Tip and Technique on creating adhoc reports in IBM Cognos Controller

Transcription

1 Tip or Technique Tip and Technique on creating adhoc reports in IBM Cognos Product(s): IBM Cognos Area of Interest: Financial Management

2 2 Copyright and Trademarks Licensed Materials - Property of IBM. Copyright IBM Corp IBM, the IBM logo, and Cognos are trademarks or registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corp., registered in many jurisdictions worldwide. Other product and service names might be trademarks of IBM or other companies. A current list of IBM trademarks is available on the Web at While every attempt has been made to ensure that the information in this document is accurate and complete, some typographical errors or technical inaccuracies may exist. IBM does not accept responsibility for any kind of loss resulting from the use of information contained in this document. The information contained in this document is subject to change without notice. This document is maintained by the Best Practices, Product and Technology team. You can send comments, suggestions, and additions to cscogpp@ca.ibm.com. Adobe, the Adobe logo, PostScript, and the PostScript logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States, and/or other countries. IT Infrastructure Library is a registered trademark of the Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency which is now part of the Office of Government Commerce. Intel, Intel logo, Intel Inside, Intel Inside logo, Intel Centrino, Intel Centrino logo, Celeron, Intel Xeon, Intel SpeedStep, Itanium, and Pentium are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in the United States, other countries, or both. Microsoft, Windows, Windows NT, and the Windows logo are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both. ITIL is a registered trademark, and a registered community trademark of the Office of Government Commerce, and is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group in the United States and other countries. Cell Broadband Engine is a trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc. in the United States, other countries, or both and is used under license there from. Java and all Java-based trademarks and logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Oracle and/or its affiliates.

3 3 Contents 1 INTRODUCTION PURPOSE APPLICABILITY... 4 EXCLUSIONS AND EXCEPTIONS PRE-REQUISITES AD HOC REPORTS AND RECONCILIATION AD HOC REPORTS AD HOC FILTERS... 5 AD HOC SAMPLE REPORT RECONCILIATION OF AD HOC REPORTS WITH THE TRIAL BALANCE WITH DRILL DOWN:

4 4 2 Introduction 2.1 Purpose This document will provide tips on creating ad hoc reports and reconciling with the trial balance with drill down. Ad hoc reports refer creating reports on the fly to review financial information as part of the IBM Cognos consolidation process. 2.2 Applicability IBM Cognos 2.3 Exclusions and Exceptions There are no known exceptions and exclusions at the time this document was created. 2.4 Pre-requisites The reader of document should be familiar with IBM Cognos. The document will discussed creation of ad hoc reports using Microsoft Excel-add in, so it is important to understand the functionality of IBM Cognos, i.e. automatic journals (consolidation rules), account structures (general ledger accounts), company structure (company setup), currency translation (translation rules performed by IBM Cognos ), consolidation process (rolling up of the companies to top group level), etc. The reader should have an understanding of both contribution and closing versions and how they part of the consolidation process within IBM Cognos Contribution Versions refers to view of IBM Cognos data based on the automatic journal type (Consolidation rules) Closing Versions refers to view of IBM Cognos data based on the journal entry type (recording of manual journal entry based on the adjustment, i.e. IFRS International Financial Reporting Standards, USA GAAP United State General Accepted Accounting Principles, etc) 3 Ad hoc Reports and Reconciliation 3.1 Ad hoc Reports There is an option within IBM Cognos that allows for the creation of ad hoc reports based on existing forms. The ad hoc option is feature that can be used as part of your period close cycle to review the group consolidation results for various companies. However, caution should be used due to fact how IBM Cognos stores information like investment and/or intercompany elimination.

5 5 3.2 Ad hoc Filters Ad hoc reports allow you to have different filter options based on the closing and contribution versions. The filter is a good option to allow you to review information at high level to see if everything is correct at a group level see below filters Actuality (Actual or Budget) Period (Close Period to be review) Columns (# of columns in the Report Consolidation Type (Legal or Management) Dimensions (1-4) Closing Version (based journal type) Contribution Version (based on automatic journal) Figure 1 shows Ad Hoc Reports

6 6 The example shown in figure 2 will have the following parameters: Actuality = AC Period = 0812 Columns = 2 Consolidation Type = LE Group Perspective = 1100 Company = 1100 Currency Type = LE Geographic dimension left blank Product dimension left blank Market dimension left blank Other dimension left blank Closing Version = REPO (Reported Values no adjustments) Contribution Version = BASE (Base Values no adjustments) Figure 2 shows the Report Selections options -NB- It is important to define the Consolidation Type, Group Perspective and Company in the correct order. The order is important as this how IBM Cognos interpret the financial information to be pulled into the ad hoc reports.

7 7 3.3 Ad hoc Sample Report Figure 3 shows the result of the ad hoc report with REPO/BASE and GRP/ALL in separate columns. The REPO/BASE and GRP/ALL are closing/contribution versions. The ad hoc report should show differences as REPO/BASE do not reflect any adjustments (manual entries) and/or applying of automatic journals (consolidation rules) while GRP/ALL reflects all adjustments based on the applying of both manual and automatic journals. Figure 3 shows the Profit after Tax ad hoc Report

8 8 3.4 Reconciliation of Ad Hoc Reports with the Trial Balance with Drill Down: As part of company close, consolidate and reporting cycle to compare information in ad hoc reports to the same information in the Trial Balance with Drill Down. The following examples will provide information on how Ad hoc Reports can be compared with the Trial Balance with Drill Down: The Trial Balance with Drill Down requires defining the Report Parameters: Report Type = Report Column Contents = Closing/Contribution Version Actuality= AC Period = 0812 Consolidation Type = LE Group = 1100 Form = PL01 Column 1 = REPO (Closing Version) and BASE (Contribution Version) Column 2 = GRP (Closing Version) and ALL (Contribution) -NB- the closing version/contribution versions along with the other filters should equal the selection criteria on the ad hoc reports. Figure 4 shows the Trial Balance with Drill Down report filters

9 9 Figure 5 shows the financial results (REPO/BASE) with GRP/ALL using the Trial Balance with drill down. Focus on account P10030 for REPO/BASE were the amount is 3,078,312 and then compares this with the amount in the ad hoc reports (P10030 equals 3,078,312) and there are no differences. Figure 5 shows the financial results for the Trial Balance with Drill Down