Reports Configuration Tasks

Configuration Tasks

The first step to setting up the Reporting application is to complete configuration tasks. Configuration tasks allow you to set parameters by which you will build your Reporting application to create your personalized Reporting experience. This checklist is a comprehensive guide to ensuring that all necessary configurations are completed for your Workforce Planning. Navigate to Maintenance > Administration > Configuration Tasks and complete the following tasks:

Configuration Checklist

This checklist is a comprehensive guide to completing all necessary configurations for your Structured Planning. Navigate to Maintenance > Administration > Configuration Tasks and complete the following tasks:

Under Configuration Tasks

• General Financial Configuration: This section includes tasks related to defining the foundational financial structure of your Planful application. It covers defining financial segments (dimensions), budget entities, fiscal year parameters, budget parameters, currency parameters, and workforce planning criteria. Learn more about General Financial Configuration here. 
• Ivy: Ivy is Planful’s proprietary framework for unified, smarter, and faster data handling across data integrations, planning, consolidation, and close processes in the Planful Structured Planning application. Learn more about Ivy configuration here.
• Data Integration Configuration: This section focuses on how you will load data into the Planful structure. It covers various options for data integration, including Web Service Access and Cloud Services. You can configure security access and data loading options for data integration. Learn more about data integration configuration here.
• Define Reporting Areas: This task is associated with configuring reporting cubes. Reporting cubes are multi-dimensional structures used for data analysis and reporting. The configuration of reporting areas is automatic when associated configuration tasks are complete. Learn more about reporting areas here.
• Workforce Configuration - Optional: Configure the Workforce Reporting Area if you plan to report on Workforce data. Refer to the Workforce Reporting topic for more details.
• Configure Login Restrictions - Optional: Configure this task to limit users to a maximum number of parallel sessions per user ID. Exceeding the maximum number will result in a message indicating that the user has exceeded the maximum number of sessions and return the user to the login page.

Refer to the Configuration Tasks section for more information.

Under Maintenance > Data Integrations

• Load data into Planful based on which you will prepare reports. Refer to the Load Data to Planful topic to know more about loading data. 

Under Maintenance > Admin

• Define application access security settings in the Security Administration page.

Under Maintenance

• Currency: Currency is assigned at the budget entity level within planning. So, if working in a multi-currency environment, the assigned currency applies to that entire budget entity. Refer to the guide to know all currency and currency-related functionality, no matter which module uses it. Learn more about currency here.
• Hierarchies and Entities: Entities are a combination of dimensions. This combination of dimensions forms entities that make a hierarchy called the Budget Entity Hierarchy. The Budget Entity hierarchy is important because you will create budget templates and map them to each entity within the hierarchy. Entities are dependent upon templates. You cannot enter data (budget) against an entity without templates. Entities and templates are dependent upon scenarios. Learn more about hierarchies and entities here.
  Note:

  Hierarchy updates to member names or codes are automatically displayed in the member selections of a Dynamic Report. However, this does not apply to attributes, attribute hierarchies, alternate hierarchies, substitution variables user prompts, and Financial Package Publisher. Members that are used in a Dynamic Report and deleted from the Segment Hierarchies are still shown in the report selections, however, they are ignored when the report is run.
• Process Reporting Area: The Process Reporting Area page allows you to process reports or templates whenever you add new data or update existing data. This functionality helps you to reflect the latest data in reports or templates. Learn more about the process reporting area here.
• Dimension Security: Security for dimensions must be activated, and users must be granted security to specific dimensions for reporting purposes. Dimension Security is applicable for attributes, attribute hierarchies, point-of-view reporting, reports, and report sets. Learn more about Dimension Security here.
• Standard Reports: Planful delivers presentation-quality financial reports, budget workflow, and administrative reports. Deploy Standard reports to make them active and available to users. Users can only generate standard reports for entities/data to which they have access by their assigned Budget Approval Role or within Dimension Security. Learn more about Standard Reports here.

Scenario Setup

 Create different types of scenarios, which represent versions of a budget or forecast for a fiscal year. For Planning, you'll create an entity hierarchy in addition to your finance hierarchy. Templates are created and mapped to entities so budget users can input data against the entity. Learn more about the scenario setup here.

How to Set Up Scenario Security for Reporting Purposes?

To apply scenario security (defined on the Scenario Access page) to report security so that each user has access to view specific scenarios only in the Reporting module, complete the following steps:

1. Access the Dimension Security Configuration page by navigating to Maintenance > Report Administration > Dimension Security.

2. Click the Dimension Security Configuration tab.

3. Select the Copy Scenario Security to Report Security checkbox and complete the remaining fields. Note that by default, this option is not selected, which means that all the scenarios are displayed (available) to all the users irrespective of the Scenario Access in the Reporting module

4. Access the Scenario Access page by navigating to Maintenance > Administration > User & Role Management.

5. Select a User, then click the Security Options and select Scenario Access.

6. Select the Scenarios you want the user to have access to. The user will only have access to the selected scenarios and members for Reporting purposes. For example, when a user runs a report that includes a scenario the user doesn’t have access to, that scenario will not be available in the report. Similarly, if a user has permissions to view a scenario when a report was created and later the permissions are revoked, the report is run for only those scenarios on which the user currently has permissions for. Data will not be displayed for the scenarios for which permissions are revoked.

Point of View

Within the Reporting module, if the Copy Scenario Security to Report Security checkbox is selected on the Dimension Security Configuration page, scenarios for Financial reporting area are affected. On the Point of View page (located under Maintenance > Report Administration > Point of View), only the scenarios for which a user has permission are displayed and selectable for the reporting area.

How a Dynamic Report is Affected When Copy Scenario Security to Report Security is Selected

Let's say the Scenario is mapped to Budget. If the Copy Scenario Security to Report Security checkbox is selected on the Dimension Security Configuration page, when a user creates a report, the available value (Budget) is displayed as a Mapped Member. Actual is also displayed because the Actual scenario as it is not subject to this type of security.

When Scenario Access is modified and saved, the reporting cube is automatically processed to reflect the latest security updates.

How to Set Up Report Security Based on Scenarios?

Apply scenario security (defined on the User Scenario Access page) to reports so that each user has access to view specific scenarios.

1. Access the Dimension Security Configuration page by navigating to Maintenance > Report Administration > Dimension Security.

2. Click the Dimension Security Configuration tab.

3. Select the Copy Scenario Security to Report Security checkbox and complete the remaining fields. Note that by default, this option is not selected, which means that all the scenarios are displayed (available) to all users (irrespective of Scenario Access) in the Reporting module.

4. Access the Scenario Access page by navigating to Maintenance > Administration > User & Role Management. Select a User, click the Security Options, and select Scenario Access.

5. Select the Scenarios you want the user to have access to. The user will only have access to the selected scenarios and members for Reporting purposes.

Reporting Cube Configuration Limitation

Other Related Topics:

• Sportlight For Office: You can refer to the Spotlight for office section to learn more about leveraging reporting capabilities in Spotlight.
• Report Administration: Refer to Reports Administration section to know more about setting up various report dependencies that are critical while working on reports.