Chapter 1: Choosing the Right Report Development Tool

1–13 1 In this chapter you will learn how to: ƒ Choose the right report development tool for your needs ƒ Identify report development tools that support application areas in Release

Chapter 1: Choosing the Right Report

Development Tool

Contents

Choosing the Right Reporting Tool: The Big Picture 1–2

Organization of Report Development Tools 1–3

Using the Application Hierarchy 1–6

Using the Tools Summary Matrix 1–9

Using the Tool Summaries 1–11

Learning More About Report Development Tools 1–12

Review 1–13

1

In this chapter you will learn how to:

ƒ Choose the right report development tool for your needs

ƒ Identify report development tools that support application areas

in Release 4.0B

ƒ Use the Tools Summary Matrix to evaluate

different report development tools

Choosing the Right Reporting Tool: The Big Picture

In Fundamentals of Reporting, the first book of this three-volume guidebook series, we

presented a methodology to help you choose a report development tool that fits your

reporting needs Chapter 6 (book 1) showed how the process of selecting the right report

development tool is an integral part of the tactical approach to reporting

Note: Although the tactical approach to reporting is not discussed here, we recommend

that you give it consideration The tactical approach can save implementation teams much

time and expense as it explains how to make best use of reporting functionality in R/3

For more information on the tactical approach, review chapter 2 (book 1)

In this chapter we review the material covered in chapter 6 of book 1 If you have already

read chapter 6 in book 1—and understand how to select a report development tool using the

tools summary matrix and the application hierarchy—you may want to skip ahead to the

other chapters for tool-specific information

Choosing the Right Reporting Tool: The Big Picture

Follow these steps to help you choose the reporting tool that best fits your needs:

1 Use the Application Hierarchy to Identify the Tools: Starting from the R/3 applications

in which you work, you can determine which reporting tools can be used for your business process The application hierarchy matrix helps determine the appropriate R/3 report development tools for a particular application area For more information on the application hierarchy, see page 1–6

2 Use the Tools Summary Matrix to Help you Decide: For a quick comparison of the

features of the reporting tools available for your application area, use the tools summary matrix The tools summary matrix provides a high-level view of the functionality available with different tools For more information on the tools summary matrix, see page 1–9

you may want toreview the tool summaries(chapters 7 through 11 of book 1) to better understand the relative strengths of each tool

4 Learn More About Report Development Tools: For more information on how to get

started with the reporting tools, see chapters 2–6 of this guidebook In addition to step-by-step examples, you will also find tips and tricks for efficient report development

If you conclude that none of the tools fit your needs, and you want to use ABAP to develop

your report, review chapter 12 for information on using ABAP for developing reports

Additionally, you will find templates to speed up ABAP report development

Deleted: Review Tool Summaries

Organization of Report Development Tools

Learn More About Report Development Tools

Learn More About Report Development Tools

Review Tool Summaries

Use the Tools Summary Matrix

to Help You Decide

Use the Tools Summary Matrix

to Help You Decide

Use the Application Hierarchy

to Identify the Tools

Use the Application Hierarchy

to Identify the Tools

1

2

3

4

Read “Using the Application Hierarchy”

in chapter 1

Read “Using the Tools Summary Matrix” in chapter 1

See book 1 (chapters 7 through 11) for an overview of reporting tools

For in-depth information

on reporting tools, see chapters 2 through 6

Organization of Report Development Tools

Before getting started with the step-by-step approach to choosing the right tool, it is useful

to understand the overall report development landscape in the R/3 System

There are several report development tools (for example, Report Painter, ABAP Query, and

more) in the R/3 System While many methods can be used to create reports, the tool

comparison in this chapter focuses only on the core set of reporting tools Core tools may be

defined as tools that are used exclusively to create reports

What is a

core report

development

tool?

What are the factors that determine if a tool belongs to the core set of report development

tools? For purposes of this guidebook, the core set of reporting tools is defined as tools

which are used exclusively for report development If the tool has alternate uses, it will not

be compared here

Which

reporting

tools are

part of this

core set?

The core set of report development tools being compared in this guidebook includes the

following:

< ABAP Query

< Report Painter/Report Writer

< Drilldown Reporting

< Logistics Information System—Standard Analyses

< Logistics Information System—Flexible Analyses

We selected a core set of report development tools to achieve a more focused tool

comparison Consequently, certain tools, or tools by other names, are excluded from this

list

Formatted

Organization of Report Development Tools

Which

reporting

tools do not

belong to

this core

set?

Several tools are not listed in the core set of report development tools Two notable

exclusions are:

< ABAP (the programming language of R/3)

< Business Information Warehouse (for more information, see chapters 7 through 11)

There are specific reasons why non-core tools were excluded from the application

hierarchy and the overall comparison you find in this guidebook

ABAP is not considered a core report development tool because it is not exclusively used

for report development While ABAP can be quite useful in developing reports, it includes

much functionality (especially the capability to allow users to manipulate data in the

database) that extends far beyond information retrieval However, chapter 12 presents tips

on creating ABAP reports, including templates to help you get started

The Business Information Warehouse also is not used exclusively for report development

The BW is a data warehouse which can be used to store data from many systems,

including the R/3 database The “front-end” of the BW (the Business Explorer) includes

powerful functionality that takes advantage of its environment, Microsoft Excel However,

because of the separate environment and the added data warehousing capability, the BW

is not considered in this core set

What about

the other

reporting

tools I have

heard

about?

The core report development tools listed in this chapter are often known by other names

within application areas of R/3 The names of the tools are usually customized to

applications because of the data presented For example, the Sales Information System

(SIS) is part of the Logistics Information System Similarly, the Executive Information

System (EIS) is part of the Drilldown reporting tool Particular names are used within

certain application areas, but the core set of the tools is the same

As mentioned, it is important to have a clear core set of report development tools in order to

effectively compare the relative strengths of each tool As the goal of this chapter is to help

you decide which report development tool is most appropriate for your needs, we refine the

core set to make the comparison easier

The table on the next pagepresents a quick overview of the core report development tools

With the help of this table you can:

< Learn some of the commonly used names for the core report development tools

< Identify the access points for the core report development tools

< Find the application areas each core report development tool supports

Note: The table shown on the following page is also available as a Microsoft Excel

spreadsheet (Core development tools.xls) on the companion CD supplied with

the Reporting Made Easy guidebook series In the spreadsheet, you will also find

application-specific menu paths you can use to access report creation environments in

R/3 System for each tool

Formatted Formatted

Deleted: Information on BW will be

presented in book 2, Report

Development Tools, of this guidebook

series.

Deleted: earlier

Organization of Report Development Tools

Core Report

Development Tools Some Commonly Used Names/ Access Points for Report Tools Application Areas Supported by Report Tool

Report Painter Report Painter or Report Writer Cost Center Accounting (CO-CCA) and

Internal Orders (CO-OPA)

company, and business area (FI-GL)

LIS Standard Analyses Inventory Controlling (INVCO) Materials Management-Inventory Management (MM-IM)

External Services Management)

Warehouse Management Information System

LIS Flexible Analyses Same as LIS Standard Analyses (see above) Same as LIS Standard Analyses (see above)

Drilldown Reporting Profitability Analysis Reporting Controlling and Profitability Analysis (CO-PA)

Using the Application Hierarchy

On page 1–2, we introduced the idea of using of a step-by-step approach to help you choose the right report development tool for your needs The table on the previous page is intended

to help you get acquainted with the core reporting tools and some of the common names associated with the core tools Next, you will see an application-centric view of the reporting tools comparison You will start the comparison by first looking at the application areas and the tools available for the application

Using the Application Hierarchy

While the table on the previous page offers a

tools-centric view, the application hierarchy

presented in this section is centered around

application areas and subcomponents

The application hierarchy shown on the next

two pages is a complete list of all R/3

applications, organized by functional areas

Most application modules in the hierarchy are

subdivided to show individual areas in the

application (for example, shipping and billing

are two areas within the sales and distribution

[SD] application, and accounts payable is an

area within the financial accounting [FI]

application)

Example: If you are interested in choosing the

appropriate tool for a cash management (CM)

report in the Treasury (TR) area, then find

TR-CM in the application hierarchy Next, review the report development tools available for TR-CM From the application hierarchy you can see that ABAP Query and Drilldown reporting are the tools you can choose from

More on the

SAP

application

hierarchy

R/3’s application areas are divided among business applications, such as financial

accounting (FI), sales and distribution (SD), and human resources (HR) To access the

complete list of applications in the SAP application hierarchy, choose Tools → ABAP

Workbench → Overview → Application hierarchy → SAP from the SAP main menu

If you are not familiar with the concept of different applications in R/3, or are unsure of which applications you might be using, we suggest you view the application hierarchy within the R/3 System If needed, ask your system administrator for assistance

Note: Since both LIS Standard Analyses and LIS Flexible Analyses use the same

applications for report development, they have been combined into a single column in the application hierarchy matrix

Learn More About Report Development Tools

Learn More About Report Development Tools Review Tools Summaries

Use the Tools Summary Matrix

to Help You Decide

Use the Tools Summary Matrix

to Help You Decide

Use the Application Hierarchy

to Identify the Tools

Use the Application Hierarchy

to Identify the Tools

1

2

3

4

Using the Application Hierarchy

Reporting Tools and R/3 System Application Hierarchy

1 Pick the desired application area from the application hierarchy.

2 Note the available reporting tools that support the application area.

3 Review the Tools Summary Matrix to compare the relative strengths of each tool.

4 Select a report development tool based on your requirements.

Financial Accounting

FI

General Ledger Accounting

Legal Consolidation

Accounts Payable

Accounts Receivable

Bank Accounting

Asset Accounting

Special Purpose Ledger

Funds Management

Travel Management

Treasury

TR

Cash Management

Cash Budget Management

Treasury Management

Loans Business

Risk Management

Controlling

CO

Overhead Cost Controlling

Product Cost Controlling

Profitability Analysis

Investment Management

IM

Capital Investments

Enterprise Controlling

EC

Profit Center Accounting

Business Planning

Consolidation

Enterprise Information System

Industry Solutions

IS

Real Estate Management

Banking

Public Sector

Retail Information System

Logistics: General

LO

Logistics Basic Data

Product Data Management

Batches

Environmental Management

Forecast

Variant Configuration

Engineering Change Management

Logistics Information System (LIS)

Supply Chain Planning Interfaces (SCPI)

Additionals Management

Retail Information System (RIS)

Sales and Distribution

SD

Master Data

Basic Functions

Sales

Shipping

Transportation

Foreign Trade

Billing

Sales Support

Information System

Electronic Data Interchange

Point-of-Sale Interface

Materials Management

MM

Consumption-Based Planning

Purchasing

External Services Management

Inventory Management

Warehouse Management

Invoice Verification

Information System

Electronic Data Interchange

Dr R

Using the Application Hierarchy

Reporting Tools and R/3 System Application Hierarchy (cont.)

1 Pick the desired application area from the application hierarchy.

2 Note the available reporting tools that support the application area.

3 Review the Tools Summary Matrix to compare the relative strengths of each tool.

4 Select a report development tool based on your requirements.

Quality Management

QM

Quality Planning

Quality Inspection

Quality Control

Quality Certificates

Quality Notifications

Test Equipment Management

Plant Maintenance

PM

Equipment and Technical Objects

Preventive Maintenance

Maintenance Order Management

Maintenance Projects

Service Management

Project Systems

PS

Structures

Document

Production Resources/Tools

Costs

Revenues and Earnings

Payments

Dates

Capacities

Material

Confirmation

Simulation

Versions

Progress

SAP Business Workflow Connection

Information System

Personnel Management

PA

Includes all areas of Personnel Management, such as recruitment, personnel administration, benefits, HR information system, personnel development, organizational structure, compensation management, and travel management.

X

Information System

Production Planning and Control

PP

Basic Data

Sales and Operations Planning

Master Planning

Capacity Requirements Planning

Material Requirements Planning

Production Orders

KANBAN

Repetitive Manufacturing

Assembly Processing

Production Planning for Process Industries

Plant Data Collection

Flow Manufacturing

Information System

Personnel Time Management

PT

Includes all areas of Personnel Time Management, such as work schedule, time data recording and management, shift planning, time evaluation, information system, tools, and integration with other applications.

X

Payroll Accounting

PY

Training and Event Management

PE

Includes all areas of Training and Event Management, such as resource management, correspondence, connection to time management, connection to cost accounting, connection to billing, and connection to materials management.

X

Basis Components

BC

Using the Tools Summary Matrix

Note that within this application hierarchy, several tools can be used for most application

areas Therefore, it is up to you to decide which reporting tools are best matched to the

reports to you want to develop The report development tool summary matrix covered in

the next two pages will give you a quick comparison of tool features

Using the Tools Summary Matrix

The tools summary matrix provides a quick

comparative analysis of the core report

development tools As shown on the next

page, the tools summary matrix lets you

evaluate each tool using a set of features

users typically consider

It is important to note that the matrix only

presents a high-level overview of each tool

The aim of this matrix is simply to help users

jumpstart the process of comparing different

tools

Using the information available in the tools

matrix, you can then review the tool

summaries presented in chapters 7—11 of

book 1, Fundamentals of Reporting You can

also refer to chapters 2 through 6 of this book

for more detailed information on using the

report development tools

Used as a guide, the tools summary matrix can help you narrow your choices down to one

or two reporting tools While this matrix is designed to help you find the right tool, it is by

no means intended to make a decision for you The relative importance of each feature is

likely to vary among users For example, ease-of-use may be important to one user but

another user may be primarily concerned with the coverage of applications When using

this matrix, you must assign your own weighting to the criteria

Learn More About Report Development Tools

Learn More About Report Development Tools Review Tools Summaries

Use the Tools Summary Matrix

to Help You Decide

Use the Tools Summary Matrix

to Help You Decide

Use the Application Hierarchy

to Identify the Tools

Use the Application Hierarchy

to Identify the Tools

1

2

3

Deleted: Later

Deleted: 2, Report Development Tools

Using the Tools Summary Matrix

ABAP Qu

Reporting LIS Stand

Desktop Integration

Uses MS Excel as a front-end tool

manipulation None required

Speed vs Performance

Minimal impact Somewhat slowed

Speed with heavy data load?

Significant impact Yes

Delivered Integration

Online transaction protocol data Meta data plus external data

Views "live" data?

Meta data only All applications Less than all, greater than 50%

Coverage of applications

Less than 50%

More than 100

Requirements for Development

Less than 2 hours 2–4 hours; course suggested

Difficult to learn to program with tool?

At least one day or course required Yes

Adequate number of characteristics and

Slight changes in configuration

If 'meta' data is used, is it difficult to program? Not Applicable

Moderately difficult to program Rarely requires reprogramming Somewhat difficult to modify reports

Flexibility for modifying reports? (for example,

Ease of Use

Very easy

How easily can a user learn to use the

Yes Yes, with some effort

Can a query be created from scratch?

Yes

All tools offer: Sorting by rows and columns,

column/row resizing, summations, use of

selection screen variants, saved results (in

cached queries), and a common look and feel

among reports

All features supported

Execution Management

Run-time, data control, plus can program more Auth control for run, plus data field control

Authorization control programmable?

Control authorization to run only Yes

Yes

Reporting Tools Summary Matrix