Ariba® On-Demand Solutions

Creating Compound
Reports
Document Version August 2012
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Table of Contents

About Compound Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Helpful Hints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Related Topics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Adding Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
About This Topic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Prerequisite. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
How to... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Create a compound report. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Add an individual report to a compound report as a chart or table. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Add a summarized view to a compound report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Next Steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Adding Filters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
About This Topic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
How to... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Add filters to a compound report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Next Steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Mapping Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
About This Topic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
How to... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Map fields in individual reports to compound report filter fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Next Steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Running Compound Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
How to... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Refine compound report data and run the report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Creating Compound Reports iii

About Compound Reports

• “Overview” on page 4
• “Prerequisites” on page 5
• “Helpful Hints” on page 5
• “Related Topics” on page 6

Overview
A compound report allows you to view many different related charts and tables in a single umbrella report.
In a compound report, you can see the pie chart of one report, the line chart of another, and the table view of
a third. Compound reports can also contain summarized views, which combine individual fields from
multiple reports. Filters on compound reports allow you to examine specific data across the different reports
it contains.

You can create compound reports to see an overview of:

• Your invoice spend by commodity and supplier: off-contract spend, spend variance, inflation costs, and
so on. You can filter the compound report by active account, giving yourself a single view of spend
activity for one or more accounts in your company.
• Your event activity: what types of events you’re creating, what commodities the events are for and which
suppliers are participating in the events, event project activity by region, and so on. You can filter the
compound report by commodity, giving you a single view of event activity for a commodity or set of
commodities.
• Your contract workspace activity by supplier: which commodities the contracts are for, task duration,
regional contract activity, associated parties, and so on. You can filter the compound report by supplier,
giving you a single view of contract activity for one or more suppliers.
• Your company’s purchase order activity: which users are generating the most purchase order spend,
PCard usage, ordering breakdown by department or cost center, and so forth. You can filter the report by
region, giving you a single view of purchase order activity for one ore more regions.

Creating Compound Reports 4

About Compound Reports

The following example of a compound report combines reports on invoices, purchase orders, requisitions,
and contracts:

Table Report
Summarized View
Chart Report

Prerequisites
You must have permission to create reports in order to create a compound report.

Helpful Hints
Before you begin creating a compound report, you should plan its contents. You must have all of the
underlying reports saved before you can add them to a compound report.

Creating Compound Reports 5

About Compound Reports

Related Topics
• “Adding Content” on page 7
• “Adding Filters” on page 11
• “Mapping Fields” on page 13
• “Running Compound Reports” on page 15
• Running Analytical Reports: Creating Summarized Views

Creating Compound Reports 6

Adding Content

• “About This Topic” on page 7

• “Prerequisite” on page 7
• “Limitations” on page 7
• “How to...” on page 7
• “Next Steps” on page 10

About This Topic

You can add the following types of reporting content to a compound report:
• The pivot table or chart view of any individual analytical report.
• A summarized view, which is a collection of fields from any number of analytical reports. Summarized
views are laid out in two-column tables and provide an overview of basic data.

For example, to summarize information about commodities, you might want to design a view that shows the
following values:
• Amount spent on the commodity
• Total number of POs
• Total number of invoices
• Total number of departments buying the commodity

Prerequisite
You must set up and save all of the individual reports and summarized views you want to add to a compound
report before adding them. See also “Prerequisites” on page 5.

Limitations
Summarized views only display totals for measure fields. For non-measure fields, they display the number
of values that match for the compound report, and you can click on those numbers to see details.

Compound reports are limited to one measure for chart reports.

How to...
• “Create a compound report” on page 8
• “Add an individual report to a compound report as a chart or table” on page 8
• “Add a summarized view to a compound report” on page 9

Creating Compound Reports 7

Adding Content

 Create a compound report

1 On your Ariba dashboard, select Create > Compound Report.

2 On the Configure Content page of the compound report wizard, enter a title and optional description.

If you enter a description, it appears below the report title in the folder where the report is saved.
3 Do one of the following:

• To add a single report, see “Add an individual report to a compound report as a chart or table” on
page 8.
• To add a summarized view, see “Add a summarized view to a compound report” on page 9.
4 Repeat the previous steps until you have added all of the content you want.

5 Select an area and use the controls to change the order in which the content appears in that area or to move
selected content to another area.

• Use the side arrow buttons to move selected content from one column to another.
• Use the up and down arrow buttons to change the order of content in a column.
• Move content to the left column and click X to delete it.
6 When you have finished adding content and laying it out, click Next

 Add an individual report to a compound report as a chart or table

1 On the Configure Content page of the compound report wizard, select the area where you want to add the
report: Left Column, Right Column, or Bottom.
2 Click Add Content and select Chart/Table.

3 Navigate through the folders to find the report you want to add.

Creating Compound Reports 8

Adding Content

4 Click the report and select how you want to display it in the compound report: Table or one of several
different types of charts.

Result
The report is added to the selected area of your compound report in the format you specified.

 Add a summarized view to a compound report

1 On the Configure Content page of the compound report wizard, select the area where you want to add the
report: Left Column, Right Column, or Bottom.
2 On the Configure Content page of the compound report wizard, click Add Content and select Summarized
View.

3 Enter a title for the summarized view.

4 Navigate through the folders to locate an analytical report that contains fields you want to include in your
summarized view and click the report.

Creating Compound Reports 9

Adding Content

5 Add fields from the report to the summarized view:

• Click a measure in the Data Fields area to add it to the summarized view.
• Click a hierarchy field in the Other Fields area and select a level to add it to the summarized view.

6 Repeat the previous steps to add fields from other reports.

7 When you have added all the fields you want to your summarized view, adjust their positions and modify
their labels:
• Click X next to a field to delete it.
• Use the up and down arrows to adjust the position of the fields in the summarized view.
• Edit field descriptions in the Name field.
8 Click OK.

Result
The summarized view is added to the selected area of your compound report.

Next Steps
After you have created your compound report and added content to it, you add filters in the next step of the
compound report wizard. See “Adding Filters” on page 11 for more information.

Creating Compound Reports 10

Adding Filters

• “About This Topic” on page 11

• “Prerequisites” on page 11
• “Limitations” on page 11
• “How to...” on page 11
• “Next Steps” on page 12

About This Topic

Filters in a compound report behave like page fields in an analytical report, constraining all data in all of the
reports and summarized views that make up the compound report. For example, if you add a filter field for
Commodity, you can filter the compound report so that it only displays data for certain commodities.

All Ariba reports are automatically filtered by a date field. Each report has a default date field defined by the
underlying fact and can include multiple other date fields as well. Date fields are not included in the fields
you can manually add to a compound report. Instead, the Specify time range constraint setting automatically
adds an umbrella date filter to the report. You map the individual date fields from the underlying reports to
the umbrella date filter in a later step to filter all of the compound report’s data using a single date setting. If
you do not use this setting, the components of the compound report all use their individual date filters, which
can mean that they show data for different time periods.

Prerequisites
See “Prerequisites” on page 5.

Limitations
Filter fields only work on compound reports if they are present in all of the underlying reports. If you add a
filter field to the compound report that is not present in one or more underlying reports, it is ignored. You
can only filter by hierarchy fields.

How to...
• “Add filters to a compound report” on page 12

Creating Compound Reports 11

Adding Filters

 Add filters to a compound report

1 On the Configure Filters page of the compound report wizard, click the names of the fields you want to
use as filters in your compound report.

2 To use an umbrella date filter for the entire compound report, instead of the date filters set on the
component reports, select Specify time range constraint and select either the Calendar or Fiscal hierarchy
from the pull-down menu.
3 Click Next.

Result
When you click a field to add it as a filter, it moves to the Filter Fields area of the compound report layout.

Next Steps
After you have added filters to your compound report, you map the shared dimension fields in the underlying
reports to one another. See “Mapping Fields” on page 13 for more information.

Creating Compound Reports 12

Mapping Fields

• “About This Topic” on page 13

• “Prerequisites” on page 13
• “How to...” on page 13
• “Next Steps” on page 14

About This Topic

The filter fields in a compound report are all hierarchy fields in dimensions. Dimensions can contain a
number of hierarchies, and hierarchies can contain a number of levels. You map filter fields to connect the
compound report’s filter field to different hierarchy fields and levels in the underlying reports.

If the underlying reports use different hierarchy levels in the same hierarchy, you can choose whether or not
to apply the compound report filter field to that field. For example, if your compound report uses Cost
Center as a filter field and one of the underlying reports uses a lower level of the Cost Center hierarchy,
Company Code, you can specify whether or not to map the compound report’s Cost Center field to the
Company Code field in that report.

You will almost always need to map fields if you are filtering your report by date, since the underlying
reports typically use different date fields. For example, if your compound report includes reports on
purchase orders, invoices, and contracts, those reports all use different date fields in the Time dimension.
You can specify that you want the compound report’s date filter to use Ordered Date for purchase orders,
Invoiced Date for invoices, and Effective Date for contracts. When you filter the report by date, the
underlying reports show data based on the mapped date fields.

Prerequisites
See “Prerequisites” on page 5.

How to...
• “Map fields in individual reports to compound report filter fields” on page 14

Creating Compound Reports 13

Mapping Fields

 Map fields in individual reports to compound report filter fields

1 On the Map Fields page of the compound report wizard, deselect Apply Filter next to every hierarchy level
in an individual report that you do not want to map to the compound report’s filter fields. Hierarchy levels
are mapped by default.
2 If you are using a date filter for the compound report, select the date fields in the underlying reports that
you want to map to that filter.

3 Click Next.

Next Steps
After you have mapped your filter fields, you refine data and run the report. See “Running Compound
Reports” on page 15.

Creating Compound Reports 14

Running Compound Reports

• “Prerequisites” on page 15
• “How to...” on page 15

Prerequisites
You must have permission to run a report in order to run a compound report.

How to...
• “Refine compound report data and run the report” on page 15

 Refine compound report data and run the report

1 On the Refine Data page of the report wizard, create an initial filter for the umbrella date field, by
specifying dates. See Creating Reports: Setting Initial Filters for more information.
2 Create initial filters based on the compound report’s filter fields by selecting hierarchy values. See
Running Reports: Filtering and Navigating Through Data for more information.
3 (Optional) Set parameters for the compound report to constrain the way other users interact with it. See
Creating Reports: Customizing Initial Filters for more information.
4 Click Run Report.

5 Click Save to save the report to the location of your choice.

Creating Compound Reports 15