30 Tips on Management Reporter Chris Haley, Microsoft

Use Management Reporter ! Tip #1 Use Management Reporter ! MR Is the primary financial reporting tool for AX since CU7, but it supports all builds of AX2012. License included with AX! Flexible financial reporting in the hands of the finance team – no developers needed! Benefit from professional reports with a secure report library 2

Report Viewer

Tip #2 Transaction Level Details On many reports, it might not be necessary or desirable to allow drilling down to transaction level On others, it is extremely useful, so include the option when you generate the report and the user can drill down (It may take a little longer to generate) Notice the attributes you can include – there is a long list to choose from when designing your report 4

Tip #3 Previous Reports MR Keeps all of the previous versions of the report when you regenerate it, so you can review the history Really useful during month end as you correct issues and regenerate 5

Tip #4 Comments Used in conjunction with the versions – we can add comments on specific rows This might be comments from reviewers, or your own notes as you generate incremental versions Notice the little speech bubble icon next to the row which includes the comments 6

Tip #5 Currency Translation After doing some setup in AX (exchange rates) you can ‘translate’ reports into other currencies 7

Tip #6 Pre-calculate Currency Translations Calculate currency translations with report generation Turn off for faster report generation Turn on for faster switching between currencies in report If your users will want to switch quickly o regularly between currencies, check the box on the report design to pre-calculate the translations during report generation 8

Report Distribution

Tip #7 Report Library Folders Set security Segregate reports Report designer – setup a folder structure to organise your reports You can also setup the security by folder 10

Tip #8 Use the report URL Share the generated report using the report URL – paste it into your emails Don’t send excel files around! More secure – Only users with permission can access Always the latest version – If you need to regenerate the report, the link stays the same 11

Tip #9 Add to role center in AX Add the URL for your key reports to the AX Role Centre page – Easy convenient access for users 12

Tip #10 Business Analyzer App A desktop (and mobile) app that allows managers to have an overview of KPIs and reports for the business. Some setup required, but Management Reporter reports can be viewable through the app. Read more on TechNet: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn527157.aspx 13

Tip #11 Report Scheduling Tools > Import Default Reports For reports you use regularly, especially any which take more than few seconds to generate, schedule them! You can specify the report to be re-generated overnight, daily, weekly, monthly… The report URL takes you to the up to date report (Remember to put the generated date/time on the report header!) 14

Tip #12 Report Groups Simplify report generation of multiple reports by grouping them. Monthly management report pack? MR will also have a URL for the group, with a landing page for easy navigation! Reuse the same report in multiple groups, generate groups on a schedule 15

Reporting TREES

Tip #13 AX Org Hierarchies Org hierarchies setup in AX will be integrated into Management Reporter as reporting trees Maintain hierarchies in a single place –used in AX for various reasons (approvals, security, reporting) You do have to be using the org units as financial dimensions to analyse financial reports by them! 17

Tip #14 Generate from Dimensions Auto-generate your hierarchy based on available financial dimensions Apply ranges to limit the included dimensions and save yourself time and potential human error! 18

Tip #15 Use Unit Security A very powerful way to handle different levels of access in the same report – think departmental reports Run and distribute a single report with Department reporting tree, set the users access level by reporting unit (i.e. department) 19

Report Design

Tip #16 Default Reports Tools > Import Default Reports Checkout the default reports for ideas and inspiration, or use as a basis for your own reports If you can’t see them in report designer, go to Tools > Import default reports. 21

Tip #17 Add a Company Logo Report design – header Add a little extra professional touch to your reports by including your company logo. Import and select images from the report definition ‘Headers and footers’ tab. 22

Tip #18 Auto-generate Rows Row definition: Edit > Insert Rows from Dimensions ! 23

Tip #19 Using the Currency Filter Column definition: Filter transactions by currency Does NOT modify the transactions currency! ! 24

Tip #20 Hiding Rows Row 430 will not display if the Total is 0 Row 400 will not show as it is linked to row 430 ! 25

Tip #21 Hidden Check Rows Several rows exist for dimensions within a main account Add a non-printing row for the main account (no dimension filters) Add a calculated row for the difference If difference is zero, the row is hidden, if not we see an ‘Other’ row ! 26

Tip #22 Missing Account Analysis Report Designer Tools > Missing account analysis ! 27

Tip #23 Column Dimension Filters ! 28

Budgeting

Tip #24 AX Budget Plans The simplest way to get your budget data into AX is using the budget planning process Upload the data from Excel add-in, use different ‘scenarios’ and the data can be filtered in MR using attribute filters Have multiple scenarios – Sales team with graduated rewards schemes? 30

Tip #25 Add Quantities A budget plan in AX can include both currency values and quantities Qty can be your choice – units sold, head count, 31

Tip #26 Actual Quantities To allow comparison of budged qty to actual qty, you need to post something to the GL. This can be done easily with a general journal! Post a zero value transaction with a qty specified on the General tab You can use a new main account to keep these separate, or just post to the existing main accounts. The values are then integrated into MR! 32

Tip #27 Worksheet Links Row definition: Edit > Row links Cell with /Column period offset Edit > Row links to setup a new worksheet link for a row definition row Use /CPO modifier for Column period offset (You can also user RPO if your data is row based) 33

Other Stuff

Tip #28 Get Error Alerts If any errors occur in Management Reporter, you run the risk of running your reports with missing data. Find out about any issues before you fall into that trap by setting up the email alerts from MR Configuration console You might need your system administrator to configure this for you. 35

Tip #29 Stay up to date! ~Quarterly CU releases New features Bug fixes Performance improvements! Subscribe to the blog: https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/dynamics_financial_reporting/ Latest version from customer source: https://mbs.microsoft.com/customersource/northamerica/MR/downloads/service-packs/MROverview 36

Q&A Tip #30 Ask! Don’t forget the community! Latest version from customer source: https://mbs.microsoft.com/customersource/northamerica/MR/downloads/service-packs/MROverview 37

Speaker contact info Chris Haley Technical Advisor - Microsoft Support Chris.Haley@Microsoft.com 38