Lesson 1

Creating an ARM Report

Back to F350: Analytical Reports

Lesson 1: Creating an ARM Report

ARM Reports: General Information

Analytical reports are used to display the consolidated and summarized general ledger data and project data in ways defined by the report designer. Analytical reports are also referred to as ARM reports to distinguish them from the reports created in the Acumatica Report Designer. Acumatica ERP comes with several predefined reports, such as the following:

  • Balance Sheet (GL634000)
  • Profit & Loss (GL635000)
  • Cash Flow (GL636500) You create a new analytical report or customize an existing analytical report if the layout or structure of predefined analytical reports does not meet the company's business requirements.

Learning Objectives

In this lesson, you will learn about the structure of an analytical report and the ways to create an analytical report.

Applicable Scenarios

You use the functionality of analytical reports rather than Acumatica Report Designer to create the following types of reports:

  • Financial reports that display data posted to general ledger accounts and accumulated in the general ledger
  • Project accounting reports that display data accumulated in the projects subledger

ARM Reports: Report Structure

The structure of the analytical report determines the content to be presented and its appearance. An analytical report typically consists of the following elements: a row set, a column set, and a unit set. The following screenshot shows a generated report, which is affected by the settings specified during report configuration as follows (with the numbers in the list corresponding to those in the screenshot).

  1. The report title, which is specified in the upper table of the Column Sets (CS206020) form.
  2. The column headers, which are specified in the upper table of the Column Sets form.
  3. Report columns, which are specified in the lower table of the Column Sets form. The lines of these columns are the report rows, which are specified on the Row Sets (CS206010) form.
  4. The descriptions of rows, which are specified on the Row Sets form for each row and displayed in a column for which the Descr type is specified in the lower table of the Column Sets form. Lesson 1: Creating an ARM Report | 10

Figure: The Profit & Loss (GL635000) report

Optionally, an analytical report can include a unit set, which defines the units to be used in the report. With units, users can quickly filter or consolidate the report data. The following screenshot illustrates using units to switch between data for the entire company and each of its branches. You create a unit set on the Unit Sets (CS206030) form. Lesson 1: Creating an ARM Report | 11

Figure: Profit & Loss report with Units for Branches

ARM Reports: Report Definition

Each analytical report also has a report definition, which identifies the report, links together the row set and the column set of the report, and defines the report parameters. By using the report definition, you can add the report to the site map. You create a report definition on the Report Definitions (CS206000) form, which is shown in the following screenshot for the Profit and Loss report. Lesson 1: Creating an ARM Report | 12

Figure: The Profit and Loss report configured on the Report Definitions form

In the Report Definition section of this form (Item 1 in the screenshot above), you specify the row set, the column set, and the unit set; you also specify the following main settings of the report:

  • Code: The report definition identifier, which can be up to 10 alphanumeric characters.
  • Description: The report description. We recommend that you specify a report description that matches or is similar to the title of the report in the site map (see the description of the Title setting below). This will help you find the report definition when you are selecting it in the Code box.
  • Type: The data source of the analytical report. You can select one of the following options:
  • GL: The general ledger is used as the data source.
  • PM: Project accounting data is used as the data source. In the Default Data Source Settings section (Item 2), you can specify report parameters and their default values. By using these parameters, the user can filter the report data. If you select the Request check box to the right of any parameter, this parameter will appear on the Report Parameters tab of the report form, and the user will have to provide a value for this parameter to run the report. The Site Map section (Item 3) contains the settings that determine where in the user interface the report is displayed (the Workspace and Category boxes) and the title of the report. The boxes of this section are populated if the report is published. For more information about publishing a report, see ARM Reports: To Publish a Report. In the remaining sections of the form, you can specify the paper size and orientation of the report, as well as define the margins, display area, and default font style, all of which determine how the text in the report will be formatted and displayed. Lesson 1: Creating an ARM Report | 13
    You can preview the report by clicking Preview on the form toolbar.

ARM Reports: Creation and Publishing of a Report

In the sections below, you will learn how to create an analytical report by copying an existing report and modifying its settings. You will also find information on how to make a report available to users of Acumatica ERP.

Creating a Copy of an Analytical Report

To modify an existing report, we recommend that you create a copy of the predefined report and modify this copy. Creating a copy of the report involves creating a copy of each of its elements:

  1. On the Report Definitions (CS206000) form, you copy an existing report definition. You also note the row set, column set, and unit set that were used in the report.
  2. On the Row Sets (CS206010) form, you copy the row set and save it with a new identifier.
  3. On the Column Sets (CS206020) form, you copy the row set and save it with a new identifier.
  4. On the Unit Sets (CS206030) form, you copy the unit set (if one was used in the report) and save it with a new identifier.
  5. On the Report Definitions form, you specify the new identifiers of the copied report elements in the Row Set, Column Set, and Unit Set boxes.

Publishing an Analytical Report

To make a report available in the user interface, you need to publish it—that is, add the report form to the site map and grant other users access to it. When you are publishing a report for the first time, you specify the site map settings, which determine where in the user interface the report will be available, and the access settings, which determine who will be able to access the report. You set up the site map settings of an unpublished analytical report during the report publication. You click Publish to the UI on the toolbar of the Report Definitions (CS206000) form—the system opens the Publish to the UI dialog box. In the dialog box, you fill in the following boxes:

  • Site Map Title: The name of the report form that will be shown on the Site Map (SM200520) form.
  • Workspace: The workspace in the user interface from which the report form can be accessed.
  • Category: The name of the category under which the report form will be displayed in the selected workspace.
  • Screen ID: The identifier to be assigned to the report form. By default, the identifiers of a report start with the prefix RM. To publish the report, you click Publish in this dialog box. The system assigns the report form the specified screen identifier and makes it available in the specified workspace. Also, the system adds a new site map node for this report form to the site map and applies the appropriate access rights to this site map node. The site map settings of a published report are displayed in the Site Map section of the Report Definitions form and can be edited as needed. You can unpublish a report by clicking Unpublish on the toolbar of this form.

Managing Access Rights to an Analytical Report

You set up access rights to an analytical report during the report publication. You click Publish to the UI on the toolbar of the Report Definitions (CS206000) form—the system opens the Publish to the UI dialog box (which is shown in the following screenshot). Lesson 1: Creating an ARM Report | 14

In the Access Rights section of the dialog box, you select one of the following option buttons to indicate which access rights should be specified for the report:

  • Set to Granted for All Roles: The system will set the access rights for this report form to Granted for all user roles in the system.
  • Set to Revoked for All Roles: The system will set the access rights for this report form to Revoked for all user roles in the system.
  • Copy Access Rights from Screen (default): The system will copy the set of the access rights from the specified form. Aer the report is published, you can modify the defined levels of access rights by using any of the Access Rights by Role (SM201025), Access Rights by User (SM201025), or Access Rights by Screen (SM201020) form.

ARM Reports: To Create a Copy of a Report

In the following activity, you will create a new report by copying existing report elements.

Story

Suppose that you are a technical specialist at SweetLife Fruits & Jams who is responsible for supporting analytical reports. SweetLife's senior accountant has requested that you create a Profit & Loss by Branch analytical report, which will display the same rows as the predefined Profit & Loss (GL635000) report, but a different set of columns. Because the new report should display data that is similar to the data shown in the predefined report, you need to create a copy of the Profit & Loss report, to which you will later make the necessary modifications.

Process Overview

In this activity, before you create a copy of the predefined Profit & Loss (GL635000) report, you will use the Site Map (SM200520) form to identify the code of the corresponding report definition. Then you will open the report definition with the identified code on the Report Definitions (CS206000) form in order to find the codes of the row set and column set used to build the report. You will then create a copy of the row set on the Row Sets (CS206010) form, of the column set on the Column Sets (CS206020) form, and of the report definition on the Report Definitions form. Then you will specify the copied elements of the report in the new report definition, and preview the new report.

Step 1: Identifying the Codes of the Report Definition, Row Set, and Column Set To locate the code of the report definition of the Profit & Loss (GL635000) report, do the following:

  1. On the Site Map (SM200520) form, use the Search box of the form toolbar to find the report with the Profit & Loss title (see the following screenshot). In the row with this report, notice the URL, in which the code of the report definition follows the equal sign and precedes .rpx. In the ~/Frames/RMLauncher.aspx?ID=DPL.rpx URL, DPL is the code of the report definition.
        Figure: The report definition code
  2. On the Report Definitions (CS206000) form, open the definition with the DPL code. Lesson 1: Creating an ARM Report | 15
                  Because the ReportDesigner role is assigned to your user account, instead of performing
              Instructions 1 and 2, you could have opened the report definition directly from the
              corresponding analytical report form. In this case, on the report form toolbar, you would click
              Edit Report. The Report Definitions form would open with the definition of the report in a new
              browser tab.
  3. Find the code (that is, identifier) of the row set of the report in the Row Set box, and find the code of the column set of the report in the Column Set box. These codes are DPL and DPLP, respectively.

Step 2: Copying the Row Set of the Report To copy the row set of the Profit & Loss report, do the following:

  1. On the Row Sets (CS206010) form, open the row set with the DPL code.
  2. On the form toolbar, click Copy Row Set.
  3. In the New Row Set Code dialog box, which is opened, type F350_PLB as the new code, and click Copy, which closes the dialog box and creates a copy of the row set on the current form with the code you entered.
  4. In the Description box of the Summary area, type F350 P&L by Branch.
  5. On the form toolbar, click Save.
                  We recommend that as you perform the activities, you save your changes oen, even if you are
              not explicitly instructed to do so.

Step 3: Copying the Column Set of the Report To copy the column set of the Profit & Loss report, do the following:

  1. On the Column Sets (CS206020) form, open the column set with the DPLP code.
  2. On the form toolbar, click Copy Column Set.
  3. In the New Column Set Code dialog box, which is opened, type F350_PLB as the new code, and click Copy, which closes the dialog box and creates a copy of the column set on the current form with the code you entered.
  4. In the Description box of the Summary area, type F350 P&L by Branch.
  5. On the form toolbar, click Save.

Step 4: Copying the Report Definition of the Report To copy the report definition of the Profit & Loss report, do the following:

  1. On the Report Definitions (CS206000) form, open the definition with the DPL code.
  2. On the form toolbar, click Copy Report.
  3. In the New Report Code dialog box, which is opened, type F350_PLB as the new code, and click Copy. This closes the dialog box; you are now working with the copied version of the report with the F350_PLB code.
  4. In the Report Definition section of the form, change the settings of the report to the following:
  • Description: F350 P&L by Branch
  • Row Set: F350_PLB
  • Column Set: F350_PLB Lesson 1: Creating an ARM Report | 16
  1. On the form toolbar, click Save.
  2. On the form toolbar, click Unpublish.
  3. In the warning dialog box, click OK. Because you have created a copy of a published report, you have also made it unavailable in the site map so that other users cannot access the report while you are working on it.
  4. On the form toolbar, click Preview. The report form opens in a pop-up window.
  5. On the Report Parameters tab of the report form, specify the following parameters:
  • Company: SWEETLIFE
  • Ledger: ACTUAL
  • Financial Period: 12-2023 10.On the report form toolbar, click Run Report. 11.Review the report (which is shown in the following screenshot).
     Figure: Copied Profit & Loss report

You have created an analytical report as a copy of an existing report. Lesson 1: Creating an ARM Report | 17

ARM Reports: To Publish a Report

The following activity will walk you through the publishing of a report.

Story

Suppose that you are a technical specialist at SweetLife Fruits & Jams who is responsible for supporting analytical reports. SweetLife's senior accountant has requested that you create the Balance Sheet Comparative analytical report. You have already prepared the report and now need to make it available to users of Acumatica ERP. The report should be available in the Finance workspace under the Financial Statements category.

Configuration Overview

In the training dataset, on the Report Definitions (CS206000) form, the F350RD11 report definition has been created for the purposes of this activity.

Process Overview

In this activity, you will modify the report definition on the Report Definitions (CS206000) form to include it in the site map and then verify that the report is accessible.

Step 1: Modifying the Report Definition To add the Balance Sheet Comparative analytical report to the site map, do the following:

  1. On the Report Definitions (CS206000) form, open the report definition with the F350RD11 code.
  2. On the form toolbar, click Publish to the UI. The system opens the Publish to the UI dialog box,
  3. In the dialog box, specify the following settings:
  • Site Map Title: Balance Sheet Comparative
  • Workspace: Finance
  • Category: Financial Statements In the Screen ID box, the system has automatically inserted an identifier that will be assigned to the report form. You can leave this value as it is.
  1. In the Access Rights section, make sure the Copy Access Rights from Screen option button is selected, and in the box to the right of it, select the Balance Sheet report. This report has the GL.63.40.00 screen ID.
  2. Click Publish to publish the report and close the dialog box. Once the report is published, its site map settings will be displayed in the Site Map section of the Report Definitions form. Lesson 1: Creating an ARM Report | 18
    Figure: The definition of the Balance Sheet Comparative report

Step 2: Reviewing the Published Report To make sure the report is accessible in the Finance workspace and review the report, do the following:

  1. Click Finance on the main menu to open the Finance workspace. Notice that the Balance Sheet Comparative report has been added to the Financial Statements category (which is shown in the screenshot below).
                  You might need to click Show All in the workspace footer to display all links within the
              workspace.

Lesson 1: Creating an ARM Report | 19

Figure: The Balance Sheet Comparative report in the Finance workspace 2. Under Financial Statements, click Balance Sheet Comparative. 3. On the Report Parameters tab of the report form, which opens, make sure the following parameters are specified:

  • Ledger: ACTUAL
  • Financial Period: 12-2023
  1. On the report form toolbar, click Run Report.
  2. Review the report. Lesson 2: Filtering Data | 20