Some reports are designed with prompts, which are displayed when you view the reports or books containing the reports. You respond to prompts and provide requested information by selecting members from prompt lists. You can edit prompts manually. If prompts contain alias names, you convert them to member names.
SAP BW Variable Support in Financial Reporting
SAP BW variables are treated similar to Financial Reporting Member Selection prompts with some key differences: Variables are defined on the Cube, so no action is necessary to put them into a report. When a Cube has one or more variables present and a report/book which references that Cube is executed, the user is prompted to enter a response to any variables present in the Cube. All variables which are marked “ready for input” are shown for any report/book which references the Cube. The Respond to Prompt dialog box, is used to respond to Financial Reporting member selection prompts, as well as Variable responses. There are some differences: a Financial Reporting prompt always allows one or more members to be entered, whereas a variable can be defined to require a single member, numerous members, or a interval or range of members. Variables may be defined to not require a value. Variables can be set to take a numeric value instead of a member name. The Respond to Prompts dialog shows prompts and/or variables within the same dialog. For variables which take a single or numerous members, the user interface behaves the same as a prompt (except that if the variable takes a single member, the member selection tree will only allow a single member to be picked). For variables which take an interval or range of members, two member selection/numeric value fields are shown; one for the “from” and one for the “to”. The member selection selector only allow a single member to be selected for either of those member selection fields. For variables which take a numeric value, the no member selection buttons are shown. The following describes the Respond to Prompts columns when a report goes against a cube which is a variable:
Variable — shows the variable description
Type — shows the type of variable, which can be: Required Leaf Member Variable, Required Non-Leaf Member Variable, Required Numeric Variable, Optional Leaf Member Variable, or Optional Non-Leaf Member Variable.
Selection — shows the description of the currently selected members with default values
Source — shows the report or grid which references the data source which contains the variable
The Run button validates the prompt members and variable values. Errors display next to the prompt/variable which has the error. The Reset button resets the prompt members and variable values to the initial, default values.
When a report has a member selection prompt in the Report and goes against a Cube which has an “interval” variable, the prompts are separately grouped to clarify the difference.
To respond to a prompt when previewing a report or book:
From EPM Workspace repository, navigate to a report or book that has prompts.
Right-click the report or book and select Open in, and then HTML Preview or PDF Preview.
In the Selection text box, enter the member name for the respective prompt, if known. If the text box is disabled, the prompt contains alias names. To edit the text box, key over the existing text. Separate each member by a comma (,).
If the member name is not known, click Go to Member Selection
. Select Members is displayed. Make your member selections, and click OK.
Optional: To undo any changes, click Reset in Respond to Prompts.