Management Reports Designer – Column Design Prompts

Report Type

The report type designates the width of the report and controls the number of columns to print on the report.  To display the drop-down list press [space bar] and then click a choice:

• Inquiry (78 columns)

• Report (132 columns)

• Report (224 columns)

To update the new or changed information, click Save.

CAUTION

To avoid losing data, you must save.

Decimal Places for %

Enter the number of digits to display after the decimal point for percentage values.  Choices are:  0, 1, or 2

Format Name

Displays from the report specifications for your reference.  Or, enter a name to describe the column layout.  You can use the same format name for many reports.  For example, you can use the format name BUDGET for every department’s budget report.  

To add a new column, click Add and the column is added to the end of the report.

Tip:  To move the column to the desired position, use the move buttons.

Column Details

To display the information for a specific column, click on the desired column tab.

In the example above, the first column’s information is displayed.

Column Type

To specify a column type, click a choice in the drop-down list.  The following are the available options:

Period

If you select a column type of actual, Period displays.  Enter the period to report.

Historical Year

If you select a column type of historical, Historical Year displays.  Enter the historical year to report in this column.

Budget Name

If you select a column type of budget, Budget Name displays.  Enter the budget name to report in this column.

Calculation

If you select a column type of calculation, Calculation displays to allow you to create variance calculations to be performed between columns and may be printed on the report.  You can calculate totals or differences for any or all columns, to show such things as variance amounts from year-to-year or a variance percentage from budget to actual.  Calculation amounts can be flat amounts or percentage variances.

The following characters may be used in a calculation:

• #X Identifies the column sequence number of the column being included in the calculation, where X represents the column number to be included.  # must be included before the column number.

• (  ) Used to segregate the operations within the calculation formula

• + For addition

• - For subtraction

• * For multiplication

• / For division

Calculations are calculated from left to right, unless parentheses are used.  Use double parentheses to further segregate operations.

Example:  (#2 + #3) + ((#2 + #3) * (10 / 100))

In this example, a total of columns 2 and 3 is being calculated, (#2 + #3), and then an additional 10% is being added to that total, + ((#2 + #3) * (10 / 100)).

Print Column on Report

To print this column on the report, click to select Print Column on Report.  This is handy if you need a calculation, but do not need the calculated value to print.  

Tip:  Only the printed columns are deducted from the number of spaces used on the report.

Heading 1

Heading 2

Enter the first heading line that describes the column.

Enter a second column heading line to display below the first line on the report, if desired.

Action

If a column is being set up for any of the financial, historical or budgetary type options, it may be displayed as a total or as a percent of a line accumulator.  Choices include:

• To display the column as a percent of a line accumulator, enter Percent.  The percentage will calculate as an average percentage.

• To display a normal total, enter Normal.  

Note:  A % will only display if the line is also designated as a percent in the line format.

Dollar Sign

To include a dollar sign ($) in front of all amounts in this column, click to select this box.

Commas

To use commas to format the number display, click to select this box.

Negative Number Format

To indicate the negative number format, click in the box to display the format choices.  Choices are:

• Negative sign before the amount

• Negative sign after the amount

• Negative amount in parenthesis ()

Rounding Format

To specify a rounding format for the column value, click a choice in the drop-down list.  Choices include:

• Normal (no rounding)

• Dollar (round to nearest dollar value)

• Hundreds (round to the nearest hundred)

• Thousands (round to the nearest thousand)

• Ten Thousands (round to the nearest ten thousand)

• Hundred Thousand (round to the nearest hundred thousand)

Show Zero Amount

To include zero amounts on the report, click to select this box.  To omit zero amounts from the report, please leave blank.

Column Start

Column size

Displays the position where the column starts on the report based on its position with the other fields on the report.  Column size is the number of characters allocated for the field on the report.  This information helps to determine how much space is available.

Column Design Actions

The Column Design Action buttons are located above the columns.

Edit

To edit an existing column:

1. Click to highlight the column to edit and the detail displays.

2. Click the field to change and enter the new value.

3. Click Save to save your changes.

To delete a column:

1.  Click to highlight the column to delete.

2.  Click Delete located above the column design formats.  The column is deleted.  

Important:  Do not click Delete located near the top of the window.  That Delete will delete the entire management report.

To move a column:

1.  Click to highlight the column to move.

2.  To move the column to the right, click Move>> .

3.  To move the column to the left, click <<Move .

4.  Continue clicking Move until the column is positioned in the desired position.

You can easily change column headings individually or as a group.  If the current fiscal year is in your report headings, you can use the find and replace headings to edit them to the new calendar year after you have completed your year-end.

Note:  For directions, see Find and Replace Headings below.

To save the format changes, click Save.

CAUTION

To avoid losing data, you must save.

Find and Replace Column Headings Step

To change and replace column headings, click Find and Replace Headings .

After clicking, the following window displays:

Making Find and Replace Changes

1.  In the example above, if all of the fiscal year 07 headings should now be changed to the fiscal year 08, then enter 07 in the Find field and click Find.  The system checks the heading fields for a match and highlight the first line that matches.

Tip:  If you want to match the case (upper or lower) then check the Match Case box.  Otherwise, find is NOT case sensitive.

2. Enter 08 in the replace with field and:

3.  Click Replace to only change the line highlighted
Or, click Replace All to change all the headings with 07 to 08.  

4.  The replacements will display on the screen.

5. If the change is correct, click Save and the column design screen will re-display.  
Or, if the change is not correct, click Reset to clear the changes.

6. To exit from this window, click Close.