Creating a custom report

1. Select Connected Services > Sage HRMS Tools > Crystal Reports to launch SAP Crystal Reports.
2. In the Welcome to Crystal Reports window, select Blank Report and click OK.

3. In the Database Expert window:

   1. Click the plus sign to expand Favorites.
   2. Click the plus sign to expand Abra HRMS Data Access.
   3. Scroll through the list until you find the tables you want to include in the report and click once to highlight the tables.
      
      For this example, highlight HRPERSNL.
   4. Click Add to add a check mark to the tables you selected for the report.

4. When you finish selecting the tables you need for the report, click Close.

   The report opens in Design mode with the Field Explorer window visible.

1. In the SAP Crystal Reports main menu, select Insert > Text Object.
2. The text object appears as a floating object. Drag it to the location on the report and click once to anchor it in place.
   
   For this example, drag it to the upper right hand corner of the Page Header band line.
3. Double-click in the text object and type the report name.
   
   For this example, type Employee Original Hire Date List.
4. Drag your cursor over the title to highlight the text.
5. In the main menu, select Format > Font.
6. In the Text Format window for Size, select 14 and click OK.

7. If you need to expand the text object to accommodate the larger text:

   1. Move your cursor anywhere inside the text object and click once to highlight the text box and display the crosshairs cursor.
   2. Move the cursor to the right border of the text object until it changes to a left/right arrow.
   3. Click and drag the cursor to resize the text object.

1. In the SAP Crystal Reports main menu, select Insert > Text Object.
2. The text object appears as a floating object. Drag it to the location on the report and click once to anchor it in place.
   For this example, drag it to the lower left most position of the Page Header band line for the first column.
3. Double-click in the text object and type the report text.
   For this example, type Employee Name.
4. Drag your cursor over the title to highlight the text.
5. In the main menu, select Format > Font.
6. In the Text Format window for Style, select Bold and click OK.
7. Repeat steps 1 through 6 to create additional column headings.
   For this example, create a column heading for Original Hire Date, placing the column heading in center of the Page Header.

1. In the SAP Crystal Reports main menu, select Insert > Field Object.

2. In the Field Explorer window:

   1. Click the plus sign to expand Database Fields and HRPERSNL.
   2. Left-click and drag a field to the desired location on the report.
      
      For this example, drag p_fname to the left most position of the Details band line, which will insert the employee's first name on the report.
3. In the main menu, select Format > Font.
4. In the Text Format window for Size, select 8 and click OK.
5. Repeat steps 1 through 4 to add the other fields.
   For this example, add the employee's last name using p_lname and date of birth using p_orighire.

1. Place your cursor over the separation line between the Page Header band line and the Details band line. The cursor changes to an up and down arrow.
2. Click once and drag the separation line down about 1/8 inch.
3. In the main menu, select Insert > Line. The cursor changes to a pencil.
4. Place the cursor on the Page Header band line under the Employee Name column heading.
5. Hold down the left mouse button and draw a line from the left side of the report to the right side of the report.
6. Right click on the line and select Format Line.
7. In the Format Editor window, change the width to the widest option and click OK.
8. Repeat steps 1 through 7 to add a line to the Page Footer.
9. In the main menu, select File > Save As and save the report.
10. In the main menu, select File > Print Preview to see the result.

If the report contains data from two or more database files, the database files must be linked. You use a field that is common to both databases to link the database files so records from one database match with related records from the other database.

For example, you can add benefit plans descriptions from the Employee Benefit table (HBENE) and employee benefit premiums from the Benefit Plan table (HBEPLAN) to the Employee report that uses the Employee Personnel table (HRPERSNL). You link the databases so that each employee can be matched up with their benefit descriptions (from the Benefit Plan table) and each benefit description (from the Benefit Plan table) can be matched up with the employee benefit premium (from the Employee Benefit table) .

1. In the SAP Crystal Reports main menu, select Database > Add Database to Report.

2. In the Data Explorer window, select the tables for the report:

   1. Click the plus sign to expand Favorites.
   2. Click the plus sign to expand Abra HRMS Data Access.
   3. Scroll through the list until you find the tables you want to include in the report and click once on each table to highlight it.
      
      For this example, highlight HBENE and HBEPLAN.
   4. Click Add, which adds a check mark to the tables you are adding to the report.
   5. When you finish selecting the tables for the report, click Close.

3. The Visual Linking Expert window shows all the tables currently in your report including any existing links. To add a link:

   1. Scroll through the primary database file, until you find the field to use as the link.
      
      For this example, the field is p_empno in HRPERSNL.
   2. Left-click and drag the field from the primary database file to the corresponding field in the related database file. After the database files are linked, a link line is created from the field in the primary database to the corresponding field in the related database.
      
      For this example, drag p_empno in HRPERSNL to b_empno in HBENE.  
   3. Repeat steps 3a and 3b for all fields to be used to link the databases.
      
      For this example, drag b_benecode in HBENE to code in HBEPLAN.
   4. When done, click OK.

4. Add the fields that you want from the linked tables:

   1. In the main menu, select Insert > Field Object.
   2. In the Field Explorer window, click the plus sign to expand Database Fields and HBEPLAN.
   3. Left-click and drag desc (the benefit plan descriptions) to the desired location on the report.
   4. Repeat steps 4b and 4c to drag b_epremium in HBENE (the employees' benefit premiums) to the desired location on the report.