The Financial Statement Generator Report Building Process
1. Before you define a report in Financial Statement Generator, draft it on paper. This will help you plan your report's format and content and save you time later.
2. Define row sets that specify the format and content of your report rows. Typical row sets include line items, accounts, and calculation rows for totals.
3. Define column sets that specify the format and content of your report columns. Typical column sets include headings, currency assignments, amount types, and calculation columns for totals.
You can also define column sets graphically using the Column Set Builder.
4. Define any optional report objects you need for special format reports or report distribution.
If you frequently run many reports at the same time, define report sets to group those reports.
6. Assign the Run Financial Statement Generator program to the report security group for your responsibility. You can then run predefined FSG reports from the Submit Requests form, enabling you to schedule FSG reports to run automatically. You can also combine FSG and standard reports in request sets.
7. Run reports and report sets, including ad hoc and predefined reports.
Note: You can copy report objects to quickly create new row sets, and column sets from existing report objects. You can also copy reports and report sets that you have defined. You can also copy report objects from one General Ledger database to another.
Suggestion: We recommend that you run the General Ledger Optimizer program before you run your monthly reports. This will help your financial reporting processes run faster.
Optional Report Objects
1. Define content sets to override row set segment values and display options, and to define the order for printing multiple reports.
2. Define row orders to modify the order of detail rows in a report. Rank rows in ascending or descending order based on the amount in a particular column and/or by sorting segments by description or value.
3. Define display sets to control the display of ranges of rows and/or columns in a report. To use display sets you must also define display groups to identify the ranges of rows and/or columns whose display you want to control.
Note: You can copy report objects to quickly create new content sets, display sets, and row orders from existing report objects.
Defining Row Sets
A Row Set defines the format and content of the rows in an FSG report. In FSG, the commonly assumed attribute for a row definition is an account assignment, whereas the attribute for a column definition is a time period (amount type).
When you define a row set, you can:
Assign accounts -- to indicate which general ledger account balances you want to include in the row. You can assign an individual account or range of accounts to each row.
Note: If you have average balance processing enabled in your set of books, you can report on functional, foreign-entered, and translated average balances.
Define calculations -- to perform a variety of complex computations in your report. The calculations can refer to any previous rows in a report, including rows you choose not to display.
Specify formatting -- to control page breaks, indentation, line spacing, and underline characters.
You can define a new row set, or use FSG's AutoCopy feature to copy an existing row set, which you can then modify as needed.
To define a row set:
1. Navigate to the Row Set window.
2. Enter a Name and Description for the row set. Do not use the ampersand (&) symbol in your Row Set name.
3. Choose Define Rows.
4. Enter a Line number for each row of the row set. The line number controls the order in which rows appear in a report. You also use the line number when creating a row calculation.
5. Enter a Line Item description for each row. This appears as the row label on any report you run using this row set.
6. (Optional) Enter the Format Options, Advanced Options, and Display Options for each row.
Note: If you want to create a report which reverses the commonly assumed attributes for row sets and column sets, you should also set your Balance Control Options for each row.
7. To have the row generate account balances on your report, choose Account Assignments to assign accounts to the row. To create a calculation row (for report totals and subtotals), choose Calculations.
Note: A row definition can have account assignments or calculations, but not both.
8. Define additional rows for the row set. (steps 4 through 7)
9. Save your work.
Defining Column Sets
A column set defines the format and content of the columns in an FSG report. In FSG, the commonly assumed attribute for a column definition is a time period (amount type), whereas the attribute for a row definition is an account assignment. Therefore, typical column sets include headings and subheadings, amount types, format masks, currency assignments, and calculation columns for totals.
When you define a column set, you can:
Specify account balance types -- to include in the column. For example, you can define a column with actual, budget, or encumbrance amounts.
Create Headings -- for your columns. You can also create relative headings, which change depending on the period of interest specified when you run the report.
Define calculations -- to perform a variety of complex computations in your report. The calculations can refer to any previous columns in the report, including rows you choose not to display.
Specify formatting -- using format masks, which determine how numbers in your report are displayed.
You can define a new column set or use FSG's AutoCopy feature to copy an existing column set, which you can then edit as needed. You can also define column sets graphically, using the Column Set Builder.
To define a column set:
1. Navigate to the Column Set window.
2. Enter a Name and Description for the column set.
3. (Optional) Enter an Override Segment.
4. Choose Define Columns.
5. Enter the starting Position for each column. This is the number of characters from the left edge of the page that marks where each column starts. Consider the following factors when determining the starting positions of your columns:
Total report width --With FSG, you can create reports with unlimited columns. This allows you to download reports of any width to an Excel spreadsheet using Applications Desktop Integrator (ADI).
FSG prints reports in landscape mode, with up to 132, 180, or 255 characters per line, depending on the printers you have installed. Optionally, you can print reports in portrait mode (80 characters) by first setting the profile option FSG:Allow Portrait Print Style to Yes.
Number of columns in the column set.
Width of each column -- determined by the format mask and expected size of numbers to be displayed in the column.
Starting position and width of previous columns.
Currency profile options -- determine whether you are using thousands separators, as well as positive and negative number formats. If these options are enabled, you must provide enough space in your column width.
Margins.
Overall appearance -- balance and uniformity of spacing.
Additional Information: Row line labels appear to the left of the first column in your report. Thus, you control the width of the row line items when you set the position of the first column in your column set.
6. Enter a unique Sequence number for each column. You can use the sequence number to define column calculations.
Note: The sequence number does not control the order of the columns on a report like it does for rows in a row set. Instead, column order is determined by the column starting positions.
7. Enter a Format Mask to control the display of values which FSG prints in the column
8. Enter a Factor (Billions, Millions, Thousands, Units, or Percentiles) that determines how to display numeric values.
For example, if you use the factor Thousands with the format mask 99,999,999.99, the number 23,910 will appear as 23.91 on your report. If you use the factor Percentiles with the format mask 99.99, the number .1258 will appear as 12.58 on your report. To display amounts using no factor, choose Units.
Suggestion: If you assign a factor besides Units to each of your columns, put the factor name in the related column headings so you can easily identify the factors on your report.
9. (Optional) Enter the Balance Control options, Advanced Options, and Display Options for each column.
Note: If you want to create a report which reverses the commonly assumed attributes for row sets and column sets, leave the Balance Control options blank on this window and set them on the Rows window instead.
10. (Optional) To create a calculation column (for variances, percentages, totals and subtotals), choose Calculations. To assign accounts to the column, choose Account Assignments.
Note: A column definition can have calculations or account assignments, but not both.
11. (Optional) To create an exception report, choose Exceptions.
12. Define additional columns for the column set (steps 5 through 11).
13. Create the column headings.
14. Save your work.
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