How to: Create Analysis Reports

Article
12/01/2017

Sales managers need to analyse turnover, gross profit and other key sales performance indicators on a regular basis. Purchasers, are more interested in the dynamics of purchase volumes, vendors' performance and purchase prices. Whereas logistics/inventory managers need information on inventory turnover, analysis of inventory movement, and statistics on inventory value.

You can use analysis reports to create customized reports based on records of your posted transactions, for example, sales, purchases, transfers and inventory adjustments. In a customizable report, the source data, which is derived from the item ledger (with associated value entries), can be combined, compared and presented in meaningful user-defined ways. In this sense, the analysis report is very similar to a PivotTable report in Microsoft Excel.

You can create your personalized report that focuses on your key accounts in terms of total turnover both in amounts and quantities sold, gross profit and gross profit percentage during the current month, and have it compare those figures with the results from previous months or the same month last year, and calculate deviations. All this can be done in one and the same view, with the possibility to navigate to the cause of identified problem areas by choosing the drop-down button to access details on the level of individual transactions.

The analysis report consists of the objects that you want to analyse, such as customers, customer groups, sales people and so on, represented as lines, and the analysis parameters, that is, the way you want to analyse the object, represented as columns, such as profit calculations, periodic comparisons of sales amounts and volumes or periodic comparisons of actual and budgeted figures.

In addition to analysis reports, you can create and view similar information in analysis views, which are based on dimensions. For more information, see How to: Analyze Data by Dimensions.

Example

You can set up lines like these:

Computers
Displays
Spare Parts

Then you can set up columns like these:

Sales Current Month
Sales Last Month
Sales in Pct. of last Month

Setting Up Line and Column Layouts

In the Analysis Report window, you can view different line and column layouts according to what you have set up. You set up your lines or line templates in the Analysis Line Templates window. In this window, you can define the name of the report and the objects you want to show in the lines of your report. You set up your columns in the Analysis Column Templates window. In this window, you can define the name of the column template and the analysis parameters that you want to show in the report as columns. In the Analysis Column Templates window, each line represents a column in your report. Note that analysis lines and analysis columns are independent from each other.

Based on the lines and columns you have set up, the program will aggregate the result of your report in the Analysis Report matrix window, such as in this example:


	Sales Current Month	Sales Last Month	Sales Last Month %
Computers
Displays
Spare parts
Total

You can, for example, set up one set of lines and several sets of column layouts to show monthly and annual reports respectively.

To set up analysis column templates

The following procedure is based on analysis views for sales. The steps are similar for purchase and inventory analysis views.

In an analysis report, your analysis parameters are shown as columns. You can define the columns that you want to include in your analysis report by setting up analysis column templates.

A template contains a set of lines each representing the analysis columns that you see in the analysis report. To define a column you must assign an analysis type code to a line. This analysis type code determines the type of source data in the item ledger entries that the analysis will be based on. Source data includes cost, sales amount, or quantity, and their associated value entries. You can set up as many column templates as you like, and then use them to create new analysis reports.

Choose the icon, enter Sales Column Templates, and then choose the related link.
Select the first empty line, and then fill in the fields as necessary.
Choose the Columns action.
In the Analysis Columns window, fill in the fields to specify the columns that you want to include in your analysis report.

Note

To define a column, you must fill in the Analysis Type Codes field for all column types except Formula. Set up the analysis type codes in the Analysis Types window.

**Note**. In the **Ledger Entry Type** field, if you select **Item Entries**, the actual figures from the item ledger entry are copied. If you select **Item Budget Entries**, the budgeted figures from the budget are copied.

Choose the OK button to save your changes.

To set up analysis line templates

The following procedure is based on analysis reports for sales. The steps are similar for purchase and inventory analysis reports.

In an analysis report your analysis objects are shown on the lines. You can define the lines that you want to include in your analysis report by setting up analysis line templates.

A template contains a set of lines representing the analysis lines that you see in the analysis report. A line can specify one or a range of items, customers, vendors, or groups. You can also create a formula in a line to sum up the other lines. You can set up as many line templates as you like, and then use them to create new analysis reports.

Choose the icon, enter Sales Line Templates, and then choose the related link.
Select the first empty line, and then fill in the fields as necessary.
Choose the Lines action.
In the Analysis Lines window, create lines for the items, customers, vendors, or salespeople you want to view figures for in your analysis report. You must fill in the Type, Range, and the Description fields.

Note

Alternatively, when you want to create many individual lines for each item, customer, and so on, you can select the appropriate insert option to fill in all the relevant fields on the line. If you need to, you can then edit the lines manually. To insert lines, choose the Insert Items action or the Insert Item Groups action.

To create a new sales analysis report

The following procedure is based on analysis reports for sales. The steps are similar for purchase and inventory analysis reports.

You use analysis reports to analyse the dynamics of your sales according to key sales performance indicators that you select, for example, sales turnover in both amounts and quantities, contribution margin, or progress of actual sales against the budget. You can also use the report to analyse your average sales prices and evaluate the sales performance of your sales force.

Choose the icon, enter Sales Analysis Reports, and then choose the related link.
In the Analysis Report Sale window, choose the New action.
Fill in the fields as necessary. Choose a field to read a short description of the field or link to more information.
Choose the Edit Analysis Report action.
In the Sales Analysis Report window, choose the Show Matrix action

Note

Building combinations of line and column templates to create reports and assigning them unique names is optional. If you do this, selecting a report name means that you will not need to select line and column templates in the Sales Analysis Report window. After you have chosen a report name, you can change line and column templates independently and then later select the report name again to restore the original combination.

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