Queries in Controlling
Target Groups and Report Types
Both regular reports and the more detailed analysis reports are supplied for each area within Controlling (see above). Regular reports have a simpler design than analysis reports and are easier to use. They enable the user to quickly spot unusual figures that need to be analyzed in more detail. Examples of such reports:
Cost Center (Range): Plan/Actual – Periods
Production: Overview of Actual Costs – Current Fiscal Year
Process (Detail): Costs – Target/Actual Situation
If an employee (such as a cost center manager) notices unusual figures in his report, such as high variances or inexplicable results, he can turn to a cost management specialist who can then use the more powerful analysis reports to investigate the situation. Analysis reports allow the objects to be freely selected and are very flexible, supporting drilldown techniques that enable in-depth analyses. Examples of such reports:
Cost Center (Range): Analysis – Price
Receipts: Analysis – Actual Prices in All Currencies
Process (Range): Analysis – Plan/Actual Business Process Quantity
Queries for the mySAP Workplace Enterprise Portal for Managers
Queries that begin with "WEB" are designed mainly for use in the Web Cockpits of the Enterprise Portal for Managers, although they can also be accessed individually.
See also:
WEB: My Cost Centers – Planning – Web Cockpit
WEB: My Orders – Current Situation – Web Cockpit
WEB: My Cost Centers – Current Situation – Web Cockpit
WEB: My Orders – Budget – Web Cockpit
Currency
When the queries were set up, it was assumed that the cost manager or supervisor is in charge of an area with a local currency. The default setting in the filter is usually the currency type of the company code (10) or that of the Controlling object (70). You can of course change this setting when you copy a query.
Note
If your company code currency is the same as your controlling area currency, currency type
10
is not updated in the R/3 Controlling object. This means that the standard queries will not contain any data. In this case you should copy the queries and replace currency type 10 (company code currency) with the setting
20
(currency type of controlling area) or with a variable.
Structures
Many queries for regular reports use structures such as periods, quarters, situation in current period or periods (cumulative). These reports usually cover only the current fiscal year. The structures subdivide the reports automatically – the data is displayed broken down into periods or quarters. This makes it easier for you to create regular reports.
Hierarchies
Certain R/3 master data such as cost centers (0COSTCENTER), cost elements (0COSTELMNT), and business processes (0ABCPROCESS) can be structured into hierarchies. If the hierarchies exist in the R/3 System, they can be loaded for the different InfoObjects. In the reports that use hierarchies, you can then navigate between the different hierarchy levels. In addition, subtotals and grand totals are displayed.
Caution
After loading a hierarchy, you must activate it before you can use it. If you have not loaded and activated the hierarchy, the data is displayed in list form.
Exceptions
Some queries have predefined exception conditions. When data values exceed certain limits, they are highlighted in color (such as red or yellow). For example, variances that exceed 5% are highlighted in yellow, while those that exceed 10% are highlighted in red.
These predefined settings, however, are just examples. You can modify the default exception conditions in the copied query or delete them entirely.
Note
The information content of a workbook can increase if you sort the data appropriately. For example, if you use exceptions for variances, you should sort the variances by size.
SAP Exit Time Variables
A number of SAPExit time variables are provided, such as
all periods of the previous fiscal year
,
cumulative up to the previous fiscal year period
,
current fiscal year period
, and
previous fiscal year period
.
These variable are particularly useful when you want to create your own regular reports. If the variable is specified in the filter of the query as a restriction to a time characteristic, or if a key figure is restricted using the variables (such as
actual costs of current month
or
actual costs of previous month
), the variables automatically establish the time frame for which the reports are generated.
For example, if a cost center report is executed in September with the variable
cumulative up to previous fiscal year period
, it will contain the data of periods 01 to 08; if it is executed in October, it will contain the data of periods 01 to 09.
Caution
To enable these variables (such as the current fiscal year) to be filled, the fiscal year variant must have been set beforehand. Otherwise the system cannot determine the current fiscal year, the previous period, the previous fiscal year, and so on from the system date. If you use the SAP exit variable 0P_FVAEX , the fiscal year variant will be derived automatically from the controlling area or company code.
If your company uses only one fiscal year variant, it is best to enter this variant as a constant in the query.
Variables to Be Filled by the User
In the area of filters, user-defined characteristics, or rows, a number of queries show InfoObjects with variables that are to be filled by the user.
The documentation for the individual queries shows which variables are used. You can also see this information in the query builder. In addition to the designation, you can also see what type of variable was used. Examples:
Single value entry, required
– the user must enter a single value
Interval entry, required
– the user must enter a range of values
Selection options, optional
– the user can limit the selection using the selection options (such as from/to cost center)
Note
The queries provided by SAP sometimes contain more entry variables than are actually needed in practice. For example, SAP cannot know the technical key your company uses for the controlling area. Therefore, the controlling area is an entry variable in the supplied queries.
When you copy queries, specify your special data as standard (for example, make the controlling area a constant). This will reduce the number of entries that your users have to make.