When you define a form or report, you can determine whether different currencies and quantities should be allowed in different columns or rows of the report:

• If you want to allow different currencies in different columns, you can use the currency translation function in the report.
• If you want to allow different currencies in different rows, currency translation is not possible. In this case, you need to choose the currency as a drilldown characteristic in your report.

You can work with different currencies in drilldown reporting. Note that the currency settings you make are the same for both the drilldown and detail lists. That means that a single column of the drilldown list has the same target currency and currency translation key as the cell of the detail list which corresponds to that column.

Currency translation is defined by the following values:

• Currency translation key
• Target currency

If a form contains formula columns which use different currencies, the system performs currency translation automatically using translation key 999.

If you perform currency translation on the detail list of a report, the system also translates the corresponding column of the drilldown list.

If you use currency translation, it may make sense to define a dummy column which is ignored during translation. This makes it possible to still display the original currency.

• Column A uses the controlling area currency, USD.
• Column B uses the transaction currency, DEM, which is translated into USD (based on column C).
• Column C is defined as A minus B in USD.
• Column D is defined as a dummy column with an additional characteristic to distinguish it from column B. The dummy column is not translated into DEM. Thus it still displays the original content of column B before translation.

Some currency translation keys already contain the target currency in their definition.

You can also define your own currency translation keys. The functions which let you do this are found in Customizing.

The currency translation key fixes certain details of how the currency translation is to be carried out. It represents a summary of various rules when carrying out a currency translation. These details, which you can combine in a translation key, are:

1. The exchange rate type (such as the bank buying rate or the average rate)

The valid exchange rate types are stored in a central R/3 table and can be maintained there.

2. The target currency into which you are translating

A distinction is made here between fixed and variable target currency. With a fixed target currency, you can determine it later. It is recommended, however, that you leave this field blank in most cases. For example, in the transfer of external data to the transaction data table, the target currency is normally implicitly known and can be determined by the transfer program when it runs. If you often want to use the same translation key for different target currencies when translating currency-dependent values in drilldown reporting, then only currency translation keys without a specific target currency are suitable.

With a variable target currency, you must create a reference to a characteristic by entering the name of a table or field. For example, if you want to determine that selection of the target currency is country-dependent, you enter the table with country data (T005) and the field with country keys (LAND1). To do this, the country key must be defined as a characteristic in the operating concern.

3. Flag which indicates whether this is a fixed or variable translation

A fixed translation date is either the current date or a specific date from which the exchange rate is valid.

With a variable translation date, you specify the time reference (i.e. period begin, year end).

4. Flag which indicates whether the rate is inverted. A currency type with inverted rate is useful if the amounts have already been translated and you want to display the original values again in drilldown reporting.
5. From-currency. You leave this field empty for currency translation keys for drilldown reporting as the source currency is known for all values.
6. The time reference (only for time-dependent currency translation).

e) Exact day

(only if the transaction data table contains characteristics with a time dimension - such as "trading day").

The requirement for using these options for the time reference in a drilldown report is, that the relevant characteristics have been chosen for the report. Where the period is concerned, note that it is only valid in the context of a fiscal year.