To Create a Title Page using PORTRAIT Orientation
 
Row   
These settings will vary depending on where the Title is to display on the page. The following settings will place a 3 line Title with blank rows, then a date, 3 more blank rows and additional notes in text on the page below the date:
1. Open a new Row format.
2. Insert 5 blank rows at the top of a new Row Format.
3. Type in the Title in the Description column (Col. B) of the row format. The Font used for the text in the Title was set to 18 Bold, but you could use any Font Style or Size. In Column C choose CEN (Title Centered on Page).
4. On the Last row of the row format (Row 970 of a new row), Column H type in any natural account number.  In column G type in the letter A (This would be the Description column of the column layout), making the GL amount not print on this row. Remove any Account Description in this row in Column B of the Row format.
5. Save the Row format.

Column
Create a new simple Column layout with the following 2 columns:
DESC   (with a Col width of 60)
GL/Actual/BASE/BASE/CUR

Catalog
Create a new Catalog.  Use the default Margins in the Catalog – Page options:
Margins :
Left -  .75
Right  - .75
Top  - .75
Bottom - .75

Add Footers in the Catalog-Page Options- Header/Footers tab:
1. Add an @Blank Code and then the @TXTDATE code in the Centered column to place a Date in on the Title Page of the report. 
2. If you would like to add any additional notes or text, insert the desired number of blank rows after the @TXTDATE row and type in the your text. Set the Font Style for this text and for the @TXTDATE. 
3. Check the Center Headers and Footers on page box in this window. 
4. Save the catalog.
5. Generate the report. When it opens in the drilldown viewer will display the TITLE but no footer. Scroll down and then back up and the footers will appear correctly on the page. This puts the Title in the center with the date and then footer text below it centered on the one page.

Once the page is completed, open the Catalog – Output tab to add the reports following the Title Page. You can Chain the report(s) that are included with the title page to this catalog. Make sure all the settings are correct for each chained report.

To Create a Title Page for LANDSCAPE Orientation

Row
These settings will vary depending on where the Title is to display on the page. The following settings will place a 3 line Title with blank rows, then a date (September 31, 2008), 3 more blank rows and additional notes in text on the page below the date:
1. Open a new Row format.
2. Insert 5 blank rows at the top of a new Row Format.
3. Type in the Title in the Description column (Col. B) of the row format. The Font used for the text in the Title was set to 18 Bold, but you could use any Font Style or Size. In Column C choose CEN (Title Centered on Page).
4. Skip the next two rows and on the third row  after the last Title row, in Column H type in any natural account number. In column G type in the letter A (this would be the Description column of the column layout), making the GL amount not print on this row. Delete the rest of the rows. Remove any Account Description in this row in Column B of the Row format.
5. Save the Row format.

Column
Create a new simple Column layout with the following 2 columns:
DESC   (with a Col width of 60)
GL/Actual/BASE/BASE/CUR

Catalog
For Landscape (these settings are for Landscape only)
Margins (these will vary depending on where the client wants the title on the page)
Left -  .75
Right -  .75
Top  - 2 in
Bottom - 3 in

Add Footers in the Catalog-Page Options- Header/Footers tab if you would like a Date or Text on the Title Page, otherwise the Headers and Footers blank (clear all rows):
1. Add an @Blank Code and then the @TXTDATE code in the Centered column to place a Date in on the Title Page of the report. 
2. If you would like to add any additional notes or text, insert the desired number of blank rows after the @TXTDATE row and type in the your text. Set the Font Style for this text and for the @TXTDATE. 
3. Check the Center Headers and Footers on page box in this window. 
4. Save the catalog.
5. Generate. Scroll down and then back up and the footers will appear correctly on the page.

Once the page is completed, open the Catalog – Output tab. Chain the report that is to go with the title page to this catalog. Make sure all the settings are correct for the chained report.

This is Jan again: Re ‘make sure all the settings are correct for the chained report”, that includes making sure the default date in the catalog for the title page is the same as the default date in the catalog for report(s) that follow. Thanks again, Kim!

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The commenter was wondering why some of her reports rounded on the 1st row and some did not. I have wondered the same thing! I haven’t tested this yet but wanted to get it out. Here you go:

“I discovered one difference that apparently changes how the 1st row currency symbol and the whole dollar rounding from the catalog affects the report.  If the 1st line of the row is blank or has a Desc, the 1st row of data rounds correctly with the currency symbol.  If the 1st line of the row contains data it gives the decimal places and needs the workaround and will show $0 even if “Display blanks for zero amounts” is checked. 

So I just added a blank NP line in the row and my first line now includes the $ and rounds to the whole dollar.  Don’t know why that works but I’m thankful it does!”

I’m thankful that the commenter shared her discovery!

If you want to know more about the currency rounding issue, please see my post at FRx SP10: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly.

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After installation of this module, take a look at Admin>System Preferences. You’ll find the Default DAX Currency Table Location there. (DAX stands for Dynamic Automatic Currency Translation System.)

Over in the Company Information screen (Company>Information), you’ll see that a different rates database may be assigned to different companies. This setting overrides the setting in the System Preferences screen. The following shot is of the rates database for the demo company FW:

And this is a shot of the rates path and functional currency for the second demo company, FW Canada. Note that the rates databases are different (FRxRates_Demo.DAX above and FRxRates_FWC.DAX below):

The currency translation module can pull rates from your GL or from tables that you maintain from within FRx. This is a shot of the Currency Translation tab in the catalog, with the option to select different Spot rates sources and Historical rate sources. There’s only one selection here because I’m in FRx’s demo database:

This next section is an overview on maintaining tables. Choose Admin>Open FRx Rate Maintenance and choose the demo dax file:

This is a shot of the Daily Rates for US Dollar to Euro translation in the FRxRates_Demo.DAX database:

And this is a shot of the Historic Rates in the same database:

To create a brand new rates database, choose File>New, and the following screen is displayed:

That’s it for now!

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I’m going to give an overall explanation of FRx security to help anyone that might be interested (for any GL), and then I will drill into the specifics for Solomon.

Before I get started, I’d like to clear up one thing - we NEVER require db_datawriter for direct SQL users with FRx, so that KB article is incorrect.

There are two different types of security involved when you’re using FRx. One is your GL system’s security, the other is FRx security.

GL system security is in place regardless of the state of FRx security. When you select a company in FRx, we authenticate you with your GL system. The way we do that is different with each GL, but this typically requires credentials to be entered. For some GLs, direct database access is required, so you enter a SQL login and password. Other GLs provide their own security methods that we use, and those typically require a login and password for that GL system.

When FRx security is NOT turned on, any user can start FRx and access demo companies, report definitions, etc. When you select a GL company, you are asked for credentials. The login dialog will have a title of “Database Login for Company “. These credentials are used to access your GL system. Once you enter valid credentials, the company is set as default, and FRx allows you to continue.

When FRx security is turned on, the first thing you will see when you start FRx is a login dialog. This dialog will have a title of “Security Login”. If you don’t enter valid credentials here, you aren’t allowed to use FRx.

Now here’s where people often (understandably) get confused. When you select a GL company after logging in to FRx security, FRx tries to do help you out by passing your FRx credentials straight through to authenticate you with the GL. If your FRx credentials and GL credentials match up (many customers do this), you login only once to access everything. However, if your FRx and GL credentials do not match, you will see a login failure - we tried to authenticate with the GL, and it didn’t work. When you click OK, you will see another login dialog, this time with a title of “Database Login for Company “. Once you enter your GL credentials here, you’re allowed into the company.

What I’ve explained to you so far is the way FRx has worked since FRx 5.x and it still works this way today. Of course, we’ve done some things in FRx 6.7 to make this even better.

As of 6.7 SP3 or SP4 (I can’t remember which), FRx can use Windows authentication to connect to a GL system that uses standard SQL users (Solomon doesn’t). If you choose Windows authentication when configuring the ODBC datasource for your company, FRx will suppress the login dialog for the company and attempt to connect directly to the database with your Windows credentials. With this configuration, you either enter just FRx credentials and you go straight into your companies, or you enter no credentials at all (if FRx security is not enabled).

So now we’ve come to Windows authentication and SP10. As you’ve noticed, you no longer see the Use Network ID option in FRx 6.7 SP10. For several years, I have been telling any customer using FRx security to avoid that option. It was added back in the Windows 9x days, and it’s simply not secure past Windows 9x - I’ll leave it at that. For SP10, I finally got to remove it, which made me quite happy. 

With SP10, you can now add users directly from Windows. We allow multiple scenarios for this:
1) Add a new Windows user by creating a new user, choosing Windows authentication, and then selecting the user.
2) Convert an existing FRx application user by selecting the user, choosing Windows authentication, and then selecting the user.
3) Add multiple Windows users at once by clicking the Add Windows Users button - you can choose several users, click OK, and we’ll create new FRx accounts for each one.
4) Upgrade from Use Network ID to Windows authentication. After SP10 is installed, any FRx administrator that logs in will be asked to map network users to Windows users.

When you convert an existing FRx user to a Windows user, FRx even updates groups, reporting trees, catalogs, and specification set security for that user. Please note, however, that the user must still use their old credentials to access previously-generated reports in the DrillDown Viewer.

Once your Windows user is added in FRx, you can choose “Use Windows authentication” in the Security Login dialog the first time you log in, and from that point forward, you’ll get right in when you start FRx. Please note, however, that FRx will still try to pass your FRx credentials (now a Windows user and no password) straight through to the GL. If that fails (it probably will), just click OK, then enter your GL credentials.

Now for the Solomon specifics …

When you set up a Solomon company, you’re asked to provide the master password. FRx uses the master login (’master’ for older versions of Solomon, ‘master60sp’ for newer releases) and the password you provide to connect to the SQL Server and Solomon database. From there, we use the credentials you provide in the “Database Login for Company ” dialog to authenticate you with Solomon. If the user you enter in that dialog does not exist in Solomon, you won’t get in. The error you’re currently seeing tells me that FRx isn’t able to connect to the SQL database. Make sure you’re logged into FRx as an FRx admin, then edit the company, go to the System Specific Information tab, and enter the password for the ‘master’ SQL user.

I should also point out that the Dynamics SL (formerly Solomon) team added Windows authentication in their 7.0 release, and we support their implementation of Windows authentication in SP10. To use Windows authentication to connect to Dynamics SL 7.0, just edit the company in FRx and select the “Use Windows authentication” check box on the System Specific Information tab.

That’s pretty much it. I apologize for the length of this post, but I hope the details will help anyone who happens to find this.

Jeff [MSFT]

**This posting is provided “AS IS” with no warranties, and confers no rights.**

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This writeup is provided compliments of Jeff Cutting, a lead developer of FRx and its successor, Management Reporter. THANK YOU, Jeff!

Overview

How do you setup a calculation in FRx using the period number (without hard-coding the period number)?
 

Instructions/Procedure

This can be accomplished using an Excel spreadsheet and the /CPO modifier for links to worksheets.

1. Setup an Excel worksheet with one row and 13 columns. It will look like this:

2. Save this worksheet as something similar to “periods.xls”.

3. Change the Link to GL column in the FRx Row Format to a GL + Worksheet Column. On the Link menu, click Open Link Window. In the Link Type box, select GL + Worksheet. Then, in the Worksheet File Name box, select the periods.xls worksheet.

4. Insert a new row at the bottom of the row format. In the Link to GL + Worksheet column, enter “@WKS(B=A1)/CPO” (without quotes). This tells FRx to place the value from the Excel worksheet into this row in column B of the report. The /CPO modifier tells FRx to move to the right x columns, where x is the number of the BASE period in the Catalog. (For example, if the base period were 7, FRx would pull the value from cell H1 in the worksheet). In order to keep this period number from printing in the report, also place an NP in the Print Control column of the new row.

The figure below shows a sample row format with the above modifications made:

 
5. In the CALC column of the column layout, reference the new row in the calculation formula; for example, a calculation formula of C/B430 would divide each number in column C by the number in column B, row 430 (in this case, the period number you pulled in from Excel).

NOTE: This method can also be used to divide other rows by the period number. For example, a row with a Format Code of CAL can be used with a formula of @1000/B430. This would divide the value in each column of row 1000 by the value in column B, row 430.

Again, a big thank you to Jeff for this writeup.

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This is a “% of Sales” report.  Per Rick, “This report was requested by a client who wanted a report that would show the % of Sales amount exactly the same for each branch of the tree.  (So no rollup for the balance.)  I did not have this written up in detail, so I included the FRD file and the TDB file.  (The tdb file is from FRx 6.7 sp10.)”

FRD file: Percent of Sales (This is the drilldown viewer file.)

TDB file: Sales No Rollup Import (This is the row, column, tree and catalog that you can import. You should probably import into the FRxDemo spec set, then switch to company FW to see these.)

My comments:

This report doesn’t use total sales. Instead, it uses account 4100-1100-001, but the concepts are the same:

1. you override the tree by using the full account structure
2. you keep the account from rolling up multiple times by using XR in the row and a 2nd Link to GL
3. you specify link GL2 in the tree for the summary unit
4. you check ‘Use row formats…’ in the catalog

I haven’t devoted time to do a full writeup here, but note that there is much more information on this technique in my post How To Use Full Account Segments in the FRx Row.

My thanks to Rick for the files.

PS. One more item of interest: the drilldown viewer file came from SP10 and thus it’s a little confusing when you look at the % Sales column for both Net Sales and Gross Margin. As I mentioned in FRx SP10 The Good The Bad and the Ugly, the CS (currency sign) format in the row is overriding the column’s percentage special format mask. Please disregard since we’re not looking at those rows in this report.

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Note that you can also use this technique to calculate average sales per period (use YTD revenue divided by the period number). I know a number of my clients do this in order to get an initial sense of whether their MTD revenue looks right.

This post is a little different because I’ve attached the document that Rick sent me. Here’s the link: How To Divide Head Count By Period Report

Rick suggested that I point out that the headcount used in this example is an FRx book code used in the FW demo database. It’s not a valid book code for most companies. You should replace it with the book code used by your headcount (if your headcount stats live in a separate ledger).

Thank you Rick!

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FRx SP10 The Good

• There now seems to be what I call ‘accelerator’ control. In the past, when you’re using a mouse to try to highlight a large group of cells in a row format, it’s always been difficult since there’s no way to slow the mouse down. With excel, you can use the mouse like an accelerator, dragging slowly to highlight slowly, and dragging quickly to highlight quickly. There has been no such feature in FRx, and I always avoid the mouse and just use the Shift key in conjunction with the Arrows or Page Up and Page Down keys. But with SP10, accelerator control seems to be added. Sweet.
• The middle mouse scroll button appears to work, although I got it to work in a SP7 environment today.
• You now have the option to format negative numbers in red. In the Catalog, go to Report Options>Formatting tab and there is a checkbox. The downside is that you cannot restrict this to just one column, like a Variance column for instance.
• It’s much much easier to clean up a spec set. You no longer have to go to Export Spec Set to see what building blocks are not associated with a catalog. Each building block is clearly marked with a checkmark in the listing if it is associated with a catalog, making it easy to see which ones to delete.
• You can delete multiple rows at the same time. HALLELUJAH. Same with columns and trees. I love it.

FRx SP10 The Bad

• This really isn’t too bad, but the interface for opening rows, columns, and trees has changed. If you’re in a row and click the Open icon to open another row, a dialog box opens that defaults to the catalog listing. You then click on the Row tab to get to the row listing. If you’re opening multiple rows it will take more mouse clicks than you’re accustomed to. Takes some getting used to. And you’re still limited to 4 open at a time.
• When restricting column printing using Column G in the row format, the restriction appears to apply to underscores above and below the cell that’s restricted. This may be cosmetic more than anything. I hope it’s limited to underscores and that it doesn’t impact any numbers that may be there. I haven’t tested yet.

FRx SP10 The Ugly

• The CS format in the row forces 2 decimals to print. Doesn’t matter if the report is rounded. Looks very strange unless you unmark ‘Currency Symbol on 1st Row’ in the Report Options>Formatting tab (for every report). It even overrides a format mask set in the column. If you’ve got a column formatted for percentages, this is what it will look like with a CS on the first row:

• There are multiple cells deleted when you’re trying to delete just one. It doesn’t happen every time, but it does happen enough that it can be a REAL problem. (As you probably know, there’s no Undo, so if this blows away a couple of extra rows that you have a complex formula on, and you haven’t saved, you’re toast.) To delete a row, I normally just right click in one cell and choose Delete Row (instead of highlighting the whole row). To be fair, I haven’t tested highlighting an entire row.

Recommendations

These last 2 items are showstoppers for me, so despite the fantastic improvements, I’d stay away from SP10 for now. If you’re already on SP10, save before you delete a row in a row format. And best get rid of CS formats if you’re rounding reports. (See Followup below.)

If anyone wants to comment on personal experience with SP10, have at it!

Followup on 11/15/08: Since this was originally posted, I’ve worked on another SP10 site where I did NOT experience the ‘multiple cells deleted’ problem described above. The developer has not seen it and one of the commenters below has not seen it, so I’m thinking/hoping this was simply an environmental issue.

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Here’s how:

For most FRx installations, the default output directory is IO_Data under the FRx folder. I’m in Windows Explorer here. Once in this directory, you might sort the files by date or type. FRx report files have an .FRD extension and use a drill icon so they can be spotted easily:

Highlight the FRx reports you want in your binder and right click. Choose ‘Convert to Adobe PDF’:

The PDFs are created. As each is created, you are asked to save the file, so you control the file location. Adobe, for whatever reason, picks up the title of the report instead of the filename, so you might want to edit the names as you save.

Once the PDFs are created, highlight each of them (still in Windows Explorer), right click, and choose ‘Combine supported files in Acrobat’:

The Combine Files window appears. Notice that you have the option to Add Files if you’ve forgotten one, you can Remove a file, and you can change the order by using the Move Up and Move Down Buttons:

Because the Income Statement.pdf filesize above looked larger than the others, I clicked Choose Pages. For this single report there are 17 pages, and as I scroll through I see that’s because Account Level Detail has been included. I don’t want that for this audience, though, so I’ll put a ‘1′ in the ‘Select Page Range’ area and click OK:

So now my Income Statement has only 1 page, and I’ve moved it up. Once everything is in order, it’s time to ‘Combine Files’ into a Single PDF:

Now Adobe creates the binder, and gives you the opportunity to save it.

Only one more step: in the new binder, click the 2nd icon down from the top, the Bookmark icon. This gives you the listing of reports in the binder so you don’t have to scroll through to find what you’re looking for.

I’m using Adobe Acrobat Professional, although I understand you can do this with the Standard version as well. You won’t be able to do this with Adobe Acrobat Reader. Enjoy!

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A good number of these definitions come from the Uniform System of Accounts For The Lodging Industry, the 10th Revised Edition.

I’ve divided this post into 3 sections:

• Statement of Income for a Hotel
• Hotel Operating Statements
• Hotel Operating Ratios: Average Daily Rate and RevPAR 

Statement of Income for a Hotel

The hotel P&L is in essence a summarized version of the operating statements, covered later. It differs from a ‘normal’ P&L (if there is such a thing!) in that it shows departments (for instance, Rooms, Food and Beverage, Other Operated Departments, etc.) on a line by line basis, all on one page, something like this:

Revenue
   Rooms
   Food and Beverage
   Other Operated Departments
   Rentals and Other Income
   Total Revenue

The coding in FRx to support the above format can be done one of two ways:

1. use the entire account structure on the row, or
2. use only the natural account in the row in the Link to GL, but use a tree and restrict the department by using column D in the row as follows:

The latter is much easier if your account structure is long & involved, with the added benefit of being able to add a department to the tree without many edits to the row, so it’s much easier to maintain.

Hotel Operating Statements

The Tenth Edition of the Uniform System of Accounts For The Lodging Industry specifies hotel operating statements as follows:

Summary Operating Statement
Schedule 1—Rooms
Schedule 2—Food and Beverage
   Sub-schedule 2-1—Food
   Sub-schedule 2-2—Beverage
(remaining omitted)

The Operating Statements lead with a summary statement followed by much more detailed operating statements for Rooms, Food and Beverage, and other departments.

The columns specified are Actual, Forecast, and Prior Year (along with percentages) for both the current period and year to date. Many hotels use Budget instead of Forecast. There is some leeway on the columns, but the revenue and expense rows must be included exactly as specified if the financials are to be “in conformity with the Uniform System“. Although—I’m told that the revenue and expense rows specified are a minimum and that you can add to them. Caveat: USALI with the 10th tried to make statements easier for financial analysts to be able to evaluate different properties by enabling better financial statement comparability, so technically you can add accounts as long as they roll up into the accounts they’ve defined.

Here’s a screenshot of a Rooms schedule as well as a link to a PDF. The report contains dummy data from FRx’s demo database Fabrikam Works, so the data isn’t confidential but an accounting eye will be able to see strange things in the data (especially in the budget). But in this case, it’s not about the data—it’s about the report format!

One thing I’ve done differently from specifications for the Rooms Schedule in the Uniform System is to add the Occupancy Rate at the top and Per Occupied Room statistics throughout. Many companies prepare a separate schedule with the Costs Per Occupied Room.

And here is a link to the full Rooms Schedule PDF: Rooms—Schedule 1

Hotel Operating Ratios: Average Daily Rate and RevPAR

Finally we get to the operating ratios of ADR Average Daily Rate and RevPAR Rooms Revenue per Available Room. All definitions again come from the Uniform System. Most hotels track the statistics used in these calculations in the GL, so that FRx can access them easily.

ADR Average Daily Rate
Average Daily Rate, or ADR, is defined as Total Rooms Revenue for a period divided by Rooms Occupied for the same period. Complimentary rooms are not included in Rooms Occupied. An example follows RevPAR.

ADR = Total Rooms Revenue / Rooms Occupied

RevPAR Rooms Revenue per Available Room
RevPAR is defined as Total Rooms Revenue divided by Rooms Available. Per the Uniform System: “…since the rooms revenue is scaled by the number of rooms at the property, it can be used as one comparison of the rooms revenue yield of a property to its competitors or comparable properties.”

RevPAR = Total Rooms Revenue / Rooms Available

What follows is an example in FRx with ADR and RevPAR calculations and some additional things like Occupancy Rate and Total RevPAR (Total RevPAR uses Total Revenue instead of Total Rooms Revenue). Couple of comments first:

• I’ve used alpha row codes because they make formulas easier to understand and review for errors. This is a great technique to use in lots of calculations (not just hotels).
• Statistics are maintained in the GL. Many companies use the 9xxx series for stats, and some use a separate ledger. If you use a separate ledger, be sure to apply the row code/book code modifier in the dropdown box in Column H in the row. This will add a ‘/Stat’ modifier behind the account depending on the name of the statistics ledger.
• I’ve added formats to the calculations: a percentage format for occupancy rate, and dollar to 2 decimal places for ADR, RevPAR and Total RevPAR.

One more important point on these statistics: normally Rooms Revenue is reported by segment (transient, group, etc), and ADR is reported on each individual segment.

This has been just a brief overview of creating hotel financials with FRx. There’s much more going on, especially with Food & Beverage. Food & Beverage departments like restaurants track covers (number eating) in order to determine the Average Check by Meal Period (breakfast, lunch, dinner). The bar tracks Number of Seats to calculate Revenue per Seat. Room Service calculates Revenue per Occupied Room. I could go on, but that’s enough for one day!

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