Report Group

Report group is a function that can be used to pick up the Language texts and the Images linked to a group of reports (not to be confused with report groups used in the print button configuration - more information is found in this section of the guide).

Within Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations, we can assign resources such as Images and Language texts to individual reports. For example, we can add an image from Lasernet > Common > Reports > Setup > Images.

Or we can add a Language text to the structure of the report from Lasernet > Common > Reports.

However, sometimes it can be hard to manage all of these resources for individual reports when many of them are common to whole groups of reports. This is where the Report group can be used.

Report Group Form

To open the Report group form, navigate to Lasernet > Setup > Lists > Report group.

The following form will open:

• Action pane: Options for creating new Report groups and adding data to existing Report groups.

• List of existing Report groups (on the left-hand side of the page).

• Reports: Reports within the selected groups.

• Language texts: Language texts within the selected group.

• Images: Images within the selected group.

Create a New Report Group

To create a new Report group, follow these steps:

1. Click New on the Action pane.

A new row will be added to the list of Report groups.

2. Give the Report group a Name and a Description.

3. Leave the Type as Static. Ensure the Reports tab is selected, and then, using the arrows, move the relevant reports from the AVAILABLE list to the SELECTED list.

Once all the relevant reports have been selected, your form should look as follows:

Select the Language Texts

4. Select the Language texts tab.

5. The list on the Language texts tab is blank when it is first created. Two ways exist to populate it: one is to use the New button. This will allow the user to manually create a new Language text, and assign it a language directly from within the Report group.

The second option is to use the Copy labels from report(s) button.

This will open a dialog in which the user can select any reports within the Report group to which they want to add Labels and Language texts.

6. Select the appropriate reports and click OK. The following screen is displayed:

7. From this screen, the user can select the different Languages and Labels that need to be added to the Report group. In this example, the en-gb and en-us Labels for the Load ID have been selected:

8. Click OK to add those Labels to the Report group.

If a large volume of data needs to be managed within the Report group, it can be useful to use the Microsoft Office integration, which comes with Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations.

For more information about Microsoft Office integrations, consult the Microsoft documentation.

For more information about using Language Texts and Report Groups, watch this video.

Select the Images

9. Select the Images tab.

The two lists populating this form show the AVAILABLE and the SELECTED Images. Those within the AVAILABLE list have been added to one of the individual reports in the Report Group. The Images in the SELECTED list have been added to the whole Report Group, therefore, they are available to all the reports in that group.

Not every Image that is added to a report in the Report Group needs to be selected: sometimes there will be specific Images that need to be linked to one report only.

10. To add an Image, navigate to Lasernet > Common > Reports and select the report to which you want to add the Image. Then, click Setup > Images.

11. On the displayed form, click New.

12. Browse to the location of the file you wish to attach, then click OK.

The image file now shows as one of the Images attached to the report.

It also shows as an Image available to add to the Report Group.

Adding the Image this way will also create a separate Report Group of Dynamic Type, specifically linked to the report to which the Image was added (specified under Range). Using the arrow to move images from the AVAILABLE to the SELECTED list adds the Image to every report in the Report Group.

It is also possible to view all Images and a preview by navigating to Lasernet > Setup > Lists > Images.