Running FSG Reports with Native Excel Output Using BI Publisher (Doc ID 1472787.

1)
Modified: Mar 21, 2014 Type: WHITE PAPER
In this Document
Abstract
History
Details
Templates
Drilldown
Notes
Known Issues
Patches
Other References
Still Have Questions?
References
APPLIES TO:
Oracle General Ledger - Version 12.0.6 to 12.2 [Release 12.0 to 12.2]
Information in this document applies to any platform.
ABSTRACT
Many customers run Financial Statement Generator (FSG) reports using Report Manager. This enables customers easy access to completed reports
through the Report Manager repository as well as other features.
However, for customers who primarily consume financial reports using Microsoft Excel, BI Publisher provides a more streamlined solution. BI Publisher
now supports Excel-based report templates and generates FSG reports as native Excel files. These files are opened directly in Microsoft Excel. There
is no need to first open the report in a browser and then download it to Excel page by page.
Customers can then work with the report in Excel as well as drill down to the underlying General Ledger balances and journals as well as subledger
transactions.
Customers who are happy using Report Manager can of course continue using it. Customers who prefer a more direct path to view their report output
in Excel should consider the BI Publisher approach. This approach is detailed in the remainder of this document.
HISTORY
Author: Prescilla Sadepalli
Create Date: 04-Jul-2012
DETAILS
Running FSG Reports with Native Excel Output Using BI Publisher
Templates
The following standard templates are available:
1. FSGXML: Basic Template -- standard RTF template
2. FSGXML: Basic Drilldown Template -- RTF template with drilldown capability
3. FSGXML: Basic Excel Template standard Excel template with formatted amounts
4. FSGXML: Basic Excel Drilldown Template -- Excel template with formatted amounts and drilldown capability
Skip to content
Page 1 of 6 Document 1472787.1
5/29/2014 https://support.oracle.com/epmos/faces/DocumentDisplay?_adf.ctrl-state=134us3htj3_728...
5. FSGXML: Basic Excel Template (Raw Amounts) standard Excel template with raw amounts
6. FSGXML: Basic Excel Drilldown Template (Raw Amounts) -- Excel template with raw amounts with drilldown capability
Standard RTF templates are already available in Release 12. The other templates have been introduced as part of this solution. Any of these
templates can be copied and modified (like adding a logo, customizing number format, etc.) using standard BI Publisher capabilities.
Templates with formatted amounts apply the number format specified in the report definition, including thousands separators. Excel will treat
these amounts as text. Raw amounts templates, on the other hand, do not apply any formatting characters. Excel treats these amounts as
numbers, which can then be formatted using Excels formatting capabilities.
Drilldown templates are well-suited for management analysis, while non-drilldown templates are better suited to report publishing and
presentation.
Running FSG Reports with Native Excel Output
Login to a General Ledger responsibility that has access to run FSG reports. Navigate to Requests and submit a new request.
Choose "Program Publish FSG Report". Fill in the required parameter values. Select the FSG: Basic Excel Drilldown Template as default
template. Submit the request.
Page 2 of 6 Document 1472787.1
5/29/2014 https://support.oracle.com/epmos/faces/DocumentDisplay?_adf.ctrl-state=134us3htj3_728...
Query the request and click "View Output".
Page 3 of 6 Document 1472787.1
5/29/2014 https://support.oracle.com/epmos/faces/DocumentDisplay?_adf.ctrl-state=134us3htj3_728...
Your report opens directly in Microsoft Excel. You can manipulate the report using any Excel capabilities. You can drill down on monetary amounts
in the report by clicking them.
Drilling takes you to the General Ledger Account Analysis and Drilldown page, from which you can drill further to the underlying journal details and
on to the subledger transactions where relevant.
Page 4 of 6 Document 1472787.1
5/29/2014 https://support.oracle.com/epmos/faces/DocumentDisplay?_adf.ctrl-state=134us3htj3_728...
The same procedure may be followed for any of the other templates. Users can alternatively use Program - Publish FSG Report Set to publish an
entire report set to Excel. In this case, all of the reports are created as separate tabs in a single workbook.
Drilldown
The FSG report output will show links for each amount on the report if drilldown templates are used to publish the report. If the source of
the amount is an account assignment, you will be able to drill further to review more details that constitutes the reported amount.
However, drilldown does not apply to calculated amounts, total columns or variances.
If the selected amount consists of multiple account assignment ranges, you will be presented with the Drill All Account Balances page which
displays all the accounts that constitute the selected amount. The Search criteria of New Search will recap the specification for the reported
amount, including the account range, the period range, the balance type, the currency type, and the currency. The only parameter you can
change on this page is display accounts with no activity.
In the case of reports using a Content Set with multiple account assignments, you will need to select the relevant account assignment for
the amount on which you are drilling.
From the account balance, you can further drilldown to the journals and subledger details where this is applicable.
If you have Saved Views in the Drill All Account Balances page, you can select the saved view and click on Go. If you want to bypass the
selection of a Saved View, then you can simply click New Search to perform a regular drilldown.
Notes
For performing mathematical operations in the Excel output produced using an Excel template, select a template that produces raw
amounts. If you select a template that produces formatted amounts, you will need to reformat the amounts from strings to numbers in
order to perform mathematical operations on them.
When viewing an output report using a template with formatted amounts, Excel may display green triangles in your amount fields. You can
remove these by unchecking the option 'Numbers formatted as text or preceded by an apostrophe' in the Error checking rules section of
Excel Options. Then save the file into a temporary location. This will save the option settings as well, and the green triangles will no longer
be displayed when opening this or any other excel report.
The drilldown details will be based on the current account balances and not the account balances when the report was run.
You can only use Sequential Content Sets for FSG drilldown as this is the only mode supported for publishing reports.
For reports generated with a Content Set using the Page Expand action, the report will generate a separate page for each expansion value if
a PDF output type is selected and a separate tab in a single Excel workbook if an Excel output type is selected.
The shipped excel templates are designed to display up to 30 columns, plus the description column. If your report contains more than 30
displayed columns (not including the description column), then the excel templates will need to be modified.
The blue background color of the heading in the excel report output will always extend for all 31 columns (30 regular plus the description
column) regardless of the number of columns actually displayed.
Known Issues
When running the program Program - Publish FSG Report with an excel template, you need to make sure to set the display format to
Excel. It will default to PDF and you must manually change it to Excel. In 12.1.x, you must apply patch 12415414:R12.XDO.B to enable
this.
Please refer to note 1191323.1 for additional manual steps that may be necessary when applying patch 12415414:R12.XDO.B.
After drilling from a report, if you want to drill on other monetary amounts you must close the drilldown window and manually return to the
report.
Page 5 of 6 Document 1472787.1
5/29/2014 https://support.oracle.com/epmos/faces/DocumentDisplay?_adf.ctrl-state=134us3htj3_728...
When you drill down on data that resulted from a row expand, you will get the total range of accounts that was used for the row expand,
not just the accounts associated with the line that you are drilling on.
If you save your Excel file on your hard drive, then open it locally, the drill down on amounts will request you to login even if a valid session
is in progress. (Bug 10328890 fixed in 12.1.3).
Patches
For Release 12, please apply patch 6907388:R12.RG.A
For customers who are on 12.1.2 or later, support for Excel-based templates is included so you do not need to apply patch
6907388:R12.RG.A. On 12.1.x, however, please apply patch 12415414:R12.XDO.B to set the display format to Excel when you run reports.
This patch is not needed in 12.2 or later.
Please refer to note 1191323.1 for additional manual steps that may be necessary when applying patch 12415414:R12.XDO.B.
Users must check if they are on the latest FSG and FSG drilldown consolidated code level. If not, they should apply the latest FSG and FSG
drilldown patch (Refer to note:189282.1)
Other References
note:370358.1 FSG XML Publisher FAQ
Still Have Questions?
To discuss this information further with Oracle experts and industry peers, we encourage you to review, join or start a discussion in the My Oracle
Support General Ledger Community.
To provide feedback on this note, click on the Rate this document link.
Page 6 of 6 Document 1472787.1
5/29/2014 https://support.oracle.com/epmos/faces/DocumentDisplay?_adf.ctrl-state=134us3htj3_728...