© SAP SE ZR Reporting Abstract This unit focuses on different reporting techniques as supported by the SAP software and SAP Business Intelligence. It is aimed at students at universities, universities of applied sciences and other educational institutions with no previous experience of SAP Business Intelligence software. It can be used in the classroom or for self-study. On completion of the unit, students will be able to generate operational, tactical and strategic reports. SAP University Alliances Version 3.6 Authors:Anjali Ramburn & Lisa Seymour Product SAP Business Objects ESEFA curriculum Level Beginner Focus SAP Reporting

Page 12A-2 Reporting content  ERP information output capabilities  Different types of reports  SAP standard reports -Benefits and limitations  SAP Business Intelligence -SAP Business Objects Crystal Reports & Crystal Dashboards  Designing and creating tactical and strategic reports

Page 12A-3 ERP information output capabilities  Generate information in order facilitate decision-making or to assist with other aspects of someone’s job  Getting data in is as important as getting data out  Quick access to vital information  Examples of reporting outputs: -Product ‘hot seller’ report -Product ‘non-mover’ report -Over 30 days outstanding orders -Over 30 days outstanding customer payments

Page 12A-4 What is a report?  Output retrieved from a database and presented in a particular format to a user.  Can allow filtering, sorting, aggregation  A report can be: -displayed online -exported to MS Excel or other softwares - ed as an attachment -printed

Page 12A-5 Different types of reports  Operational -Displays line item detail and lots of data -Data is displayed using a table -Facilitates structured decision-making SAP standard reports can be used to generate transactional data  Tactical -Displays short term summary data -Drill down from summary to detailed data -Facilitates semi-structured decision-making SAP Crystal Reports  Strategic -Projects the future and shows trends of the past -Represented visually and highly interactive -Facilitates unstructured decision-making SAP Dashboards

Page 12A-6 ERP reporting capabilities  Standard reports  Tools for report creation (programmed/technical to flexible reports) -Query reporting tools -Report Painter/Report Writer -SAP Business Objects SAP Crystal Reports and SAP Crystal Dashboards Design  How many prebuilt standard reports does SAP have?

Page 12A-7 ERP standard reports  ERPs are typically preloaded with a variety of what can be referred to as ‘standard reports’  Standard report: prebuilt/predefined report supplied with the ERP software  The link below provides an overview of selected standard reports: +Reports  SAP provides a collection of more than standard reports across different applications  Designed to meet operational and transactional needs

Page 12A-8 ERP standard reports – benefits  Readily available! They come packaged with the ERP software.  Some reports are really good for operational reporting: Routine daily monitoring Financial reports (income statement, balance sheet)  ERP systems like SAP are implemented in thousands of companies, so they have a pretty good understanding of what managers need. But…

Page 12A-9 ERP standard reports – limitations  ERP standard reports don’t always meet the users’ needs (or likes) – they are extremely ineffective for supporting ad- hoc/decision-oriented processes. -Every organization is somehow different in its decision support needs.  Searching for a report among thousands of available reports/navigating through multilevel menus is time- consuming.  Several reports are designed (delivered by default) to meet operational or transaction needs only.  Most of the reports are predefined, list oriented and provide very limited OLAP functionality.

Page 12A-10 Example of a purchasing report  Menu path: Logistics > Materials Management > Purchasing > Purchase Order > List Displays > By Material

Page 12A-11 SAP Business Objects (BO)  A suite of front-end Business Intelligence (BI) applications  SAP Crystal Reports and SAP Crystal Dashboards Design: Independent applications used to design and generate reports from a wide range of data sources.  Provides easy access to large volumes of information.  Provides better decision-making capabilities.

Page 12A-12 Report design  Main phases of report design -Source the data -Conceptualize the report based on information needs -Design the report -Develop and test -Deploy and operate

Page 12A-13 SAP Crystal Reports  Used to produce simple, complex or specialised reports -Industry standard for reporting to design, explore, visualise, and deliver reports via the Web or embedded in enterprise applications -Developers and designers create reports that answer questions such as pending order deliveries or outstanding invoices and distribute these reports to management, enabling them to make informed decisions

Page 12A-14 SAP Crystal Report design screen  Automatically creates five areas in design tab -Report Header, Page Header, Details, Report Footer and Page Footer

Page 12A-15 Screen components  Report Header (RH) – used for report title  Page Header (PH) – used for information that you want to appear at the top of each page  Details (D) - used for the body of the report with the bulk of the report data generally appearing in this section  Report Footer (RF) - used for information you want to appear only once at the end of the report (such as grand totals)

Page 12A-16 Screen components  Page Footer (PF) – used for page number and any other information you want to appear on the bottom of each page  Another area of the Crystal Reports Design tab is the Field Explorer: -Click View > Field Explorer. The Field Explorer, as the name implies, contains the fields that can be included in a report.

Page 12A-17 Example of a Crystal Report

Page 12A-18 SAP Crystal Dashboards Design  Dashboard and visualisation tools are essential for providing a common view of what’s important to your organization or team.  These tools enhance visibility into organizational strategy, align actions with strategy and allow users to track KPIs, assign goals and collaborate and share knowledge. -Xcelsius is a drag-and-drop visualisation tool designed to create interactive analytics for powerful, personalised dashboards with live connections to any data source.

Page 12A-19 SAP Dashboard workspace

Page 12A-20 Screen components  Canvas frame – white work area where you can place components in order to create a visualisation.  Components frame – includes objects that can be added to your Dashboard.  Properties frame – contains the setting and format options for the selected component.  Spreadsheet frame – incorporates an embedded spreadsheet.  Object Browser frame – enables you to view and select the components on your Dashboard.

Page 12A-21 Example of a Strategic Report

Page 12A-22 Summary  You should now be able to: -Differentiate between operational, tactical and strategic reports -Understand how different reports enable decision- making in an organization -Understand the different tools available to generate the different types of reports -Use SAP Business Intelligence to create tactical and strategic reports.