Defining your own Reports with the Report Painter (SAP Library

Defining your own Reports with the Report Painter

Use

You should be able to meet most of your reporting requirements using the standard reports in your R/3 application components. However, if these reports do not entirely meet your needs, you can define your own reports quickly and easily using the Report Painter.

With the Report Painter, you can define reports which allow you to present complex data analyses in a structure. To do so, you set various characteristics and key figures when defining the report.

Characteristics are non-numeric fields. They represent the criteria according to which you can select data records. Examples of characteristics are "Controlling area", "Fiscal year" and "Profit center". Characteristic values are the instances of these characteristics, such as fiscal year 1998, 1997, and so on.
Key figures are numerical fields that you can analyze in your reports. Examples of key figures are costs and revenues or balance sheet balances in a certain currency or activity quantities.

The technical basis of Report Painter reports is the Report Writer. You can find detailed information on how to use this tool in the corresponding documentation in the component FI - Special Ledger, under Report Writer.

Features

General Information

For a detailed description of the Report Painter, see Report Painter Reports (FI - Special Ledger).

Specific Information for Profit Center Accounting

The reporting table for Profit Center Accounting is GLPCT . The following database tables are hidden behind this logical reporting table:

GLPCT (profit center summary records)

GLPCA (profit center actual line items)

GLPCP (profit center plan line items)

The characteristics and key figures used in the report influence which database table the report reads from when you run it.

Recommendation

In order to avoid impairing system performance, we urgently recommend that you only use characteristics from summary records in reports. Use the standard 8A2 Library as a guide.

Reporting table GLPCOP is used for evaluating payables and receivables.

The system provides a large number of key figures and characteristics, which you can choose for your report definition. The following is a list of all key figures, which can be found in the various tables. Characteristics are only commented on if there is a special feature, or something similar, of which you should be aware.

Database table GLPCT :
Key Figures:

KSL	Amount in profit center report currency	Should be used in most cases, as this is the usual currency.
HSL	Amount in company code currency	Note that the company codes which you want to report on must have the same currency. Otherwise, they cannot be aggregated.
TSL	Amount in transaction currency
MSL	Quantity	This key figure is to be used together with the characteristic account number.
SSME	Statistical key figure quantity	This key figure is to be used together with the characteristic statistical key figure.

The following key figures cause the fields currency, exchange rate type and date to be ready for input on the selection screen when translating currencies:

CC_KSL	Translation from profit center report currency	Data in profit center currency serves as the basis for the translation.
CC_HSL	Translation from company code currency	Data in company code currency serves as the basis for the translation.
CC_TSL	Translation from transaction currency	Data in transaction currency serves as the basis for the translation.

If you use average balance ledgers, you can use the following special key figures for evaluation purposes:

HMB	Average balance in company code currency
HYB	Aggregated average balance in company code currency (YTD)
KMB	Average balance in group currency
KYB	Aggregated average balance in group currency (YTD)
TMB	Average balance in transaction currency
TYB	Average balance in transaction currency (YTD)

Characteristics:

Ledgers	The ledger for Profit Center Accounting is 8A . Exception: In the decentralized ALE scenario for Profit Center Accounting for Reporting in the central system, the ledger is 8C.
Plan version	For actual columns, enter version 0, for plan columns, enter a plan version.
Record type	0 and 2 for actual 1 and 3 for plan
Period	If you want to select retained earnings accounts from a given period, enter this period as normal. If you want to select balance sheet accounts from a given period, enter the period 0 to n, as the individual periods contain the changes in stock for each period. Period 0 stands for the opening balance.
Statistical key figure	Use this characteristic in combination with the key figure SSME (statistical key figure quantity) and do not define the characteristic account number in the same area of validity.

Recommendation

Characteristics such as cost center, order, WBS element or material are not contained in the summary records. Reports which contain these characteristics obtain their data from the line item tables. This can impair system performance and should be avoided.

Database table GLPCA

Key Figures

Accessing line item tables with the Report Painter has a negative effect on performance. However, if you need to create reports for the actual line item table GLPCA , you must use the following key figures:

BKSL-I Actual profit center report currency document:

BHSL-I Actual company code currency document

BTSL-I Actual transaction currency document

BMSL-I Actual quantity document

Characteristics

Due to the structure of the database table, you should not use the characteristic period (RPMAX). Instead, you should use the characteristic posting period (POPER).

Database table GLPCP

Key Figures

Accessing line item tables with the Report Painter has a negative effect on performance. However, if you need to create reports for the plan line item table GLPCP , you must use the following key figures:

BKSL-P Plan profit center report currency document:

BHSL-P Plan company code currency document

BTSL-P Plan transaction currency document

BMSL-P Plan quantity document

Characteristics

To access the plan line item table GLPCP, use the characteristic period (RPMAX) as you would when accessing the summary record table GLPCT .

Reporting table GLPCOP :
Key Figures

It is possible to access reporting table GLPCOP with the following characteristics:

MBTR-AR Receivables in company code currency

MBTR-AP Payables in company code currency

MBTR-AR-B Receivables for valuation differences

MBTR-AP-B Payables for valuation differences