
This function allows users to access business information in the SAP system by starting reports or displaying pregenerated lists in report trees.
Report trees are hierarchical structures that can contain standard SAP reports and/or user-defined reports, as well as lists generated by starting reports. In an SAP System, there can be any number of report trees, and the nodes of each report tree can offer any number of reports and pregenerated lists.
General Report Selection exposes a hierarchy of report trees across all applications. You can:
Start reports online and in the background
Save lists generated by starting reports
Change the appearance of the report tree structure
SAP delivers a standard hierarchy of report trees that contain standard reports for all applications, but you can modify the structure to create a company-specific solution that gives users direct access to the information they require. Some users need to start many reports in several different report trees, while others may only want to run one or two reports.
The report trees displayed by general report selection have a hierarchical structure that generally exposes between three and five levels. You expand the structure of each tree until you reach a list of reports.
The top level contains the individual SAP applications
The second level contains the work areas of each application
The third level contains either the objects or reports of each work area
The fourth level (if any) contains either the sub-objects or reports each object
The fifth level (if any) generally contains the reports of each sub-object
Reports are nodes in the report tree - they are not assigned to superior nodes. Since reports always appear at the last level, they determine the number of levels in any report tree structure.
When users access General Report Selection, they can:
Adjust the appearance of the report tree structure
Navigate in the report tree to find reports
Start reports online and in the background
Save lists generated by starting reports in the report tree
Perform various utility functions