Boost SAP Report Development Processes Using Hovitaga Report Generator
By: Tamas. Holics.
Submitted: 2011-12-19 23:11:33 | Word Count: 791
All SAP customers are using reports like "how many products does a customer order monthly, aggregated by product type", "who are the top 20 customers in Bonn and which is their favorite product" or simply "how much do we spend monthly on printing costs"? The time required to create ad-hoc reports like the examples above can be significantly reduced by using 3rd party tools for SAP reporting.
Hovitaga Report Generator is a powerful software that helps SAP consultants and ABAP developers to quickly create simple reports. Only the OpenSQL query has to be built, no further ABAP programming is required. The source code of an ABAP program will be generated automatically, along with a transaction code, that directly executes the report. The generated report can have a selection-screen and it displays the data with an ALV grid or ALV tree. Thanks to the standard look and feel every authorized user is enabled to run the report.
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With the standard functionalities of the ALV grid the list can be easily visualized using charts and diagrams, and can be exported to MS Excel for further analysis. This export functionality provides a way to supply business users with live data from your SAP system for detailed analytics.
Reporting is critical from the perspective of the business, since all business decisions are based on some sort of report. The availability and quality of SAP reports have a great influance on the efficiency of SAP implementations. Creating custom business reports is a key area software developers and consultants spend a lot of time on. Your business can benefit from accelerated ad-hoc reporting with the use of Hovitaga Report Generator.
Features - Report Generation
All you have to do for a new report is to build the OpenSQL query which reads the data from the database. The software will guide you thru the rest of the process.
- You can select from a list which fields would you like to include in the selection screen as select-options or selection parameters you like to implement.
- Choose a name and a transaction code for the report.
- You can specify the package name and the transport request for the new objects using standard dialogs.
You no longer need to manually implement the following code, since all these are automatically generated with a few clicks:
- definition of selection screens
- type declaration
- data declaration
- programming of the UI (ALV grid or tree)
- declaration of event handler class and methods
- creation of a global structure in the data dictionary or a local structure in the report.
You can choose which ALV control to use:
- class based ALV grid (cl_gui_alv_grid)
- class based SALV table (cl_salv_table)
- class based ALV tree (cl_gui_alv_tree)
- function module based ALV grid (reuse_alv_grid_display_lvc)
Having all the options above, every developer can find the control that is he most comfortable for him/her, regardless of age, experience or skill level. Depending on the generation settings, 200-1000+ lines of ABAP code can be generated in a few minutes. This can save from a few hours to a few days of development time depending on the complexity of the report.
The generated report is fully compliant with the SAP developer guidelines (naming conventions etc.), well commented, easy to read and easy to extend. It can be added to a packages and a transport request, is active and it can be instantly executed!
Features - Execution of OpenSQL queries
One of the most interesting features is that the SQL statement can be executed and the result is displayed immediately. All syntax variations are accepted, without the use of local variables. Group functions, subqueries (nested to any level), inner and outer joins are all supported.
Developers can test and optimize the SQL query for rapid prototyping, and when the query is ready, a standard SAP report can be generated based on it. The generated report will take over the field structure of the result set.
Benefits
The benefits of Hovitaga Report Generator are affecting both the technical people and the business people. The business can benefit from a quicker ad-hoc reporting process. The average time to develop an SAP report will be drastically reduced. The sooner the ad-hoc reports are available, the better the business runs.
Technical people will also benefit from using the product. ABAP developers and SAP consultants don't have to waste time and effort on monotonous work arising every time, but can concentrate on the business logic of the reports that they develop. Due to the possibility of choosing different ALV controls for the generated report, developers of any age and experience can instantly understand and enhance the them.
As a summary, SAP IT costs can be significantly lowered due to reduction of development time needed to create SAP reports.
