Report Rules

Report Rules define the structure of a report. They bring together field rules, grouping rules and source rules that are already created.

You can use report rules in more than one profile, and copy and modify them. Once you create a report rule, access to modify it is restricted to you, the owner. You can give permission to other users, and access other users’ rules if they give you permission. Report profiles that contain a report rule are submitted to the server, and the report is generated based on the report rule.

You must be in Build Components Mode to create a Report Rule separate from a Report. This section explains Report Rules as a function of the Build Components Mode only.

Create a New Report Rule

Complete the following procedure to create a new report rule.

  1. Select the Components tab and open the Report Rules folder on the left of the window.

  2. Click Compose on the Main Menu.
    You see the Building a New Report Rule dialog box.

    Building a New Report Rule Dialog Box
  3. Select the type of report rule you want to create and then select a report subtype, such as single period or multi period.

  4. Double-click the report subtype or click Next.
    You see the Report Rules Workspace window.

  5. Add the following components:
    Grouping Rule. Select a grouping rule to add, or create a new grouping rule. See Grouping Rules for additional information.
    Field Rule or fields. Add before adding sources. See Field Rules for additional information.
    Source Rule. Select a source rule to add or create a new source rule. See Source Rules for additional information.
    Report rule name. Enter a name for the report rule in the Type Report Rule Name here field.
    After you create the report rule, the Report Rule button appears in the top right of the dialog box.

  6. Click the Report Rule button to give the field rule or source rule owned by the report rule a distinct name from the report rule.

  7. Click Done to save your changes.

Work with Report Rules

Complete the procedures in the following table to work with report rules.

Option

Description

Edit a report rule

Double-click the report rule from the Explorer, or right-click the report rule and select Edit.

Copy a report rule

Highlight the report rule and select Copy from the right-click menu. You see the Copy Report Rule dialog box.

In the Copy As field, enter a name for the rule. Select the Make a copy of the underlying Field Rule checkbox if you want the rule to inherit the name of the report rule with -FR appended to it. Select Make a copy of the underlying Source Rule checkbox if you want the rule to inherit the name with –SR appended.

If you do not copy the underlying field or source rules, the report rule consists of the field and source rule assigned to the original report rule.

Click OK to create a copy of the rule.

Delete a report rule

You can only delete a report rule if you own it. Select a report rule you own, then select Delete from the right-click menu. You see a confirmation dialog box. To delete the underlying source rule and field rule, select the Delete the underlying Source Rule and Field Rule checkbox.

If the report rule is used in any reports or report profiles, a message appears that the report rule cannot be deleted. Deleting the underlying rule would corrupt the report itself. Select Usage to view the reports or report profiles that own the source rule.

Select OK to delete the source rule. To delete multiple report rules, select the rules using Ctrl + Shift. Then, right-click and select Delete.

Rename a report rule

Highlight the report rule and select Rename from the right click menu. You see the Rename Report Rule dialog box. Enter a new name for the report rule and click OK. You can also choose to rename the Field and Source rules by selecting the available check box.

Publish a report rule

You can publish report rules for individual users or entire business groups to view and use in reports.

Highlight a rule, right-click and select Publish. You see the Publish Rule dialog box.

When you publish a report rule, the User’s Report Rule icon is displayed next to it, Report Rules published by other users have a key icon next to them. If you have access to edit other users’ rules, that user does not see this icon.

Transfer report rule ownership

Highlight a rule, right-click and select Transfer Ownership. You can transfer ownership to members of your own business group, or to users outside your business group. Users of your business group are displayed by default. To view users outside your business group, deselect Show me only users in my group. If you are a member of a compound business group, all users of the compound business group are displayed. The users are not displayed according to their underlying regular business group. You must own the report rule to transfer ownership. When you transfer ownership, all items and components contained in the selected component are available to the target owner.

After specifying the user to transfer ownership to, a confirmation message appears. Click Yes to transfer ownership, or No to cancel.

Show report rule history

Show history tracks changes made to a component by users other than the owner. It reads from the UPDATE_JOURNAL table in the PACE_MASTER database. Highlight the report rule, right-click and select Show History. You see the Show History dialog box.

View report rule usage

Highlight a report rule, right-click and select Usage. You see the Usage of Report Rule dialog box. This dialog box displays the report rules that use the selected report rule. You can sort the results by Name, Owner or Groups fields.

To make changes, right-click and edit the component. This is useful if you need to remove duplicate field attributes. Click Close to close the dialog box.

Migrate a report rule

You can migrate a report rule from one environment to another. Highlight a source rule, and right-click Migration. For more information on migration, refer to Migration Wizard.

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