Financial Reporting Center

Oracle Fusion Financial Reporting Center is a powerful tool for reviewing, designing, and presenting financial reports and analytic data.
The Financial Reporting Center is intended to be the primary user interface (UI) to access all seven report types it offers.
These are the report types you can find in the Financial Reporting Center:
  • Financial (Reporting Studio) Reports
  • Account Groups and Sunburst
  • Smart View Reports
  • Oracle Transactional Business Intelligence Analyses
  • Oracle Transactional Business Intelligence Dashboards
  • Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Reports
  • Business Intelligence Mobile Apps
The figure below should give you a visual idea of the types of reports that are available and how they are structured.

In addition to accessing reports, you can add favorites, define tags, and view report details (type, last updated date, and so on).
Financial (Reporting Studio) Reports are located in the Shared > Custom > Financials / My Folders directories. All other report types can be saved anywhere in the Business Intelligence (BI) Catalog. However, any user-defined content should be in the Shared > Custom folder. Subfolders can be created in the same location.
All seven report types can be run from the Financial Reporting Center and from other reporting tools. Find out what each one is about:
  • Financial Reports: These reports are built off the Oracle Financial Reporting Studio, using data from the Oracle Fusion General Ledger balances cube (think company income statements and balance sheets). These reports are mainly run by users in General Ledger.
  • Account Groups and Sunburst: Account groups are used to monitor key accounts in General Ledger. When a user creates an account group, it becomes visible in the Financial Reporting Center, thanks to the Sunburst visualization tool. Sunburst lets you interact with your account balances across various business dimensions (in other words, you can view balances from different perspectives). Just so you know, account groups are used only in General Ledger.
  • Smart View Reports: Smart View is a multidimensional pivot analysis tool with full Excel functionality. With Smart View, you can interactively analyze your balances and define reports using a familiar spreadsheet environment. To share Smart View queries, users can e-mail others or upload them to the Financial Reporting Center, where users can download said queries to a local drive. Keep in mind: The Financial Reporting Center is the only place to upload and download Smart View queries.

Note: To upload a Smart View report to the Financial Reporting Center, select Open Workspace for Financial Reports > BI Catalog > Tasks > Upload. Make sure to upload the Excel file to one of the folder locations previously mentioned.
  • Oracle Transactional Business Intelligence Analyses: These analyses and reports are made of transactional tables using subject areas. The reports can be run by users in General Ledger, Payables, Receivables, Cash Management, Intercompany, and so on.
  • Oracle Transactional Business Intelligence Dashboards: Dashboards make all the information, functions, and actions business users need accessible in one place. Dashboards are made of Oracle Transactional Business Intelligence objects (analyses, reports from General Ledger, Payables, Receivables, Cash Management, Intercompany – you name it).
  • Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Reports: Most of these reports are predefined and must first be submitted to see the latest data from Oracle Enterprise Scheduler through the Scheduled Processes navigation. These reports can be run by users in General Ledger, Payables, Receivables, Cash Management, Intercompany…wait, that sounds familiar.
  • BI Mobile Apps: Oracle Business Intelligence Mobile App Designer is an application that allows you to create your own multitouch, information-driven apps with rich interaction, visualization, and media for mobile devices (you know: iPhone, iPad, Android phone. The usual suspects). These reports can be run by users in (all together now) General Ledger, Payables, Receivables, Cash Management, Intercompany, and so on.

The critical choices required to configure and install the components in Financial Reporting Center consist of:
·      Configuring the Financial Reporting Center
·      Installing and configuring Financial Reporting Studio, performed by your end users
·      Installing Smart View, performed by your end users
·      Configuring Workspace Database Connection, performed by your administrator
Configuring Financial Reporting Center
You have access to the reports in the Financial Reporting Center and Workspace installed with Oracle Fusion Financial Applications. Your Oracle Fusion Business Intelligence (BI) administrator defines the folder structure in Workspace. The administrator considers your company's security requirements for folders and reports, as well as report distribution requirements for financial reporting batches.
·      Security can be set on folders and reports from Workspace.
·      You are granted access to the folders and reports you want to view by your BI administrator.
Installing and Configuring Financial Reporting Studio
Oracle Financial Reporting Studio is client-based software. If you open Oracle Fusion Applications from Oracle Cloud, you connect to the Financial Reporting Studio through a Windows Remote Desktop Connection. Report authors download installation files for Financial Reporting Studio from Workspace by clicking Navigator > Financial Reporting Center > Tasks panel drawer > Open Workspace for Financial Reporting. Once Workspace is started, click Tools > Install > Financial Reporting Studio. After performing the prerequisites and completing the installation, start the Financial Reporting Studio. Provide your user ID, password, and the Server URL. Derive the Server URL information by following the steps:
1.       Open Navigator > Financial Reporting Center > Tasks panel drawer > Open Workspace for Financial Reporting.
2.       Edit the Workspace URL and remove workspace/index.jsp.
3.       Following are two examples of Server URLs:
  • If the Workspace URL is https://fusionsystemtest-p-external-bi.visioncorporation.com/workspace/index.jsp, the Server URL is https://fusionsystemtest-p-external-bi.visioncorporation.com.
  • If the Workspace URL is https://fusionsystemtest-p-external-bi.visioncorporation.com:10622/workspace/index.jsp, the Server URL is https://fusionsystemtest-p-external-bi.visioncorporation.com:10622.
4.       Copy the modified URL to the Server URL field.
Note: For end users installing the Oracle Fusion Financials Reporting Studio, the installer starts a separate console window. The installer continues to run for a brief time after the installation completes the setup tasks. The process is normal, expected, and applies to Oracle Reporting Studio installations in both the Oracle Fusion Applications and Enterprise Performance Manager modes. Wait for the console window to close, which happens automatically, before clicking the Finish button on the Financial Reporting Studio Installation dialog box. If you click the Finish button before the console window closes, the Financial Reporting Studio installation may not complete.
Note: You must save a new report before attempting to preview it with Web Preview.
5.       Prerequisites needed for installing the Financial Reporting Studio are:
o    Financial Reporting Studio Client Certifications that are found at: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/bi-foundation/hyperion-supported-platforms-085957.html.
o    Microsoft Office installed on your users' computers.
Installing Smart View
Smart View is an Excel add-in that must be loaded on each client. To download Smart View, click Navigator > Financial Reporting Center > Tasks panel drawer > Open Workspace for Financial Reports. Once the workspace is started, click Tools > Install > Smart View.
Note: Since Smart View is an add-in to Microsoft Office products, you can install Smart View only on a Windows operating system.
Once Smart View is installed, you must configure the connection using the Smart View Shared Connections URL. You can derive the Shared Connections URL by following these steps:
1.       From the Financial Reporting Center task panel, select Open Workspace for Financial Reporting.
2.       Edit the workspace URL by removing index.jsp and adding SmartViewProviders at the end.
3.       Copy the URL.
4.       Open Excel.
5.       From the Smart View menu, click Options > Advanced.
6.       Paste the URL in the Shared Connections URL field.
7.       Click OK.
To connect Oracle Fusion General Ledger Balances cubes in Smart View:
1.       Open Smart View from your Start menu > Programs > Microsoft Office > Microsoft Excel 2007.
2.       Navigate to the Smart View menu > Open. On the Start on the ribbon, click Smart View Panel that appears in the list of values from the ribbon. The task pane opens.
3.       Click Shared Connections on the task pane.
4.       Sign in with your user name and password.
5.       Click the Select Server to proceed list of values.
Note: If the Essbase Server is not there, then it has to be added. Use the following steps:
1.       Click the Add Essbase Server link.
2.       Specify the Essbase Server login and password.
3.       Expand the Essbase server and locate the cube in it.
4.       Select Oracle Essbase from the list of shared connections.
5.       Click the Expand to expand the list of cubes.
6.       Expand your cube (name of your chart of accounts).
7.       Click db.
8.       Click the analysis link.
Note: You must perform these steps only once for a new server and database.
To set how the name and alias of the Essbase database appears:
1.       Click Options on the ribbon > select the Member Options > select Member Name Display.
2.       Set one of these three options:
  • Distinct Member Name. Only shows the full Essbase distinct path.
  • Member Name and Alias: Shows both the member name and the alias.
  • Member Name Only. Shows only the member name.
Note: The Smart Slice feature is not supported in Oracle Fusion General Ledger. For all other documentation, refer to the Oracle Smart View for Office User's Guide.
Configuring Workspace Database Connections
Administrators must create database connections from Workspace so users can access the "cubes" from Workspace and Financial Reporting Studio.
Note: Ledger setup has to be completed before the database connection can be created. Oracle Fusion General Ledger balances cubes are created as part of ledger setup. A separate cube is created for each combination of chart of accounts and accounting calendar. A database connection is needed for each cube.
Steps to define a database connection are:
1.       Start at the Navigator by selecting Financial Reporting Center.
2.       From the Financial Reporting Center task panel, select Open Workspace for Financial Reporting.
3.       From within Workspace select the Navigator menu > Applications >BI Catalog.
4.       Select Tools menu > Database Connection Manager.
5.       Select New button.
6.       Enter a user-friendly name for the Database Connection Name.
7.       Enter Essbase as the Type, your server, user name, and password.
8.       Select Application (cube) and Database from the list of values. Expand the Application name to see the related Database.
9.       Click the OK button twice to save your selections.
10.    Click Close button in the Database Connection Manager window to save your connection.
Note: The database connection is available in both Workspace and Financial Reporting Studio.

 Creating a report in Financial Reporting Studio

1.       Open Financial Reporting Studio and login


2.     Click on File->New->Report to create a new report


You can open an existing report also by clicking on Open
3.       It opens the new report page, click on Insert Grid to insert a grid on the layout

4.       Select an existing connection or create a new one by clicking New Database Connection

5.       Define the layout as per your requirement



In the picture shown above, we are creating a simple Account statement report. We have defined Accounts in Rows dimension and Accounting Periods in Columns dimension. Different from conventional FSG reports of R12, there is another dimension added as Page. We have structured Company there.

6.       Click on each Item such as company and select its member




Add new Member by clicking Add button. Remove the existing Member – Company (By Default) by clicking the Remove button as shown below:


7.       Now perform above step for Row Dimension (Account)
8.       Lastly perform the same activity for Column Dimension (Accounting Period) as shown below

9.       Now Select Members for all other Point of Views as shown below:
10.       Once all is set, save the Report and click on preview and check your report.

Some more Sample Outputs:


If you like this article, do share it to reach more people.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

SLA Customization in Oracle Fusion

Image
What is Subledger Accounting? Oracle has provided standard accounting derivation for all the possible events of different aspects of business. However, there could be requirements of deriving custom accounting on certain conditions or business events. Subledger Accounting (SLA) is a rule-based accounting engine that centralizes accounting for Oracle Fusion products. Subledger Accounting is not a separate product in itself, rather it is Oracle’s engine catering to the accounting needs of both Oracle and external modules. Together with the ledger support, Subledger Accounting enables support of multiple accounting requirements concurrently in a single instance. Different accounting regulations can be satisfied by maintaining and applying different sets of rules to different sets of transactions, or accounting for the same transaction with multiple methods. Subledger accounting options define how journal entries are generated from subledger transactions at the subledger applic...
Read more

Export and Import Configuration in Oracle Fusion

Image
When we do the configuration in test system and attain the confirmation post UAT, the next step would be to do the setup all over again to the new instance or say Production Pod. This task used to be very cumbersome and tedious prior to Oracle Cloud. You can move the functional setup data from one application instance into another by exporting and importing configuration packages from the Manage Configuration Packages page in Oracle Fusion Functional Setup Manager. A configuration package contains the setup import and export definition. The setup import and export definition is the list of setup tasks and their associated business objects that identifies the setup data for export as well as the data itself. The prerequisites for exporting and importing a configuration package are: 1.Ensure that both the source application instance and the target application instance are at the same release level. 2.Identify the implementation project used to enter and define the functiona...
Read more

Approvals in Oracle Fusion

Image
What is Approval Management? Approval management is used to determine the policies that apply to approval workflows for particular business objects such as expense reports. For example, you can specify levels of approval for expense reports over a particular amount, to reflect your own corporate policies. You also determine the groups of users who act on these workflow tasks, for example, the chain of approvers for expense reports. Approval management is an extension of the human workflow services of Oracle SOA Suite. Approval is based on certain key elements shows as below: Transaction Type: These are the set of activities/ operations we perform on any task such as Invoice Creation in Payables, Purchase Order Creation in Procurement, Hire an Employee through HCM. All these activities require authorization if setup as per business requirements. Rules: These are consisting of business requirement conditions and their respective actions like if an invoice amounts more...
Read more