[Note-Dynamics GP – All versions available]

COURSE DESCRIPTION

The Report Design Essentials – I, II course covers the basic report design skills needed to create, maintain and distribute presentation quality reports using Microsoft Business Solutions for Analytics – FRx. It also includes coverage of additional functionality designed to help users create new reports and distribute and analyze a company’s financial information. Students will learn about basic foundational skills, complex calculations, drag and drop reorganization, rounding adjustments and account sets.

The Report Design Essentials II course builds on the basic report design skills learned in Report Design Essentials I. Using Microsoft Business Solutions for Analytics-FRx you learn advanced report design including linking to external worksheet data, linking row formats, multi company consolidations, currency translation reporting and cash flow. A combination of instructor guided exercises and practice tutorials allow students to master their report design skills.

A thorough understanding of these topics allows users to easily design and maintain standard and essential reports that organizations need to understand their financial position. Students will learn how to use templates or create customized report designs as well as how to set up self-maintaining reports that will dynamically include newly added GL accounts and newly closed periods. This course also teaches students to generate and electronically distribute reports using their in-house e-mail system.

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

• Understand basic navigation and report creation in FRx
• Drill down, analyze, print and export from the FRx Drilldown Viewer
• Efficiently create and distribute many financial reports including:
• Trial balances
• Balance sheets
• Transaction detail reporting
• Trended reports
• Side-by-side presentation
• Actual vs. Budget
• Rolling quarters
• Know some tips and tricks for increasing speed and accuracy of month-end close
• Create presentation quality reports
• Understand security settings within FRx
• Understand many ways to improve your company’s financial reporting package
• Have a renewed understanding of basic FRx report design concepts
• Explore ways to efficiently create and distribute many financial reports including: Linking to external worksheet data
• Statements of Cash Flow
• Using full accounts or multiple segments in reports
• Allocation reporting
• Linking Row Formats
• Relational reporting
• Multi company consolidations
• Currency Translation
• OLAP (Online Analytical Processing) output
  
• XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) output
• Advanced formatting tips and tricks

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COURSE OUTLINE

Overview and Introduction

• About FRx Software products
• Terminology
• Demo company account structure
• Sample report demonstration

Creating a Trial Balance

• Using the “Add Rows from Chart of Accounts” feature to automatically populate the row format with account numbers and descriptions
• Using wildcards or ranges to summarize data
• Using the Normal Balance field and how C’s affect the account presentation
• Using underscores and totals
• Using Header Codes to automatically update column headers each month
• Use of the BASE Period and Year in the Column Layout to ease maintenance
• Setting the Report Date to an option that automatically progress through the year for ease of report maintenance
• Defining a detail level in the catalog
• Introduce the default Formatting options
• Using existing building blocks to speed setup time
• Using the View, Subtotals function in the DrillDown Viewer

Creating an Income Statement

• Using the Add Rows from Chart of Accounts function to quickly create a basic template
• How proper placement of C’s in the Account Balance column of the Row Format will flip the balance of an account for presentation
• How the presentation of the accounts included determine the math for related TOT or CAL formulas
• How to use a Special Format Mask on a row formula to determine display
• Using system defined or custom fonts for emphasis
• Working with rounding options

Reporting Trees

• Characters used with Add Reporting Units
• Segment hierarchy
• Defining a segment range
• Adding custom units to a tree
• The default Reporting Tree
• Relating Reporting Trees to Row Formats
• How trees define multiple reports in a single catalog
• Using check rows to insure all accounts are included
• Rounding options and how they relate to calculations
• How to relate description or underscore rows to other rows
• Exception reports and how they work

Review

• Review basic report design concepts

More on Reporting Trees

• How to create a Column Layout based on current and prior results
• Defining unit hierarchy when building a Reporting Tree
• How to split a segment to create a virtual segment in trees
• Adding custom units to a tree
• Generating specific tree units
• Using header and footer codes in the Catalog

Transaction Detail Reporting

• Creating a transaction detail Column Layout
• Restricting a column to either debit or credit activity
• Restricting a column to display beginning balances
• Generating a catalog to the Excel output option
• How report presentation varies between Excel and the DrillDown Viewer

What we Know

• Review basic report design concepts

Using the DrillDown Viewer

• Printing reports from the DrillDown Viewer
• Using the Send function
• Export options in the DrillDown Viewer

Working with Specification Sets

• Understand the specification set (.F32) in the Company Information settings
• Learn to “save as” between spec sets
• Learn to export and import between spec sets

Practice

• Practice the report design concepts learned thus far in class

Balance Sheets

• Account Sets
• Presentation of Balance Sheet accounts (using C in the Normal Balance)
• Defining Year to Date Income in the Balance Sheet
• Using the XD code to suppress drill down on specific rows
• Using the Rounding Adjustments function

Income Statement Variations

• Trended Income Statement design
• Using conditional statements in the Column Layout
• Using Account Modifiers in the Row Format to override the Column Layout
• Variance reporting Over/(Under) and Favorable/(Unfavorable) methods
• Sort commands

Practice

• Practice the report design concepts learned so far in class

Side by Side Reporting

• Using Account Filters in the Column Layout
• Restricting columns to specific Tree Units in the Column Layout

Report Distribution

• Naming conventions
• Chain to Catalog ID functionality
• Report archive options
• E-mail distribution methods available in FRx
• WebPort distribution
• Report Manager Demonstration

What’s Wrong?

• Importing a .tdb file
• Troubleshooting a report

Troubleshooting

• Rebuilding the GL Index (.G32 file)
• Compacting the FRx Databases
• Getting additional help
• Report Design Guidelines

Advanced Concepts

• Adding an FRx report to Microsoft Outlook
• Adding FRx report information to Excel and Microsoft Word documents
• Overview of the Report Design Essentials II training class

Concept Overview

• Basic Row Format review
• Working with TOTs and CALs in the Row Format
• How C’s affect TOT and CAL rows and why to use them
• Defining a sort in the Row Format
• Relating rows to other rows
• Basic Column Layout review
• Defining a favorable/(unfavorable) variance Column Layout
• Working with BASE periods and years in the Column Layout
• Using “Add Reporting Units from Chart of Accounts” to build a Reporting Tree
• Using the split function to isolate a single account mask character
• Creating a new Reporting Catalog
• Defining report headers and footers
• Defining report headers and footers

Linking to External Worksheets

• Referencing external worksheet data
• Optional row modifiers
• Determining the period of data to be reported on
• Using the combined GL+Worksheet link in the Row Format
• Calculation priority with working with intersecting row and column calculations
• Adding an external worksheet link to the Row Format
• Proper syntax in combined vs. separate linking
• Using the optional row modifiers /CPO and /RPO when referencing worksheet data
• Designing Column Layouts that report on either/or data (i.e. either Actual or Budget) depending on the report date

Gross Profit per Unit – Practice

• Defining the GL+Worksheet link
• Working with the /CPO and /RPO row modifiers
• Using account and book code modif
• Advanced calculations and non-printing rows

Full Account Code and Multiple Segments

• Defining a fully qualified account in the Row Format
• How a full account in the Row Format affects units in a Reporting Tree
• Defining a range of periods in the Column Layout
• Using conditional dates in the Column Layout
• Using a range in a calculated column in the Column Layout

Defining Departments in the Row Format – Practice

• Defining the Row Format on the Department segment
• Defining a Reporting Tree that recognizes the Department in the Row Format
• Using Account Filters in the Column Layout

Statements of Cash Flow

• Using “C” in the normal balance to properly state sources and uses of cash
• Using the beginning balance and year to date account modifiers
• Defining a non-printing check row
• Using specific placement calculations in the Row Format
• Designing Column Layouts that display the changes in activity for the time frame being reported on
• Defining calculation priority for intersecting row and column calculations

FASB Style Statement of Cash Flow – Review

• Modifying an existing report design
• Using a combined GL+Worksheet link
• Using the /RPO row modifier
• Using non-printing check rows to validate report accuracy

Allocations

• Using specific column placement in Row Format calculation
• Column G restrictions in the Row Format
• Using Book Code modifiers in the Row Format
• How to work with full accounts in the Row Format when using a Reporting Tree
• Suppressing data from rolling up in the Reporting Tree
• Using multiple GL Links in the Row Format and Reporting Tree
• Presentation of external worksheet data in calculated columns
• Advanced calculations in the Column Layout
• Advanced formatting

Modified Allocation of Corporate Expenses – Practice

• Modifying existing building blocks
• Working with the Combined GL+Worksheet link
• Using WKS type columns in the Column Layout
• Using non-printing rows and specific column placement calculations in the Row Format
• Proper catalog definition when linking to external worksheet data

Row Linking

• Adding a Row Format link to a Row Format
• Using text labels for row codes
• Defining a Reporting Tree that relates to multiple Row Formats
• Advanced formatting concepts
• How rounding options work with Row Linking

Row Linking Income Statement – Practice

• Linking to another Row Format
• Defining a Reporting Tree that can access multiple Row Formats
• Using the BASE+ concept in the Column Layout
• Rounding options when using Row Linking

Review

• Concept Review

Relational Reporting

• Defining CBR (Base) rows in the Row Format
• Defining Column Layout calculations that work with CBR in the Row Format
• Suppressing CBR in detail reports

Multiple Base Row Definitions and Using Statistical Information as a Base Row – Practice

• Defining the CBR or Base Row
• Using Reporting Unit restrictions in the Row Format vs. full account codes to restrict the data being reported on
• Using Reporting Unit restrictions in the Column Layout vs. Account Filters to restrict the data being reported on

Additional Formatting Concepts

• IF/THEN/ELSE calculations in the Row Format
• Defining effective dates in the catalog
• Using column Z (Additional Text) in the Reporting Tree
• Working with Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Word and FRx
• Defining International Formats

Consolidations

• Overview of multiple company consolidations in FRx
• How to format amounts
• Assigning an international format to a report
• When is a Reporting Tree required
• Side-by-side (consolidating) Column Layout design
• Linking to external worksheet data

OLAP Output

• FRx and OLAP
• Microsoft Local Cubes
• Microsoft Server Cubes
• Excel Pivot Chart and Excel Pivot Table output options
• Terminology in OLAP and FRx

XBRL

• XBRL Overview
• Adding an XBRL link and related taxonomy file
• Assigning XBRL tags
• The XBRL Instance Document output option

Currency Translation

• Using an external worksheet link to pull in translation rates
• Adding CTA (cumulative translation adjustment) to the Row Format
• Using column restrictions in the Column Layout to define formatting
• Defining the DAX rates path
• Activating DAX in the catalog and Column Layout
• Assigning currency conversion format codes and related rate IDs

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