Management Reporter vs Microsoft FRx

Here is a list of the benefits in migrating to Management Reporter from FRx:

• Undo button!
• Column page breaks.
• Ability to add images to your reports (e.g. logos, graphs, etc.)
• Reports Viewer – Comes with a Report Server that allows you to publish your reports to a web server and all users can view, print and Export to Excel the reports they are used to getting in paper format.
• There is enhanced stability because the underlying database is SQL Server instead of Access.
• Reports Library – ability to organize your published reports by type and set security for each report.
• A migration tool is available to move FRx reports to Management Reporter reports.  This can be tricky.
• Use the various dimensions in Dynamics GP 2010 (e.g. GAAP, IFRS, etc.)
• Reports can be grouped for generation of multiple reports at once.

There are some caveats as well that may cause you to postpone your migration:

• Evaluate the multicurrency translation tables that you are utilizing in FRx.
• The speed in generating a report to a queue rather than on your desktop is lacking. The benefits of a web publishing environment will outweigh the wait.
• If you are linking directly to Forecaster, you will need to wait until the Forecaster replacement is announced.  No date on that yet.
• If you are exporting to cubes or Excel Pivot Tables, those features are not there in MR.

Tips for Microsoft FRx

1. If you have added a new budget, but do not see it in the drop down for bookcodes, you may need to rebuild your index. Likewise if you have added a new account, but the account is not included on your report, again the solution is likely to be rebuilding the index. The index is a file that ends with the extension *.G32. To rebuild the index, go to the catalog screen, choose from the menu, Admin > Build Local Index.
2. If you get an error message that starts with “Check OFSI connection…”, check the information in the Company > Information screen. Be sure to check the System Specific Information tab.
3. KEEP REGULAR BACKUPS!! This is the most important step a company must follow for a software program that stores data, including FRx Financial Reporting. Backups should be run nightly if FRx Financial Reporting is used on a day-to-day basis; otherwise backups should be run at least once a week. If frequent backups are not kept, reports and other FRx Financial Reporting data may be lost due to any number of circumstances. While you can attempt to repair a corrupted file, there are no guarantees that repairs will be successful. A frequent backup of the entire Sysdata directory is recommended.
4. Compact the FRx System Database and FRx Specification Sets regularly. This should be done weekly or bi-weekly depending on the usage of FRx Financial Reporting. The FRx System Database contains Companies, Registration Information, FRx Security Information, Users, font styles and other information pertaining to the operation of FRx Financial Reporting. Specification Sets contain Row Formats, Column Layouts, Reporting Trees, and Catalogs, all of which make up the reports that are designed by FRx Financial Reporting users. When one of these databases is compacted, a new file is created with the same structure. User deleted records and other unnecessary information is removed and the remaining information is moved into the new file. When compacted regularly, these files will remain smaller in size and less likely to cause errors and/or lost data.

• To compact these databases:
• Have all other users exit out of FRx Financial Reporting – the user performing these steps must have exclusive access to the FRx Financial Reporting files.
• Select from the menu File > Compact FRx Database > FRx System Database. If all other users are out of the program, this should compact successfully.
• Select from the menu File > Compact FRx Database > Current Spec Set.
• If more than one specification set is being used in FRx Financial Reporting, repeat the previous step for each company that uses a different spec set.

How to remove "Report yields no data" message in Microsoft FRx

Removal of "Report yeilds no data" from any report or view report with complete zero balance, do the following steps:

1. In column layout, insert new column as "CALC".
2. In "Calc Formula:" type any figure i.e "2000+1000".
3. In "Print Control" define "NP"

After done all changes in column layout, generate report.  All zero balance accounts will be appeared in report.

NOTE: Make sure "Display rows with no amounts" must be checked under "Catalog>Report Options>Formating" tab.

How to print "-" for Zero Amounts or assign "Dr" / "Cr" for Amounts in Microsoft FRx

In the Column Layout, there is a drop down containing default formats to select from in the Special Format Mask field. These can be modified as necessary.  Amount formatting has three separate sections separated by semi-colons.

#,##0.00; (#,##0.00); 0.00

Change the display of zero amounts to print either a line "-" or the text Zero, within the Column Layout select the Special Format Mask field for the column desired.  Use either the drop down to select a pre-defined positive or negative number format or use the edit bar from the top and type in the positive or negative number format.  Finally, type a semicolon and then type "-" if dash are desired, if word Zero are desired then type "Zero". Repeat steps for each column in the layout requiring the special format.

Ex:

For "-" type the following mask:

                 #,##0.00; (#,##0.00); -

For "Zero" type the following mask:

                 #,##0.00; (#,##0.00); Zero

NOTE: If you desire to suppress printing of amounts, enter semicolons with nothing between them. The missing format prevents that type of amount from being displayed. Ex. #,##0.00;;Zero

NOTE: If you desire DR next to positive amounts and CR to print next to negative amounts, you can do so by placing these in quotes anywhere in the format. Ex. #,##0.00DR; #,##0.00CR; Zero As in this example, there is no need for the parentheses for the negative amounts.