Management Reporter for Performancepoint Server 2007

Author: danebull | Posted: 1. May 2008 20:41 311

Management Reporter is a new add-on product for Performancepoint Server 2007. It is a product that is a part of the licens that you pay, when you pay for a Performancepoint Server. Management Reporter is used to get output out of solutions like Performancepoint Planning part and other financial systems.

Management Reporter is a product that has to major parts. One part is the Report Designer and the other part is the Report Viewer. It is pretty easy to imagine what each part is used for. The product also have a backend as there are a database and a web-service that the client applications uess to communicate with the database.

Reports based on report definitions can be viewed in the viewer or exported to Excel or Reporting Services format.

In the Report Designer it is possible to create building blocks that can be used to create reports (Report Definitions). These building blocks are:

Row Definitions
Column Definitions
Reporting Tree Definitions

Row Definitions

The row definitions works much like Excel, where it is possible to define which rows that is going to be in the report. For each row it is possible to edit a number of metadata that is used in processing of the row against the data:

A short description of the possiblity of each column are:

(A) Row Code = A unique identifier of the row
(B) Description = the description. This could be the name of an asset or something else.
(C) Format Code = For rows that doesn't have link to financial data it is possible to use a code for the row. Like a "Total" row, calculation row, and much more
(D) Related Formulas / Rows/ Units = Possible to add formulas that adds different other rows by using the row code. If the row is linked to a Financial data it is possible to use a Reporting Tree definition to possible filter the row
(E) Format Override = To format the data much like you can format a cell in Excel
(F) Normal Balance = If the number in the financial data should be reversed
(G) Print Control = What to do when printing. Possible to remove lines in the print and more
(H) Column Restriction = Can be used to indicate which column the data should be placed in
(G) Row Modifier = can be used to which kind of data that is used (YTD, scenario and more)
(H) Link to Financial Data Source = the account number(s) that is the source for the row

Column Definitions

The column definitions is used to describe which columns that are used. This could be a number of years, budget vs actual and so on:

The column definitions have a number of meta data as the row definitions:

Header 1-3 = Used to add some header information just like in a document
Column Type = What kind of column it is. To display financial data, where to place the description from the row definitions and more
Scenario / Attribute category = What scenario to display data from
Fiscal Year = The fiscal year to display
Period = A period specification. Link to the Fiscal Year
Time Range = If it is going to be period, year to date or more
Formula = Formula to work with the columns, like maybe adding to column to each other
Column Width = the width of the column
Extra Space Before Column = To add space before the column
Format / Currency Override = Same as on the row definition
Print Control = Much like the row definition
Column Restriction = Restriction to what to display in the column
Reporting Unit = Restrict a column to a specifict reporting tree definition
Currency Source = where the currency information is coming from
Currency Filter = to filter against a currency
Account Filter = To filter the financial data
Attrribute Filter = Restriction based on attributes
Start Date = Restriction to specifict date
End Date = same as start data
Justification = the justification of the column (left, center, right)

Reporting Tree Definitions

Reporting Tree definition is used both in row and column definition, but are more visible as the use sees them in the final report. The report tree definition could be taken from the dimensions: