Conversation regarding the importance of Dynamic Reporting (Part II)

Sorry it has taken so long to write the next part of this blog. I am sure we all know how easy it is to get distracted on other things and a year passes. This is still relevant for all BPC versions for Microsoft.

Part 1 can be found @ https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/scn/weblogs?blog=/pub/wlg/7488

As I stated in part one, I have a strong opinion about the advantages of dynamic reporting. In this blog I will attempt to explain the importance of using the control panel and the workbook options to override the current view. Again, I hope to be clear and concise manner (no promises on clarity).

In my last installment I stated:

“Dynamic reports allow the user to change their current view and update the data presented”

However, what if you don’t want to rely on the user selecting the right members in the current view? What if you want to ensure the casual user doesn’t make a mistake and forgets to update the current time period… resulting in viewing the wrong data? So you think hard coding the member ID’s in the report is the answer. Nope!

The right answer is to use a control panel. If you take a look at the templates that come standard with BPC 5 (dynamic reports/schedules), you will see a collapsed set of columns and rows in the upper left corner of the worksheet. This is where we (SAP) put a control panel. It is not important where it is or if it has all the bells and whistles you see in the standard. What’s important for this conversation is the left hand side where you see the current application, all the dimensions and their current members.

Here you can set an override member for one or more dimensions. Your casual users don’t have to worry about the right selection and your advanced users can easily remove the override…”the best of both worlds”.

But wait; there is something you need to know. This control panel doesn’t work magically. You have to tell BPC where it is. This can be accomplished by the use of the workbook options (see the eTools menu to locate the option). There is a section to override the current view. Here you can select the range of cells that contains the control panel. Be sure to include the application ID reference.

A note on the behavior of this option - If there is an Ev function in the cell, the system evaluates its values before reading the "Override current view" value. For example, say an EvGET function references the Finance application, and Entity on the rows, and Accounts on the columns. When the system determines whose values to return, it looks at the override current view values for all other dimensions except Entity and Account. If no members are specified, the system returns the values from the current view.

Stay tuned for more…