prithis das - oracle report manager tips tricks traps
TRANSCRIPT
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Oracle Report ManagerOracle Report ManagerTips, Tricks and TrapsTips, Tricks and Traps
Prithis DasPrithis Das
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AgendaAgenda
� Objectives
� Case Study Company Background
� Reporting background
� Report Manager features
� What Report Manager does not do
� Setup Considerations
� Quick Tutorial
� Using Report Manager – Tips
� Using Report Manager – Tricks
� Traps
� Lessons learned
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ObjectivesObjectives
� Provide useful information for R12 implementation teams for implementation of Oracle General Ledger, Financial Statement Generator and Report Manager
� Indirectly “educate” users about new R12 Report Manager features
� Help avoid potential pitfalls using actual experience from implementing Report Manager
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Case Study Company BackgroundCase Study Company Background
� Auto Salvage Company
� New implementation of R12
� Started April 2007 with very early releases of R12
� General Ledger, Payables, Assets, Cash Management, Advanced Global Intercompany System
� 120+ Legal Entities
� Six regional accounting centers
� Complex reporting requirements
� 400+ legacy reports using best-of-breed reporting tool
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Reporting BackgroundReporting Background
� Complex reporting requirements
� 400+ legacy financial reports using dedicated reporting tool
� Typical Trial Balance took over 15 minutes to generate
� Legacy Reports in Excel, and included publishing features such as fonts, bold and underlining
� Lack of security – Users were able to access all reports across legal entities
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Report Manager featuresReport Manager features
� Report Manager is an integral part of Oracle EBS
� Assumes implementation of Oracle General Ledger incorporating Financial Statement Generator (FSG)
� Provides an online repository to store and access financial reports
� Personalized look and feel on financial reports
� Reports can be submitted and accessed through Web browser. Hence jinitiator need not be installed if user accesses Report Manager only.
� Incorporates security rules to restrict access to published content
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What Report Manager does not doWhat Report Manager does not do
� You cannot create FSG components (Row Sets, Column Sets etc) in Report Manager. These will need to be created through standard FSG
� Excel outputs from Report Manager will not incorporate Excel formulas
� Excel templates do not save all formatting options
� Works well with FSG reports. However Standard reports in Oracle will have formatting issues
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Setup ConsiderationsSetup Considerations
� Patchset level – Metalink 820653.1 (9 Jul 2009)� Check for latest before implementation� For 11.5.10.2 apply FRM.H over and above FRM.G� For R12 Report Manager is Auto-installed. Apply FRM.A
� Report Manager uses Self Service Workflow Applications
� Report Manager requires the BNE platform used by Web ADI
� Functional Dependancies� FSGs should have been defined in GL� For standard reports, they should be assigned to Request Group
assigned to the Report Manager
� Custom menu and responsibility for Report Manager
� Browser and Excel settings
� Seeded template vs Custom templates
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Custom menu and responsibility Custom menu and responsibility
� Pre-defined menus for Report Manager are not complete� “FRM_SECURITY_MENU” menu is pre-defined but not adequate
� Need to define/assign additional functions to custom menu:� Financial Report Template Editor
� Financial Report Submission
� Standard Report Submission
� Repository Management
� Alternatively, you may add these functions to the “GL_SUPERUSER” menu
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Custom menu and responsibilityCustom menu and responsibility
� Create custom menu for Report Manager� System Administrator > Application > Menu
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Custom menu and responsibilityCustom menu and responsibility
� Create custom Responsibility for Report Manager
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Browser and Excel SettingsBrowser and Excel Settings
� Works with Internet Explorer, Firefox, Netscape� See Metalink 389422.1 (5-Aug-09) for latest browser requirements
� Internet Explorer Settings� Navigate to Tools -> Internet Options and choose the Security tab
� Select Local Intranet and choose the Custom Level button.
� Set the following option to Prompt.� Initialize and script Active X controls not marked as safe
� Excel Settings� Open Excel, Go to Tools -> Macro -> Security -> Trusted Sources
� Check the "Trust access to Visual Basic Project“
� Incorrect settings will lead to error “Microsoft VBScript runtime error: 429 - ActiveX component can't create object”or similar error.
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Quick TutorialQuick Tutorial
� Create a Template
� Submit a single FSG report
� Monitor Request and View Output
� Submit a Request Set
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Quick TutorialQuick Tutorial
� Create a Template� Select Financial Report Template Editor
� Select a Report, Select Excel Template Editor, Click on Create
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Quick TutorialQuick Tutorial
� Create a Template� Confirm ActiveX control interaction by clicking on Yes, if prompted
Excel template gets created
with FSG components
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Quick TutorialQuick Tutorial
� Create a Template� Personalize template with fonts, graphics etc, then upload to Oracle
Use Oracle menu to upload
modified template to
Oracle
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Quick TutorialQuick Tutorial
� Create a Template� Name the template, select Drill option, Upload.
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Quick TutorialQuick Tutorial
� Create a Template� Name the template, select Drill option, Upload.
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Quick TutorialQuick Tutorial
� Run a Report� Select Financial Report Submission
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Quick TutorialQuick Tutorial
� Run a Report� Select the new template, add parameters, Submit.
Select your template
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Quick TutorialQuick Tutorial
� Run a Report� Monitor Requests, View Output
View Output
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Quick TutorialQuick Tutorial
� Run a Report� Publish Report in Excel
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Using Report Manager Using Report Manager –– TipsTips
� Create and Test your financial report on standard FSG, and then publish the report using Report Manager� Do not waste time over column heading formatting in Apps
� Use the Generic FSG template wherever possible. If you use custom templates, each template is associated with a single report
� Report Set considerations� Report Sets can only be submitted through standard FSG submission
� Responsibility submitting Report Set must be the same that is publishing it
� Use Repository Maintenance to avoid tablespace issues� Apply Patch first (Metalink 803014.1)
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Using Report Manager Using Report Manager –– TricksTricks
� Use Report Manager templates directly from FSG submission� Users are familiar with the Request submission functionality
� Schedule your month-end reports to publish automatically� Use standard scheduling functionality
� Store Excel settings on custom Excel templates� Cell background color
� Cell / Text font
� Cell alignment
� Cell Border
� Cell Merge
� Underline
� Page Settings:� a. Orientation (Portrait / Landscape)
� b. Paper Size
� c. Width of Page
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Using Report Manager Using Report Manager –– Tricks (contd.)Tricks (contd.)
� Display the Description column in the middle of the report
Description column in the middle of a wide report
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Using Report Manager Using Report Manager –– Tricks (contd.)Tricks (contd.)
� Display the Description column in the middle of the report� Create a Custom Template� Use the Menu (Oracle > FSG Template > Move Line Items Right)
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Using Report Manager Using Report Manager –– Tricks (contd.)Tricks (contd.)
� Use Report Manager templates directly from FSG submission
Before submission, select a template, and set Format = EXCEL. View Output will open the output in Excel, using the template
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Using Report Manager Using Report Manager –– Tricks (contd.)Tricks (contd.)
� Use Report Manager templates directly from FSG submission� Use XML Publisher Responsibility
� Copy the “Generic FSG Template”, update the Data Definition to “FSGXML program”. Attach custom template file if required.
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TrapsTraps
� Repository Maintenance could lead to disappearing menus� Patch 6884665 if on R 11i� Patch 6884280 if on R 12 (Metalink 803014.1)
� Can submit Report Set only from Java form� Need to update Output Option to XML for each report
� Mixup of Request Set submission vs Report Set submission menu items� “Report Set” on Java form, but “Request Set” in Report Manager
� Printing XML file if Profile Option Number of Copies is set to 1� Metalink 748037.1 workaround is to attach dummy printer to RGRARG
� Significant impact on Database size due to XML outputs
� Does not use Definition Access Sets functionality
� Report Manager output ignores Display Sets
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TrapsTraps
� User to Value Security mandates use of Content Sets� Alternately, place specific reports on end-user menus
� Images (such as logos) can be used on templates from 12.0.6
� Profile Option for AutoArchive does not archive. Need to archive manually.
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Traps (contd.)Traps (contd.)
� Repository Maintenance could lead to disappearing menus� Patch 6884665 if on R 11i
� Patch 6884280 if on R 12
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Traps (contd.)Traps (contd.)
� Can submit Report Set only from Java form� You cannot submit a Report Set directly from Report Manager
� Also, need to update Output Option to XML for each report
� You can, however, publish a Report Set from Report Manager
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Traps (contd.)Traps (contd.)
� Mixup of Request Set submission vs Report Set submission menu items� The menu labeled “Request Set Publish” publishes Report Sets
� The menu labeled “Report Set Publish” publishes Request Sets
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Traps (contd.)Traps (contd.)
� Printing XML file if Profile Option Number of Copies is set to 1� Metalink 748037.1 workaround is to attach dummy printer to RGRARG
� However, workaround will lead to using Reprint for regular reports
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Lessons learnedLessons learned
� Need to be on at least 12.0.4 or later for minimal issues
� Web interface can have a learning curve
� Use Report Manager selectively for upper management reports. Operational reports are efficiently done through standard FSG submission with text output
� Use Repository Maintenance frequently – move critical reports to network drives
� Longer than usual turnaround time on SRs