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Microsoft® Business Solutions Analytics and Reporting–Great Plains®
Enterprise Reporting
Enterprise Reporting gives your company the flexibility to create the most efficient solution for
complex, distributed reporting requirements. You can easily automate procedures unique to your
business environment to give you complete control of consolidations, financial reporting, budgeting
and analysis. In addition, Enterprise Reporting accelerates the closing process, leaving more time to
better understand and improve company performance.
Enterprise Reporting is designed for sophisticated group reporting and consolidation needs, and
includes advanced multi-dimensional consolidations, eliminations, and multicurrency capabilities.
Enterprise Reporting provides an efficient system for collecting and reporting information from across
the organization, and delivers to you solid control with a high degree of flexibility to mold the reporting
processes around your business practices.
Recognizing that constant change and reorganization is an inevitable part of doing business,
Enterprise Reporting also makes it easy to test and implement unlimited reorganization combinations
without actually modifying your "live" data. Enterprise Reporting has an unlimited number of tree
structures, which allow intuitive graphical manipulation with reporting structures and flexible "what if"
analysis for any changes in structure and roll-up reporting so you can see and analyze your entire
organization, or any part of it.
Additionally, Enterprise Reporting allows you to collect information from virtually any financial system,
creating a flexible consolidation environment for your organization. Enterprise Reporting offers
seamless integration with Microsoft Business Solutions Financials, offering customers who use both
solutions a truly powerful combination.
Web-based reporting allows
complex consolidations to
quickly happen and be
available for viewing.
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Microsoft Business Solutions Analytics and Reporting–Great Plains
Additional modules enhance the functionality and use of Enterprise Reporting. The Report Server gives
you the capability of processing report packages on a dedicated server where different output profiles
and processing schedules can be set, improving report processing times and freeing up personal
workstations. The Web Extension allows users to view and modify reports via the Web at any time,
anywhere. The Import Server automatically imports transactions and data from other sources into the
Enterprise Reporting database, which eliminates the need to enter information multiple times into
different systems. The OLAP Cube Designer helps you create OLAP cubes using Enterprise Reporting
data. And the Excel Add-in enables you to access data and consolidation functionality from Enterprise
Reporting for financial reporting directly from Microsoft Excel.
Get Information to Decision-Makers Faster!
Wizard-based Report Packages: Companies typically have several different types of reports that need
to be run on a regularly scheduled basis and/or that contain the same type of information (company,
period, product, etc.) With the Enterprise Reporting Report Package Wizard, you will find it easy to
group these reports together for more efficient processing and distribution. The report packages
include additional output types, such as Save as HTML, Save as Excel, Run on Report Server and
Expanded Directory, and report sorting abilities with easier setup and maintenance.
Quickly and easily
schedule reports for mass
distribution with the
Report Package Wizard.
Access Report Packages and Report Server via the Web: Using the Enterprise Reporting Web
Extension, you can access report packages via the Web for instantaneous processing or scheduling of
the report packages. The report packages can be edited via the Web, allowing you to change the type
of information and reports that will be processed for that particular instance. When utilizing the
Enterprise Reporting Report Server, you can choose to schedule report packages to be run on a
regular interval and distributed in a variety of methods, including e-mail with Excel attachment, e-mail
with HTML attachment and sending the information directly to a network printer.
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Microsoft Business Solutions Analytics and Reporting–Great Plains
Generate report
packages anytime,
anywhere via the Web
Expanded Directory: The expanded directory feature is a new way of archiving reports for easy
distribution and storage. The expanded directory feature lets you define folders and/or directories
where reports will be stored. For example, you may choose to store all the reports for Company A in
one directory, with a separate folder for each period. Instead of having to manually point to the
appropriate directory for each report or report package, the expanded directory can be used to
properly identify the folders into which the reports should be saved. If the directory/folder does not
exist, one will be created.
Use the Expanded Directory to define folders and/or directories
where reports will be stored for easy access.
Analyze for Better Results
Picture Perfect Export to Excel: For analysis of reports offline, reports can be processed and saved in
Excel, maintaining all the formatting features as available in Enterprise Reporting. When using Excel
as the output option for Report Packages, an Excel workbook will be created with a separate sheet for
each report in the report package.
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Microsoft Business Solutions Analytics and Reporting–Great Plains
Analyzing Anytime, Anywhere: The integration to ProClarity allows for easy installation and use when
publishing briefing books from the desktop to the Enterprise Reporting Web Extension. By making
ProClarity’s graphical drill-down functionality available via the Web, decision-makers across the
organization and around the world can make better use of information anytime and anywhere.
Additional Enterprise Reporting Modules (sold separately):
Enterprise Reporting Report Server: Gives you the capability to process report packages on a
dedicated server on which different output profiles and processing schedules can be set. Reports are
processed more quickly on a process server, and it frees up personal workstations within your
organization. You must process reports in report packages that you can schedule for processing at
specific times or for recurring schedules, such as daily, weekly or quarterly. When utilizing the Report
Server, you can choose to schedule report packages to be run on a regular interval and distributed in a
variety of methods, including e-mail with Excel attachment, e-mail with HTML attachment and sending
the information directly to a network printer. When scheduling reports to be processed in the Report
Server, you have the ability to let the Report Server automatically pick the period based on the current
date. Period scheduling is available via the Enterprise Reporting client/server application or Web
Extension.
Enterprise Reporting Web Extension: Allows users to view and modify Enterprise Reporting reports and
report packages via the Web at any time, anywhere. The Web Extension allows you to have an
Enterprise Reporting structure with one central database at the main site and web-based data entry
from reporting entities (data entry sites). For users who might not have access to the installation of
Enterprise Reporting, the Web Extension allows them to enter data via the Internet or Corporate
Intranet, as well as report on the information.
Enterprise Reporting Import Server: Automatically imports transactions and data from other sources
into the Enterprise Reporting database, which eliminates the need to enter information multiple times
into different systems. The Import Server constantly checks for new files uploaded to a specified
Import Server source directory. When new files are detected, the Import Server converts the files to
the Enterprise Reporting format and imports the data into the database.
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Microsoft Business Solutions Analytics and Reporting–Great Plains
Enterprise Reporting OLAP Cube Designer: Helps you create OLAP cubes in a wizard environment,
based on the dimensions, hierarchical structures and data already created in Enterprise Reporting.
OLAP (online analytical processing) gives you the capability to process complex information very
quickly, and analyze that information using a number of variables. This gives you the option to analyze
the figures in any number of OLAP Browsers, such as Microsoft Excel, ProClarity, Cognos, Business
Objects, etc. You can access the OLAP Cube Designer from a remote computer, use the dimension
names or codes for better explanation of data during analysis, and easily refresh the information as it
is updated in the Enterprise Reporting database.
Enterprise Reporting Excel Add-in: Enables you to access data and consolidation functionality from
Enterprise Reporting for financial reporting directly from Microsoft Excel. This is done through
extending standard functions in Excel with a set of special functions for the Excel Add-In. In addition,
the Excel interface is extended with a separate Excel Add-In toolbar and menu options to facilitate
lookup in Enterprise Reporting tables, making the use of the Excel Add-In functionality even easier for
the end user. Using the Excel Add-In functions, you collect data directly from the Enterprise Reporting
database, and the desired consolidation, elimination, currency calculation etc. takes place as
specified by the parameters to the functions. This means that the data presented is always updated in
relation to the Enterprise Reporting basic tables, in exactly the same way as when reports and forms
are executed from within Enterprise Reporting.
© 2002 Microsoft Corporation and Great Plains Software, Inc. All rights reserved. Microsoft, Microsoft Business Solutions and
Great Plains are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation, Great Plains Software, Inc. or Microsoft
Business Solutions Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Both, Great Plains Software Inc. and Microsoft
Business Solutions Corporation are wholly-owned subsidiaries of Microsoft Corporation. Functionality described herein may
not be available on all versions of Microsoft Business Solutions–Great Plains products. The names of actual companies and
products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
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