Determining the Report Sections

After you and the report requester agree on the model, determine the sections that are required to support the model. You might conclude that the report requires multiple sections: a page header section to provide general information, a level break header section to display each company's address number and description, a columnar section to display the business data, a level break footer section to calculate and display subtotals, and a grand total section.

To determine the sections that are required for a report, consider these questions:

• Is a report header required at the beginning of the report for clear and meaningful presentation of the information?

• Is a report footer required at the end of the report to highlight an important function or fact about the report?

• Is a page header required to present information on each page of the report?

• Is a page footer required to give the reader vital information on each page of the report?

• Does an existing business view contain all of the data fields that are required by the report?

• Do you need two detail sections that use different business views so that you can include all relevant information?

• Do the two detail sections need to be joined to present the information appropriately?

• What is the best format to present the required information?

• Is the data best presented in the free-form layout of a group section?

• Is the data better presented in a columnar format using columnar or tabular sections?

• Do you need the flexibility of a tabular section to create rows in the report?

• If you use group or columnar sections, do you need to include level break footers for totaling?

• Would the automatic totaling features of a tabular section be more efficient?

• Can you use a Director template to help you create the report?

• Do you need to modify a Director template or create a new one?

• How should you sequence the business view fields and records for the report?

• How should you filter the data from the business view?

• What enhancements can you apply to report objects to make the report more useful?

  For example, do you want to emphasize the information in one column by changing the column spacing? Do you want to change the font size of the contents of a column to call attention to the information?

• Are event rules required to define conditional, mathematical, or other logic for the report?

• Is an audit trail required?

After you have finished planning the design of the report, create the report in Oracle's JD Edwards Report Design Aid (RDA).