Advanced Reporting Implementing Standard Report Templates

Advanced Reporting – Implementing

Standard Report Templates

A guide to installing and validating reports from the EC Standard Report

template bundle for an instance on the b1505 Designer Interface.

CONFIDENTIAL

Before we begin……

Internal © 2014 SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved. 2

There are three main “pieces” to EC Standard Report templates in Advanced Reporting:

Employee Central: The repository for employee data, which

can be viewed on an individual employee basis. Every

instance will have it’s own configuration set according to

individual requirements (ie: which portlets shown, which

objects used).

Advanced Reporting: The tool that allows for producing

Employee Central

Advanced Reporting

reports from the Employee Central data. It will display the

data and objects that have been configured and are available

in Employee Central for that instance.

EC Report Templates: Templates created for use in

Advanced Reporting, that cover common reporting

requirements and use cases.

EC Report Templates


Before we begin (cont)……

There are three main “pieces” to EC Standard Report templates in Advanced Reporting:

The EC Report Templates are generated from a “best-fit”

scenario – which means they will typically include the more

commonly configured objects and data in Employee Central.

This “best-fit” scenario may differ from individual EC

configurations and as such, a Validation Tool in Advanced

Employee Central

Advanced Reporting

Reporting has been provided to more easily make any small

changes necessary to a template to for it to run successfully

in it’s target instance.

EC Report Templates

This document is intended to give an overview of the use of the Advanced Reporting

Validation Tool only, provide some insight into the validation messages that can be shown and

assumes that the user had a sound knowledge of the target instance configuration (data and

objects).

Employee Central Standard Reports are implemented to Advanced

Reporting by loading the report template and validating the report to ensure

the report definition aligns with the instance configuration. There are three

steps to implementing a standard report template:

1. Load report templates

2. Validate reports

3. Test reports

Load Report Templates

The Employee Central Standard Reports are available in the form of an encrypted

xml file, which contains the report definition. Storing the templates in xml allows for

quick and easy transportation of the report definition. It contains no data results and

is set of “instructions” for building the report in the target instance.

Loading a Report Template Checklist – Before you begin


Ensure your account has the necessary permissions to access the Report

Transfer function. This can be quickly confirmed by navigating to the Admin

page in Analytics. If you can see Report Transfer option then you have the

required permission. If you cannot see this option, please raise a case with

Customer Support or have your SuccessFactors admin add the Report Transfer

permission to your account.

Ensure you have the bundle of EC Standard Report templates that are applicable

for the b1505 Advanced Reporting interface. Bundles specific to this interface

will be marked as “for 1505 UI”.

Ensure you have saved the report template package from the Customer

Community to your computer. This package will include individual report

templates (for loading selected reports) and a single file that contains all report

templates (for bulk loading all available report templates).

Note that the report transfer process will overwrite any existing report that has

the same name as the transferred template. To prevent this, note the names of

existing reports and rename any that has the same name as the report/s

intending to be transferred.


Loading a Report Template Report Package templates and Single Report templates

Templates can be in two forms:

• Report “packages” – these contain a set (ie: more than one report) of report

templates

• Single reports – these contain a single report template.

Generally, the template name will identify the form of template. Report packages

are typically named for the release version and contain “Report Package” in the file

name. Single reports are typically named for the individual report contained in the

template.

The Report Transfer process is the same, regardless of whether a single report or

report package is being used. Report packages are useful when many templates

need loading, single reports when only one template is required. Report packages

can be used even if only a single template is required (discussed further in the

following slides).

Loading a Report Template Identifying Report Package templates and Single Report templates


The first three template files in this list are

report packages, as identified by the release

version they are suitable for (eg: 1411) and

contain Report Package in the file name.

The remaining template files in this example

are single report templates. The report name

is identified in the template file name (eg:

Absence Overview.xml contains the Absence

Overview report template).


Loading a Report Template Navigate to the Report Transfer page in Analytics Admin

Note: your language and administration options

may differ from those shown here.


Loading a Report Template Select the xml package to be uploaded

Click Upload.

The To Organization field

will be automatically

populated with your

instance name.

Click Browse and

navigate to where the

report template is stored /

saved.

Select it and click Open.

Loading a Report Template Load the package


Click Load Package.

Once loaded, the

reports available in the

template file will

appear in a list in the

Available Reports

box.

Note: The load may take from a few seconds to a few minutes depending on the size of the file, and the speed of your connection.


Loading a Report Template If selecting all available report templates

If loading all report templates available in the file, drag the top folder (EC

Standard Reports in this example) from the Available Reports box, to the

Selected Reports box and click Upload Selections.

Loading a Report Template If selecting individual report templates


If loading only selected report templates available in the file, individually drag

reports from the Available Reports box, to the Selected Reports box and

click Upload Selections.

Loading a Report Template Load status

A status screen will display showing the success/failure of the report transfer. If

there were existing reports with the same name, they will now be overwritten with the

new template. Please raise a case with Support should any reports fail to upload.

© 2014 SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved. Internal 14

Validating Reports Employee Central can be configured in many different ways – each individual to the

particular needs of the instance. The Employee Central Standard Reports are built

from EC configuration that may not be exactly the same as the target instance that

the report templates will be loaded to.

Report Validation is a tool that is used to search for any parts of the report template

definition that do not match the EC configuration of the target instance. It then

assists users with updating the report definition so that it matches the configuration

in the target instance thus allowing the report to run successfully.

Validating Reports Checklist – Before you begin


Ensure your account has the necessary permissions to access the Instance

Validation function. This can be quickly confirmed by navigating to the Admin

page in Analytics. If you can see the Instance Validation option then you have

the required permission. If you cannot see this option, please raise a case with

Customer Support or have your SuccessFactors admin add the Report Transfer

permission to your account.

Use the Advanced Reporting: Standard Reports reference guide found in the

help portal (http://help.sap.com/hr_ec under the Reference Information

heading) for assistance with which tables are required to be configured in EC to

support each of the report templates. If an instance has not configured the

tables required for a particular report template, then the template will not be valid

for that instance and can be deleted.

Use the following section on validation error descriptions, cause and fixes as you

work through the validation errors. This section will help you to determine which

errors should be resolved first and if a report template is not suitable for your

instance (which means validation becomes redundant).

http://help.sap.com/hr_ec


Validating Reports Description, Cause and Fix for Validation errors

The following section describes the cause of validation errors and possible fixes

(including using the validator to resolve the error).

It is often the case that the cause of one validation error, can generate related

validation errors. Fixing the root validation error, will result in a fix for any related

errors. Some validation errors will not present with an Edit or Delete option – these

errors are often related to a root validation issue and will be automatically fixed

when the root validation error is resolved.

Given this, rather than working “top to bottom” from the list of errors presented in the

validation interface, it is recommended that you work through the validation errors in

the order of:

1. “table” related errors

2. then the “column” related errors


Validating Reports Deconstructing table names

If a table cannot be found in an instance then the label used for that table will not

exist – given this, the table name will be displayed in it’s “raw” form.

Typically the first part of this “raw” label will be the category that the table is found in

(for eg):

• PERSON_VIEW

• EMPLOYMENT_VIEW

• AUTO_FOUNDATION_OBJECTS_VIEW

• EMPLOYMENT (or the MDF-specific label)

The last portion of the “raw” label gives the most insight into the table origins (for

eg):

• EMP_JOB_INFO: Employee Job Information

• EMP_PHONE_INFO: Employee Phone Information

• EMP_EMAIL_INFO: Employee Email Information

• MDF_EmployeeClass: MDF Picklist for Employee Class labels


Validating Reports List of Validation Errors

Error message Cause

No primary table defined: (). Table: Validator cannot find table

Table () is not found. Table: Validator cannot find table

Table () is not a possible driving table Table: Validator cannot find table

Query condition is invalid due to missing or invalid left query member. Column: Validator cannot find column

Query contains an invalid auto link column – [column] from [table] to

[table].

Column: Table exists, but validator cannot find column

Column () is not found in Table (). Column: Table exists, but validator cannot find column

Query contains an invalid runtime filter : Autolink column [column]

from [table] to [table].

Column: Validator cannot find column

Query condition is invalid due to missing or invalid left query member. Column: Validator cannot find column

Query contains an invalid runtime filter : Column () is not found in

Table ().

Column: Validator cannot find column

Calculated column requires column () is not found in Table () Column: Validator cannot find column

Query contains an invalid calculated column (). Typically caused by the Calculated column requires

column () is not found in Table () error


Validating Reports Cause of missing table errors

• Table () is not found

• No primary table defined: ()

• Table () is not a possible driving table

Cause: These errors indicate that a table used in the report template is not found in

the target instance. The validator may be unable to find a table due to it not existing

in the instance or simply having a different label in the instance configuration.

A missing table can also have the flow on effect of causing missing columns so these

errors are often seen together and accompanied by other validation errors relating to

joins and columns.

These errors should be fixed first, as this will potentially resolve any other validation

issues that stem from this error, including other validation errors from the same list.


Validating Reports Fixes for missing table errors

Fix:

1. First, confirm that the missing table has been implemented in the instance’s EC

configuration. Eg: if the report template contains the Time Account Detail object, then this

object is pivotal to the report results. If this object hasn’t been configured for EC, then the

report is effectively redundant for the target instance and can be removed / sent to an

archive folder. The Advanced Reporting: Standard Reports reference guide found in the

help portal (http://help.sap.com/hr_ec, under the Reference Information heading) will

outline the main tables used for each individual report.

2. If the table has been configured for the instance, then the table label might be different to

the report template. In some cases, tables have been labelled according to a particular

“type” code (eg: Phone type, or Email type) and it will be required to select the

corresponding “type” for the table in the target instance. To update the report template so

that it uses the table label for the target instance, click on Edit next to the error and review

the list of alternative tables offered (shown in following slides).

3. If the table has been configured and the table label is the same in the target instance as the

report definition, then there may be an issue with the table appearing in the target instance.

Please raise a ticket with Support to investigate.

http://help.sap.com/hr_ec


Validating Reports Cause of missing column errors

• Column () is not found in Table ().

• Query contains an invalid auto link column – [column] from [table] to [table].

• Query contains an invalid runtime filter : Autolink column [column] from

[table] to [table].

• Query contains an invalid runtime filter : Column () is not found in Table ().

• Calculated column requires column () is not found in Table ()

• Query contains an invalid calculated column ().

• Query condition is invalid due to missing or invalid left query member

Cause: These errors indicate that a column used in the report template cannot be

found in the target instance. The validator may be unable to find a column due to a

missing table, different labels, or the column simply not existing in the configuration.

It is recommended that errors are resolved in the order given above (if possible) as

errors higher in the list can automatically resolve errors lower in the list.


Validating Reports Fixes for missing column errors

Fix:

1. Some columns use a picklist or foundation object table (these are identified by

PICKLIST or FOUNDATION_OBJECTS in the table name):

a. Ensure that the picklist or foundation object is configured for the instance.

Most picklists and foundation objects are typically not pivotal to the report

results. If the picklist or foundation object is not configured and not required

in the instance, it can simply be deleted from the report template using the

Delete option.

b. The picklist or foundation object table be configured with a different label. To

update the report template so that it uses the table label for the target

instance, click on Edit next to the error and review the list of alternative

tables offered (shown in following slides).

2. If the table has been configured and the table label is the same in the target

instance as the report definition, then there may be an issue with the join

configuration in the target instance. Please raise a ticket with Support to

investigate.


Validating Reports Navigate to the Instance Validation page in Analytics Admin

Note: your language and administration options

may differ from those shown here.


Validating Reports Validator Overview

The Report Designer folder/report tree will be displayed on the left. Open the folder

that contains the transferred reports (here it’s EC Standard Reports). To validate all

reports in the folder at the same time, select the folder and click Validate. To

validate individual reports, select the report and click Validate.

The following slides will cover the purposes of the Group Errors, Show Single

Error and Show Row Count options. For the purposes of validating report

templates, it is recommended that all these options are switched off / unchecked.


Validating Reports Group Errors option

The Group Errors option will list errors based on what part of the report template the

error affects - Table, Filters, Column, Calculated column and Conditions (filters):


Validating Reports Show Single Error option

The Show Single Error will show only individual validation errors at a time. If there

is more than one error, then the error displayed will need to be resolved before the

next error will display.


Validating Reports Show Row Count option

The Show Row Count option will show how many rows a report is currently

returning. Note this option will not produce a row count for reports that have not

been validated.

This option is useful for quickly checking that valid reports are returning data.

Validating Reports Run the Validator

Select the folder or report, ensure all options are unchecked and click Validate. The

validator will confirm that all the tables, columns, joins and filters used in the report

definition are available in the target instance. Any discrepancies between the

instance and the report definition are then listed:


Validating Reports Fixing Common Validation errors – Missing Phone and Email tables


The most common validation error relates to the Employees Phone and Email tables

and will occur because each instance has its own code for individual Phone and

Email types. The table below shows the appropriate mapping between the Phone

and Email type codes, and the label for that type:

Table: Look for:

PERSON_VIEW_EMP_PHONE_INFO_4828 Home Phone (or the appropriate label for “Home” /

“Personal” Phone in the target instance).

PERSON_VIEW_EMP_PHONE_INFO_4830 Business Phone (or the appropriate label for “Business” /

“Work” Phone in the target instance).

PERSON_VIEW_EMP_PHONE_INFO_4831 Cell Phone (or the appropriate label for “Cell” / “Mobile”

Phone in the target instance).

PERSON_VIEW_EMP_EMAIL_INFO_4824 Home Email (or the appropriate label for “Home” /

“Personal” Email in the target instance).

PERSON_VIEW_EMP_EMAIL_INFO_4826 Business Email (or the appropriate label for “Business” /

“Work” Email in the target instance).

See the next slide for details on how to resolve these errors using the validator.

Validating Reports Fixing Common Validation errors – Missing Phone and Email tables


To correct these Phone and Email table errors, click Edit to select the appropriate

Phone or Email table according to the previous mapping:

Clicking Edit next to the

Table ‘[]_4830’error

bring up a list of

possible replacement

tables. Select the

Business Phone table

(in this example it is

labeled Phone

Information

(Business) and click

Update All.


Validating Reports Fixing Validation errors – Example #1

In this example, the instance is missing 3 MDF picklist tables resulting in 4 errors

(due to how & where these picklists are used in the report template):

Clicking the Edit link

next to the

MDF_JobLevel error

shows that there is no

Job Level picklist

configured for this

instance:



Since this column is used as a simple “picklist” in the report output (ie: it is not being

used as a query filter, nor in a calculated column) it is not pivotal to the report results

and can be deleted. Click Delete next to this error to remove this column from the

report (note the message displayed – indicating that the second validation error for

the MDF Job Level picklist will also be resolved at the same time).

Click Update All to

remove all instances of

this picklist from all

templates selected for

validation:



In this example, the instance is missing a table (Pension Plans) that is pivotal to the

report. The missing table (error Table ‘[]’ is not found) also causes further

validation errors where columns from that table are used in the report template:

It is confirmed that the instance does not have Pension Plans enabled and as

such, the report Pension Overview is not suitable for this instance. The

validation errors can be ignored and the report deleted.



In this example, the instance is missing a column from a table used in the report

template:

Clicking Edit next to

this error shows that

there is no Address 3

column available in the

Home Address

(home) table and as

such, it can be deleted

by clicking Delete.

Testing Reports

Once reports have been loaded and successfully validated, the final step is to

confirm that the report is returning results. The EC Standard Report templates may

have filter values which may need to be updated to reflect the filter values used in

the target instance. If filter values are not updated, the report may return

inconsistent results or no results at all.

Testing Reports Checklist – Before you begin

Ensure your account has the necessary permissions to

access the Report Designer and Advanced Reporting

functions. This can be quickly confirmed by viewing the

list of available functions for your user in the Tools menu:


Testing Reports Open report to check results

Navigate to Report

Designer. The

templates will have

automatically been

placed as reports in a

folder called EC

Standard Reports:


Testing Reports Open report to check results


Open the report and

click Preview to view

the results:


Loading a Report Template Final notes

• The row count option in Instance Validation can be used to quickly see if a report

is returning results. Running the validator with this option turned on to note which

reports have 0 records returned.

• If a report is not returning rows review the default date parameters set in Date

Options. The default setting for the report may be a timeframe that does not have

any results for it. Eg: if the Hire report is defaulting to “Current Month” there may

not yet be any hires for the current month

• If a report is still not returning rows, edit the report and confirm that any filters used

in the report are correct per the values that are specific to that instance.

• Use the Add to Menu and Report Sharing options (under the File menu) in

Report Designer to allow other users to run / access the report.


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Advanced Reporting Implementing Standard Report Templates