Processing

In the third step, you schedule the variant group in background processing. If you only wish to schedule certain reports of the variant group, you can enter the reports to be executed. Based on the variant group and the selected reports, a job will be scheduled in background processing. You can have this job carried out regularly at fixed points in time. For more information, see the online handbook BC Computing Center Management System .