Report Painter in SAP

Looking at Report Painter

Report Painter In Review

• What is Report Painter?

An SAP-standard visual report development tool Painter can be utilized within all financial submodules Painter offers 80%-90% of RW functionality but is 100% easier to use! GUI Interface makes development a snap

• Painter reports can be used in drill-down reporting

Unlike in drill-down reporting where reports and forms are separate, in Painter, the report form is the report

Looking at Report Painter

Report Painter In Review

• Report Painter functionality has remained consistent

Painter has remained consistent across R/3 versions This has allowed the tool to remain a staple for any reporting strategy

Looking at Report Painter

When Should I Use Report Painter?

• Consider Report Painter before turning to an ABAP solution

Consider using it if the data you are looking for can be sourced within Painter

• Report Painter excels for layout management

Use Painter instead of Writer when layout management is critical Painter is a GUI-based utility, so it’s easier to control report appearance

Looking at Report Painter

When Should I Use Report Painter? (cont.)

• Use Painter when you don’t need Writer’s full functionality like

Report Writer’s eliminations functionality Report Writer’s user-defined Key Figure Sets (data sets) Complex set matrixes 

Looking at Report Painter

Looking at Report Painter

Example: A Report Painter Report

Looking at Report Painter

For Comparison: A Report Writer Report

Looking at Report Painter

Tips When Choosing Report Painter

• Painter reports can be converted to Writer

If you need full RW functionality at a later date

• With 4.6c, some Painter terminology changed

Field –> Characteristic Data Set –> Key Figure Set Data Field –> Basic Key Figure

• These changes brought consistency across reporting utilities

Drill-down reporting Summarization hierarchies Etc.

What We’ll Cover ...
• Looking at Report Painter: The basics

• Identifying the proper data source

• Getting the most out of statistical key figures and variables

• Working with currency translation and authorization groups

Identifying the Proper Data Source What Are Data Sources?

• Where is the data I need housed?

All reporting data is maintained in one or more reporting tables Of the 17,000 + tables that make up the SAP database, you will use maybe 5-8 for all your non-ABAP reporting needs Understanding the data flows is critical to building good reporting

Identifying the Proper Data Source

What Are Data Sources? (cont.)

• Most of CO reporting is sourced from a single location: CCSS

CCSS is a central structure Contains updates for most CO objects (e.g. internal orders cost centers) Many standard CO Painter reports use CCSS as the reporting structure

Where to FIND it

Identifying the Proper Data Source

Other Source Options for Painter Reporting

• Additional sources include

KKBC (Product Cost Controlling: Cost Elements) COFIT (Cost Element Reporting) RPPS (Project Systems) GLPCT (Profit Center Accounting)

• These tables have been designed for specific purposes
Whenever possible, use more specific reporting sources

Identifying the Proper Data Source

Table KKBC

• KKBC – Product Cost Controlling: Cost Elements

Traditional RW table, but can be used from within Report Painter KKBC is used in SAP-delivered costing reports

• When should I use KKBC?

Great source for cost element-based product cost reports Provides origin-level data that is key in a cost report

✓Examples: For resource input analysis, like materials

consumed from the BOM, origins are key Can be used together with summarization objects like order groups Great for Cost Object Hierarchy (COH) reporting

Identifying the Proper Data Source

KKBC: A Practical Example

• The scenario

Manufacturing client was converting to Cost Object Hierarchies and required a new manufacturing activity report

• The solution

Leverage KKBC to provide the manufacturing Activity detail Offered a chance to manage by COH
By assigning additional, detail level reports, we were able to view the activity for this unique group of cost objects

Identifying the Proper Data Source

KKBC: Tips For Proper Utilization

• KKBC can be tricky to use

If you are not fully aware of how your product costing system has been configured, KKBC can be tricky to use

• Some common areas you should revisit when using KKBC Do you use order-based or period-based costing?

Which variance categories are active in your system? Which cost elements and posting rules are you using for WIP and Variance updates? What target cost versions do you have active within the system, and how do they differ?

Identifying the Proper Data Source

Choosing and Using Info Structures

• Info structures are files of special statistical data

Different than standard reporting tables

• Made up of three kinds of information

Characteristics (e.g., Plan, Material, Vendor) Key Figures (e.g., Sales Volume, Order Quantity, Execution Time) Period Units ( e.g., Day, Week, Month, Period)

• SAP delivers standard info structures including...

S001 – SIS: Customer S021 – SFIS: Production Order S032 – Inventory: Stocks

You can create your own to capture specific data of interest Note

Identifying the Proper Data Source

Choosing and Using Info Structures (cont.)

• Using info structures for Painter reports can be tricky Not a common source for Painter reporting

• Common problems include

Not being broad enough during design in the areas of Characteristic and Key Figure inclusion Identifying the proper update events for your structure ✓Proper timing will lead to accurate reporting data

• Overcome these problems by not trying to cover too many reporting needs at once

It will be easier to tackle your reporting needs if you have a strategy and stick to it

Identifying the Proper Data Source

Info Structures: A Practical Example

• The scenario

Client wished to have a report that provided price and valuation information for its top 50 materials They wanted to quickly see material price changes from period to period The difficulty was in finding a utility that would allow me to customize the layout to meet the client’s request

• The solution

Leverage an info structure, S012 in this case, to provide the material price detail needed Build the report using Painter to meet the report’s layout requirements

Solution

Identifying the Proper Data Source

Info Structures: A Practical Example (cont.)

• Painter example

Data would not have been available to Painter through standard reporting tables 

Identifying the Proper Data Source

Data Extracts as an Alternate Data Source

• Data Extracts can be useful for controlling what info is available

Can be saved automatically during execution Provide the benefit of “freezing” the report data for an unlimited amount of time Great way to control “point-in-time” reporting