Reporting Requirements

You want the actual/plan comparison report to contain the following information:

Before you define the report, you must decide the following:

The following characteristics are used in the example actual/plan comparison report:

Before you define your report, you must define the variables that you want to use in the report definition.

Define the following variables for the actual/plan comparison report (the names for the variables are example names only):

Variables Used in the Example Actual/Plan Comparison Report

To create variables on the Report Painter screen, choose  Report Writer Variable Create . For more information, see Creating Variables .

Defining Report Rows

You define the report rows by choosing  Edit Elements Insert element or by double-clicking on the relevant cell.

Accounts and business areas should be listed in the report rows. To enter this information, you can define one report row that contains the characteristics Account and Business Area . You select the characteristics from the list in the dialog box. This list contains all the characteristics selected for the report’s library.

To define values for the characteristics Account and Business Area , enter specific values, value intervals, or groups. The report will always be created for the values you enter here.

Exploding Report Rows

If you entered a group for the characteristics Account and/or Business Area , you should display the values in the report for the individual accounts/business areas and create subtotals for the different hierarchy levels of the group.

Choose  Edit Rows Explode . The default setting Do not expand means that only a row total is displayed for the account/business area group. The SingleVals indicator displays individual values, but no subtotals or totals. Select PartSets to display the individual values, subtotals, and a total for the characteristic Account and/or Business Area . Exploded subtotals and totals are displayed in the report definition with summation levels (asterisk).

For more information, see Exploding Report Rows .

Defining Report Columns

In the report columns, you want to display the actual and plan values for the selected periods. In addition, you want the columns to display the variance between actual and plan in absolute numbers and as percentages.

You define report columns using the same procedure as that used for defining the report rows.

You should enter the following characteristics and characteristic values for the Actual column:

You should enter the following characteristics and characteristic values for the Plan column:

The Plan column uses a variable for the characteristic Version .

You define the absolute and percentage variance columns by entering formulas in the formula builder. The formulas are calculated using the column elements that you have just defined. Before leaving the formula builder, you should check that the formula is correct using the Check function.

Enter text for the report columns. Enter the column text the same way you enter row text.

Defining General Data Selection Criteria

The characteristics entered as data selection criteria determine which data is selected for the entire report.

You define general data selection criteria under  Edit General data selection .

Enter the following characteristics and characteristic values for the example actual/plan comparison report:

The characteristics Fiscal Year and Period are variables. This allows you to run the report for any periods within a given fiscal year. When you execute the report’s report group, the system prompts you to enter values for these variables on the selection screen. You can either use the default value of the variable or overtype the default with a different value.

Defining Report Texts

You can define texts for the title page, headers, footers, end page (last page), and for the text for export under  Extras Report texts .

You can define normal text, as well as text variables in your report text. You can use the following types of text variable:

For more information about these text variables and entering report texts , see Defining Report Texts and Using Variables in Report Text Definition .

Changing the Standard Layout

The standard layout determines the layout of your report. For example, the standard layout defines the page format (such as the margins) and the numerical format of the data in the report. The standard layout SAP is assigned to your report automatically. To assign a different standard layout to your report, choose  Formatting Report layout .

You can also make certain layout changes within the report definition under Formatting .

Checking the Report, Assigning a Report Group, Report Execution

After you have saved your report definition, make sure it does not contain any errors by choosing  Report Check . If there are any errors, the system lists them in an error log. You should correct the errors shown in the error log before assigning the report to a report group.

Once the report definition is free of errors, you can assign your report to a report group by choosing  Environment Assign report group . If the report group you enter does not exist, a dialog box asks if you want to create the report group. To create the report group and add the report to it, choose Yes .

To execute the report, choose  Report Execute . If you have not yet assigned the report to a report group, you can do so at this point. Once the system has generated the report group, you can enter the criteria for selecting the data records on the selection screen.

For more information on executing report groups, see Report Group Execution .