Features of the Report Writer (SAP Library - Special Purpose Ledger (FI-SL))

Features of the Report Writer

With the Report Writer, you can organize reports to meet the specific needs of you and your company. The Report Writer uses reporting building blocks, such as sets, which can be used in any report.

A set is a system structure that you can use to link together specific values or ranges of values under a name. These values exist within one characteristic of a coding block. A characteristic is a single field or column of a database table. Account, cost center, and business area are examples of characteristics. Within these characteristics, you can store specific characteristic values under a set name.

You create a set called TD-RACCT-EXP. This set uses the characteristic Account and contains all of your expense accounts.

Using sets, you define which data is used in your report and how the data appears in report rows and columns.

Using sets in the Report Writer offers the following advantages:

Simple maintenance of reports

Multiple usage of the same sets in many reports

Multidimensional reporting

Sub-totals at levels defined by the user

For more information about sets, see Sets.

The Report Writer is a multidimensional reporting tool. When you use the Report Writer, you can easily rearrange the characteristics within a report. In the following graphic, the characteristics Cost Center and Account make up the rows of the report; local and group currency make up the columns of the report.

Changing the order of this report involves only a small change in a set; you do not have to change the report - only the set that is used in the report. You can easily report on any combination of characteristics without having to maintain complicated user tables in the background.