March 31, 2011 NEWS AND IMPROVEMENTS VISMA REPORTING VISMA REPORTING VISMA REPORTING VISMA REPORTING

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1 News and Improvements Visma Reporting 3.6.0

2 Table of Contents VISMA REPORTING NEW FEATURES...3 IMPROVEMENTS...4 VISMA REPORTING IMPROVEMENTS...5 VISMA REPORTING UPGRADE NOTES...6 IMPROVEMENTS...6 VISMA REPORTING IMPROVEMENTS...7 VISMA REPORTING INSTALLATION IMPROVEMENTS...8 ADMINISTRATION (VUD & REPORTING) IMPROVEMENTS...8 WEB CLIENT IMPROVEMENTS...9 WINDOWS CLIENT IMPROVEMENTS...9 LICENSE MANAGEMENT IMPROVEMENTS MANAGEMENT CONSOLE IMPROVEMENTS INTEGRATIONS REPORTS KNOWN ISSUES Visma Software AS 2

3 Visma Reporting New features Microsoft Report Viewer 2010 Report Viewer has been upgraded to the Report Viewer 2010 version. Report Viewer 2010 supports RDL 2008 features such as: Tablix, Rich Text and Gauges, Spark Lines, Charts with 2 y axes. Visma Reporting can run reports created with Microsoft Report Builder 2.0 or Microsoft Business Intelligence Development Studio Dashboard Presentation Visma Reporting has the possibility to create and use dashboards in both windows and we clients. You can set a report as a dashboard. In case of multi-company environments, the company used for running the report set as dashboard will be set as default. The dashboard report will be presented to the user on the logon. Once a report has been set as dashboard it will be shown in the My reports selection and it will be marked with a specific dashboard icon as shown below: Visma Reporting can present dashboards as a normal report inside its graphical layout framework or as full-screen. This feature works in the desktop and web client. Furthermore, any report can be set to full-screen. Visma Invoice Manager Integration Visma Reporting is integrated with Visma Invoice Manager. Visma Reporting is fetching scanned invoices or images from Visma Invoice Manger. The integration is working in the same manner as the integration towards Visma Document Center. For configuration, please refer to Invoice Manager Integration guide. Retaining parameter values Visma Reporting will remember parameter values set by the user for each run report with respect to company. These parameter values will be used for subsequent runs of the same report (with regards to company), being automatically prefilled by Visma Reporting Parameters set (or changed) by the user will be marked in bold. To come back to the default parameter settings, you can use the Reset values button. Visma Software AS 3

4 Improvements Visma Document Center Integration Integrating Visma Reporting with Visma Document Center is simplified. The configuration changes needed to integrate Visma Reporting 3.6.0, Visma Document Center and Visma Business is minimal and well structured. If all applications are installed on the same machine, you just need to configure credentials for accessing Visma Document Center service. If applications are installed on different machines, you also need to change the connection string to match your Visma Document Center server configuration. For more information, please refer to Document Center integration guide. Login page redesign The login page for Visma Reporting web client has been redesigned. The new login page is also customizable. The background image can be replaced; also you can add a small company specific logo inside the login box. To customize the login page, you need to replace the default background and company logo images from the installation folder of Visma Reporting Web Client \App_Themes\Visma. Version upgrade By upgrading to Visma Reporting the customized setting of previous versions are kept and ported to the new version files and formats. Note! Microsoft Report Viewer 2010 SP1 has known issues with local mode processing of drillthrough reports. So, we strongly recommend not upgrading to this service pack. However, if you have upgraded to this service pack then to be able to use drill through reports again; please follow the following procedure: 1. Navigate to C:\Program Files\Visma\Reporting\Windows client\report Viewer Installation 2. Run RegisterReportViewer.bat Running this script will undo changes made by service pack 1. Visma Software AS 4

5 Visma Reporting Improvements Creating a new company group removes the existing groups When you created a new company group in Visma Reporting 3.5.0, all company groups, both existent and the new one, were removed on logging out. This problem has now been fixed, and it is possible to add new company groups at a subsequent time without affecting the existent ones. Licensing fixes Visma Reporting had the following licensing issues: If Visma Reporting was installed on a different path than default, you were not able to activate the license. On retrying, the application would display a message that the license had already been activated and would not allow you to activate the license. Visma Reporting is periodically (usually monthly based) verifying the license. Visma Reporting was prompting for new license activation upon periodical check even if the license was still active and valid. These issues have been solved for Visma Reporting The licensing file is now placed on: C:\ProgramData\Visma\Reporting\Config\License.xml Visma Software AS 5

6 Visma Reporting This document contains news and improvements done in Visma Reporting versions 3.5, 3.0.1, and 3.0. We recommend that you read through this document before you start using the application. Upgrade Notes In order to use Visma Reporting 3.5, you have to upgrade Visma User Directory (VUD) to version Please install in the following order: 1. Upgrade VUD 2. Upgrade Visma Reporting 3. Deploy the report package An upgrade should be performed as a regular installation described in the installation guide of Visma Reporting. There is no upgrade choice when running the setup. Improvements : Personalized data removed after upgrade By upgrading Visma Reporting from version 1.1 and version 2.0 to version 3.0.1, personalized data (i.e.: my reports, default report, default company and subscriptions) were removed : Select Companies - search functionality If you use the search functionality to select the company and the result is only one company. And by selecting that company, "Select companies" tab disappears - which means that you need to log off Visma Reporting and then logon again to select another company : Language changes randomly When several users are logged on to web-client with different languages, then language changes constantly for a user : Subscription refreshing problem If you wish to change the parameters of multiple subscriptions, you have to sign out of Visma Reporting and log on again for each change, this because the form containing the report parameters are not updated. Visma Software AS 6

7 Visma Reporting Improvements Windows client farm deployment: In order to facilitate Reporting customers who want to use Reporting windows client instead of web-client, a shared folder, i.e., VRCSetup is created during Reporting server installation. The folder can be accessed from any client machine to perform Reporting client installation. Installation can be performed silently or through wizard. Please refer to windows client installation guide for more detailed information File name when saving report: In Reporting web-client, while saving a report, default name was shown very long. In some cases it exceeds maximum length for a file name. Now, correct report name is shown by default that prevents from the error encountered previously Compello latest version support: The latest version of Compello had some compatibility issues with Reporting 3.0. In this version these issues has been fixed. Server config file backup: During Visma Reporting server installation, a backup copy of server.config file from previous installation is generated. You may use it to update new server config file with some explicit settings that have been previously defined. Visma Software AS 7

8 Visma Reporting Installation Improvements Windows 2008 R2 compatibility In the installation of Reporting 3.0 on Windows 2008 R2 it was not possible to install.net 3.5 SP1 framework. Also installation problems when upgrading Reporting from 2.1 to 3.0 were encountered. Though installation goes successful the web client was not working. That could be solved successfully. Remove Business Integration Tool from Reporting build The integration tool for importing users and companies into VUD has been removed from the Visma Reporting CD in the 3.0 version and will be available on the Visma Business CD from now on. Administration (VUD & Reporting) Improvements Server roles Administrating the access rights to the different modules included in the win & web client of Visma Reporting 3.0 must be processed throughout the VUD management console. From Reporting 3.0 on (VUD 2.0.0) through the following server roles access to the server can be granted: Deployer, LicenseManager and Subscriber. In the VUD management console select Application Types in the tree view and be able to manage server roles regarding all available application types and users. Offered functionality is: adding (New), editing (Edit) or removing (Delete) server roles as you see in the screenshot below: Visma Software AS 8

9 Own module Select Company in web & windows client Since the Reporting Designer has been included into the Reporting application the step to select companies has gained more importance. Therefore this step has been introduced as a mandatory first selection step. That means when opening the windows or web client the user will directly be guided to the Select company module and there determine the context to work in. Note! In case you set a company to default company or you have only access provided to one company that step will be skipped for selection when you log on to the clients. In that case you will directly be guided to the Run Report tab. Web Client Improvements Add module Report Deployment & Subscription The report deployment and the subscription have been implemented in the web client. Enabling IIS problem on Vista 64 bit When running an installation of Reporting the installation went successfully but when opening the web client afterwards it failed to access the reporting web page. It was discovered that IIS was not successfully enabled through the installation wizard. The case has been fixed. Windows Client Improvements Administration modules moved: Subscription, Deployment, License Management included Since the Reporting Management Console has been terminated all corresponding modules as Subscription, Deployment and License Management have been moved to the windows client. Access to these modules can be granted with giving the user the access right for particular application roles in VUD (more details can be found under point Administration server roles. Visma Software AS 9

10 Windows client: mandatory fields missing Generally the red star indicates that there is a warning when validating the values. The warning should be followed by a warning text, and a more detailed warning description in the tooltip. Whether the alert should show or not is decided by report design. The problem was that the alert popped only in the web client up for some parameters but not in the win client. That has been solved. Problems with drill-up in windows client When drilling through to a new report, and then hit the "go back" button (arrow pointing to the left) one got an error message. The solution is now when the arrow for Back is clicked then an error message will be displayed: 'Some parameters or credentials have not been specified'. License Management Improvements New license management The module license management has been moved to the windows client since the Reporting Management Console has been completely removed from the Visma Reporting application in the 3.0 version. The license management has been re-factored in Visma Reporting 3.0. The approach of handling license used in Reporting version up to 2.1 has been reworked as follows: License modules up to Visma Reporting 2.1: Reporting Single company license Reporting Multi company license Named users New license handling in Visma Reporting 3.0: Reporting Core (Single company) Reporting Core & Multi company Reporting Business Standard Reporting Business Standard & Multi-company Reporting Core without Reporting Designer Reporting Core & Reporting Designer Named users Note! The license key which is needed to run Visma Reporting 3.0 will be provided via and can be registered in the application ONLY in the windows client! Windows client: When opening the windows client and selecting any tab you will be prompted to enter a valid activation key. After you have filled in the customer ID and activation key confirm the action so that you will be able to use Visma Reporting 3.0 functionality. Visma Software AS 10

11 Web client: When logging on to the web client without having a valid activation key provided in the windows client before an error message will pop up as displayed below. In that case open the windows client and provide the key as explained under a). Management Console Improvements Reporting management console terminated The administration part handled in the Reporting Management Console up to Visma Reporting version 2.1 has been moved to the windows client. The management console has been terminated. More detailed information can be found under Windows client. Integrations Single sign-on Visma Business All Visma Business customers have the possibility to use Visma Reporting integrated with Visma Business version To achieve this, Visma Reporting needs to be installed as usual but with a license that offers only restricted access to functionalities. Not all menus will be accessible with that version. For importing previous used companies and user one has the possibility to use the Visma Business integration tool provided in the Visma Business installation CD Visma Software AS 11

12 Visma Global Visma Reporting 3.0 has been integrated with Visma Global 7.45 so that the user can directly run Global reports from the web client out of the Global user interface. New functionalities around different presentation formats, graphical reporting and also running subscriptions or exporting reports are available. From the user interface in Visma Global with using the Statisticker or Multirapportering the user also has the opportunity to design reports and use them in Visma Reporting later on. Also he can run reports designed in the Microsoft Report Designer and change the graphics in the templates and reports from there. Visma CRM Visma Reporting 3.0 has been integrated with Visma CRM so that the user can design reports in CRM and run these reports in the Reporting clients. Visma Document-Center Visma Reporting has been integrated to Visma Document-Center in order to fetch images from a connected ERP as Visma Business or Global through Visma Document-Center and display these images in the Reporting clients. In Reporting 3.0 has been included some adjustments in the data binding in connecting to Visma Document-Center (5.20 version) since there has been made some changes to the API. But also the previous versions Document-Center are still supported by Visma Reporting 3.0. More detailed information about how to conduct the integration can be found in the Integration Reporting Document-Center guide that is part of the reporting installation CD or can be requested by your partner. Visma Software AS 12

13 Reports March 31, 2011 NEWS AND IMPROVEMENTS VISMA REPORTING Support Electronic Reporting This new functionality considers reports whose files need to be exported to different other systems and can be fetched from web service, file archive or database. This functionality offers a platform independent transfer opportunity and also the possibility of an automatic supply of report files. The functionality for Electronic Reporting can be implemented in the Reporting File Provider. To enable these functionality diverse parameters reserved for Electronic Reporting must be used in the report design. More detailed information about the usage and functionality of Electronic Reporting can be found in a corresponding guide which you can find on the installation CD of Visma Reporting or which can be requested from your partner. Visma Software AS 13

14 New Visma Business report standard package The standard package of Visma Business reports has been over worked. New reports have been included, old ones edited and enhanced due to customer requests. The report package structure looks as follows and consists of around 30 reports. It can be found on the web in the partner portal or it can be requested from your partner. Problems with Drill through Reports When running drill through reports different errors arises during processing stating the definition of the main report is invalid. That problem was that after drilling through the selected companies list was cleared by mistake - now the logic is fixed in both clients. Deploy report with capitol.rdl When one deployed reports that end with.rdl instead of.rdl, nothing happened in the management console. But when renaming the file ending to.rdl (small letters) the report was deployed correctly. For 3.0 the controls have been fixed to make insensitive for small/big letters. Parameter dependency against more than one parameter If for instance a parameter has two parent parameters it is supposed to be cleared if any of them changes. The following approach has been implemented in 3.0: The server will be forced to update a parameter when one parent parameter has changed Parameter visibility has been implemented Clearing dependent parameters when their dependency parameter change has been implemented Combo box instead of search for parameters with static values A combo box is now used instead of a search for parameters with static values. Also it is possible to set this as a type value on the parameter. (For more detailed information see the report design guideline on your installation CD or request it from your partner). Error in SQL when multi value parameter value is null The reports crashed when the parameter did not get any value from the database. The problem has been fixed with ensuring that a null is used as a value when the list of parameters is empty. Visma Software AS 14

15 Known Issues (Not solved issues or workarounds for Visma Reporting 3.0) Sorting of the result of reports This error is related to report definitions. Visma Reporting does not allow blank spaces or "special characters" in the account group name. When we remove this, it works perfectly. There is another error related to the same case. Every time he checks for "report line shall not be shown in Visma Reporting", the report fails. The correct way has to be that the report will be shown, but without the specific report line. SharePoint Running Visma Reporting as a web application When installing Visma Reporting 3.0 web application in a SharePoint environment, you may encounter a problem at the stage where the service port is declared. By default this field will be filled with a string and is not editable anymore so that the web client cannot be installed (see screenshot below). Explanation: the SharePoint server is installed on the Default Web Site and Reporting Web Client Server is installed as a child application (virtual directory) which is inheriting configuration (web.config) from the parent web site. Workaround to stop the settings in the root app from getting inherited: the <location> tag is the only tag which has the inheritinchildapplications attribute. To target the main <system.web> just wrap it in the location tag: <location path="." inheritinchildapplications="false"> <system.web>... </system.web> </location> After that create a new web site dedicated to Visma Reporting Multi values are not supported When integrating Visma Reporting with Visma Global one could provide multiple values for a parameter in web & windows client. When running the report only the first parameter chosen was considered, the others discarded. As a workaround for this issue, the code has been changed for both windows and web client in order to trigger the splitting logic only for multi-value parameters (<MultiValue>true</MultiValue> in RDL). In other words for normal parameters (without the multi-value element present in RDL) the text should not be split. The splitting character can be changed in client's configuration file as follows: Visma Software AS 15

16 <vismasettings> <node name="visma"> <node name="services"> <node name="reporting"> <node name="parameterselection"> <setting name="parametervalueseparator">,</setting> </node> </node> </node> </node> </vismasettings> This change may have implications on those reports that are using this bug as a feature (are using "multi-value" parameters without multi-value tag in RDL) In that case the parameter should be defined as a multi-value in the RDL in order that the splitting logic to be triggered. Problem using UseGroups as a product filter Use UseGroups looks ok in the beginning when selecting: But when one changes the Grouping Method, the product Grouping-parameter disappears: One gets the parameter back with double clicking UseGroups-parameter The problem only occurs when there is more than one parameter controlled by the visibility checkbox, so by showing GroupingMethod and ProductGrouping when the checkbox is not set would solve it. A possible workaround is to set the Groups filter by default and rename the Boolean parameter to UseSearch. Visma Software AS 16

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