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Analyses based on Baan Report as Data

Baan Report - An Excellent ETL Process

In a limited sense, Baan report itself is an ETL program by itself (in combination with program script, report script and device programs). It extracts data. (all select queries). It Transforms data (calculate, sort, summarize etc). And finally it Loads (like ttstpdisplaybwprint etc). This makes it unique and amazing data source. Considering the kind data processing a report can do, one can conclude it’s an excellent transformation engine.

Baan Report As output

As an output, Baan report has tremendous value. It has tremendous quantitative capabilities. So even treating Baan report as data source will not change basic nature i.e. it’s an output. So when we treat Baan report as data source, following is the scenario in Baan.
Baan Session-->Baan Form / Process for Selection criteria -->Baan Report-->Excel output

With Baan report users can get any kind of MIS. To know the power of Baan report, click these examples . In order to get the best out of Baan Report, it is nece ssary to understand the Baan Reporting structure.

Reasons for considering Baan Report as Data Source

Normally Baan report is an Output and at times very great output containing very crucial and analytical information. Baan reporting, though very powerful quantitative analytical tool, has certain limitations as output

1. Aggregate data manipulations (like weighted average) can not be done easily through front end logic.  There may be way outs to override this limitation. But these workarounds are not good from technical maintenance point of view.

2. While designing Baan report the number of columns in the report has to be pre-fixed. This is not always po ssible and not even desirable. Number of columns can not be pre-fixed when those are data dependent. This is not suitable for dynamic business requirements. In such a case, it is very important to have spread sheet reports for comparative analysis.

3. Baan reporting does not allow dynamic data dependent bold marking. E.g. if user is to see sales of all item group above US$ 100,000 in a bold font, it's not poible .However good MIS requires that exceptions (deviations from business norms) must catch the attention of the reader immediately for his/her actions. This calls for printing such data differently from normal print.

4. Baan reporting lacks Graphical capability. Managers and CEO's are busy people with little time. They need compact information in easy to understand and read format. And nothing can be better than graphs and charts to suit this needs. These are not available.

Conditions of Data Source

Baan report in order to qualify as data source must satisfy the conditions of tabularity. Tabularity means indefinite number of row and pre-defined number of columns with definite column types. Considering this definitions of tabularity, any typical Baan report has about 7 (Exact no of tables can be different depending on different layouts, no. of sort fields and layout print conditions) tables contained within the report (i.e. when the report is run) each corresponding to the report layout type viz.

One can easily understand that though technically any Baan report has 7 tables contained within it, only 3 tables (i.e. layout types) are of real analytical value. And one would really appreciate the importance of treating Baan report (especially after field layout type) as a data source considering the treasure of information stored in it.

Further columns in Baan report as data source are the report input variables and report variables. Typically these columns are made of 3 fields defined in Baan report.

1. Report field
2. Aggregate function (total/min/max etc)
3. Aggregate condition.

Thus at the time of doing analysis based on Baan report, user is supposed know which layout of  Baan report he/she's going to analyze and  what are the columns that he/she needs for analyses.

Peculiarities of Baan Report as Data Source

1. Derived Data Source

Baan report is actually a data destination. Considering Baan report as data source implies that the data source by itself does not exists. It's life in the system is as long as user keeps it on the screen. It may or may not be the same when referred again because of changes in original source data. If original source data does not change, the selection criteria on the session does not change and program is same as original, the Baan report data source can again be created and referred.  Such a data source can be tapped only during it's life i.e. when the report is run.

2. No Aggregate data manipulation

As Baan report is also an output, figures and numbers contained in it are already processed (especially in after field and after report layouts). It's only a matter of presentation.  So no additional row level (as data source) data manipulation is required. An exception is weighted averages. A mechanism is built in to get weighted averages. In case of Baan table as data source, there is a separate need for row level calculation for meaningful analyses.

3. Selection Criteria in-built in Baan

As Baan report is also an output result of Baan program according to certain selection criteria in form. Hence there is little need for providing additional filters for Baan report. Unlike Baan report, Baan table and ASCII files have a need to provide an interface wherein user can feed in selection criteria for the analysis.

4. Job Management

Baan report are capable of being run using Baan Job Management. This makes it easy to schedule periodic regular MIS reports automatically.

5. One to Many relationships with output.

Any typical analytical report may have lot of valuable information capable of being analyzed into many analyses. User should not run the same report each time to get the different analyses from the same report.

6. Column labeling.

It is very important and essential that column values are identified with a functional name besides their code names. For a Baan report there is no systematic relationship between Baan report variables and their functional description (contained in report labels). This tool provides a way whereby such labeling is possible for most of the columns (i.e. variables created with normally accepted programming conventions in Baan).

Types of Baan Report Covered as Data source for this tool

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