ER_Chapter02-Creating Reports Basic Functionality
ER_Chapter02-Creating Reports Basic Functionality
Chapter 2:
Creating Reports Basic
Functionality
In this section you will learn the following:
From the main screen (Easy Access menu) of SAP place your cursor in the Command Field at
the top left of the screen and type in the transaction code /n/spin/er followed by the green
check mark Enter button. The main screen of Easy Reporter will appear, see picture below.
Easy Reporter is designed as a menu structure, as shown on the main screen. There are multiple folders
or menus each containing different items. All reports are executed via one of these menus. The System
Reporting > Pre-delivered Reporting Templates menu contains the pre-delivered reports that are
made for you based on the most popular reports currently required by organizations. These reports can
be used “as-is” or can be copied and modified to meet your needs. We are going to take a look at each
of the report design screens while we create a report from scratch.
From Easy Reporter: Select the small white Create button on the application toolbar.
You will now see the design screen for creating a report with Easy Reporter, see sample below. The
design view has seven tabs each containing a step that can be used in the process to create, change, save
and finally test or view the report output. The use of all of the tabs is not required however each tab
contains various options for your report.
Throughout the manual we will take a look at each of the different tabs. For this getting started with the
basics section we will only use a couple of the tabs. To navigate to a tab select it using your mouse. If
the tab contains sub tabs you can select those with your mouse as well. This section of the manual covers
the basics of reporting and will not detail every option available on every tab. Because the tool is so
robust we will introduce the more advanced functionality in subsequent sections.
The Heading and Description tab allows the user to outline the report heading, its description and
define the type of date selection required for the report. This tab defaults to an Information Tab and to
the right of that it has a few tabs of its own.
Report Settings
On the Report Settings sub tab, shown below, there are several options. The Report Header field is
where you type the name of your report that you would like to appear at the top of the screen when your
report is executed. This name will also appear on the Information sub tab shown above. The Extra Detail
field allows you to specify if you want additional information to appear in the reports title and
Information sub tab. The following options are available for this field:
Report Date Range This is the default option for all reports. This will show the
report heading with the date range displayed below it.
Report Date Range and Today's Date This option will display the report date range and today's
date in the header of the report.
Report Date range, Today's Date and This will display the additional information of the Report
Time report was executed Date range, Today's Date and Time report was executed
Only display header This option will cause the report heading to only display
the actual header.
The Logo to Appear field allows you to select a logo to appear on the report output. There is a one-time
configurations step required to load your logos. Instructions for adding a logo are provided separately
upon request.
The bottom section contain the Report Data Period information, the available options are detailed below:
Selection using Payroll This is the default option for all reports. When running the report, this
Area will allow the user to select data in the Report Data Period tab based on
a payroll area and period.
Selection using Dates This is the default option for all reports. When running the report, this
will allow the user to select data in the Report Data Period tab based on
a date or date range.
Initially Selected This radio button will identify which of the above options is initially
displayed in the Report Data Period tab when running a report.
The other sub tabs on this screen will be covered in subsequent sections of the manual.
There are several different categories of fields that are available for reporting using Easy
Reporter. They are listed under a folder structure on the left hand-side of the screen.
Getting acquainted with where the data resides is the first major learning item for the
tool. Below is a quick description of what can be found under the different menus. The
fields will be listed in alphabetical order within each section.
The Data Fields section of the screen contains subsequent sub folders of reporting fields as detailed in
the table below:
The Additional Data Fields section of the screen contains subsequent sub folders of reporting fields as
detailed in the table below:
Master Data > This menu contains some popular master data fields from the core
infotypes including the Personnel Number (Emp No.), the Employee Last
Employee Data Name and the Social Security Number.
Master Data > This section, spelled, named according to the Australian spelling of
Organization, contains the popular fields from the Organizational
Organisational Data Management screens.
Master Data > This section stores sub folders for each of the infotypes available within
the Personnel Administration module. Expanding each will show you
Infotype Data all of the fields available on each infotype. If your company uses custom
infotypes in the 9000 namespace they can be visible here as well.
Payroll Results This section allows you to select fields to read directly from the payroll
results.
Payroll Posting This section allows you to select fields to read directly from the payroll
postings.
Time Management This section allows you to select fields to read directly from the Time
Management Infotypes.
Bank Transfer This section allows you to select fields to read directly from the Bank
Transfer tables, REGUH and REGUP.
Audit Fields This section allows you to select fields to read directly from the auditing
fields of all the infotypes including the Changed On and Changed by
fields listed as User Name and Modified Date respectively.
Organisational This section allows you report via the organizational structure for all
Management PD/Org Management infotypes.
Miscellaneous Fields This section contains popularly used miscellaneous fields like Today’s
Date within the system.
Generic Fields This section is a quick section that you can use to grab Wage Type
information.
Configuration Tables This section contains some popular configuration tables used in SAP
HCM for example table T510N that stores the Pay Scale Min and Max.
You need an employee in your report to read these tables – they will not
be a direct table read rather it will be per employee.
You can expand each folder on the left hand side of the screen by selecting it with your mouse. If
additional sub folders are available under it you can navigate through them in the same way. Once a
folder is expanded you will see the list of available fields under it. All fields can be simply dragged on to
your report (the middle section of the screen) by using your mouse to select and drop and drag it. There
are two sections in the middle of the screen where fields can be placed:
Fields placed under Sort and Sub Total Columns will be sorted and grouped together in your report
output. Fields placed under the Additional Report Columns folder will appear as columns in your report.
Adding Fields to the Report
Follow the steps outlined below to add the fields to your report.
On the left-hand side of the window select a folder (for example Master Data > Employee Data) and
you will see a long list of fields. Use your mouse to scroll down and select (single-click) a field listed
(i.e. Employee No). It should now appear highlighted. Use your mouse to select the field and drag it
to the center of the screen so that it appears listed under the Additional Report Columns section as
shown below.
When fields have popular common names like Employee No. you will see it in the list of fields, the true
system names of the fields are also available, scroll down to see the same field listed as Personnel
Number.
You can individually drag each field or you can select multiple fields at once by holding down the SHIFT
button on your keyboard and highlighted the first and last field that you wish to include in a row of fields
listed together. The fields will be highlighted and you can drag them on to your report as a group.
Alternatively you can use your CTRL button to select multiple fields that are not next to each other in the
list. The fields with be highlighted and you can drag them on to your report as a group.
Removing Fields from the Report
Follow the steps outlined below to add the fields to your report.
On the middle of the window select the field or fields that you wish to remove. Use your mouse to
select the field and drag it to the left hand side of the screen. It does not matter where the field is
dropped when you exit and refresh the screen the field will return to its appropriate place.
The Employee Selection tab allows the user to add additional fields to show up on Tab 7 – Review and
Test Report in the Select Employees sub tab that you can use for additional selection and specification
of report data.
This tab defaults the four standard SAP employee selection options i.e. Payroll area, Company code,
Personnel number and Employee status that are populated on executing a report to restrict data
reporting based on these fields. You can drag additional fields from the left hand side of the screen to
appear in the middle of the screen to allow those fields to be used for selection. Follow the steps
described below to add additional fields.
On the left-hand side of the window select a field (for example Cost Center) by single-clicking it with
your mouse. It should now appear highlighted. Use your mouse to select the field and drag it to the
center of the screen so that it appears listed under the Default Selection Fields section as shown
below.
Now that the field has been to Tab 3 - Employee Selection it will also appear on Tab 7 – Review and
Test Report in the Select Employees sub tab as shown below.
This tab is used to save reports. This tab allows the user to save the report at any time. If your report is
not saved it will be lost on exiting Easy Reporter. Below is look at the Publish Report tab:
There are two options at the top of the screen allowing you to Create a new report option or Overwrite
existing report details.
Save for the First Time
When creating a new report and saving it for the first time you will always select the Create a new report
option followed by the Save Report button. This will be the name of your report that you will see when
navigating through all reports in the main menu screen of Easy Reporter.
Save
If you are modifying a report and want to save your changes you should select Overwrite existing report
details followed by the Save Report button.
Save with a New Name
There is no “Save As” option in Easy Reporter. With the above exception - you cannot select a report
from the menu and select to overwrite it. That option only works for saving an existing report. To save
a report with a different name - You type a name for your report in the Menu Text field and select
Overwrite existing report details followed by the Save Report button. This will be the name of your
report that you will see when navigating through all reports in the main menu screen of Easy Reporter.
Each company will define their own protocol for how fields will be categorized under
the Draft folders menu. Popular best practice is to have categories for each user
allowing them to place reports in their own folders. This will be covered in a
subsequent chapter. For now it is acceptable to place your reports in the root of the
Draft folder. If you are attending a formal training class the Trainer would have already
created a folder for each attendee.
The bottom section of the screen allows you to specify where your reports are going to be saved. As
discussed in Chapter 1 all reports that you develop are developed in the Draft folder. To select it use
your mouse to highlight the Draft folder. Once you have selected an option, entered a menu text and
selected the Draft folder you can select the Save Report button to save your report.
The last tab should appear the same as the examples viewed in Chapter 1 when you went to run a pre-
delivered report. It allows you to select the time period and population of employees to be included in
the report, and the execution option.
The Report Data Period tab contains fields to allow you to specify a period of time to select data for.
You can specify an individual date, year, date range, or pay period. Whilst some standard SAP reports are
restricted to reporting on a specific pay period (e.g. payroll or leave reporting), the reports delivered
through Easy Reporter© will report across whatever date range that is selected. The following sections
describe your different options in selecting periods and date ranges. As you know the appropriate
selection of the date fields will have a significant impact on the output of the report.
Period Selection
For current SAP users the Period Selection tab should look familiar. The Today option is used if you are
reporting on data as of today only and not reviewing that data over a period of time. Selecting Other
Period requires you to enter a date range on the screen. To define an interval, enter the start date in the
left column and the end date in the right column.
Selecting the Payroll Period button will toggle the view to allow for pay period selection. The entry of a
Payroll Area is required before specifying the current or other period. Selecting Other Period requires
you to enter a date range on the screen. To define an interval, enter the start date in the left column and
the end date in the right column.
Selecting the Alternative Dates button will toggle the view to allow for pay period range selection. A
real world example for using this screen would be to analyze the data over a range of pay periods. For
example you wish to review the last four pay periods for payroll area US. Assuming the current payroll
period is 11/2010. Enter in the Payroll Area US and the Period from as 8/2010 and the Period to as
11/2010. The entry of a Payroll Area is required. The following advanced options can be entered on this
screen:
Period From and To Enter the payroll area, and pay period from and to. When selecting the date
range for the report to run for, nominate the Payroll Area, Period From and
Period To. (This means that the actual payroll period dates don’t need to be
known).
Current Pay Period Pick up the current pay period for the payroll area entered
Previous Pay Select the previous pay period for the payroll area selected. The maximum
Period number of Periods that you can go back to is 999.
Current Day Select an offset from the day the report is run.
Reference
Run Type - For some reports where payroll results data is evaluated there is an additional Pay Period
Run Type option which becomes visible on the bottom Period Selection view. This selection allows for
certain payroll results to be picked up by the reports, such as adjustment runs for customers using the
Off-Cycle Workbench. The default option for the field is Normal pay runs. The following options can
be entered for this field:
Normal pay runs This will pick up only the payroll results that are normal payroll runs. No
off-cycle runs will be included here.
All pay runs Both off-cycle and normal pay runs will be included.
Adjustment runs Only adjustment runs that have occurred between the report date ranges
will be picked up.
Bonus runs Only bonus runs that have occurred between the report date ranges will
be picked up.
Period Selection - The default Period Selection option is to Include periods which end date falls within
the nominated date range. The following options can be entered for this field:
Include periods which end date falls Default setting, selects on the pay period end date within
in the date range the date range.
Include any periods which fall within Any payroll periods that cross the date range the report are
the report range run for will be selected. In the case when a date range of
24.07.2004 to 06.09.2004 is supplied this will have the
effect of picking up the payroll periods 04.2004, 05.2004
and 06.2004.
Include periods which pay date falls Any payroll periods that have a pay date within the date
within date range range will be selected.
For Period – Display results earned in Only displays results that have been earned in the period
pay period being reported.
For example if the Pay Period Dates are those shown below and the report date range is set to 8/1/2010
thru 8/31/2010 only periods 04.2010 and 05.2010 will be selected based on their period end dates falling
within the date range.
The selection area of the screen is used to limit the employees selected for the report. If nothing is input
into this section of the screen, then the report will be run for all employees on the system. You can use
the selections on this screen to indicate only those employees that you wish to include in your report
output. The advanced selection options available on this screen are the same as on all standard SAP
screens.
Selection Period
The Selection Period displayed at the bottom of the screen is important when a specific subset of
employees is required. If no Selection Period is set, and a selection is made on a field such as Personnel
Area, the report will select any employee who was in that Personnel Area at any time during the report
data period. You can specify an interval by entering the start and end dates in the left and right columns
respectively.
Reports can be run in the current design window or full screen. The following options are available:
Run in Window This will run the report for all of the selected employees
within the report design screen window of Easy Reporter.
The report output will be displayed on the Report Output
tab.
Run Full Screen The seven tabs of the design screen will be removed and
the report output is visible across the entire screen. To
return to the report design screen, select the green arrow
Back button.
Test Run Report This button will run the report in foreground for a small
test population. Upon selection a dialog box will appear
asking the size of the population you wish to see, the
default is 100. The report output will be displayed on the
Report Output tab. This button only appears when
viewing a report in Edit mode.
Execute Report in Foreground This will run the report for all of the selected employees
within the display window of Easy Reporter.
Execute Report in Background This option allows the user to execute the report
(Immediately) immediately using the standard SAP background
processing. Once this option has been chosen a pop up
message will appear that the execution in the background
has been processed. The use of SAP transaction code
SM37 Job Overview can be used to view where the report
process is at.
Execute Report in Background This allows the scheduling of jobs to run in the background
(Scheduled) for all of the selected employees. This will execute the
report immediately as a background job for all of the
selected employees. From this screen the user can choose
to continue with the setting up of the Background process
by pressing the ‘Execute Report in Background’ (Shift + F1)
button or to abort the operation by pressing the Cancel
(F5) button. Continuing with the Background process will
start the background wizard and present the user with the
SAP standard background wizard, please refer to the SAP
Help for further information on job scheduling.
From the main screen (Easy Access menu) of SAP place your cursor in the Command Field at
the top left of the screen and type in the transaction code /n/spin/er followed by the green
check mark Enter button. The main screen of Easy Reporter will appear, see picture below.
Easy Reporter is designed as a menu structure, as shown on the main screen. There are multiple folders
or menus each containing different items. All reports are executed via one of these menus. The System
Reporting > Pre-delivered Reporting Templates menu contains the pre-delivered reports that are
made for you based on the most popular reports currently required by organizations. These reports can
be used “as-is” or can be copied and modified to meet your needs. The instructions for how to copy and
modify a report are included below using the Permanent Address report as an example:
From Easy Reporter: Open the folders by double-clicking each icon System Reporting > Pre-
delivered Reporting Templates > Master Data Reporting > PERMANENT ADDRESS REPORT. Select
the Edit button on the application toolbar. A dialog box will appear asking if you wish to make a copy
of the report, select the Yes button to continue.
Navigate to Tab 6 to save the report with a new name. As you will recall this tab is used to save your
reports. There are two options at the top of the screen allowing you to Create a new report option or
Overwrite existing report details. In this case you are creating a new report so you will select the Create
a new report option.
You will type a name for your report in the Menu Text field. This will be the name of your report that you
will see when navigating through all reports via the main menu of Easy Reporter.
Each company will define their own protocol for how fields will be categorized under
the Draft folders menu. Popular best practice is to have categories for each user
allowing them to place reports in their own folders. This will be covered in a
subsequent chapter. For now it is acceptable to place your reports in the root of the
Draft folder.
The bottom section of the screen allows you to specify where your reports are going to be saved. All
reports that you develop are developed in the Draft folder. To select it use your mouse to highlight the
Draft folder. Once you have selected an option, entered a menu text and select the Draft folder followed
by the Save Report button to save your report.
Once you copy and resave a report it is always a good idea to navigate to Tab 1 – Heading and
Description to change the Report Header field to reflect your new title. It does not have to be the name
used to save the report. It is the report title that will appear at the top of the screen when your report is
executed.
When you make changes to a variant that is saved in your report (on Tab 7) it is a good
practice to be sure to go save the report again as well (on Tab 6).
Any fields that you wish to add to this report can be simply dragged on to your report (the middle section
of the screen) by using your mouse to select and drop and drag. There are two sections in the middle of
the screen where fields can be placed:
Fields placed under Sort and Sub Total Columns will be sorted and grouped together in your report
output. In the example above there are currently no fields included in this category. All fields used in
the report are placed under the Additional Report Columns section as shown in the example above
from the PERMANENT ADDRESS REPORT.
called PAYMENTS AS A % OF GROSS. This is a popular report as companies often wish to calculate what
percentage a certain value is of an employee’s overall gross pay. Overtime would be a good example.
Often employers want to know what percentage of an employees pay is made up of overtime.
Every company can use different wage types for Overtime. All this template report needs is the insertion
of the wage type numbers used at your organization. To build a report using a template, follow the
instructions below.
From Easy Reporter: Open the folders by double-clicking each System Reporting > Pre-delivered
Reporting Templates > Payroll reports > Payroll templates > PAYMENTS AS A % OF GROSS. Select
the Edit button on the application toolbar. A dialog box will appear asking if you wish to make a copy
of the report, select the Yes button to continue. This is covered in more detail in a later chapter.
Navigate to Tab 6 to save the report with a new name. As you will recall this tab is used to save your
reports. There are two options at the top of the screen allowing you to Create a new report option or
Overwrite existing report details. In this case you should select Overwrite existing report details followed
by the Save button.
You will type a name for your report in the Menu Text field. This will be the name of your report that you
will see when navigating through all reports in Easy Reporter.
Each company will define their own protocol for how fields will be categorized under
the Draft folders menu. Popular best practice is to have categories for each user
allowing them to place reports in their own folders. This will be covered in a
subsequent chapter. For now it is acceptable to place your reports in the root of the
Draft folder.
The bottom section of the screen allows you to specify where your reports are going to be saved. All
reports that you develop are developed in the Draft folder. To select it use your mouse to highlight the
Draft folder. Once you have selected an option, entered a menu text and select the Draft folder followed
by the Save Report button to save your report.
It is always a good idea to navigate to Tab 1 Heading and Description and change the Report Header
field to reflect your new title. It does not have to be the name used to save the report. It is the report
title that will appear at the top of the screen when your report is executed.
Once any field has been added to a report you can double-click it to see the technical details of the field
which will appear on the right hand side of the screen, see below. If documentation is available for the
field it will be listed on the top half of the screen. If you wish to include any user specific notes on the
field you can insert them on the bottom half of the screen in the Field Notes (User Maintained) box.
Each field will have an arrow next to it. Selecting the arrow will display at least three folders underneath
each field on the report that can be used for further selection or formatting, see picture below. The sub
menus include:
Field Settings
Column Selection
Column Settings
Column Filter
The table below describes what each of these different sub folders under the fields can be used for. You
can navigate to each sub folder by double-clicking it:
Field Settings If additional settings were available for the field they would be listed
here.
Column Selection If the column added could apply to multiple values that are usually
specific to each client (i.e. Wage Types) you can specify your company
specific entries on this screen
Column Settings > This sub tab allows you to hide or alter columns in the report including
General Settings changing the column header name, determining the sort order and
indicating that you wish for a total to be included (if appropriate).
Conversion settings are also available here where you can select to
remove spaces, convert case etc. The options are listed in the table
below.
Column Settings > Filters can be used to define more complex selections to determine when
Column Filter a value is displayed within a column. It is also possible to only display
values within a column, if an employee meets further column selection
criteria. The column filter works very similar to the report filter found on
Tab 4 Report Filters. The use of all filter types is described later in this
manual.
To specify that your companies wage types are used in the report template please follow the instructions
below.
Open the folder Overtime Payroll Results (Column 2) by double-clicking it. Double-click the
Column Selection folder. Enter a single wage type (or multiple wage types via the Additional
Selections Arrow) followed by the Enter button, see sample below.
Double-click the sub folder Field Settings and you will see that there are additional options available
for reporting on this field. These are explained in detail in the Payroll Reporting chapter.
To run the report and see the output for your specified wage types select the Review and Test Report
tab. Because you want to evaluate pay that was already processed you will need to enter a time frame
that you wish to evaluate on the Report Data Period sub tab. Selecting Today will not work in this
example. A good example is to evaluate pay over the course of a year’s time by entering start and end
date (i.e. 1/1/2002 – 12/31/2002). You can view your finished report by selecting one of the options on
the Run the Report sub tab. An example is shown below.
Infotype 41, Date Specifications, stores all of the relevant dates that are stored for employees. Every
company sets the dates types up differently but each has the opportunity to create up to twenty different
date types. A sample of infotype 41 is shown below.
You have the ability to report on any and all of the date types on infotype 41, to do so
follow the instructions below.
On the Report Columns tab. Expand the folders to see Master Data > Infotype Data > Infotype 41.
Select the Date Type Field 01 and drag it on to your report. Use the arrow next to the field name to
expand it to see the options for the field listed below it. Double-click Column Selection. You will
have the opportunity to enter the date type number you wish to include, see sample below.
Currently in your report output the newly added date field will display with the column heading Date
Type Field 1 to rename your column heading double-click the Column Settings folder and replace the
current filed name Date Type Field 1 with the field name you wish to call it. In my example I have called
it First Working Day, see below.
You can add more date type fields to your report by simply dragging them on to the report and specifying
the date type for each. Be sure to rename each of the column headings to make it easy to tell the different
date types apart.