If you have ever used Financial Reporting before, you will know that one of the first things you need to do is set the User Point of View to “On” in the preferences. This is something that has been written every piece of user documentation that I have ever seen. I have also heard the following question countless times, “Can I set it so users automatically have it turned on?” The answer to that question, if you know how to get there, is yes.
The question is how do you set this setting as a default for new users? The answer is a series of settings that is challenging to find in the documentation and rarely mentioned in blogs or forums. To reach them, you will need to have admin access to the Financial Reporting server. From the server you will need to find and run the FRConfig command in the Financial Reporting directory. This list contains settings that should be evaluated in any environment that uses Financial Reporting. In fact there are around 100 settings that most administrators have probably never seen. So which ones are useful?
User POV ON/OFF
The first setting is the User POV prompt option. Most reports are setup to prompt for dimensional members when the report is opened. Yet this setting is turned off by default. That means if a user opens a report, they will have to wait for it to run before they can change the point of view. This can cause issues especially if they don’t have security access to the default member selections. So the solution is simple, find this setting and set the default to be on. All new users will automatically have this set to on when they first open reports. On a similar note, the default setting for merging equivalent prompts is in this list as well.
(click to enlarge)
Member Selection Rows per page
Another useful setting is the member selection rows per page. This controls how many members show up on a single page for users in the member selector on a report. By default it will only show 20 members per page. This option allows you to alter that number to whatever best suits your reporting environment.
(click to enlarge)
Default View Type
All Financial Reports are run in either HTML or PDF format. The designation of this is entirely dependent on which ever the user chooses in the preferences. However, there are often situations where reports are designed to be viewed in one format or the other. This setting allows you to choose what users will start with by default.
(click to enlarge)
Export Folder
For anyone who has used the Workspace Batch Scheduler, you know that you can export reports to an external directory. This is a common reporting strategy that companies use, and Hyperion allows you to automate that. With this setting, you can setup local or network directories to be used as export locations for Financial Reports.
(click to enlarge)
Other Settings of Interest
Scheduler Settings: If you use the batch scheduler consistently, you should look into these options to make sure they are optimized for your usage.
SMTP Settings: If you choose to send out Financial Reports, make sure the mail settings are setup here.
Performance Settings: Timeout settings, MDX usage, clean up frequency, and port usage. Throughout this list are a number of performance related settings. Use these settings to enhance performance of your platform and reports.
So now that you have changed these settings, a simple restart of the Financial Reporting services and they will all take effect. It is just that simple to customize your Financial Reporting environment in ways you probably didn’t know you could.
Have more questions? We can help:
- Contact us using the form here, or call us at 952.947.9300.
- Drowning in data but parched for predictive insights? Arrange a free half-day analytics health check.
- Talk to our experts face to face at one of our upcoming industry events.
