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Reports and Report Selection

Document Creator ships with various document reports, built-in/extension-provided layouts and a template label translations package. These reports can be easily set up using the Apportunix Report Selection page.

Apportunix Report Selection

The Apportunix Report Selection page allows you to manage all report selections in a single page:

apportunix-report-selection

Note that you can sort on the Usage Type field on this page to group everything from the same category together (e.g., Sales, Purchase, ...). The report usages that are added by extensions get the "Extension" usage type (at least, by default).

Tip

You can use the Email Body Layout Name field to choose a Document Creator or Word layout from the Report Layouts page to use as template for the email body of your emails.

Email Body Layout Name field

N.B. Selecting layouts from the Report Layouts page is not possible by default in Business Central. The Microsoft Base Application still uses the legacy/deprecated Custom Report Layout table for selecting layouts and e-mail body layouts in (custom) report selections. This is a major inconsistency that is solved with the Apportunix Report Selection page.

Tip

Please follow the Tour for instructions on how to use this page. You can retake the tour by clicking on the title of the page.

apportunix-report-selection-tour

Some additional clarification on the most important actions can be found in the following sub-sections.

Set Document Creator Defaults

apportunix-report-selection-set-document-creator-defaults-action

You can use the Set Document Creator Defaults action to set the available Document Creator report objects to their respective report selection. This allows for a very quick setup, i.e., in this way the current company will use all report objects provided with Document Creator and their respective default layout or usser-selected layout.

Refresh

apportunix-report-selection-refresh-action

You can use the Refresh action to refresh the page with the most recent settings. However, please note that the changes you made on this page will be aborted.

Save

apportunix-report-selection-save-action

You can use the Save action to save your changes manually. Your changes will be saved automatically when you close this page.

Restore Defaults

apportunix-report-selection-restore-defaults-action

You can always choose to restore the report selections back to the Business Central defaults using the Restore Defaults action. This will delete all report selections and return the report selections to their defaults.

Report Selections

apportunix-report-selection-report-selection-action

The Report Selections action is a record-scoped action that allows you to open the respective report selection page for the usage of the selected report selection. For example, if you have selected a "S.Invoice" report selection record, then this action will open the Report Selection – Sales page and will also set the usage filter to "Invoice" when the page is opened. On that page you can edit the detailed settings for the report selection.

apportunix-report-selection-report-selection-action-sample

apportunix-report-selection-report-selection-action-page

Note

This Report Selections action will open the respective page, initialized with/filtered on the selected usage, only if the page supports this.

Also, the action can only open the respective report selection page for extension-provided usages when this is implemented by the extension publisher.

Business Rel. Layout Selections

apportunix-report-selection-business-rel-layout-selections-action

The Business Rel. Layout Selections action is a record-scoped action that allows you to open the Business Rel. Layout Selections action for the usage of the selected report selection.

Business Relation Layout Selections Page

  1. In this page you have an overview of all business relations that have custom report/layout selections for a specific usage! (In the screenshot you see the custom sales order selections.) Normally you would need to first navigate to the customer/vendor card to view the selections per customer.
  2. This page has a Copy from Report Selection action to easily copy the 'main' settings to the selected record.
  3. You can specify an Email Body Layout Name and Layout Name for a customer/vendor specifically. You can also select Document Creator layouts for both of these, just like on the Apportunix Report Selection page.

Report Layouts

apportunix-report-selection-report-layouts-action

This is a record-scoped action that opens the Report Layouts page filtered to the report object of the selected report selection record. For example, if the report selection record specifies that report 11249662 “Sales – Invoice” should be used, then this action will open the Report Layouts page only showing the layouts for this report object:

apportunix-report-selection-report-selection-action-page

Reports

Document Creator provides a set of reports and layouts which cover the requirements of Small- to Midsized Businesses significantly better than the standard reports. These include reports for sales, purchase, reminders/finance charge, transfer, service, assembly, warehouse, and many more documents.

The reports already offer a complete dataset that cover the needs for most users and even then, you can use the Dataset Extensions feature to add new columns, data items and translatable labels, all by yourself, directly from the Business Central web client, using data from any table, without developing additional report or reportextension objects.

The extensions provides reports for the following documents/usages in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central:

Usage Type Document Usage ID Usage Report ID Report Caption
Sales Sales - Quote 0 Sales Quote 11249660 Sales - Quote
Sales Sales - Order Confirmation 1 Sales Order 11249661 Sales - Order Confirmation
Sales Sales - Invoice 2 Sales Invoice 11249662 Sales - Invoice
Sales Sales - Credit Memo 3 Sales Credit Memo 11249663 Sales - Credit Memo
Sales Sales - Blanket Order 20 Sales Blanket Order 11249667 Sales - Blanket Order
Sales Sales - Return Order Confirmation 36 Sales Return Order 11249665 Sales - Return Order Confirmation
Sales Sales - Shipment 38 Sales Shipment 11249664 Sales - Shipment
Sales Sales - Return Receipt 39 Sales Return Receipt 11249666 Sales - Return Receipt
Sales Sales - Work Order 40 Sales Work Order 11249670 Sales - Work Order
Sales Sales - Picklist 53 Sales Order Pick Instruction 11249669 Sales - Picklist
Sales Sales - Draft Invoice 88 Sales Invoice Draft 11249668 Sales - Draft Invoice
Sales Sales - Pro Forma Invoice 89 Pro Forma Sales Invoice 11249671 Sales - Pro Forma Invoice
Purchase Purchase - Quote 5 Purchase Quote 11249680 Purchase - Quote
Purchase Purchase - Order 6 Purchase Order 11249681 Purchase - Order
Purchase Purchase - Invoice 7 Purchase Invoice 11249682 Purchase - Invoice
Purchase Purchase - Credit Memo 8 Purchase Credit Memo 11249683 Purchase - Credit Memo
Purchase Purchase - Receipt 9 Purchase Receipt 11249684 Purchase - Receipt
Purchase Purchase - Return Shipment 10 Purchase Return Shipment 11249686 Purchase - Return Shipment
Purchase Purchase - Blanket Order 21 Purchase Blanket Order 11249687 Purchase - Blanket Order
Purchase Purchase - Return Order 37 Purchase Return Order 11249685 Purchase - Return Order
Reminder/Finance Charge Reminder 15 Reminder 11249721 Reminder
Reminder/Finance Charge Issued Finance Charge Memo 16 Finance Charge 11249720 Issued Finance Charge Memo
Inventory Transfer Order 26 Transfer Order 11249740 Transfer Order
Inventory Transfer Shipment 27 Transfer Shipment 11249742 Transfer Shipment
Inventory Transfer Receipt 28 Transfer Receipt 11249741 Transfer Receipt
Inventory Assembly Order 51 Assembly Order 11249730 Assembly Order
Inventory Posted Assembly Order 52 Posted Assembly Order 11249731 Posted Assembly Order
Job Job Quote 87 Job Quote 11249750 Job Quote
Production Order Job Card 22 Job Card 11249770 Prod. Order - Job Card
Production Order Mat. & Requisition 23 Mat. & Requisition 11249771 Prod. Order - Mat. Requirements
Production Order Shortage List 24 Shortage List 11249772 Prod. Order - Shortage List
Service Service - Quote 29 Service Quote 11249700 Service - Quote
Service Service - Order Confirmation 30 Service Order 11249701 Service - Order Confirmation
Service Service - Invoice 31 Service Invoice 11249702 Service - Invoice
Service Service - Credit Memo 32 Service Credit Memo 11249703 Service - Credit Memo
Service Service - Contract 34 Service Contract 11249707 Service - Contract
Service Service - Shipment 42 Service Shipment 11249704 Service - Shipment
Service Service - Draft Invoice N.A. N.A. 11249708 Service - Draft Invoice
Service Service Item Worksheet N.A. N.A. 11249706 Service Item Worksheet
Service Service - Pick List N.A. N.A. 11249709 Service - Picklist
Service Service - Pro Forma Invoice (Posted Shipment) N.A. N.A. 11249705 Service - Pro Forma Invoice (Posted Shipment)
Usage Type Document Warehouse Usage ID Warehouse Usage Report ID Report Caption
Warehouse Put-Away List 0 Put-away 11249766 Warehouse Activity Put-Away List
Warehouse Pick List 1 Pick 11249764 Warehouse Activity Pick List
Warehouse Movement List 2 Movement 11249765 Warehouse Activity Movement List
Warehouse Inventory Put-away 3 Invt. Put-away 11249766 Warehouse Activity Put-Away List
Warehouse Inventory Pick List 4 Invt. Pick 11249764 Warehouse Activity Pick List
Warehouse Inventory Movement List 5 Invt. Movement 11249765 Warehouse Activity Movement List
Warehouse Receipt 6 Receipt 11249762 Warehouse Receipt
Warehouse Shipment 7 Shipment 11249760 Warehouse Shipment
Warehouse Posted Receipt 8 Posted Receipt 11249763 Posted Warehouse Receipt
Warehouse Posted Shipment 9 Posted Shipment 11249761 Posted Warehouse Shipment

Import Translations Template

The translations template package can be found under the Downloads for "Document Creator" (in the dedicated folder "Document Creator" | "Downloads" | "Translations") that can be accessed via the Apportunix website.

To import the translations for the Document Creator reports, please follow these steps:

  1. Open the Document Creator Translations page.
  2. Invoke the Import Translations action.

    xliff-export-import

  3. Select the Document Creator Translations - TEMPLATE.zip file, and wait for the import to complete.

  4. The template translations have now been imported.

Report Settings

On the Document Creator Setup page there is a Reports section available with settings for the Document Creator reports.

Default Date Text Format

The Default Date Text Format setting specifies the text format to use for the report columns containing Date fields. The default is set to format '4' which displays the date with the month fully written out.

default-date-text-format

In the Document Creator reports you will find both normal Date columns, but also DateText columns provided in the dataset. The Date columns contain the dates with the DateTime datatype while the DateText columns contain the dates as a string/text. You can use the DateText columns when you want dates as text and want them to be translated appropriately, e.g., a Sales Invoice for a French customer should have the dates as text translated to French.

Report-Specific Settings

In the Report Settings part, you can specify settings for individual Document Creator reports.

report-settings

First off, you can set the Date Text Format to use, which overrules the Default Date Text Format setting for a report specifically.

And secondly, you can enable the Load Item Pictures setting, to load the item pictures for the report, which is disabled by default for all reports due to performance considerations.

Report Substitutions

In the Report Substitutions part, you can specify report substitutions: this means that report X is to be replaced by report Y whenever report X runs.

report-substitutions

This can be used to replace the reports for document types that do not have a document report selection in Business Central, such as the Service Item Worksheet. You can replace the original Service Item Worksheet report by the Document Creator Service Item Worksheet by setting up the appropriate report substitution.

Caution

There are some exceptions to when reports can be substituted by another report, e.g., when a report is invoked via a page variable (which can be when a report requires initialization via (an) external procedure(s)). Please see Substituting Reports for an overview of the scenarios in which it is possible to substitute one report for another.

Please note that the built-in/extension-provided report layouts are set up to meet global requirements as much as possible. However, depending on where you do business, you may need to adhere to additional legal requirements and adjust your report layouts accordingly.

Intra-Community Delivery (EU)

If your company sells and/or exports goods to companies settled in other countries in the European Union, then this is known as "Intra-Community Delivery/Supply" (N.B., the customer should have a valid EU VAT Registration number). For this type of delivery, the "Reverse Charge" VAT Calculation Type should apply, which means that a 0% VAT rate applies but will not be charged (i.e., please check your "VAT Posting Setup" in Business Central carefully). However, on your invoices it is required that you state that an "Intra-Community Supply" applies, e.g.:

VAT zero-rated intra-community supply of goods following article 138 Directive 2006/112/EC

Additionally, both VAT Registration Nos. (from seller and customer) should be visible on the invoices as well.

To add the text for intra-community deliveries you can use the VAT Clauses functionality in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central:

  1. First set up your VAT clauses in the VAT Clauses page. Also, set up the required translations for the text accordingly.

    VAT Clauses

  2. Then, link the VAT clause in the VAT Posting Setup to the records where the intra-community supply applies, using the VAT Clause Code field.

    VAT Posting Setup - VAT Clause Code

  3. Ensure the VAT Clause descriptions are added and visible on your document layouts.

As an alternative, you can use the data columns that the Document Creator reports facilitate for this as well. Under the InvHdr dataitem, you can find an IntraCommDeliveryTxt column which contains the text to be shown when an intra-community delivery applies. You can add a TextObject to your report layout and set a condition so that the text is only shown when applicable (e.g., use the VisibleExpression property and set it to [Total.ReverseChargeVATExists], or check the value of the [InvHdr.VATBusPostingGroup] instead).

VAT Rates on Invoices

Even if a 0% VAT rate applies when exporting your goods, your company may still need to show the VAT rate(s) even if a VAT amount of "0" is being charged. The Document Creator reports already facilitate this, i.e., if VAT applies, then the VAT rate(s) (N.B. one or multiple) will always be shown (together with their corresponding amounts). Of course, if you wish to change this, then you can edit the report layouts accordingly.


Last update: August 3, 2023