Create a Column Definition

Creating columns is the second step in developing your reports. Column Definitions define the contents of your report’s columns, any calculations specific to your column, and headings within your report.

The information in a Column Definition is combined with the Line Definition in the Report Definition to define your report.

To create a simply Column Definition:

1.  Click on the Columns bar to open the Columns Navigation Pane.

2.  Select the Columns Definition folder and then click on the New  icon:

a.  Type a name and label for the new Column Definition in the New Columns pop-up box.

b.  Click OK.

3.  Your Column Definition will be created with the following columns by default:

a.  Column A will be a Type field of “Row Definition Description”.

b.  Column B will be a Type field of “Balance”.

4.  In the Column Definition workspace, you can change the information in Column B to specify which period of data you wish to see:

a.  In the Type field, choose the type of data from the drop-down menu. For example, select “Balance”, “Row Segment ID”, “Row Definition Description”, “Calculated”, or “Blank”, etc. For the purposes of this exercise, leave the value as “Balance”.

b.  In the Book Code field, choose the book code from which data should be pulled by selecting the ellipsis button. For example, select “Actuals”, “Budget”, etc. For the purposes of this exercise, leave the value as “ACTUAL”.

c.  In the Year field, use the ellipsis button to open the Year Options dialog, or, enter the four-digit year to specify which report year should be used. For the purposes of this exercise, leave the value as “YEAR”.

d.  In the Period field, use the ellipsis button to open the Period Options dialog, or, enter the numeric period to specify which report period should be used. For the purposes of this exercise, leave the value as “Period”.

e.  In the Value Type field, use the drop-down menu to select the Value Type. For the purposes of this exercise, leave the value as “Periodic” to default to the period specified on the report.

5.  To insert additional columns, select a cell in the Column Definition grid and right-click.

a.  Select the Insert column option to add an additional column.

b.  Conversely, to remove a column, highlight the entire column to remove by clicking on the column label in the Column Definition workspace and right-click to select the Delete column option.

When prompted, select the Yes button to confirm your delete action.

6.  Click Save to save the new Column Definition.