Volume 4 – 2019
From the Editor
The BW Development team has been hard at work updating reporting data layers so they will work seamlessly with future reporting mechanisms. In addition, the team is laying the groundwork for the upcoming installation of SAP Support Packs. These efforts affect system internals, aka “the back-end.” So, while there is no news to offer regarding visible changes a report user might notice, rest assured that the underlying system continues to be made more efficient, robust and reliable.
In the meantime, the BW team continues to give thought to useful ways to share information that will improve your life as a report user. To that end, two new videos have been added to our Help library. The videos are introduced in the Tips & Tricks section below.
I hope you find this issue of the Newsletter informative. Please let me know if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for future BW Newsletter topics.
Bill Stewart
Training Calendar
Beyond the introductory-level workshops, I am planning to offer several intermediate-level sessions in the coming months. Invitations will be distributed once those sessions have been scheduled. Stay tuned!
October / November Training Opportunities
Introductory Workshops
An assortment of introductory workshops is offered every month. These sessions present to new employees – or employees assigned a new business role – the fundamentals of reporting for a particular subject area. The sessions are a great way to review material, too. Even if you previously attended an intro session, you are likely to learn new things about reporting – or to be reminded of concepts that you had forgotten.
Click on any of the following links for a course description and/or to register for an upcoming session:
Supplier Resource Management Reporting
Labor Distribution (Payroll) Reporting
Tips & Tricks
Drilling to View Additional Data Detail
“Drilling” is the process of navigating from one BW report to another report in order to view data details that underlie a summary cell or cells in the report being drilled from. The report drilled to might be another BW report or a transaction in the Finance system. View the video.
Creating and Using a Variant
A Variant is a saved collection of variable values used to run a report. Saving and using a Variant containing frequently or commonly used variable values avoids the need to manually enter those values each time the report is run. The video is here.
Future Video Topics
What topics would you like to see demonstrated in a short video? Are you finding it difficult to answer a question that periodically (or frequently) arises? Do you have a question about some aspect of reporting? Let me know!
Notes
Custom Training Sessions
Have you ever thought that it would be useful if you could get members of your department together with a trainer to focus on BUworks functionality that is specific to the work your department does? Many of your colleagues have reached out to me and we developed workshops tailored to their specific reporting interests (13 sessions in 2018; two sessions thus far in 2019, with another two on the way). I’m happy to work with any department or group that would like to develop and conduct a custom intermediate-level training session. There are only two requirements for such a session: (1) input from the group is necessary to develop a relevant agenda, and (2) the group should include three or more employees. If you’re interested in discussing the development of a custom session for your department or school/college,contact me via email or give me a call at 617-353-6382.
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