Reporting Hierarchies

The reporting hierarchy determines how locations are grouped for reporting purposes. A location can exist in more than one reporting hierarchy. This is because different users and user groups can have different reporting needs.

For example, the ACME Corporation has fifteen table service style locations. Within the ACME Corporation there exists an Italian restaurant, a seafood restaurant, and a barbecue restaurant spread out over two states, Kentucky and Tennessee. There are five of each type of concept. That is, 5 Italian, 5 seafood, and 5 barbecue restaurants. Examine the following diagrams to understand how different reporting hierarchies are needed to suit the ACME Corporation’s needs:
  • By Region or State: This diagram organizes the restaurants by their respective states, Kentucky versus Tennessee.

    Figure 2-1 Example Reporting Hierarchy – By Region or State

    This figure shows an example reporting hierarchy for the ACME Corporation where the restaurants are organized by their respective states.
  • By Concept or Style: This diagram shows locations sorted by concept, specifically, Italian locations grouped together, seafood locations grouped together, and barbecue grouped together.

    Figure 2-2 Example Reporting Hierarchy – By Concept

    This figure shows an example reporting hierarchy for the ACME Corporation where the restaurants are organized by their concept.
  • By Concept and Region: This diagram takes the two previous reporting hierarchies and combines them. This is helpful in determining, for example, if the barbecue locations in Kentucky are more prosperous than the barbecue restaurants in Tennessee.

    Figure 2-3 Example Reporting Hierarchy – By Concept and Region

    This figure shows an example reporting hierarchy for the ACME Corporation where the restaurants are organized by their concept and their respective regions.

All of the preceding reporting hierarchies show both the various reporting styles, as well as the various levels that can be used. For example, some users can only see the individual location reports, others can only see the Kentucky seafood restaurants, whereas another user can see all the Kentucky locations.

Only system administrators or appropriately privileged users can create reporting hierarchies. There are three general steps you must complete in order to create the most basic of reporting hierarchies:

  1. Establish the hierarchy name. Usually this is the enterprise name.

  2. Create reporting levels. These are the levels that report to the hierarchy in Step 1.

  3. Assign levels or locations. This step specifies which locations are reporting to which levels and which levels are reporting to the hierarchy.

The Oracle Hospitality Implementation Group initially configures the reporting hierarchy to reflect the basic reporting structure. The system administrator or an appropriately privileged user for the organization is responsible for creating additional reporting hierarchies. The Reporting and Analytics Advanced User Guide contains detailed instructions on how to create and maintain a reporting hierarchy.

Parent topic: Basic Administration