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Perform Writeback

This activity is used to write information back to IFS Cloud or to a text file. You can either perform a Complete Writeback or a Modified Writeback. Complete Writeback will collect all data to be written back regardless of whether it has been modified or not. Modified Writeback will only collect data that has been changed. The data items collected for writeback can either be written back to IFS Cloud or to a CSV file. It is possible to select a subset of the collected rows to be written back.

Zero and null values will be included or excluded depending on report options set in Design Mode.

Writeback could only be performed on reports that have been designed to support the Writeback functionality.

An Information Source can support two types of writeback.

  1. Aggregated Writeback

    This means that the report is designed to read and aggregate information that is then presented as the output. Changing values means changing the aggregated values and this is also the values written back.

  2. Detailed/Transaction Level Writeback

    The source information is read on the lowest, transactional level. The report can still present aggregated information but the difference compared to the other type of writeback is that for each writeback cell, a dialog is opened showing all the detailed transactions that represent the current cell. Hence, on this level, it is possible to modify transactions on the lowest level, to add new transactions, or to remove transactions. All changes will affect and directly update the cell in the report keeping the aggregated value. Collecting writeback information means that the lowest-level transactions are gathered.

Also, note that some Information Sources support both writeback types. The aggregated writeback is available for initialization purposes even if the main use case is to perform the transaction-level writeback.

Note

You have to make sure to select a report where Writeback has been enabled in the report design. Required writeback settings and options have to be set in designer mode as preferred.

Writing information back to IFS Cloud will alter the related data in IFS Cloud immediately. Writing information to a file makes it possible to import the data to IFS Cloud at a later stage.

The following section explains the procedure for performing a writeback.

To Perform a Complete Writeback

  1. Change the output of some of the amounts in the report.

  2. Option one is in the IFS Business Reporter ribbon, click on Writeback All Data to perform a Writeback of all transactions. The option Review Collected Data can be selected if it is of interest to see the collected data before the Writeback takes place and/or if only a subset of the collected rows should be written back.

  3. Option two is to perform the writeback via the options available in the Document Actions Pane.

    • Click Writeback in the Document Actions pane.

    • ClickGet All. All amounts are collected to the Writeback tab of the Document Actions pane. Null/ Zero Values can be excluded depending on the writeback options selected in Design Mode.

    • Select All Writeback Data check box in the Writeback pane will be selected by default. Clear/select the corresponding checkboxes for each collected writeback item to specify which of the collected rows should be written back to the database.

    • Click Save to write back selected rows to IFS Cloud

At this point, you will see the fields Status, Group Message, and Set Message having messages displayed in them.

If the Collective Writeback process is successful the icon for each row will become green and the following messages will be displayed:

To Perform a Modified Writeback

  1. Change values as required in the writeback-enabled report.

  2. Option one is to click on the Writeback icon in the IFS Business Reporter ribbon to perform Writeback of all modified transactions. The option Review Collected Data can be selected if it is of interest to see the collected data before the Writeback operation and/or if only a subset of the collected rows should be written back.

  3. Option two is to perform writeback via the options in the Document Actions pane.

    • Click Writeback in the Document Actions pane.

    • Click Get Modified to collect the figures that have been modified, into the Writeback tab of the Document Actions pane.

    • Select All Writeback Data check box in the Writeback pane will be selected by default. Clear/select the corresponding checkboxes for each collected writeback item to specify which of the collected rows should be written back to the database.

    • Click Save to write back selected rows to IFS Cloud.

To Insert Values for Writeback

Select the Enable Insert of New Values for Writeback check box in the design row/column options in the design mode for the required repeater level, to Insert Values for Writeback in the report mode.

To insert values for Writeback in the report mode:

1.Select a row or column where the values need to be inserted for writeback.

2.Right-click and select Insert New Row/Column for BR Writeback.

3.Select values from the list of values, for each field in the Insert New Values for Writeback window.

Note

Fields in this window will dynamically change according to the writeback design and the selected repeater level.

4.The report will be re-executed and the new rows and columns will be inserted.

5.Change the writeback-enabled cells, and perform writeback to IFS Cloud.

Note

If one or more new rows are inserted via the Insert New Row/Column for BR Writeback option, it is recommended to enter values in the new cells and then perform writeback as soon as possible. Don't wait with the writeback too long since the business logic can raise errors when the writeback is performed. Then it might be difficult to get things right. The fallback is always to re-execute the report, to get a report based on the current status in the IFS Cloud database.

Note

Enable Insert of New Values for Writeback and Transaction Level Writeback are mutually exclusive. Therefore, only one option should be enabled in the report design.

Configuration of the Writeback Transactions Dialog

The Writeback Transactions dialog, which is used for adding, modifying, or deleting detailed transactions during detailed/transaction level writeback, will have a default configuration based on the design settings of the writeback-enabled cell. However, it can be customized to better suit end-user needs. This configuration option is only available to users with design privileges, such as a typical Business Reporter designer. A common scenario might look like this:

  1. A Business Reporter designer creates the report in design mode.

  2. The report is executed and the resulting report will be available in report mode.

  3. The designer tests whether the report is rendered correctly and that the writeback works as expected.

  4. Now the designer can, in report mode, click on a writeback-enabled cell to open the Writeback Transactions dialog.

  5. Clicking on the Configure button opens the Column Configuration dialog.

  6. The dialog can be used to configure:

    • Column visibility
    • Column order
    • Display the name for the column header
  7. When the designer is done, the report is Published (handled in design mode).

  8. The end users who are supposed to access the report for planning/budgeting and writeback, order the report in Business Reporter report mode and perform necessary writeback actions. It is possible to order and open the report from IFS Cloud as well.