Microsoft Dynamics ERP account systems
Management Reporter includes native dimension support, which means that the application works the same whether it is connected to a fully-qualified account system or a dimension-based system. New account segments or dimensions are immediately available in Management Reporter, without requiring any additional tools or configuration.
Fully-qualified account
A fully-qualified account contains a value for an account or natural segment, such as Cash or Sales, in addition to values for additional segments, such as Location, Division, and Department. In Management Reporter, these additional segments are referred to as the responsibility segments, and each segment is a fixed length.
The following illustration shows how the natural and responsibility segments combine to form a fully-qualified account.
.gif "Account structure in Dynamics")
In Management Reporter, it is important to understand the difference between a natural segment for a fully-qualified account and a responsibility segment. Typically, users specify the natural segment values in a row definition and the responsibility segment values in a reporting tree definition. When reports are generated, these values are combined in various ways to extract specific financial data records from a Microsoft Dynamics ERP system.
Dimension-based account
A dimension-based account system includes an account dimension and other dimensions that can represent details, such as customers, projects, departments, or other areas of importance to your company. Each dimension can be variable in length. Typically, users specify the natural dimension values in a row definition and specify the responsibility dimension values in a reporting tree definition. When reports are generated, the values are combined in various ways to extract specific financial data records from your Microsoft Dynamics ERP system.
Dimension values
Management Reporter row definitions and reporting tree definitions support the use of special characters as a way to identify multiple dimension values without naming each item individually. The following table describes the characters that are supported for specifying dimension values.
|
Character |
Function for row definitions |
Function for reporting tree definitions |
|---|---|---|
|
Ampersand (&) |
In the Dimension row in the Insert Rows from dialog box, identifies the dimension from which to bring values into the row definition. These values become the basis of the rows in the generated report. Ampersands are typically used for the account dimension. |
Not used in a dimension-based system. |
|
Number sign (#) |
In the Dimension row in the Insert Rows from dialog box, identifies the dimensions to ignore when bringing values into the row definition. Number signs are typically used for the responsibility dimensions. |
Not used. |
|
Plus sign (+) |
Not used. |
In the segments area in the Insert Reporting Units from dialog box, identifies the dimensions from which to bring values into the row definition. These values become the reporting units in the reporting tree. |
|
Digits (0-9) |
In the Range rows in the Insert Rows from dialog box, identifies the first and last dimension values to bring into the row definition. In the Link to Financial Dimensions column of a row definition, identifies the dimension values to include in the report for each row. |
In the From Account and To Account columns in the Insert Reporting Units from dialog box, identifies the first and last dimension values to bring into the reporting tree definition. In the Dimensions column of a reporting tree definition, identifies the dimension value to include in the reporting unit for each row. |
|
Letters (a-z, A-Z) |
Used in the same ways as digits. |
|
|
Question mark (?) |
A placeholder for a single character in a dimension value. For example, the value 22?? indicates that Management Reporter should insert the total financial amount for all dimension values in the range from 2200 through 2299 into the generated report. |
|
|
Asterisk (*) |
A placeholder for one or more characters in a dimension value. For example, for a color dimension, the value GR* indicates that Management Reporter should insert the combined financial amount for the GREEN and GRAY dimension values into the generated report. |
|