copy of getting started with fmw enterprise

Getting Started with

FMW Enterprisefor Oracle!, Microsoft" SQL Server!

Resouce Allocation Concepts Software Inc.

Notices

Information in this document is subject to change without noticeand does not represent a commitment on the part of RACSoftware, Inc. The software in this document is furnished undera license or nondisclosure agreement. The software may only beused or copied in accordance with the terms of the agreement. Itis against the law to copy this software or related documentationon any medium except as is specifically allowed in the license ornondisclosure agreement. No part of this manual may bereproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,electronic or manual, including photocopying, recording, orinformation storage or retrievel systems, for any purpose withoutthe express written permission of RAC Software, Inc.

#1999-2000 RAC Software Inc. All rights reserved.

Unless otherwise noted, all names of companies, organizations,street addresses and persons contained herein are part of acompletely fictitious scenario and are designed solely todocument the use of the FMW Enterprise family of products.

Microsoft is a registered trademark, and Excel, SQL Server,Windows, Window 95, Windows 98 and Windows NT aretrademarks of the Microsoft Corporation. Oracle is a trademarkof the Oracle Corporation.

Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1: Introduction ..................................................................... 1Welcome.................................................................................................. 2What is FMW Enterprise?........................................................................ 3How do I find out more quickly?............................................................... 4Technical environment............................................................................. 5

Chapter 2: Installing FMW Enterprise .............................................. 7Overview.................................................................................................. 8Technical Prerequisites ........................................................................... 8

When using an Oracle database................................................. 8When using an MS-SQL Server database.................................. 9

Performing the Server installation.......................................................... 11Starting the server installation................................................... 11Setting up an Oracle installation ............................................... 13Setting up an MS-SQL Server installation ................................ 15

Performing the Client installation ........................................................... 17

Chapter 3: Using the Setup Wizard to create an application....... 21What is the Setup Wizard? .................................................................... 22Starting the Setup Wizard...................................................................... 22Selecting budgeting categories.............................................................. 24Specifying timelines ............................................................................... 25Defining elements .................................................................................. 26Generating the application..................................................................... 28Exploring the generated application....................................................... 29

Navigating with the Function / Object Map ............................... 30Editing a budget ........................................................................ 31Modeling data ........................................................................... 35Exploring other options for creating and changing budgets ...... 38Executing reports ...................................................................... 38

What’s next? .......................................................................................... 43

Chapter 4: Extending the model..................................................... 45Building blocks....................................................................................... 46Elements................................................................................................ 47Hierarchies............................................................................................. 50Calendars, Classes and Editing Views .................................................. 57Versions................................................................................................. 70Reports .................................................................................................. 74

Copying and changing an existing report.................................. 74

Contents

Report design components ....................................................... 84Creating a new report ............................................................... 93

Other components ............................................................................... 105Memos .................................................................................... 105Process Monitor ...................................................................... 106Conclusion .............................................................................. 107

Chapter 5: Advanced features and tools ..................................... 109Introduction .......................................................................................... 110Access Administrator ........................................................................... 110

Functions ................................................................................ 111Profiles.................................................................................... 112Users and Object security....................................................... 112 Element security .................................................................... 114Logins ..................................................................................... 116

Data transformations ........................................................................... 116Reforecasts............................................................................. 116

Add-ins................................................................................................. 119Allocations ........................................................................................... 119Interfaces ............................................................................................. 123Tools .................................................................................................... 124

FMW Scheduler ...................................................................... 124FMW Report Distributor .......................................................... 128FMW OLAP Server ................................................................. 133FMW Report Viewer................................................................ 133

Distributed Processing......................................................................... 134

Chapter 1 Introduction 1

Chapter 1. IntroductionThis chapter provides an overview of FMW Enterprise and the applications for which itcan be used. It also deals briefly with the technical environment required to operate thesoftware and concludes with some details on how to get support and assistance.


Welcome

Welcome to FMW Enterprise. Getting Started with FMW Enterprise is intendedfor new users who are just beginning to explore the possibilities of the software.This guide is presented as an extended tutorial. If you follow it in a logicalsequence it will take you through a simple setup of a budgeting and reportingapplication and give you the background to begin configuring the software tomeet the requirements of your own application, with the minimum investment oftime and effort. This guide is not, and is not intended to be, acomprehensive reference to all FMW Enterprise’s features andfunctionality.

Other documents available on the FMW Enterprise installation CD are:

Release NotesDetails the functionality and changes in new releases of FMWEnterprise.

Installing FMW Client and ServerGuide on how to install FMW Enterprise Client and Server components.Much of the information is already contained in this book, but containsadditional information on performing such tasks as upgrading from aprevious version.

Database Configuration and Tuning GuideContains some useful tips on optimizing the performance of FMWEnterprise in Oracle and MS-SQL Server environments.

Installing FMW Extended SecurityFMW Extended security provides role-based security on FMW Enterprisedatabase objects (e.g. tables, procedures) so that access to theseobjects can be restricted to FMW Enterprise applications only.

Installing FMW Mobile-Distributed OptionDeals with installing the Mobile-Distributed option.

Demo System WalkthroughIf your database administrator installs the demo database, this documentis intended to assist you in exploring the demo application.

FMW User GuideA comprehensive guide to all functionality contained in the FMWEnterprise Client application.


FMW Mobile-Distributed OptionThe FMW Mobile-Distributed option allows FMW Enterprise to bedeployed in a fully or partially distributed mode. This is useful forexample where you have mobile (laptop) users who wish to work on aportion of the database offline and then load the results back to thecentral database. This capability uses the Personal Oracle 8 or MS-SQLServer 7.0 Desktop technologies for local (usually laptop) Windows95/98 systems.

FMW OLAP ServerThe OLAP Server allows you to easily generate cubes for an OLAPsystem from the FMW Enterprise database for multi-dimensionalanalysis. Currently the Cognos PowerPlay" product is supported.

FMW Report DistributorFMW Report Distributor allows FMW Enterprise scheduled reports orreport files to be distributed via a file server or a MAPI-compliant e-mailsystem to individual recipients.

FMW Report ViewerFMW Report Viewer allows FMW Enterprise report files (.fmw) to beviewed without a connection to a database.

FMW SchedulerFMW Scheduler allows many FMW Enterprise operations (e.g. reporting,interfacing, allocations etc.) to be scheduled to automatically execute inan unattended mode.

As well as the resources and documentation supplied with the FMW Enterpriseinstall set, RAC Software offers several options for support, implementationassistance and upgrades. Please contact us in order to find out details aboutwhich options would suit your requirements.

Phone: (905) 848-6555Fax: (905) 279-0050e-mail: [email protected]: www.racsoft.com

What is FMW Enterprise?

FMW Enterprise is a sophisticated and flexible financial budgeting, planning,forecasting, consolidation and reporting tool. It has been designed with the mostup-to-date 32-bit and Client/Server technologies available and is supported byprofessional training and implementation services.

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.racsoft.com/


This software is designed to operate co-operatively with established financial,human resource, payroll and distribution systems or in a standalone mode. Ithas its own database and data structures, and includes interface featuresallowing it to exchange data with external systems.

FMW Enterprise is a highly flexible and high performance enterprise tool,particularly suited to multi-participant budgeting, planning and reportingapplications in the following areas:

! Expenditure and revenue budgeting and variance reporting.

! Short and long term planning for capital projects or jobs.

! Detailed salary planning at the employee / position level.

! Product / brand planning, reforecasting, and variance reporting.

! Consolidations.

FMW Enterprise is built around a dynamic, flexible and multi-dimensional datawarehouse, which can be used to maintain financial, statistical and textual data.Powerful graphical modeling tools are provided to build budgets and forecasts,including easy and automatic reference to historical trends.

How do I find out more quickly?

To install and view a demonstration of a small budgeting and reportingapplication implemented in FMW Enterprise, please use the FMW Enterpriseinstallation CD. The first option on the browser menu installs and executes ademo, which includes some background material and a set of animated screensequences.


This guide is presented in the form of an extended tutorial, and we suggest thatthe best way to explore the capabilities of FMW Enterprise is to work though thetutorial. However, if instead you wish to go a little further in exploring this demoapplication in an actual database, get your database administrator to install FMWEnterprise with the demo database option (see Chapter 2 for installationinstructions). This will then allow you to log on to this application and use andmodify it at will. In the Documentation section on the CD there is a documentwhich will help you to navigate this demo database. It is strongly suggested thatyou use this initially until you are comfortable with the application.

Once you have completed exploring the demo database you can reinitialize itand set up your own database by using the Setup Wizard found under the HelpMenu. This tool allows you to do a rapid setup without having to understand allthe nuances of the software.

Alternatively, once you have done some further research into how FMWEnterprise can be used to model various scenarios, you can set up your ownapplication directly within FMW Enterprise.

Technical environment

FMW Enterprise is a client / server application. For its server components it iscurrently implemented on either Oracle$ 7.3.X or 8.X or Microsoft" SQLServer$ 6.5 or 7.0 relational database management systems. Clientcomponents require Microsoft" Windows 95, 98 or NT".

If your organization does not, and is not prepared to support these technologies,FMW Enterprise will not be of immediate interest to you. However we do plan toextend support to other database systems, and if the application is of interest toyou should stay tuned.

Chapter 2 Installing FMW Enterprise 7

Chapter 2. Installing FMW EnterpriseThis chapter provides detailed instructions on how to install the client and servercomponents of FMW Enterprise. You will need the assistance of your databaseadministrator to perform the server installation.


Overview

This chapter describes installing FMW Enterprise for the first time. If you areperforming an upgrade to an existing system please refer to the document on theInstallation CD entitled Installing FMW Client and Server.

Note: You will need the assistance of your database administrator in order toinstall the server and possibly the client components of the system. Accordinglythis chapter is written for the person performing this function in your organization.

Technical Prerequisites

When using an Oracle database

The following needs to be in place before performing an install for an Oracledatabase.

! An Oracle database, either versions 7.3X or 8.X must be available. Variousflavors of these database systems are supported, including Personal Oracle8 and Oracle 8i.

! The workstation from which the install is being done must have the Oracleclient (SQL*Net) software installed as well as a valid Oracle service pointingto the target database instance. You should validate this connection prior toproceeding with the installation. The workstation must be running eitherWindows 95, 98 or NT4.0. Two Oracle utilities are used for the installation,sqlplus.exe and imp73 or imp80.exe. These should be available on the pathof the workstation from which the install is being performed.

! The Oracle ODBC driver v 8.00.XX should be installed if you wish to executethe FMW Enterprise client from this workstation. This is usually availablewith the Oracle8 client software but for your convenience is included in ourinstall set under ODBC drivers. FMW Enterprise will also work with theOracle 7 drivers but you cannot use our install to create data sources forOracle 7 drivers – this must be done manually through the Control Panel |ODBC32 manager. Either driver (v7.XX or v8.XX) works against eitherdatabase.


! If you performing an initial install you must have a user/schema set up intowhich the FMW Enterprise objects will be placed. This user must have theCONNECT, DBA and IMP_FULL_DATABASE privileges. Usually this user iscalled FMW, although this is not a requirement.

! The default tablespace in the install for tables and indexes is called FMW.However if this tablespace is not available the objects will be placed on theuser’s default tablespace. It is a good idea from a performance perspectiveto move the indexes to a separate tablespace after the install, particularly ifthe index tablespace can be placed on a separate drive to that holding thetables. Please see Oracle documentation for instructions on how to performthis operation.

! Ensure that at least two (2) and preferably five (5) background processqueues are available. This can be done by ensuring the following line is inthe initXXX.ora parameter file –

job_queue_processes = 5

! Your database should have at least 30MB available for FMW Enterprisedatabase objects. However most production databases require in the orderof 70 – 800MB.

! Review the Database Configuration and Tuning Guide in our documentationlibrary for further information on configuring and tuning the Oracle databasefor FMW Enterprise.

! You need the following information when performing an FMW Enterpriseinstallation for Oracle.

- password for the Oracle SYS user- user name and password for the user/schema where the FMW

Enterprise objects will be placed.- a drive mapping to the location on the fileserver where the FMW

Enterprise client programs are or will be installed (unless you will beinstalling a full set of programs on your local machine which is notnormally the recommended approach).

- an Oracle service name pointing to the target database instance.

When using an MS-SQL Server database

The following needs to be in place before performing an install for an MS-SQLServer database.

! The workstation from which the install is being done must have the SQLServer client software installed. The workstation must be running either


Windows 95, 98 or NT4.0. Two SQL Server utilities are used for theinstallation, isql.exe and bcp.exe. These should be available on the path ofthe workstation from where the installation is being performed.

! The SQL Server ODBC driver v 3.50.XX should be installed if you wish toexecute the client software from this workstation. This is usually availablewith the SQL Server client software but for your convenience is included inour install set under ODBC drivers.

! A valid SQL Server server, either version 6.5 or 7.X must be available. Youshould validate your connection to this SQL Server server prior to proceedingwith the installation.

! You must have a database set up into which the FMW Enterprise objects willbe placed. The database should have at least 30MB available for FMWEnterprise objects. However most production databases require in the orderof 70 – 800MB.

! Review the Database Configuration and Tuning Guide in our documentationlibrary for further information on configuring and tuning the SQL Serverdatabase for FMW.

! You need the following information when performing an FMW Enterpriseinstallation for MS-SQL Server.

- the password for the sa username of the server where the target database is located.- name of the database into which FMW Enterprise objects will be

placed.- a drive mapping to the location on the fileserver where the FMW

Enterprise client programs are or will be installed (unless you will beinstalling a full set of programs on your local machine which is notnormally the recommended approach).


Performing the Server installation

Starting the server installation

Insert the FMW Enterprise Installation CD into the computer from where you willbe performing the installation. If your computer has auto-start set up for the CDyou will see the FMW Browser appear after a few seconds. Alternatively invokethe program called Install.exe from the root directory of the CD. Either way youwill see the following screen.

Usually we would recommend reading the Install Instructions before proceedingbut since they are largely a repeat of this guide you can skip this step and moveon to the menu item entitled FMW Enterprise Install. When the blue button tothe left of this item appears click once. Two further options will appear below,entitled Client and Server Install and Distributed / Mobile option. Click onceon the Client and Server Install item.

You will encounter a series of dialogs, which are common to most installs. Payspecial attention to the License Agreement. If you cannot agree with these


terms, then exit from the installation. Assuming you can agree, continue until youarrive at the dialog pictured below.

This dialog lists the main installation options. We will encounter it again whenperforming the Client install. Select the Server Installation option and clickNext. The following dialog appears


This dialog allows you to specify which type of database you are targeting forFMW Enterprise. Select the appropriate one.

Setting up an Oracle installation

If you chose Oracle as your target database the dialog below appears.

Input the required parameters. The SYS password refers to the password for thepredefined Oracle SYS user. The FMW User Name and associated password isthe schema / user where the FMW database objects will be placed. This usershould already be established (as described in the Prerequisites section) beforegetting to this point. Usually this schema is called FMW but this is not arequirement. The database / service must be a valid string which identifies theOracle database instance which is being targeted. This must have beenpreviously established and tested using an Oracle tool such as SQL*Net EasyConfiguration. Make sure you specify the correct Oracle version that you aretargeting (7.3.X or 8.X).

Two options are available when installing the FMW Enterprise database. Theseare as follows:

! Initialized database: This installs a database which is essentially empty(in fact a few tables are populated with some basic information requiredto invoke FMW Enterprise). Your application can then be configured inthis database.


! Demo database: This database contains a small demonstrationapplication. If you simply wish to experiment with a small pre-configuredapplication before thinking about implementing your own requirementsyou might choose to install this database.

We assume here that you will choose the Initialized Database option.

The next parameter is the number of concurrent user licenses that yourorganization has acquired. If you have an unlimited number of licenses enter999 in the edit box.

Next specify whether you wish to create public synonyms for the FMW Enterpriseobjects. If you choose to create public synonyms for the objects installed this willallow other users apart from the FMW user to access these objects. If there isonly one schema containing FMW Enterprise database objects in the databaseinstance (usually the case) you should always create these synonyms. If youhave two FMW schemas in a single instance (for example a demo andproduction schema) you need to create public synonyms for one of them only.This means that the schema that does not have public synonyms can beaccessed only by logging in under the user/schema name.

Once you are satisfied that you have set up the installation parameters correctlyclick Next. The installation will then begin. You will see a series of commandwindows appearing.

Important: Depending on the speed of your, server the installation could takeup to an hour. Do not be tempted to manually close the installation windows thatappear. They will automatically close when the installation is complete.

When the installation is completed a report will appear in a text documentindicating whether any errors were encountered during the installation.

The easiest way to check whether the installation was successful is to get areport on the number of objects installed in the database. Using a tool such asSQL Plus, log in as the FMW user and execute the following query.

select object_type, status, count(*) fromuser_objects where object_name like 'FMW%'group by object_type, status

This should produce the following result.


OBJECT_TYPE STATUS COUNT(*)------------- ------ -------------INDEX VALID 182PROCEDURE VALID 372TABLE VALID 240VIEW VALID 54 rows selected.

Setting up an MS-SQL Server installation

If you chose MS-SQL Server as your target database the following dialog willappear.

Input the required parameters. The sa password is the password for thepredefined SQL Server sa (system administrator) user. The Server parameter isthe name of the NT server where the FMW Enterprise database resides. TheDatabase is the name of the database into which the FMW Enterprise databaseobjects will be installed. Specify the correct SQL Server version (6.5 or 7.X)which is being targeted for the FMW Enterprise installation.

Two options are available when installing the FMW Enterprise database. Theseare as follows:

! Initialized database: This installs a database which is essentially empty(in fact a few tables are populated with some basic information required


to invoke FMW Enterprise). Your application can then be configured inthis database.

! Demo database: This database contains a small demonstrationapplication. If you simply wish to experiment with a small pre-configuredapplication before thinking about implementing your own requirementsyou might choose to install this database.

We assume here that you will choose the Initialized Database option.

The next parameter is the number of concurrent user licenses that yourorganization has acquired. If you have an unlimited number of licenses enter999 in the edit box.

Once you are satisfied that you have set up the installation parameters correctlyclick Next. The installation will then begin. You will see a series of commandwindows appearing.

Important Depending on the speed of you server the installation could take upto an hour. Do not be tempted to manually close the installation windows thatappear. They will automatically close when the installation is complete.

When the installation is completed a report will appear in a text documentindicating whether any errors were encountered during the installation.

The easiest way to check whether the installation was successful is to get areport on the number of objects installed in the database. Using a tool such asisql, log into the database where FMW Enterprise objects reside and execute thefollowing query.

select type, count(*) from sysobjects where name like'FMW%' group by type

This should produce the following result.

type---- -----------F 9P 371U 108V 5


Performing the Client installation

After performing the server installation you will be returned to the FMWEnterprise Installation Browser. Move on to the menu item entitled FMWEnterprise Install (the same one that you used to do the Server installation).When the blue button to the left of this item appears, click once. Two furtheroptions will appear below, entitled Client and Server Install and Distributed /Mobile option. Click once on the Client and Server Install item.

Click through the dialogs until you get to the dialog entitled Setup Types.

Select the first item entitled Install Client (Local or File Server). Click Next.

The next dialog asks you to specify a folder where the client software(executables, dlls and other files) will be placed.


Note: By default the installation will place the client software files on your localdrive under the Programs directory. However we recommend that as few copiesof the client software as possible be installed, which means the preferred methodis to install one copy of the client software on a file server which can be accessedby all FMW Enterprise users. This makes maintenance and upgrades to newversions much easier to manage.

Click the Next button. The following dialog will appear.


This allows you to specify which FMW Enterprise client components to install.Choose the FMW Administrator option. This will install all available components.

Click Next. A dialog will appear allowing you to create an ODBC data source.

Note: An appropriate ODBC driver must have been previously installed on theclient workstation from which the FMW Enterprise application will be accessed.Please refer to the Prerequisites section above for details.

Assuming that you will be accessing the FMW Enterprise application from thesame client computer from which you are doing this installation you should set upa data source for the database that you are accessing. Alternatively you can setup an ODBC data source using the ODBC32 application in the Control Panel.Choose the correct database and click Next.

The next two dialogs allow you to specify the group under which the FMW iconswill be placed and summarizes the installation information that you haveprovided. Click through these. The client software will then be installed.

If you have chosen to create an ODBC data source through this installationprocess, one of the following dialogs will appear, depending on the database.


Complete the parameters required to access the database where FMWEnterprise is located. Click next and the data source will be created.

Once the installation is completed the FMW Enterprise Client icons will appear inyour start menu and are ready for use.

Chapter 3 Using Setup Wizard to create an application 21

Chapter 3. Using the Setup Wizard to createan application

This chapter provides guidance on how to use the FMW Setup Wizard to create a basicbudgeting and reporting application, which can then be further refined. Because FMWEnterprise is such a large and functional system, this chapter unfortunately onlyscratches the surface of what you could do with the application. However the purpose ofthis chapter is to help you get started quickly and easily.


What is the Setup Wizard?

A common problem with sophisticated applications such as FMW Enterprise isthe considerable amount of time and expertise that can be required in order toconfigure the system to get to the point where it produces a usable result. TheSetup Wizard eliminates some of these obstacles, by automatically configuringan application, which can be used immediately without extensive knowledge ofthe FMW Enterprise software.

Note: While the Setup Wizard will help you generate a usable application quickly,in most cases a considerable amount of refinement will need to occur before theapplication is fully ready for production use. Thus the wizard should be lookedupon as an initial prototyping tool, rather than expecting to use it fulfil all of yourconfiguration requirements.

For the purposes of this guide, we will take you through a particular setupsequence. We suggest that initially you do not make too many changes to thedefault implementation options, so that it is easier for you to follow the examplesprovided. However once you have been through this default setup you caninvoke the Setup Wizard again and specify parameters that are more appropriateto your requirements. This can be done as often as required.

Starting the Setup Wizard

Invoke the FMW Client application from the Start menu.

A logon dialog will appear. You will need to have a valid user id and passwordavailable to log into the Oracle or SQL Server database where FMW Enterpriseresides. In addition a valid ODBC data source will need to be available (seeprevious chapter on Installation for further details).


Select a valid data source referencing your FMW database from the combo boxat the top of this dialog. Key in your user name and password and click OK.

At this point, assuming your data source references a properly installed FMWEnterprise database, you will be logged on. What happens next depends onwhether your database administrator installed the initialized or the demodatabase. If the initialized database was installed (as suggested), the first dialogof the Setup Wizard will automatically appear. If the demo database wasinstalled or if you have already been through the Setup Wizard once, you will belogged in to the application without the Setup Wizard appearing. In this case, toaccess the Setup Wizard use the Help | Setup Wizard menu option.

Either way the following page will appear.


This page simply introduces you to the application. Once you have read theintroduction click the Next button. The Budgeting Categories dialog appears.

Selecting budgeting categories

This dialog is used to define the types of budgeting that your organization willperform. For the purposes of the simplified setup it is assumed that yourbudgeting application will fall into one or more of the following categories.


! Operating budgets are usually used to budget for such expense andrevenue items as sales, salaries, travel and utilities. The wizard sets thisup as a simple period-by-period dollar budgeting method. Mostfrequently this is done at a department / account level, possibly with abuild up of some account amounts by line items. Of course FMWEnterprise is capable of modeling many other scenarios, but you wouldneed to bypass the wizard and set these up within FMW Enterprise toimplement these.

! Capital budgeting in this context refers to a job or project-based, multi-year capital plan of the type often used by public sector organizations.Examples of these are budgeting for the construction of a wastewatertreatment plant or a road repair project. This can also be used to set up,for example, a multi-year project or job budget for a constructioncompany.

! Salary Allocations provides a methodology for budgeting payroll costsat an employee or position level and then splitting salary and benefitamounts between several departments or cost centers and accounts andthen posting the results to the Operating budget. The wizard sets up asimple methodology for performing this function. Once again FMWEnterprise is capable of modeling much more sophisticated scenariosshould they be required.

The majority of budgeting applications fit into one or more of these categories.However, because FMW Enterprise is extremely flexible, it is used for manyother types of applications that do not conform to these categories. In thesecases the Setup Wizard would not be an appropriate configuration tool.

For the purposes of this exercise leave all three categories selected and click thenext button.

Specifying timelines

The next page that appears allows you to specify timelines.


While FMW Enterprise allows up to 400 periods for budgeting purposes, as wellas multiple years, usually Operating type budgets are performed over a 12 or 13period calendar and Capital budgets usually have a 1 to 10 year horizon. In thecase of an Operating budget, this dialog allow you to specify your starting month(beginning of the fiscal year). Naturally this might or might not conform to thecalendar year.

If you wish to change the defaults to something closer to those used by yourorganization, please feel free to do so here. Click the Next button.

Defining elements

In FMW Enterprise, elements are items that will be combined to form line items.These could be for example Accounts, Departments, Cost Centers, Projects,Jobs, Employee / Position codes, Product codes etc.

The next dialog allows you to define up to seven elements (in FMW Enterpriseitself you can define an unlimited number of elements) and attach these elementsto each Budgeting Category.


It is assumed for the purposes of this simplified setup that there will always be anelement called Account, and it will be used in each category. This is a NaturalAccount type and thus each item will be classified as an Asset, Liability,Revenue, Expense or Equity type.

Note: For the purposes of being able to follow the sample setup described in thisguide we suggest that initially you do not make too many changes to the defaults.Once you have been through one Wizard iteration, you can return and createyour own elements.

For example, if each line of your Capital Budget is defined by a Job, Phase andAccount (rather than by a Project, Component and Account as set up in thedefault) you would key in each of these elements (overriding or removing thedefault elements where necessary).

The checkboxes to the right of the element list specify which elements are usedin each of the Operating, Capital and Salary Allocation budget categories. If forexample Salary Allocations are keyed by Position within Department andAccount you would have an element for Position and Department with acheckbox checked opposite these elements in the Salary column.


For each of the elements, at least one and preferably more samples should besupplied. To do this click on the gray button to the right of each element. If youhave a segmented account (which can be considered to be one element) use a'–' as a separator. For example:

4-001 Product Sales Revenue5-230 Travel Costs Expense

Note: If your planning elements fall naturally into segments (for example CostCenter and Account) where each segment has a unique meaning regardless ofwhich other segments it is combined with, set up each segment as a separateelement. If however, the segment is only unique within a combination (e.g.Account 5100 means something different in combination with Cost Center 610 asopposed to 410) this is an indication that this should be set up as a single multi -segmented element, which defines the combination.

If you have a variable length element, provide an example of both the shortestand longest element items.

Once you have completed specifying the elements and provided samples foreach, click the Next button.

Generating the application

When you click the Finish button FMW will generate your application for youbased on the information you have supplied. If you leave the Generate Databutton clicked, some sample data will be generated for you. This process willtake several seconds.


Note: The FMW Enterprise database will be totally re-initialized by this process.If you have done some setup or input some data that you are not willing to lose,please Cancel here.

The application that is generated for you can of course be further enhanced andextended within FMW Enterprise. If you wish to use the Wizard again it isavailable under the Help menu.

Exploring the generated application

Once the Setup Wizard has completed processing, you will find yourself in theFMW Client application. This main application window will look as follows:


Navigating with the Function / Object Map

The Function / Object Map you see to the left of the main application window isthe main instrument that you will use to navigate your application. Nearly all theobjects and functions available to you are represented in a hierarchical Explorer-type diagram. To expand a node of the Map click the ‘+ ‘ sign next to the nodethat you wish to expand.

Each node also has a set of actions associated with it. To access these click theright mouse button over the node. A tear off menu listing the available actionswill appear. The available actions will vary depending on the node.

Most tasks in FMW are performed through the Map. The Map is fully integratedwith the FMW Access Management system. This means that, depending on thetype of access granted to individual users, each user will see different functionsand objects in the Map. The advantage of this is that a fully customized view of asingle large database can be presented to each user. If you have arrived at thispoint via the Setup Wizard it means your user id has been established as anFMW Administrator, with unlimited access, so you will see and be able tomanipulate all objects and functions without restriction.


Editing a budget

Now we know how to navigate through the system, let’s explore some commonactions that are likely to be performed by users. To start with we will look atediting a budget.

From the Map expand the Versions node, until you see the Budget version underthe Financial group.

Note: A version in FMW Enterprise is simply a repository for a set of data. Somedefault versions have been set up by the Wizard but of course later you can setup as many versions as you need and name them in a way that is meaningful toyour application.

Either double-click on the Budget node or bring up the menu of available actionsby clicking the right mouse button over the node, and select the Balances option.

The following editing window appears.


At the top of the window there are three combo boxes. These determine whichdata is selected for editing and how it is presented.

Note: depending on what you specified in the Setup Wizard for Elements andBudget Categories the content of these combo boxes might differ from thoseshown here. Hopefully, as suggested above, you have not made too manychanges to the defaults, at least initially, so your setup should be similar to thatshown here.

The leftmost combo box lists the Editing views or profiles available. An editingview determines how data is selected and presented for editing. Some defaultshave been set up here, but later you can set up other editing views as required.Select the view called Operating by Department.

The center combo box lists the available years. There should be demo data forthe current year, so if it is not already selected, select the current year.

The rightmost combo box now contains the selection criteria for the data. TheOperating by Department editing view determines that a list of departmentsappears in this combo box. Select department 001 and after a second or twodata should appear in the grid. This is some random demo data that has beengenerated by the Wizard.


At the simplest level, you can change budget numbers as with a spreadsheet bytyping into cells. These changes are committed to the database once you clickthe Save button on the button bar.

Here are some other actions that you can perform.

To insert a new line, position the cursor over an element (in the aboveexample the Account) on the left of the spreadsheet and click the ‘ + ‘ button

on the button bar at the top of the screen. A popup box will appear with a list ofaccounts.

Note: In this example you might not be able to add another account to thedepartment because all available accounts are already present. We will addsome more accounts later, which will then allow us to insert a new account intothis department’s budget.

To delete a line, position the cursor over an account on the left of thespreadsheet and click on the ‘ x ’ button (delete button) on the button bar.

To assist the user in entering data, a total amount can be entered into acolumn and then spread evenly over the periods simply by clicking on the

spread button. Note there are other modeling options available.

Click the save button to update the database with any changes made.

To attach a note to an element within a line item click the button on the farleft of the line item. An editing window will appear in which text can be entered.Similarly a note can be attached to the element on which the data selection isbased.


To undo the last operation performed use this button.

A right button click over the title (blue) area will bring up a small edit box in whicha combination description can be entered. A combination description is adescription, limited to 256 characters, that is related to the whole key making upthe line item (rather than a specific element of the key). These descriptions canbe displayed on the editing screen (see editing view) or in a column on a report.

Each line appearing at the balance level may be further analyzed into lineitems, to provides details of how the balance is made up.

As an example first zero all cells related to the Travel line (for now simply type inzeros, even although we will later show you an easier way to do this). Then clickthe button shown above to the left of the Travel account line.


A window will appear. Click on the ‘ + ‘ button on the toolbar to create anew line item (at first there will be space for the first line item without doing

this). Enter a description, attach a predefined code (currently there will only beone predefined code called <General> ) and enter the amounts. Click on theSave button to commit the changes in the database. Close the window to workon the top level lines.

Click the save button to commit to the database any changes made.

Note: Amounts entered as a line item add to any amounts already entered inthe top level line.

Modeling data

Now that we have seen how to do some basic editing let’s look at some otherways to manipulate data. Data can be modeled using a variety of modelingoptions. To access the modeling options, select a range of cells containingnumbers that you wish to model from the editing spreadsheet, and do a rightbutton click (must click over a numeric area of the spreadsheet).


Select a modeling option to be applied to the selected cells. The availableoptions are:

Zero Values : this will zero all the selected cells.

Increment / Decrement Amount : All selected cells are incremented ordecremented by a specified amount;

Increment / Decrement Percentage : All selected cells are incremented ordecremented by a specified percentage. In the case of a compound percentage astarting value is supplied for the first column and it is compounded for eachsubsequent column.

Spread Even: The amounts in each selected row are spread evenly over theselected cells.


Spread Comparative: This allows the selected rows to be allocated inaccordance with the patterning of another key, for example a prior years actual orsome other base (e.g. a key representing a salary spread).

Since we do not have much data in the system on which to pattern, let’s just usethis capability to manipulate our Seasonal Salaries line graphically. Highlight allthe cells on this line and do a right button click over the January cell. Select theSpread | Comparative option from the tear off menu.

The following dialog will appear.

At this point if we wanted to pattern the spread on another key (for example 1998Actuals) we would change the key here. However let’s simply leave the key as isfor now.

Click to the Bar Graph tab.


A graphical view of the key selected on the pervious tab appears. In this case itis the 1999 Budget Seasonal Salaries line. This pattern can be modified byclicking near the top of a bar and dragging it up or down.

When you are satisfied with the spread click the OK button and the pattern will beapplied to the numbers on the spreadsheet.

Click the save button to update the database with any changes made usingthe modeling functions.

Exploring other options for creating and changing budgets

We would encourage you to experiment with the other editing views that havebeen established by the Setup Wizard to see what they do. Further informationon Versions, Editing Views and Modeling can be found in Chapters 8 and 9 of theFMW Enterprise User Guide which is included in the documentation library onthe Installation CD.

Executing reports

Apart from creating and editing budgets your users will likely want to producereports to present, summarize and analyze their data. FMW Enterprise includesa powerful and intuitive report generator. The Setup Wizard sets up a very


simple example of a report, which runs against the Operating budget. Later onwe will create a report of our own but for now let’s execute the existing report.

From the Map expand the Reports node until you see an icon for a report calledOperating by Organization. Either double-click this node or do a right button clickand select the Execute option from the tear-off menu.

A dialog with a list box appears. Even though this may not look like it now, thislist box contains an Organization hierarchy (tree). We only currently have onenode in the tree (apart from the very top node), called Corporation. We willextend this tree later to include some other levels and nodes.


Choose the Corporation node and click the OK button. Wait a few seconds forthe report to appear (the swimming fish means the report is still extracting datafrom the database).

Note: The first time you execute a report it might take a little longer than youwould expect because the database needs to compile some procedures and dosome data buffering – this should speed up subsequently.

A report viewing window, as shown above, appears. At the top of the reportthere is a drop down combo. This contains page selections. This happens to bea single page report so this combo box is grayed and the single page(Corporation) is shown. If this was a multi-page report we would be able toselect different pages for viewing by using this combo box.

There are also three buttons highlighted. We will look at these buttons inconjunction with the actions that can be taken on a viewed report.


Once a report is displayed there are a number of things we can do. These are.

Drill down. If a report has drill down levels defined on a row, you canexpand the row to a lower level. Move the cursor over the report rows. If

the icon depicting the pair of binoculars appears it means there is a lower level.Double click the row and the row will expand. Up to seven drill down levels arepossible, although the sample report has only one drill down level.

Print. To print the report, click the Print button on the button bar orchoose the File | Print option from the menu. If this is a multi-page report

of course you can print all or some of the pages.

Load to MS-Excel. If you are a Microsoft Excel user and have Excelloaded on your computer you can load the report to Excel automatically by

clicking this button.

Note: If the drill downs are not expanded or there are no drilldowns, then the rowformulas for subtotals and totals will be carried over to Excel. If there areexpanded drill downs they will not. Also note that the Excel interface is a one-way interface, from FMW Enterprise to Excel. You cannot change numbers inExcel and feed them back into FMW Enterprise.

Save as a file. The report can be saved as a .fmw file or a .xlw (Excelworkbook) file for later reference or exchange with other users. The FMW

Report Distributor module can also be used to split a large report file by recipientand either deliver subsets of the file via a file server or e-mail subsets to otherusers.


E-mail. If you have a MAPI compliant e-mail system you can e-mail the report toan e-mail address. The recipient would need to have the FMW Report Viewermodule installed in order to view the report.

Re-extract the report, perhaps using different selection criteria.

Enter report design mode in order to change or modify the report design.This assumes we have security to do so. We will deal with developing and

modifying reports in more detail later.


What’s next?

We have now reviewed some basic functionality of FMW Enterprise and how touse it. Hopefully you have a feel for how the system operates. In the nextchapter we will look more closely at, and extend this model to show you someother features and capabilities, as well as a look at what the Setup Wizardactually did in terms of establishing FMW Enterprise structures.

At this point you could either:

! Continue with the next chapter.

! Return to the Setup Wizard and try some different scenarios and seehow they impact the model. To re-access the Wizard, use the SetupWizard item under the Help Menu.

Chapter 4 Extending the model 45

Chapter 4. Extending the modelThis chapter examines the model set up using the Setup Wizard in more depthand demonstrates how to extend it. This is designed to help the user furtherunderstand how FMW Enterprise operates and how applications are configured.When this chapter is completed the user should have an understanding of thefundamental building blocks of an FMW Enterprise application. A decision canthen be made on whether the Setup Wizard will be an appropriate starting pointfor configuring the organization’s application, or whether the application iscomplex enough that it should rather be built from within FMW Enterprise.


Building blocks

FMW Enterprise is a highly configurable application, capable of modeling manydifferent application scenarios. There are five basic building blocks toconfiguring the FMW Enterprise database in order to develop the data structuresyou need for your application. These are called Calendars, Elements, Classes,Hierarchies and Versions. These components can be established and modifiedwithin FMW Enterprise. The first four can be accessed under the DataDefinitions node on the Map, and Versions appear just above the DataDefinitions node.

By utilizing the Setup Wizard a number of these components have beenautomatically created for you. However as you become more experienced withFMW Enterprise or wish to configure applications that go beyond the capabilitiesof the Setup Wizard, you will need to create and manipulate some of thesecomponents directly.

What we will do in this chapter is further examine the components that the SetupWizard established and look at how these can be modified and extended.

Of course there is much more to a fully functional application that these basiccomponents. We will need to create reports, interface to source systems(General Ledgers and Human Resource systems are two typical examples),create special data manipulation logic via Add-ins, and depending on thecomplexity of your application set up other operations and functions. Some ofthese other aspects of FMW Enterprise are dealt with further in this guide andother documents in the documentation library, but understanding the basics of anFMW Enterprise application is where we need to begin.


Elements

An element is any item that will be used in the making up of a key for enteringlines (or rows) of data. Elements could include such things as accounts,responsibility centers, employee positions, products or any other entity that youuse in your application. As many elements as required for an application can bedefined. Once defined, elements are then combined through Class definitionsinto keys. These keys conceptually define “rows” of data. For example, for aparticular budgeting category, a row of data might be keyed by a combination ofaccount and responsibility center.

Now take a look at the elements that Setup Wizard created. If you open the Mapas follows, and assuming you used the defaults in the wizard, you should see thefollowing five elements.

Double click on the Account node and a list of existing accounts (from thesamples supplied in the Setup Wizard) will appear. Move to the bottom of the listand key in another couple of accounts.


Ignore the Security column for now. Since the Account has been designated asa Natural Account, there is a column where the account type is specified. Whencompleted click the Save button on the button bar. Note the button to the left ofeach account, which if clicked allows you to capture a note related to eachaccount (by year). This note is more often used for elements such as projects ordepartments to document things such as departmental mandates or projectjustifications / explanations. This text note is also accessible through the editingviews, and can be output on reports attached to the appropriate element.

Note: in cases where the element, such as the account, is maintained in anexternal system such as a General Ledger, which is interfaced to FMWEnterprise, the interface is usually set up to automatically synchronize the GLchart with FMW Enterprise. This means that you would not have to input newaccounts or changes in FMW Enterprise, as they would be automaticallysynchronized with the source system. In other cases FMW Enterprise is thesystem which initiates the new or changed accounts, which are then fed back viaan interface to the external system.

Now close the window listing the accounts and do a right button click over theAccount node in the Map and select Properties from the tear-off menu.


This dialog defines the properties of the Account element. You can use the Helpbutton to find out the meaning behind each field.

Have a look at some of the other elements and see how they are defined. If youwant to set up a completely new element do a right button click over the Elementnode and select New from the tear-off menu.

Remember that any new element items established is simply a list. It needs tobe attached to a key definition in a Class (see below) before being used tocapture data.

If you would like further details on elements please refer to section 05 of theFMW User Guide.


Hierarchies

Hierarchies are roll ups of elements defined in a tree-like fashion. They are usedextensively in reporting and for various data selection operations throughoutFMW Enterprise. As many hierarchies as required may be established and atany time. For example if part way through a year you need to look at the impactof a reorganization, you could simply create a new hierarchy reflecting the neworganization, and use this for reporting, without impacting either the data or the“official” organizational hierarchy.

There is a many-to-many relationship between elements and hierarchies. Thismeans that a single element can be rolled up through multiple hierarchies and asingle hierarchy can be used to roll up multiple elements.

The Setup Wizard has created one default hierarchy for us called Organization(on the theory that most organizations will have at least a hierarchy reflectingtheir organizational structure). To access this hierarchy, expand the Hierarchynode and double click on the Organization node.

At the top of the window is a drop down combo box listing all our elements. Weneed to select a relevant element that we wish to use the tree to roll up, in thiscase Department. Now expand the organization node by clicking the + sign to itsleft. A node called Corporation appears. Click on the + sign next to theCorporation node and you will see our three Department elements rolling up intothe Corporation node.

Element List


This is not a very useful tree as is, so let’s modify it. Ignoring the Corporationnode for now, right button click on the Organization node, add some nodesrepresenting Divisions as shown below. Then add some other nodes belowdivision using the same technique.

Drag and drop the department from the Corporation node onto the new nodes asshown above. Now delete the Corporation node (not needed) by doing a rightbutton click over it and selecting Delete from the tear-off menu. When satisfiedclick the Save button on the button bar to save changes made, and close thewindow.

Note: One restriction in FMW Enterprise is that a node in a hierarchy cannotcontain both a lower level node and elements as child nodes.

If you want to change the title of a non-element (green) node, then double clickon it and the title can be changed in place via a edit control which appearsdirectly over the existing title.

There are some other things we need to know about hierarchies such as how toreorder nodes, but at this point let’s see what impact changing this hierarchy hashad on other parts of the system.

First run the sample report the Setup Wizard created (if you do not rememberhow to do this refer back to chapter 3). When you execute the report from theMap the selection dialog should now look like this.


Select the tree nodes shown and click the OK button. When the report appearsyou will see that there is now one page for each selection made.

Use the page selections combo box to flip between the pages, and also look nowat what appears on the drill down levels. When you have finished, close thereport window.

Next we should look at how this tree can also be used to select data for editing.Under the Versions node on the Map, open the nodes until you see the versioncalled Budget. Double click on this node.

Page selections


In the window that appears, use the combo boxes at the top to select theOperating by Organization editing view, the current year, and then have a look atthe rightmost combo box. If you drop this down you will see a representation ofour organization tree. Select the Controllers node and take a look at the result.You will see we now have a cascading arrangement for the data, with accountsbeing listed within departments.

Since we have now added some new accounts when looking at elements,let’s see how we can add a line to department 003 (Financial Services).

Place your cursor over account 5-1300 (under department 003) and then clickthe ‘+’ button on the button bar. You should see the following popup dialog.


Double click on 5-1500 (Consulting Services). This will add the row to thebudget. At this point you can either add line items to build up the account orput values directly into the cells at the account level, or do a combination of

both. When you have finished experimenting with this close the window.

Now we need to return to the hierarchy and look more closely at the relationshipbetween elements and the hierarchy, in particular what happens when we add anew element such as a new department, or when a new element is automaticallyadded to FMW Enterprise through an interface.

From the Map, expand the Data Definitions node and then the Elements node.Double click on the Department node under Elements. Add a new department tothe list as we did earlier (in the illustration below we have added 004Purchasing).


Now look at the Organization hierarchy. Close the department window and openthe Organization hierarchy window. Be sure to select the Departmentelement from the combo box at the top of the hierarchy window. Expandthe tree so it looks like the illustration below.

What you will see is that our new department has ended up being attached to aspecial node called Unallocated Element Items. Drag it from this node and droponto the Controllers node as shown by the arrow. Purchasing now reports to theControllers Division. Close the Organization hierarchy window.

Note: There is a 100% correspondence between every element and everyhierarchy – i.e. every element will appear in every tree, either on the UnallocatedElement Node or on a valid node. This makes it very easy to maintain theintegrity of the system – you never have to wonder whether a hierarchy isattached to the correct elements. Just look at the Unallocated Elements Nodeand if the element is not there it is somewhere else in the tree.

There is just one more concept that you need to be aware of when dealing withhierarchies which is that of named levels.


You will notice that we have gotten along quite well so far without attachingnames to specific levels of our hierarchy. However there are times where it isuseful to be able to refer to a specific level of a hierarchy, particularly in reporting.To attach names to levels of our Organization hierarchy, do a right button click onthe Organization node in the Map and select Properties from the tear-off menu.

We have named the first level (under Organization node) as Division and thesecond level as Unit.

Note: There is no requirement to name levels in a hierarchy and in additionnaming levels does not imply that the every branch of the hierarchy must havethe same number of levels.

We would encourage you to explore hierarchies some more here as they arevery important structures in the FMW Enterprise model. If you are so inclined,create some other hierarchies from scratch that might be relevant to you andmake sure that you are comfortable with manipulating hierarchies.

If you would like further details on hierarchies please refer to section 07 of theFMW User Guide.


Calendars, Classes and Editing Views

This brings us to perhaps the conceptually most difficult, but also one of mostvital, parts of understanding how FMW Enterprise is configured.

In essence, an FMW Enterprise class defines a template for how data will bearranged and stored in the database. Multiple classes can be created to handledifferent types of data. A class definition essentially defines a two-dimensionalrow-column matrix for storing data. It can be viewed conceptually (this is NOT ascreen shot) as follows:

A variety of attributes can be applied to rows and columns. For example, acolumn can be a calculated column, or it can be populated via a lookup againstanother FMW Enterprise class. You can specify the currency symbol, number ofdecimals, and whether the column is updateable on-line or not.

Note: It is very important that class designs are carefully thought through prior toimplementation. This required that you have a clear understanding of how datawill be captured as well as your reporting requirements. Once a class has beenestablished and data has been captured into it, the class definition is essentiallylocked in, although there are some attributes that can be changed even afterdata has been captured.

Every class must be attached to a calendar, which means that at least some ofthe class columns are defined by the calendar. A calendar in FMW Enterpriseterms is simply a set of ‘buckets’ which can have a roll-up structuresuperimposed on it for reporting purposes.


If you open the Map under Data Definitions | Calendars you will see that theSetup Wizard has defined several calendars for us. Double click on the calendarcalled Fiscal Year.

You will see a calendar defined in a tree like structure. This tree may bemanipulated in a similar way to a hierarchy. In this case ‘buckets’ (lowest levelcalendar elements) are simply months which rollup into quarters, semi-annualsetc. However the lowest level of the calendar can define anything that is usefulto you and can contain up to 400 items.

Note: Once a calendar has been attached to a class the number of lowest levelitems (in the above example, months) cannot be changed. However rollups canbe changed dynamically at any time as can titles of any calendar nodes.

In addition note that the year does not usually appear in the calendar, becauseFMW Enterprise has a separate entity for year. In spite of this there are someinstance where year in fact does appear in a calendar. The reasons for this willbecome clearer further on.


Now let’s turn our attention to the classes that have been established by theSetup Wizard. If you expand the Class node under Data Definitions from theMap, you will see the following:

Essentially the Setup Wizard has configured three classes, which correspond tothe Budgeting Categories that you selected in the Wizard. There is also a fourthclass (Salary Data) which we will deal with later.

Double-click on the Operating class to bring up the Class definition tabbeddialog. On the first tab you will see the following.

This dialog establishes the elements for defining a row for the Operating class(which naturally enough is used to store Operating data, which may be YTDActuals (usually fed from the GL), Budgets, Reforecasts etc.). It specifies thateach row (key) of Operating data must be identified by a combination of the


Department and Account elements. We can define a row by a combination of upto 10 elements.

Important: The class key should be defined by only the minimum number ofelements that together make up a unique identifier for a row. Avoid if possibleusing elements to signify rollups, even if this is the way your GL or other sourcesystem works. Items which are present purely for roll-up purposes should moreproperly be represented in Hierarchies. It is rare that FMW Enterprise class keyscontains more that 4 elements.

Now click to the Columns tab.

The first thing to observe is that the Fiscal Year calendar which we examinedearlier has been attached to this class and in fact when we look at the calendarwe will see that it defines most of the columns. Next, scroll over to column 13.


This is a non-calendar column and has been set up as a calculated column,which is the sum of columns 1 to 12. In addition, note that the Updateable On-line flag is switched off which means that a user cannot directly key data into thiscolumn.

Note also the other attributes that are available for a column, namely thecurrency symbol and number of decimals. Both of these attributes control theinput and display of numbers entered into these columns.

When establishing a class you always need to attach a calendar, which defines aset of columns. Then you can insert non-calendar columns as required. For thiscalendar the Insert and Delete buttons are grayed because there is already dataentered against this class so the column definition is locked in.

You will notice one other important button on this dialog called Lookups. Thisexpands the dialog and allows you to define lookup criteria for columns. Acolumn with lookup criteria defined means that the column can automatically bepopulated from another source (an external system or from within FMWEnterprise) rather then having to either key in the data or have it calculate fromother columns. This is frequently used for things such as pay rates, unit pricesetc. We will return to lookups when dealing with our Salary Allocation class,which includes a practical example of how lookups are used.

Skip over the next tab (Class-Version relationships - we will return to this later) tothe tab entitled Editing Views. If not already selected, select the Operating byOrganization editing view in the combo box on the top left of the dialog.


An editing view is a user-definable set of parameters, which determine how datais presented for editing. A single class can (and usually does) have multipleediting views. Editing views can be created, modified or deleted at any time.When you edited budget data you used an editing view. Let’s look at therelationship between the edit window (with which you should now be familiar) andthe editing view definition.

Important: Do not confuse an editing view with a Report. FMW Enterprise hasa sophisticated report generator, which has many more formatting and displayoptions. Editing views are solely for the purpose of presenting data for editing.

Looking at each component of the editing view in turn:


! Editing view titleThe title under which the editing view definition is created shows upin the first drop down combo box in the editing window.

! SelectionThis determines what appears in the third drop down combo box inthe editing window. In this example we have decided to select by theOrganization hierarchy. This means that on the editing screen weare presented with a representation of our organization hierarchy,and once we select a node of that hierarchy it will present all datarolling up into that node.

If we also specified a level (just below Organization), only hierarchynodes at that level will be available in the selection drop down box.

The other alternative to a selection based on a hierarchy is aselection based on an element (such as a Department). In this case,the selection drop down box in the editing window would contain alist of elements.

Note: In the case of a selection based on elements, only theelements accessible to the logged on user, as defined in the AccessManager (we will deal with security and access restrictions later on),would appear in the selection drop down box. If, for example aselection was based on an element called Department, although thedatabase might contain 1000 departments, only five of them mightbe accessible to the user. In this case he would only see fiveelements in the drop down box.

! Display OrderThis determines which class key elements and in which order theywill be displayed in the editing window. In the above example, thedepartment is displayed first with the attached accounts cascadingwithin each department. If we wished, for example, to havedepartments displayed within each account we would simple reversethe display order of the elements.


! Column AttributesThe first two attributes can be used to hide specific class columnsfrom display at either the balance level (main editing window) or theline item level or both. In the example below we have a classdefined where the first three columns (Unit, Unit cost, Total) are onlyrelevant at the line item level, not at the balance level, so they arehidden at the balance level but displayed at the line item level.

The S/Total attribute allows us to eliminate automatic sub-totaling oncertain columns where it might not be relevant. The C/Fwd attributeallows us to determine if a number entered at the line item levelautomatically is incremented into the balance (top) level or not.

! Limit data selectionThis allows you to limit, by ranges of elements, data appearing in anediting view. For example we might want a specific view to showonly expense accounts, excluding revenue, asset accounts etc.

! Comparatives, Additional RelationshipsThese specify either comparative data (e.g. Prior Year Actuals) oradditional relationships from other hierarchies should be displayedon the view.


Now that we understand the basics of how data is stored (classes) and displayedfor editing (editing views) we should turn our attention to some of the otherclasses and editing views set up by the Setup Wizard. Use the Map to look atthe calendar called Multi-year and the Capital class.

In this case the calendar defines a series of buckets which relate to years, ratherthan months. It is assumed by the Setup Wizard that capital expenditure areplanned in a multi-year fashion. In the case of this class, the key (row) isidentified by a combination of Project, Component and Account.

Please look at this class and its related editing views a little more closely, andfurther explore how the data is displayed for editing purposes.

The Salary Allocation class has some other interesting features that we shouldexamine. Firstly, some house keeping is required. We want to use theOrganization hierarchy to select employees (as well as departments). Call up theOrganization hierarchy, and attach it to the Employee element. Drag the threeemployee records from the Unallocated node onto Controllers, as show belowand save the changes.


Next access the budget version and use the Salary Alloc. by Organization view toaccess all employees under the Controllers node.

The idea behind this view is to allow an individual employee’s salary and benefitcosts to be allocated to multiple departments / accounts, based on a FTE (fulltime equivalent) factor. We could just as easily have used some other allocationmethod, for example percentages, or positions instead of employees.

Note The model set up by the Setup Wizard is in fact fairly simplistic. FMWEnterprise if often used to model significantly more complex and detailedrequirements, such as a detailed employee benefits calculation, rather than theone shown here which is based on a simple percentage by employee.


The first two columns of this class are lookup columns. This means that the datais automatically retrieved from a master table in FMW Enterprise, as rows areinserted into this editing view. The third column is input by the user (FTE), andthe final three columns are calculated based on information in the other columns.

Change the FTE column and take a look at how the numbers dynamicallyrecalculate. Also see what happens when you insert a new account ordepartment. You might notice that the first two columns have inappropriatesubtotals which we can remove by adjusting the editing view.

Now let’s focus on the classes and editing views that were set up to create thismodel. First open the Salary Allocation class.

This class is keyed by Employee, Department and Account. This means thateach row in the class must be identified by a combination of these threeelements. On the class columns dialog click the Lookups button (top right) toreveal the lookups section of the dialog.


The first two columns of the class (Annual salary per employee and benefitspercentage) are automatically populated from another class containing this data.To look at how data in this lookup class is organized, open the Salary Dataversion as illustrated below.

This class / version contains salary data keyed by employee. Please explorehow this class (also called Salary Data) has been set up.

Note This is a simple example of how lookups can be used. Using thesetechniques, classes can be set up to perform a variety of modeling functions,including lookups of such things as standard costs, prices etc.

There is one other aspect of this salary budgeting model we should examinebefore moving on, and that is an FMW Enterprise Add-in that has beendeveloped to summarize and post the results from the Salary budget into theOperating budget.

An Add-in in a piece of customized business logic that is usually specificto a particular application or customer. Add-ins are a very important partof the FMW Enterprise functionality. Because budgeting and planningapplications of any complexity usually require some customized logic, weprovide a simple interface (API) where this custom logic can be developedby a customer, and easily hooked into FMW Enterprise, without requiringany modification to the base system.


Return to the Salary allocation view as show below.

On the control bar in the window you will see this button. Click it and youwill be presented with a list of available Add-in functions (in this case there

is only one). Double click on the add-in called Post Salaries to Operating. Oncethe add-in is completed (should be virtually instantaneous) we can have a look atour operating budget and we will see the data has been summarized and posted.


This is one example (and a relatively trivial one at that) of an Add-in. There areseveral other places in FMW Enterprise (e.g. Interfaces to other third partysystems) where add-ins are employed. By using add-ins, FMW Enterprise canbe transformed into a highly specialized application platform, without in any waymodifying the base system. Some examples include specialized revenuecalculations, employee benefits calculations and depreciation calculations.

If you would like further details on classes, calendars and editing views pleaserefer to sections 04, 06 and 09 of the FMW User Guide.

Versions

We have been using versions all along in order to access our data. As you mighthave gathered, a version is simply a repository for a collection of data. Typically,versions are defined for such things as YTD Actuals (usually populated from theGeneral Ledger), various budget versions, reforecasts, and masterfile data(standard costs, prices, salary data, floor space etc.). As many versions asrequired can be established.

Note a single version can contain data for more that once Class. Remember, aclass simply defines a format or template for data. This means that a singleversion can contain multiple data formats. In addition a single version cancontain data for multiple years. There is no need to set up a new version for anew year.

Several example of how data within a version is accessed have been dealt withabove, but there are some other aspects of Versions that we should look at.From the Map, do a right button click over the Budget version, and selectProperties.


A tabbed dialog appears. The first tab defines Version-Class relationships. Thisis used to control which class(es) of data can be stored in which versions. In thisexample the Budget version is allowed to contain data from all establishedclasses except Salary Data.

Now click on the other tab called Version-Class-Year controls.

This dialog is used to apply some other controls to a Version-Class-Yearcombination. Under Update Methods there are two options. The Balancesmethod refers to the editing method we have been demonstrating in the abovesection. If we unchecked this option the data could still be viewed using thespreadsheet interface, but would not be editable (except by those users who aredefined as FMW Enterprise Administrators).

The second update method is Journal Entry. Although we have not covered thisin this guide, FMW Enterprise includes a Journal Entry system. This is oftenused for budget transfers. A typical scenario as to how these update methodswould be used in where a budget is open to users to update with either methodduring the budget development phase, but once the budget is approved, only theJournal Entry method is allowed. This ensures that all budget adjustments whichincrease one area are offset by a corresponding decrease in another area.

In addition to the Update Methods controls, specific class columns can be lockedand a version can be locked against being manipulated by certain functionsavailable within FMW Enterprise. An example of applying locks to columns might


be where we have a version representing a first quarter reforecast, where thefirst three months’ data are Actuals. We might wish to restrict our users toupdating only the data in the final 9 months.

Note the controls described here are system-wide controls. A much finer level ofcontrol over with lines (e.g. accounts, departments) within a version areupdateable by, or even visible to, specific users is available through the AccessManager.

Data can easily be copied from one version to another. Let’s implement a simplescenario whereby we wish to set up a second version of our budget calledManagement Budget. Initially, we will copy the Budget as is into theManagement Budget. We will then lock our Budget version to further updates,but allow users to make adjustments to the Management Budget.

First create the Management Budget version. Do a right button click on theFinancial Group on the Map (under Versions) and select New. Then completethe two wizard-style dialogs as shown above.

Once the Save button is clicked the version will be created and will appear underthe Financial group in the Map. The new version is created but contains no data.To copy data from the Budget version to the Management Budget, click on theBudget version and drag and drop over the Management Budget version.


A dialog appears, which allows you to specify parameters for the copy. Lookingat this dialog you will notice that the areas specifying the Copy From and CopyTo parameters have already been completed by the drag and drop operation. Inthe section below this we are able to select specific subsets of data to be copied,either in terms of a hierarchy node or a range of key elements. For this exercise,leave the rest of the dialog as is and click the OK button.The copy function is an example of one where the operation is performed on abackground thread, which means that once the operation is submitted the usercan continue with other tasks while this process is running. The process monitorwindow appears, which reports the status of the operation.

Because we do not have very much data, this copy operation should not takemore that a few seconds to complete. Once completed you can enter theManagement Budget version as demonstrated above and have a look at thedata.

The final thing to do here is to lock the Budget version against further updates.Right button click on the Budget version and select Properties. Click on the


Version-Class-Year tab and uncheck the Balances and Journal entry checkboxesunder the Update Methods sections.

Note because you are probably set up as an FMW Administrator this actionwould not prevent you from editing the Budget version. However regular userswould no longer be able to edit the budget.

If you would like further details on versions please refer to section 08 of the FMWUser Guide.

Reports

FMW Enterprise includes a powerful report generator. The Setup Wizard createda simple report sample. In this section we will.

! Make a copy of this sample report! Make some changes to the copied report! Analyze the components of the report design in detail! Create another report from scratch

Copying and changing an existing report

To copy the report, open the Reports node on the Map. Then open the Budgetreports group. Right button click on the Operating by Organization report andselect the Copy item from the tear-off menu.


In the Copy Report dialog, change the report name to Quarterly OperatingBudget and click the OK button. The copied report will appear in the Map.

Execute the new report by double clicking on its icon from the Map.


Select the nodes as shown above from the Organization tree and click OK. Thereport will execute (this might take 20 seconds or so) and the results will appearin a report viewing window.

Now let’s list the changes we want to make.

! We will separate the expenses and revenues row sections and give eacha subtotal. In addition we will display the revenue line(s) as positivenumbers.

! We will change the column configuration to be quarters instead ofmonths.

! In the header area we will change the title of the report and thepositioning and appearance of some of the header items.

Click on the design button at the top of the report. This will take us into thereport layout manager, from where we can effect these changes. The

layout manager is a graphical representation of the report components, whichcan be manipulated in order to give us the required result.

We will adjust the row configuration first (although there is no requirement thatyou change components in any particular order). You will notice that two logicalrows are defined in this report, namely a logical row called All Accounts andanother one for the row total.

The All Accounts row is defined as a detail type row. This means that althoughit appears in the layout manager as one row, it explodes into multiple rows (inthis case accounts) in the report. This means that report rows can be set up asgroups or ranges of elements (in this case accounts) rather that setting up each


row individually. This has major advantages from a maintenance perspective.The TOTAL row is a calculated row and will appear on the report as in the layoutmanager.

We will want to define the following rows.Revenue Accounts (details)Revenue Total (calculated)Blank line (to separate revenue and expenses)Expense Accounts (details)Expense Total (calculated)Blank LineTotal Revenue less Expenses

The easiest way to create the rows is to duplicate the first row and then modify it.Highlight the All Accounts row by clicking the gray area to the left of the row(just like in a spreadsheet when you wish to highlight a whole row). Clickthe ‘+’ button on the button bar four times and the first row will be

duplicated.

Highlight the first row again and do a right button click. Select the Propertiesitem from the tear off menu.


In the row definition dialog, change the row caption to “Revenue Accounts”. Inthe Row Data Limitations area, limit the accounts appearing in this row to thosestarting with a 4, by using the wildcard character, as illustrated. Click the OKbutton. An underlying dialog will appear. Click the Close button and you willreturn to the layout manager.

Highlight the second row on the layout manager, do a right button click again andselect Properties from the tear-off menu. We will make this row a calculated row,representing the total of all revenue accounts appearing in the first row.


Change the row definition as illustrated above and click OK on this dialog andClose on the next dialog to get back to the layout manager. The next row will bea blank line to separate the revenue and expense sections. Highlight the thirdrow as before, do a right button click and select Properties.


Change the row definition as illustrated above and click OK on this dialog andclose on the next dialog to get back to the layout manager.

Change the other rows as follows:

Row 4: Change caption to Expense AccountsChange Row Data Limitations to a wildcard of 5* (all accountsstarting with 5)

Row 5: Change caption to Total ExpensesChange type to CalculatedChange calculation string to R4 (total of all account appearing in

row 4)Row 6: No changes required (blank line)Row 7: Total – change calculation to R2-R5

At this point let’s execute the report again by clicking on the Report buttonjust above the report display window. The result should be as follows.

Note you will notice that the revenue line now displays as positive, even thoughinternally natural account credit values (revenue, liabilities) are stored asnegatives. This display occurs because the report recognized that this rowconsists of revenue accounts only. However you need to be careful when usingcalculations which refer to a row where the display has been reversed, becausethe calculation needs to take into account that the number is a negative, eventhough it is displayed as positive.


One other thing we need on the row definition is to somehow highlight the totalexpenses and total revenues rows so that they stand out from the other rows.We could put overscores or underscores, but for now let’s simply change the fontfor these rows to bold.

Click the design button to return to the report layout manager.Highlight each total row in turn (as we did before) and click the

Bold button on the Button bar. Then click the report button to return to the report.These rows should now be displayed in bold.

Now we will deal with changing the columns from monthly to quarterly. Click thedesign button to return to the layout manager. First we will delete all the columnsexcept the last five (which we will adjust to look at 4 quarters and a total). Todelete a column, highlight the whole column (in a similar fashion to how wehighlighted the row, by clicking on the gray area just above the column) and do aright button click. From the tear off menu select the Delete option. The columnwill disappear. We need to delete the columns one by one. The result should beas follows.

Now highlight the first column, do a right button click, and select Properties fromthe tear-off menu.


From the Column definitions dialog (illustrated above) change the Period box(circled) to Qtr 1. You will recognize this as a roll-up level from the Fiscal Yearcalendar that we examined earlier. Then click the Replace button (right handside of the dialog). At this point we could go back to the layout manager andrepeat the process. However, instead of doing this, stay on this dialog, andsimply select the next column (currently called October) from the listbox on theright hand side of the dialog, change the period to Qtr 2 and click replace.Repeat this for the next two columns (changing to Qtr 3 and Qtr 4), rememberingto click Replace each time.

When the quarterly columns are defined click on the Total column. You will noticethat this is defined as a calculated column (instead of a data column) and thecalculation string is defined as c1..c4, which means the sum of columns 1 to 4.

Click the Close button and return to the layout manager. Now execute the reportagain by clicking the Report button on the button bar immediately above thereport window and examine the result.


Click back into design mode. We will now adjust the header area to somethingmore appropriate.

To change the position of a header component, click on thecomponent (such as a title). It should become outlined with a black

box. Simply drag into the required position, or use the alignment buttons toreposition.

To change the contents of a text type header component (such as the report title)double click on it and it will become outlined in red. You can then edit the text.While in this mode also use a right button click to access a menu with formattingoptions for the font and background colors.

To add a heading component do a right button click over the area where youwish the component to appear, and select the appropriate type from the tear-offmenu.

Using these techniques adjust the header area to look as follows.


Once the header area is adjusted to your satisfaction, execute the reportagain by clicking the report button on the button bar.

Hopefully this exercise has given you an idea for how reports are developed andadjusted in FMW Enterprise. Now we will back up a little, and look at the reportdefinition of this report in more depth, before developing a report from scratch inthe next section.

Report design components

Click back to the layout manager (you should know how to do this by now!).From the button bar just above the report, click on the Report Definitionsbutton (top left). This will bring up a series of tabbed dialogs describing allthe report characteristics. You have seen a number of these dialogs

before, but we will look at them more closely in relation to this report. We will notlook at every possible option on each dialog because this is beyond thescope of this guide, but we will look at the most important.


FMW Enterprise reports are fundamentally defined in three dimensions, namelythe Page, Row and Column. In addition we can also apply certain specialformatting options at the Cell (intersection of row/column) level. Having executedreports several times you should be familiar with how pages, rows and columnsappear on a report.

On the Page definition tab the most important section relates to how the pagebreak is defined. If you recall, when we executed this report, a selection boxpopped up containing our Organization hierarchy. This allowed us to select oneor more nodes of the hierarchy, which in turn appeared as one or more logicalpages in the report. The term “logical page” is used here because when thereport is printed of course if a single logical page is too long for the physical pageit will continue on a second printed page.

The reason the report has this page characteristic is because we have definedthe report page break as being the Organization hierarchy. If for example wewanted to see a different logical page for each Department, we would selectElement / Department as our page break option. The last option for page breaksis None. This is used where the report essentially consists of a single logicalpage, such as a corporate balance sheet.


The next area, called Selection, defines whether we see a pop-up selection boxfor the pages at run time or not. Because we have Select at Run-time clicked,every time we run the report we are able to specify a different page selection. Ifthe report were always to be run against the same selection we can pre-definethe page selection by using the Select Now option and then specifying the pagesby using the Select… button.

Now click to the Rows tab.

This dialog is used to define the overall characteristics of the row and the drill-down levels. On the left of the dialog is a list of available elements and hierarchylevels. These are moved, using the Add>> and <<Remove buttons, to the list inthe middle of the dialog to define the row and drill down characteristics.

In this report the row element is Account (first item in the list) with a drill down toDepartment (a red plus sign identifies a drill down).

Important Each report has one, and only one, element or hierarchy leveldefining the row. All individual rows are then defined as groupings of theseelement or hierarchy levels. Up to six drill-downs using other elements andhierarchy levels can then be defined.


In this case both the main row and the drill down are defined in terms of elementsrather than hierarchy levels. We will look further on at an example of how we canuse hierarchy levels to define rows and drill downs as well.

Another important section on this dialog is the Drill-down Options. Thisdetermines how the drill downs appear. Because we have the “Produce totals fordrill downs” options selected, each drill down level will have its own subtotals.The “Expand drill downs on startup” option, if selected, would automaticallyreveal all drill down levels on the report when it is executed, as opposed tohaving the user drill-down on each row as required. The “Drill down to item level”refers to the line items that we created when dealing with editing the Operatingbudget (see the Editing the Budget section in Chapter 3). If this option ischecked there will be an additional drill down level for line items, which willappear below any other defined drilldowns.

Now let’s look at the individual row definitions, which appear in the listbox on theright of this dialog. We accessed these previously by highlighting a row from thelayout manager, but we can also access a row definition from this dialog by doinga right button click over the appropriate row in the listbox. Bring up the definitionfor the row entitled revenue accounts.

You should be somewhat familiar with this dialog from the previous exercise, butwe need to explain a couple of other aspects of the row definition.


Note It is important to remember that this dialog is essentially used to define agrouping or subset of the main element or hierarchy level (in this case theAccount element) used by the overall row definition, as selected on the previousdialog.

Under the row display options it should be clear as to what a Caption Only /BlankLine and Calculated row are used for. The difference between a Details andConsolidated row type bears some further explanation. If we consider this rowdefinition as an example, it includes all revenue accounts (as defined by thewildcard in the Row Data Limitations section). If we assume that there are fiverevenue accounts that fall within this range, choosing the Details option herewould display all five accounts on the report, each as a separate line. If weinstead chose the Consolidated option, the five revenue accounts would besummed, and displayed as a single line on the report.

Related to the Display options are the Row Caption options. The first option willforce the caption from the edit box to be displayed on each line created for thisreport row. The second options will display both the element id and description(for example 4-1000 License Revenue), while the third option would display thedescription only (e.g. License Revenue). Which Caption options are availablewill depend on the Row Display option selected.

The section at the top right of the dialog is used for formatting purposes, forexample to put a line under a subtotal. The other options should be reasonablyself-evident.

The Row Data Limitations section of the dialog is used to define a range or groupof row elements that are to appear within this logical row. This can beexpressed as a wildcard arrangement (use * to mask multiple characters or ? tomask a single character) or as a from-to range or ranges. Multiple wildcardstrings or ranges within a single row definition can be specified.


Close this dialog by clicking OK. Click to the Columns tab.

On the right of this dialog is a list with the columns that have been defined fromthe report. To select the definition for a column simply click on it in the listbox.Previously we accessed the column definition by highlighting a column from thelayout manager and then selecting Properties from the tear-off menu. Thisbrought us to exactly the same point.

In the Column Caption section we define the headings that will appear on top ofthe columns. There are three lines available. In any one of the lines we can keyin a heading or we can drop down the combo box list to give us one of the threevariable headings, namely <Year>, <Column> or <Version>. The advantage ofusing a variable is that the year or month, for example, might be varied by a run-time selection, and the selected month or year will then automatically appear inthe column header.

Under the Column Type area we can specify which type of column this is. Wehave seen the two major types, namely Data and Calculated columns, in ourearlier example. The combination description type allows us to define a columnto display a combination description. If you do not remember what a combinationdescription is please refer to the previous section on editing a budget, where wedealt with an example of a combination description.

The final column type is an Additional Relationship column. This allows us todisplay a relationship from a hierarchy. This is used typically when we have twoor more hierarchies rolling up the same element, and while one hierarchy is used


in the report to define pages and / or rows, we need to display some relationshipsout of the other. For example if our department element is rollup up into anOrganization hierarchy as well as a Responsibility hierarchy, we might wish todrive the report off the Organization hierarchy but display the Responsibility in acolumn opposite the department. If we define a column as being an AdditionalRelationship type, the hierarchy and level to be displayed must be defined in thearea at the bottom of the dialog called Additional Relationships. Below is asimple example, where the last column is defined as an Additional Relationshiptype.

If the column is a Data type, the Data selections area is used to define the sourceof the data. The source is defined primarily in terms of a Class, Version andYear. The year can be specified as <Current>, which means that it will default tothe system-defined current period, which can also be overridden at run-time bythe person executing the report.

The data column also needs to define a Period. This is any node on theCalendar used for the Class, for example if could be a month (April) or a Quarter(Qtr 2) where a standard calendar is used. The YTD switch can then be used tospecify whether the data displayed should be cumulative to the period specified,or simply for the period specified only. The period can also be specified as<Current> and this works the same way as described above for the Year.

An important aspect of column definitions is Column Limitations. The DataSelection obviously limits the data displayed in a column to the Class-Version-Year-Period specified but we may also wish to further limit the data by eitherusing an element range or a hierarchy node range. This is useful in a variety ofsituations, but one example is where we wish to create a cross-tab type report,where for example each column displays a different department. Each columnwould then be limited to a department or range of departments.

In the case of a Calculated column we need to define a calculation string orformula. The notation C1+C2… etc, should be used, where Cx representscolumn x. +,-, *, / and () are valid operators as well as the .. operator, forexample C1..C7 will sum columns 1 through 7.


Finally, we can also control the number of decimals displayed and the format ofthe numbers displayed, by changing the options on the bottom right of the dialog.

Next click to the Cells tab. Cell exceptions allow us to define some formattingcharacteristics based on the value found in a column / row intersection.

In this example, for the Total columns, and for all rows, if the value is less thanzero, we will display the value in red. Have a look at some of the other optionsavailable by dropping down the Action combo box. This capability can be usedfor exception reporting, for example we might choose to display only rows wherethe Variance % (in a column) is greater that 12%.


Finally, click to the Setup tab. This defines some overall report characteristics.

Apart from the report name and group, the other characteristics are as follows.

! Display Natural Account Credits as positive: This means that if areport row consists entirely of revenue or liability accounts, it willautomatically be displayed as positive, even though credit amounts arestored as negative numbers in the database.

! Negatives as (). All negative numbers will be displayed in brackets asopposed to using a leading negative (-) sign.

! Grid: These will switch parts of the grid on or off.

! Rounding: These options will round the report as selected.

This brings us to the end of our tour of an existing report. Hopefully this givesyou an idea of how a report is defined, and how these report definitions can bemanipulated to view your data in virtually any way you wish. Next we will createa new report completely from scratch


Creating a new report

In this section we will step you through the process of creating a completely newreport, rather than modifying an existing report as we have done so far. Firstlylet’s start by looking at the result we want to achieve, which is illustrated below.

This report has the Account as the page dimension (i.e. a different account willbe displayed on each page. At the row level, we have Division (a level of theOrganization tree) as the top level row, with a drill down to Unit (the second levelof the tree) and then a drill down to Department (an element). The columnsconsist of year-to-date budget and actual with a variance and variancepercentage.

Firstly, some housekeeping is needed. We need to create some data in theActual version so that something shows in the Actual column of the report.


Note Usually the Actuals version is updated via an interface to the GeneralLedger. However for demonstration purpose we will simply copy some data fromthe Budget to the Actual, although this is obviously not something you would doin practice.

Copy data from the budget to the actual version (we explained in detail how to doversion copies earlier in this guide) by dragging the Budget icon (under versions)and dropping it on top of the Actuals icon.

In the resulting dialog put in the parameters as illustrated below (put in 90% atthe bottom right, as a copy factor, which will copy each line to the target versionat 90% of the source version).

Click OK and the data will be copied. Next let’s change our system-wide currentperiod from January to June. Under the Administration menu item on the mainmenu, choose System Tasks.


This will bring up a dialog as follows.

Click on the Periods radio button and make sure the Fiscal Year calendar isselected. Then click June. Click Apply and OK to exit the dialog.

Note Once the current period is changed, it impacts all reports driven off thecurrent period of that calendar, throughout the system. However, the currentperiod may be overridden by a user when generating a report.


Now we are ready to start defining the report. On the report icon of the Map, doa right button click and select New from the tear-off menu.

This will bring up to a series of report definition dialogs, which should by now befairly familiar, arranged in a wizard format. Complete the Page dialog as follows.

The Page break is defined by the Account element. Under Selection we specifythat we wish to select the Pages (i.e. Accounts) at run-time. On the bottom right,under Page Title, we specify that we wish to display as a page header both theAccount number and description. Click next which will bring us to the Rows


dialog. Here we will define the overall row characteristics, as well as individualrows.

In the left hand list box in the Rows and Drill-downs section, all availableelements and hierarchy levels appear. Select in turn Organization.Division,Organization.Unit and Department, and click the Add button to move them intothe other box. This defines our row (top item) and drill down (items with red plussign) levels. Next, under drill-down options click the Produce Totals for Drill-down checkbox, which means that when we expand a drill-down on the reporteach level will be sub-totaled.

Now that we have defined the overall row and drill down characteristics we needto define actual rows, either as groupings of divisions or as calculated rows. Clickthe New Row button on the right of the dialog.


Complete the dialog as shown. Be careful to get all the attributes set correctly.This row will contain all available divisions (i.e. we will not limit it in any way).Each division will be displayed as a separate line on the report (Details type row).Be careful to select the Caption option shown. Click the OK button to return tothe main Rows dialog. At this point we will only define one row (we couldcontinue adding rows here, or we can add other rows later from the layoutmanager, as we will do here) and will move on to the Columns dialog by clickingNext.


Complete this dialog as shown. When the Column Type, Data Selections andColumn Caption Options are completed, click the New button (right of the dialog)to add the column. We could continue adding columns here, but instead we willcontinue to the next dialog and add further columns from the layout manager.

Click the Next button. This will bring us to the Cell Exceptions dialog (notillustrated here). We will not use this dialog here. Click Next again.


This will bring us to the final dialog in this series. Complete as shown, and clickthe Layout button. This will bring us to the layout manager.

We will use the layout manager to complete our report. Firstly we need to addthree columns. Highlight the first (data) column (1999 Budget June) andclick the green + button on the button bar three times.

This will replicate the existing column. We can then edit each new column inturn, by highlighting it, and doing a right button click, and selecting Propertiesfrom the tear off menu.

Hint: To highlight a column, use the small gray area just above the column. Thecolumn will turn black.


When the Columns dialog appears, change the parameters as required, anddon’t forget to click the Replace button. The dialogs for each of the threecolumns are shown below.


On the last column please note the changes to the Formatting section.

On returning to layout manager, it should look as follows.

Now let’s add a blank row and a row for the total. Just as we replicated thecolumns, highlight the All divisions row (by clicking the gray area to the left of thisrow) and click the green ‘+’ sign on the main button bar twice. Then highlighteach of the two new rows in turn, do a right button click, and select Propertiesfrom the tear-off menu. In the dialogs that appear, change as follows.


Note when you exit from these dialogs you will be returned to the Rows dialog,not the Layout manager. Simply click Close on the Rows dialog to return to thelayout manager.

Now that the columns and rows are defined let’s create some headings. Toplace a heading in the header area, do a right button click and select one of theoptions from the tear off menu. To change the format of a header (e.g. font,background color), click it, and then do a right button click to get a menu ofoptions. To edit a text header double click it.

The following illustrates some different header types.

Now we are ready to execute the report. Click the Extract button at the top ofthe layout manager window, and the selection box will appear.


The report selection list displays the accounts because this is what we specifiedas being how our Page dimension is defined. Note at the top of the dialog thecurrent period and year appears, which can be overridden here for the purposesof this report iteration.

Click the OK button and after a few seconds the report should appear. Drill downon the rows to reveal each subsequent level. Use the combo box at the top toswitch between pages.

Hopefully you are now sufficiently familiar with the report design mechanism toswitch back and forth between the report mode and the design mode and makeany other adjustments or changes that you require.


Other components

Before wrapping up this extended tutorial, we will cover a couple of othercomponents of the FMW Enterprise system, namely Memos and the ProcessMonitor.

Memos

Memos are on-line documents that are created in the FMW Enterprise databaseand made available to all authorized FMW Enterprise users. They are typicallyused for communicating budget instructions, budget schedules and various typesof procedures.

To create a memo do a right button click on the Memos icon on the Map andselect New from the tear-off menu.

An editing window will appear. This is a rich-text editor similar to the Wordpadeditor in Windows. Use the various buttons on the button bar to copy, paste,print, change font characteristics, delete, undo, search etc. Text can be copied infrom a word processor through the clipboard. Extended font capabilities areavailable under the Edit | Font menu item.


When completed click the Save button on the button bar. The followingdialog will appear.

Provide a Memo title and either key in a group name, or select an existing memogroup from the drop-down combo box, entitled Memo Group. Click OK to savethe memo to the database, and it will appear in the Map under the group youspecified.

This memo will now be available to all FMW Enterprise users (unless access hasbeen restricted through the Access Manager). When it first appears in a user’sMap, the icon representing the memo will not contain the red check mark. Whenthe memo is opened and read by the user, the red check mark will appear on theicon, and if there are several memos, memos which have been opened by theuser will drop to the bottom of this list.

Process Monitor

FMW Enterprise makes extensive use of multi-threading. This means that whena process requires more than a few seconds to execute, it is put on abackground thread, which frees up the workstation so that the user can continuewith other tasks. This means for example that a user can run multiple reports atthe same time. Some processes that are executed on background threadsinclude reports, copies, reforecasts, allocations and add-in routines.


In order to track the progress of background processes that are executing, FMWEnterprise includes a Process Monitor. You have seen this several times duringthe course of this tutorial, because at times it is automatically invoked. Howeverto manually invoke the process monitor, double click the Processes icon on theMap.

The above window will appear. Listed are both completed and runningprocesses. You can monitor the status of a particular process by referring to theStatus column for the particular process being monitored.

Note if your user id is set up as an FMW Enterprise system administrator you willsee in the process monitor not only your own processes but every other users’processes as well. This is a useful means for an administrator to monitor overallactivity in the system.

This monitor list can get long and should be regularly cleaned up bydeleting old process records. To do this, highlight the rows you want to

delete and click the red ‘X’ button from the button bar.

Conclusion

We hope that this tutorial has provided you with the background you need tounderstand how FMW Enterprise may be adapted to meet your application’srequirements. In the next section we will introduce a number of other FMWEnterprise capabilities, which can even further extend the usefulness of yourapplication.

Chapter 5 Advanced features and tools 109

Chapter 5. Advanced features and toolsThis chapter provides a brief introduction to some other FMW Enterprise capabilities andtools. It is not intended to be a comprehensive guide to using these features, but whereappropriate the user is referred to other FMW Enterprise documentation.


Introduction

In previous sections you have seen how the FMW Enterprise data warehouse isconfigured and how data is input, edited and reported. Apart from these basiccapabilities, FMW Enterprise includes a variety of other tools and functions,which allow you to extend and automate your application to a truly remarkabledegree. This chapter provides an introduction to the most important of thesecapabilities. While this is by no means a comprehensive reference, you shouldhave an awareness of what these features are and how they might be applied inyour application.

Access Administrator

The access administrator allows an FMW Enterprise system administrator tocustomize views for individual users and completely control access to the FMWEnterprise database, by granting access by user to objects and functions in theFMW database. The access that a user has to the database determines theitems that will be seen in the users’ Map or in selection lists. For example if auser has no access to a specific report it will not appear on his Map. If a userhas no access to an element item such as a department it will not appear in anyselection list. This means that each user’s view of the FMW Enterprisedatabase can be fully customized so that it appears to be a “private” database.

In general the following access attributes are applied to objects and elements.

! None : The user will have no access to the object and will not seethe object in the Map or on any pick list.

! View: The user will have view access to the object but will not beable to change it in any way.

! Modify: The user will be able to modify the object but will not be ableto delete it or add new sub-objects.

! Add: The user can view, modify and add new objects for the objecttype.

! Unlimited: The user has unlimited rights to an object, including theright to delete it.


The functions to administer access are only available to users who are definedas FMW Enterprise system administrators, and are accessed through theAdministration | Access Administration menu item.

When this option is chosen a series of tabbed dialogs is presented. These areused to administer access.

Functions

Each FMW Enterprise function has a default security attribute associated with it.These default security attributes are used as the initial values when building anew Security Profile (next dialog). The functions are preset and cannot bechanged.


Profiles

A profile contains a set of security attributes for object types / functions withinFMW Enterprise. Users attached to the profile will then inherit the rightsspecified in the profile. These rights can be further modified on a per user basis.

Key in a profile name in the combo box at the top or select an existing profilefrom the combo box. Make the necessary changes against each object type.Click Apply or OK and the profile will be modified (if existing) or created.

Users and Object security

When an object is added to the FMW Enterprise database (e.g. a new report ) asecurity record for each user, defining the type of access that the user has to theobject, is automatically created. The rights granted on the object are initially


determined by referencing the Profile to which the user is attached. Also, when auser is initially established in FMW Enterprise he needs to be attached to aprofile.

Note Before a user can be defined as an FMW Enterprise user and given rightsto objects, the user needs to have been established by your databaseadministrator in the database management system.

A list of database users is contained in the combo box on the top left of thedialog. To access the object rights for an existing user or to set up a new user,select the user from this drop down list. If this user is not yet defined to FMWEnterprise (i.e. the user has not been attached to a profile) the Profiles combobox on the right of the dialog will display <New Value> and there will be noobject security records displayed in the bottom of the dialog. Either select aprofile from the Profiles combo to which this user is to be attached, oralternatively click the Copy button and select a user whose security you wish toduplicate for the new user. The object security records for the user will becreated based on the existing objects in the system and the profile securityattributes for each object type.

Determine whether the user will be an FMW Enterprise System Administrator ornot by adjusting the Yes/No control. Only a user defined as an Administrator willbe able to use the Access Administration functions and the System Tasksfunctions.

Override the security attributes initially defined by the profile for each object, asrequired. Click the Apply button to save adjustments.

This dialog can also be used to change the profile to which a user is attached.Simply select an existing user and select a new profile for the existing user.

An alternative view of this is available on the next tab whereby an object can beselected and all users are listed.


Element security

Element security refers to access rights to individual element items, for examplecost centers, products, projects or departments, by a user.

One convenient way of creating element security for a user or users is byreferencing a hierarchy (tree) which already defines an element roll-up. Thisallows you to define security at a higher level, rather than on an element-by-element basis. Use the Elements from Tree (hierarchy) tab to do this.

In the above example the two users specified will be given Modify access to allDepartment element items which roll up into the Finance node of theOrganization tree. In addition they will have None (No) access to anydepartments not rolling up into this node.


Element security can also be defined for a user on an item-by-item basis, byusing the Elements by User and Elements by Id tabs.

From the combo boxes at the top of the dialog, select the User/Elementcombination for which you need to adjust security.

For each user security can be applied at an element item level. For example adatabase might have 1000 departments defined. However an individual usermay only have an interest in only 5 of them. In this case he would possibly begiven Unlimited access to the 5 and no access (None) to all the others. Click theApply button to apply the changes.

An alternative view of element items is also available where a specific elementitem can be selected and all user security for that element item listed.


Logins

All currently logged on users are listed on this dialog. This allows you to monitorwho is currently logged on to FMW Enterprise.

Data transformations

Reforecasts

The reforecast facility allows the creation of reforecast data by combining a Baseversion and a version containing To date (usually year-to-date) amounts. Theresults are placed in a Reforecast version. Two calculation alternatives areprovided:

Default method In this method the reforecast is simply the base amount withthe amounts up to the To Date period replaced by the To Date amounts -example

J F M A M J J A S O N D TOTBase $10 20 30 30 40 20 20 20 25 45 55 10 325YTD $15 25 20 10 70Ref. $15 25 20 10 40 20 20 20 25 45 55 10 305


Proportional method In this method the reforecast will always equal the ToDate amounts up to the Period specified in the dialog. The remaining periods arecalculated in proportion to the base version amounts, so that the final forecasttotal = X% x the base total version amount. - example

(100%, p4)J F M A M J J A S O N D TOT

Base $10 20 30 30 40 20 20 20 25 45 55 10 325YTD $15 25 20 10 70Ref. $15 25 20 10 43 22 22 22 27 49 59 11 325

To create a reforecast select the Reforecast icon in the Map (under Operations)and do a right button mouse click. Select the New option.


To create the parameters for a reforecast, which can then be re-executed at anytime, complete the dialog as follows:

! Name : Provide a name for this reforecast.

! Class : Choose the Class of data for which this reforecast will be run.

! Base Version/Year : This is usually a budget or previous reforecastversion.

! To Date Version/Year : This is usually the version containing YTDActuals imported from the General Ledger.

! Reforecast Version/Year : This is where the reforecast data will becreated.

! Clear Existing : Select this option if you wish all existing data to becleared from the Reforecast version/year prior to doing the reforecast.

! Proportional Method and Percentage : If you wish to use theProportional method (see above) check this option and specify a targetpercentage.

! To Date period : Select the period up to which the to date amounts areto be used. For example a first quarter reforecast using March YTDactuals (assuming a Year starting in January) would specify March here.

! Hierarchy : The data to be reforecast can be limited to that rolling upinto a specific node of a hierarchy. If this is how you wish to limit thedata click the checkbox and select the hierarchy and the node.

! Key element ranges : Data to be reforecast can also be limited byranges of key elements. If you wish to limit the data by an element rangeturn the checkbox opposite the element off and enter a from-to range forthe element.

Click OK or Apply to save the reforecast for later execution. It will appear in themap under the Operations | Reforecasts item.

To execute a reforecast, double click the icon representing the reforecast on theMap. It will be executed on a background thread and its progress can bemonitored via the process monitor. Alternatively, a reforecast can be executedthrough FMW Scheduler.


Add-ins

It is often necessary to execute business logic within FMW Enterprise that isspecific to your requirements and cannot be supplied using the generalized FMWEnterprise facilities. In order to do this, FMW Enterprise contains an Add-incapability, which allows you to add custom logic to the system without having tomodify the base system.

There are 4 types of add-ins:

! Custom These are add-ins which perform some kind of datatransformation (e.g. a specialized revenue calculation, a depreciationcalculation etc. ). In the tutorial, a custom add-in to post salary details tothe Operating budget, was created.

! Import This is an add-in which is executed as part of the importcapability. It is used to transform data from a source system (often aGeneral Ledger) into a format that FMW Enterprise can read.

! Export This is an add-in which is executed as part of the exportcapability. It is used to transform data extracted from FMW Enterpriseinto a format readable by a destination system.

! Lookup This supplies specialized logic to populate an FMW Enterprisecolumn in an editing view. An example of this might be a lookup of payrates from a HR system in a salary budgeting application.

These add-ins are either developed internally in accordance with specificationsissued by RAC Software or by RAC Software on your behalf. These functionsmust be developed as either stored procedures or DLL’s and registered in FMWunder the Add-In section under System Tasks (see Administration menu items)by your system administrator.

Allocations

An allocation is used to allocate amounts based on a “pool” of data to other lines.It is used most commonly for applications such as allocating overheads torevenue streams.

To create an allocation, select the Allocation icon in the Map (under Operations)and do a right button mouse click. Select the New option.


A wizard - style series of dialogs will appear. The first dialog defines the pool ofdata which will form the source (base or pool) for the allocation.

Complete this dialog as follows.

! Version/Class/Year : Choose a Version/Class/Year combination for thesource data. Then limit the data selection by using a hierarchy node or aset of key ranges.

! Hierarchy : The data to be included in the source can be limited to thatrolling up into a specific node of a hierarchy. If this is how you wish tolimit the data click the checkbox and select the hierarchy and the node.

! Key element ranges : Data to be included in the source can also belimited by ranges of key elements. If you wish to limit the data by anelement range turn the checkbox opposite the element off and enter afrom-to range for the element.

Click the Next button to bring up the next dialog which is used to define how theallocation source amount will be allocated to line items.


Complete this dialog as follows:

! Target Version/Year : Select the target version/year where theallocation results will be generated.

! Defining the allocation lines (% or amount based) : Each line isdefined by a class key (input each key segment, or alternatively, doing aright button click in the segment cell will bring up a pick list), whether theallocation result will be added to an existing value for the key specifiedand a percentage of the source pool that will be allocated to this key(line).

If the % area is clicked (above the column), a static $ amount can beused instead of a percentage. In this case the allocation source poolamount will be ignored.

! Defining the allocation lines (lookup) : Click the Lookup button on thedialog. The Version/Class/Year where the lookup factors are storedmust be specified. The line items are defined the same as forpercentage based calculations (above) except that instead of apercentage a lookup element is specified as well as a period-by-periodspecification.

For example we could have a two allocation lines defined as follows:


Account Cost Center Lookup Element Id5100 1000 10005100 2000 2000

We might have a lookup class/version storing floor space by cost centeras follows

Center Floor Space1000 5200.232000 1000.55Total 6200.78

If the source pool worked out to be $10000 it would be allocated to line 1as follows10000 x (5200.23/6200.78) and line 2 as10000 x (1000.23/6200.78)

Note : Only classes made up of a single key element can be used as lookupclasses.

Click the Next button to bring up the final dialog in the series, which is used toName the allocation and provide some additional parameters.


Complete this dialog as follows:

! Allocation : Name of the allocation set

! Allocation Group : Which allocation group the allocation should beincluded in. Either select an existing group or key in the name of anew one.

! Run Order : When the whole allocation group is executed as asingle stream this specifies the relative order within the group thatthis allocation will be executed.

! Description : A text explanation of what the allocation set does.

! From Period/To Period : Period range for the allocation. Anyperiods outside this range will be not be updated by the allocation.

Click the Apply or Finish button here to save the allocation set definition. It willappear in the Map under Operations | Allocations | [Allocation Group].

To execute an allocation, double click the icon representing the allocation on theMap. It will be executed on a background thread and its progress can bemonitored via the process monitor. To execute the whole allocation group,double click on the group icon. This will execute the allocations in the run orderspecified within each allocation. Alternatively, an allocation or set of allocationscan be executed through FMW Scheduler.

Interfaces

FMW Enterprise includes interfaces to exchange data with external systems.These import and export capabilities are combined with Add-ins (see above) toformat the data as required.

The most common interface is an import of YTD Actuals from the General Ledgersystem into FMW Enterprise for variance report purposes.

Interfaces can be run on line or executed automatically on FMW Scheduler(discussed below).


Tools

FMW Scheduler

FMW Scheduler allows most FMW Functions and Objects (for example Reports,Imports, Exports, Allocations etc.) to be automatically run on an unattendedschedule. When a schedule is established it is submitted to the server forprocessing. There is no requirement for the client workstation to remainconnected to the server.

Multiple schedules may be established, each independent of the other in terms ofwhen schedule execution occurs. Care should be taken to schedule processesso that they do not conflict with each other or with other processes that might beset up to be run on the same server, for example overnight backups and othermaintenance. In addition, schedules requiring significant processing resourcesshould be scheduled to run at off-peak hours so as not to interfere with on-lineprocessing.

Multiple objects / functions can be established within each schedule. These willprocess sequentially in the order that they appear in the schedule.

Two methods are available for accessing FMW Scheduler. The first is directlythrough the FMW Client application. This is available only if you are set up as anFMW system administrator. Click the Scheduler button located on the right of themessage bar at the bottom of the FMW Client screen. This will invoke FMWScheduler and automatically sign you on to the database with which you havealready established a connection through the client.

A second way of invoking FMW Scheduler is via a shortcut to the executablefmwesched.exe. This is automatically set up when you install the FMW clientsoftware with the Administrator option.

Warning FMW Scheduler bypasses some FMW security rules. Usually FMWScheduler should only be made available to an FMW system administrator.

Once signed in to FMW Scheduler select the File | New menu item to create anew schedule. A dialog appears. In the dialog, provide an identification for theschedule, for example Daily Reports.


Now insert objects into the scheduler by clicking the Insert button. Insert objectsin the order that you wish them to process.

In the line that appears when the Insert button is clicked select an objectcategory (e.g. Reports) in column 1 and an object name in column 2.

Depending on the object category certain other options become available. For anumber of objects (e.g. Imports, Reforecasts, Exports, Add-in Routines etc.), aVersion/Class/Year combination is specified when the object is established inFMW Client. If these fields are left blank on the schedule, when the object isprocessed it will process against the pre-established Version/Class/Year.Alternatively any of these parameters may be over-ridden for the purposes of thisschedule. In many cases we might schedule the same object (e.g. an Import)multiple times on the same schedule, using different parameters for eachinstance of the object (e.g. the same import being run for several different years).

A stored procedure can also be scheduled to run directly from the scheduler.This may be an FMW stored procedure or any other procedure available to theuser. Select Procedure in the first column and in the last column type in thename of the procedure with its parameters. An FMW procedure which is oftenscheduled (Oracle only) is a maintenance procedurefmw_maint_clear_work_tables which clears and truncates Oracle worktablesused by FMW. Also if we wish to analyze an Oracle schema automatically wecan schedule procedure dbms_utility.analyze_schema(‘FMW’,’COMPUTE’)

Reports can be scheduled as with other objects. However there are somespecial considerations that apply to scheduled reports.


When a report is run on-line the user is usually presented at run time with a picklist to select pages (elements or tree nodes) for which the report will be run. Inaddition once the report is run the output is returned directly to the clientworkstation where it can be disposed of as required (viewed and discarded,printed, saved as a file, transferred to Excel, e-mailed etc.). In the case of ascheduled report these user actions are not available.

Page selections are resolved as follows. In the case of a report which has thepage selections predetermined (e.g. the page specification is set up as SelectNow), there is no problem. This established page selection is used. In the caseof a report which has run time selections specified, the scheduler refers to theUser name (7th column of the scheduled report) which is specified for the report,and reads the element security for that user in order to get the page selectionsfor which the report will be run.

For example let’s assume we have a report called Monthly Variance Analysiswhich uses an element called Cost Center as the page specification. This reportis placed on the Scheduler against a user called JOHN. When this runs (even ifsubmitted by another user) it will only run for Cost Centers to which JOHN has atleast View access. In the case of a report which uses hierarchy nodes todetermine the page, it will determine which nodes relate to elements to which theuser has access, and run the report only for those nodes.

As can be deduced from the above we could schedule a single report multipletimes in the same schedule, each time against a different user. Each user wouldthen be able to retrieve his section of the report (see section below on viewingscheduled reports). However another and possibly more efficient way to achievethis splitting effect is to schedule the report once against a user who has accessto all the page elements. The output can then be passed through the FMWReport Distributor module to split the report by user and deliver it to each user,either via e-mail or by saving the split piece as a file into a private directoryaccessible to that user.

One other parameter is available for scheduled reports and that is the OverridePrevious button (red checkbox) in the 6th column. If this is checked it means thatthe latest iteration of a report’s output (for the user) stored in the database willreplace the previous iteration. If this button is not checked, every iteration of thereport will be stored separately until manually deleted.

Once the objects have been inserted into the schedule, click on the tab labeledFrequency to define the times when the schedule will be run. The schedule willbe run based on the time and date of the first run. For example if today in June16, 1999 and you wish a schedule to run at 11pm from today onwards, define thestart date as June 16,1999 and the time as 23.00 (24 hour clock). Then choosethe Daily option with the interval being 1 day. Clicking the OK button will submit


the schedule. The dialog will close and the schedule will appear in the mainwindow of FMW Scheduler. To re-access the details of this schedule click on therow and use the File | Open menu option.

Once a scheduled report has been executed the output can be retrieved from thedatabase by using the File | Open Scheduled Reports menu option. This optionis available in both FMW Client and FMW Report Distributor. Once the report isopened it is as though the user had run it on line and it can be disposed of asrequired.

In the case of a system administrator all reports scheduled against any user maybe retrieved. In the case of others users only reports scheduled against theiruser id’s may be accessed.


The status of other processed objects (as well as the timing and success orfailure of the schedule as a whole) will be reported in the process monitor, in thesame way as if the object had been executed on-line.

FMW Report Distributor

FMW Report Distributor allows a user to distribute reports created in FMW. Adistributed report can either be a saved report that has been previously run or areport scheduled through the FMW Scheduler module. For each saved /scheduled report a distribution profile can be created which defines the user,report pages and method of distribution. A report can be distributed byspecifying a file name and location or by specifying the recipient’s e-mailaddress.

You may distribute reports to any user defined as an FMW user. Each user canreceive any or all pages of the distributed report. If a report is being saved to afile name and location, it can be stored on any drive and folder, either local ornetwork that you have write access to. When e-mailing a distributed report, youcan specify any e-mail address either internal to your organization or external.For someone to view a distributed report they must have access to the FMWClient or the FMW Report Viewer modules. Distributed reports behave exactlythe same as any other saved FMW report.

Two methods are available for accessing FMW Report Distributor. The first isdirectly through the FMW Client application. This is available only if you are setup as an FMW system administrator. Click the Report Distributor button locatedon the right of the message bar at the bottom of the FMW Client screen. This willinvoke FMW Report Distributor and automatically sign you on to the databasewith which you have already established a connection through the client.

A second way of invoking FMW Report Distributor is via a shortcut to theexecutable fmwrdist.exe. This is automatically set up when you install the FMWclient software with the Administrator option.


Report distribution profiles are automatically assigned and stored against asaved or scheduled report. To begin the process of creating a report distributionprofile open a saved or scheduled report.

There are two methods for opening a saved report. You can click on the FileOpen button or select File / Open Saved Report from the menu line. Bothprocesses open the standard Windows Open dialogue. The default drive andfolder (as set-up in the FMW Client for Saved Reports) will be used and all fileswith an ‘.FMW’ extension (ex. ABC.FMW) will be displayed. Select the report andclick the Open button or double click the report to want to distribute. If a profilealready exists for this report it will be retrieved.

To open a scheduled report select File / Open Scheduled Report from the menuline. The Scheduled Reports dialogue will appear showing a list of scheduledreports, date and time run and the user assigned to the scheduled report. Selectthe report and click the Open button or double click the report to want todistribute. If a profile already exists for this report it will be retrieved.

Once a saved or scheduled report is opened the FMW Report Distributor willdisplay a list of all FMW Enterprise users. To specify that a user is to receive allor any portion of the report, click the check box to the left of the user name.Then click on the face button to view the pages of the report. If the report hasbeen defined as using a hierarchy for the page selection, then a list of hierarchynode descriptions will appear. If the report has been defined as using anelement for the page selection than a list of elements and element descriptionswill appear. If the report was defined with no page selections than a single entry


titled ‘NONE’ will appear. When a report with no page selection is distributed thereport in total will be sent.

Use the Include/Exclude All button to select that all or no pages go to therecipient. This button operates as a toggle switching between select all andselect none. To select individual pages click on the check box under the Includecolumn beside the page(s) for the recipient. Clicking on the check box when it’salready on will exclude the page. If the recipient is to receive a majority of thepages of the report, click the Include All button and then selectively excludeindividual pages. Continue this process for all users for which the report is to bedistributed.

For each user you define as being a recipient, the entry under Output File willopen up. There are two methods for specifying the distributed report file name.

The first method allows you to type in the drive / folder / filename directly intoOutput File field. There is no pre-edit of the entry therefore you can specify thedistributed report to go to a network drive you are not currently attached to.

The second method is to click the Folder button to the right of the user name.This brings up the standard Windows File Save dialog. The default drive andfolder (as set-up in the FMW Client for Saved Reports) will be used and all files


with an ‘FMW’ extension (e.g. department_report.fmw) will be displayed. Youcan overwrite an existing report or type in a new name in the File Name field andclick the Save button. The drive / folder / filename will appear in Output File field.

Do not use the same drive / folder / filename for multiple users. If you do, thecontent of the file will be the distribution to the last user on the list using thatfilename.

Invalid drive / folder / filename will be validated at the time the report isdistributed.

For each user you define as being a recipient, the entry under E-mail Addresswill open up. Type in the e-mail address of the recipient, if required (you do notneed to specify an e-mail address). Optionally you can specify a note that will beincluded in the e-mailing of the report. To specify a note, select Edit / E-mailNote from the menu line. Type in the note you want to appear in the e-mail andclick the OK button. This note is common for all e-mail recipients of this report.

To save the report distribution profile you can either click the Save button on thebutton bar or select File / Save Profiles from the menu line. If you exit FMWReport Distributor without saving the profile you will be asked to either save orcancel the profile you’ve been working on.

To delete the report distribution profile you can either click the Delete button onthe button bar or select Edit / Delete Report Profile from the menu line.

To run the FMW Report Distributor on-line you can either click the Executebutton on the button bar or select Edit / Distribute Report from the menu line.The distributor will display the status of the execution and any error messages. If


an error occurs in creating a file for a user, the Output File field will highlight inred.

You can run the FMW Report Distributor in batch mode in two methods, eitherthrough the DOS Command line or as a DOS Batch (‘.BAT’) file. The syntax isthe same for both.

start/w fmwrdist.exe –daaaaa –ubbbbb –pccccc (–fddddd or –seeee)

start/w = begins the command processor with wait optionfmwrdist.exe = FMW Report Distributor program – if not on the path you will

need to supply a pathname.

-daaaaa = -d is the ODBC datasource parameter where aaaaa is thedatasource name. NOTE: no spaces are allowed in thedatasource name.

-ubbbbb = -u is the user name parameter where bbbbb is the FMW Username

-pccccc = -p is the password parameter where ccccc is the FMW Userpassword

-fddddd = -f is the filename parameter where ddddd is the filename ofthe saved report

-seeeee = -s is the schedule parameter where eeeee is the name of thescheduled report

The –f and –s parameters are mutually exclusive. Only one can be used in asingle command. You can create batch files that can run more than onedistribution profile.

Examples:

Distributing a Saved Report start/w fmwrdist –dFMW_DATASOURCE -uUSER -pPSWRD -fC:\RPTS\DAN.FMW

Distributing Scheduled Reports start/w fmwrdist –dFMW_DATASOURCE -uUSER -pPSWRD –SIncomeStatement start/w fmwrdist –dFMW_DATASOURCE -uUSER -pPSWRD –SBalance Sheet start/w fmwrdist –dFMW_DATASOURCE -uUSER -pPSWRD –SSales Analysis


FMW OLAP Server

FMW OLAP Server allows data to easily be extracted from FMW in a mannerconvenient for manipulation with an OLAP tool. The only OLAP tool currentlysupported is Cognos’ PowerPlay", a powerful multi-dimensional, graphicalanalysis tool. Other OLAP tools will be supported in future releases.

If you wish to use this capability please refer to the document called FMW OLAPServer.doc in the FMW Enterprise documentation set.

FMW Report Viewer

FMW Report Viewer is a tool to view FMW reports that have been saved in a.fmw file. If associated with the .fmw file extension (which it is automatically ifinstalled with the FMW Installer) this application will be automatically invokedwhen a file with a .fmw extension is double clicked in Windows Explorer.

FMW Report Viewer is distributed royalty-free, so it is a convenient way todistribute and view reports electronically throughout your organization. Inaddition FMW Report Viewer does not require a connection to a database.

FMW reports (.fmw files) can be accessed either via the File | Open menu optionor by double clicking on a .fmw file in Windows Explorer.

Page SelectionsTransfer to MS-Excel


Once the report is loaded the following actions are available.

! Report can be viewed and discarded.% Full drill downs are available. If there is a drill down on a line the

cursor will change to a pair of binoculars. Double click to drill downor up. Also use the View | Expand-Contract all menu item to do fullexpands or contacts.

% One page at a time is displayed. Use the combo box at the top ofthe report display to switch between pages.

! Report can be printed. (File | Print or Print button)

! Report can be saved under another file name (File | Save As…)

! Report can be transferred to Excel (use the Excel button on the secondbutton bar)

! Report can be e-mailed (File | Send to…)

! Report can be copied to the clipboard as text (Edit | Copy or Copybutton)

Multiple reports can be open simultaneously in a single instance of FMW ReportViewer. Multiple instances of the FMW Report Viewer application can also exist.

Distributed Processing

FMW is usually operated in a centralized mode, which means that a singledatabase is accessed in a real-time mode by multiple connected users. Howeverit is sometimes convenient to operate FMW in a distributed mode for thefollowing reasons.

Mobile users might not be able to be connected to the central database on acontinuous basis. A mobile user might wish to download his section of thedatabase, work on it, and later upload the results back to the central (parent)database.

This option also allows multiple FMW databases to be maintained for differentparts of an organization, with selective consolidation occurring at variousintervals. This can be a multi-level arrangement where parent databases in turnfeed other parent databases.


For further details, please refer to two documents, FMW Module-DistributedOption and Installing FMW Mobile - Distributed Option.doc in the FMWEnterprise documentation set.

Index

A

access administrator ∙ 110access attributes ∙ 110access management ∙ 30add-ins ∙ 61, 119additional Relationship ∙ 64, 89allocations ∙ 119applications ∙ 4

B

background process queues (Oracle) ∙ 9background processes ∙ 107bar Graph ∙ 37browser ∙ 4,11budgeting categories ∙ 24building blocks ∙ 46business logic (add-ins) ∙ 68

C

calculated column ∙ 6, 901calculated row ∙ 77, 88calendars ∙ 57capital budgeting ∙ 25caption only / blank line ∙ 88cell exceptions ∙ 91,99class ∙ 47, 57class key ∙ 60classes ∙ 57client / server ∙ 5client installation ∙ 17column attributes ∙ 64column caption ∙ 89column definitions dialog ∙ 82column limitations ∙ 90column yype ∙ 89columns ∙ 60combination description ∙ 34comparatives ∙ 64concurrent user licenses ∙ 14, 16consolidated ∙ 88copy ∙ 72

currency ∙ 61current period ∙ 95custom add-ins∙ 119

D

data warehouse ∙ 4database administrator ∙ 8decimals ∙ 61, 91delete ∙ 33demo database ∙ 5, 14, 16demonstration (FMW Enterprise)∙ 4design (reports) ∙ 76design mode (reports) ∙ 42detail type row ∙ 76display order (editing view)∙ 63distributed processing ∙ 134documents ∙ 2, 46, 105, 135drag and drop (hierarchies) ∙ 51drill downs (reports) ∙ 41, 86drill-down options ∙ 87

E

editing a budget ∙ 31editing Views ∙ 32, 53, 57, 61element security ∙ 114elements ∙ 26, 47e-mail ∙ 42export (interface) ∙ 119extending the model ∙ 45external systems ∙ 123extract (report data) ∙ 103

F

FMW OLAP Server ∙ 133FMW Report Distributor ∙ 128FMW Report Viewer ∙ 133FMW Scheduler ∙ 123, 124Function / Object Map ∙ 30Functions (security access)∙ 111

Index

G

General Ledger ∙ 48, 94, 123Grid (report) ∙ 92

H

header area ∙ 83headings ∙ 103hierarchies ∙ 39,50

I

imports ∙ 119increment / decrement amount ∙ 36increment / decrement percentage ∙ 36initialized database ∙ 13, 16insert ∙ 33installing FMW Enterprise ∙ 7interfaces ∙ 94, 123

J

journal entry ∙ 71

L

layout manager ∙ 76, 100levels ∙ 56license agreement ∙ 11limit data selection ∙ 64line items ∙ 35, 54locks (versions) ∙ 71logins ∙ 22, 116lookup columns ∙ 61, 68, 119

M

map ∙ 30mask ∙ 88memos ∙ 105Microsoft" Sql Server ∙ 5, 9, 15mobile users ∙ 134

modeling ∙ 35MS-Excel ∙ 41multi-threading ∙ 106

N

named levels ∙ 55natural account ∙ 27, 48, 92negatives as () ∙ 92non-calendar column ∙ 61notes ∙ 33

O

object security ∙ 112ODBC ∙ 8, 10, 19operating budgets ∙ 25Oracle ∙ 5, 8, 13

P

page ∙ 85page definition ∙ 85page dialog ∙ 96page selections ∙ 40, 52period ∙ 90print ∙ 41privileges ∙ 9process monitor ∙ 106profiles ∙ 112public synonyms (Oracle) ∙ 14

R

reforecasts ∙ 116reports ∙ 38, 74rounding ∙ 92row caption ∙ 88row data limitations ∙ 88row definition ∙ 78

Index

S

salary allocations ∙ 25, 61, 67salary data ∙ 68save as a file ∙ 41select at run-time ∙ 86selection ∙ 32, 52, 63server installation ∙ 11, 12setup wizard ∙ 5, 21spread ∙ 33spread comparative ∙ 37spread even ∙ 36Sql*Net (Oracle) ∙ 8subtotals (editing views)∙ 67support (for FMW Enterprise)∙ 1, 3, 5system administrator ∙ 107, 113

T

tablespace ∙ 9timelines ∙ 25training ∙ 3

tuning, performance ∙ 9, 10

U

unallocated element items ∙ 55undo ∙ 34update methods ∙ 71upgrade ∙ 8users ∙ 112

V

version-class ∙ 71version-class-year controls ∙ 71versions ∙ 31, 70

Z

zero values ∙ 36

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