The FRx Financial Reporting Extender is a popular financial reporting tool that enables users to create management and financial reports from your general ledger. FRx adds-on to more than two dozen popular accounting systems including Great Plains, Solomon, Axapta, and Navision. FRx automatically extracts information from these general ledger systems and if desired, combines it with information from other sources such as Lotus 1-2-3 or Microsoft Excel® spreadsheets. Customized report formatting tools allow you to create just the specific management and financial reports you desire, by different reporting levels. FRx reports may then be printed, e-mailed or saved to a variety of output file formats.

By taking advantage of the Lotus 1-2-3 or Microsoft Excel import feature, you can include additional information like statistical or special budget amounts in your FRx reports. Then, you can reload your finished reports into a new Lotus 1-2-3 or Microsoft Excel spreadsheet for further changes. In FRx, the design of your reports are separate from your general ledger. As a result, you can change reports without modifying your accounting system’s general ledger. Presented below is the FRx main menu screen.

The basic design philosophy of FRx is to break data down to the smallest possible component, and then mix and match the data as needed. With this building block approach, it is possible to combine text, amounts, calculations, and summaries in an unlimited fashion. The following are the report building blocks: 1. Row formats; 2. Column layouts; and 3. Reporting trees.

In the Catalog of Reports, users can run reports using one of the following building block combinations: 1. Row format and column layout; and Row format, column layout, and reporting tree. Users can also specify the type of report you want to run: 1. Financial reports; 2. Account detail reports; 3. Transaction detail reports; and 4. Any combination of these report types. Reports can be based on a summary, company-wide basis or on selected units from a reporting tree. The resulting report is customized in accordance with the row format and column layout you selected. Presented below is the FRx screen for design column layouts. FRx supports up to 255 columns on a single financial report.

In the column layout screen above, users define the report columns, calculations specific to each column, and column headings. The information in a column layout is later combined with the information in a row format and, optionally, with reporting tree information that you specify and stored in the Catalog of Reports. Each column layout can be combined with one or more row formats. A column layout can contain up to 255 separate columns such as descriptive text, general ledger or worksheet amounts, and calculations. You can also specify the column width and any column headings.

FRx uses a spreadsheet look and feel for column layouts. Users simply setup the columns across the page as they want them to appear. Presented below is an expanded view of the various drop down options offered by FRx for critical column data.

The column types that can be inserted in the TYPE row of the Column Layout window as follows:

GL - Displays data from the general ledger. Also displays external worksheet data when you use a Link to GL + Worksheet or Link to Worksheet column in the row format.

CALC - Displays the result of a simple or complex calculation. You can enter the calculation formula in the Calc Formula cell.

DESC - Places the row description you entered in the row format. Although this column is frequently the first one on the report, it can be placed anywhere.

ROW - Displays the individual row codes from the Row Code column in the row format.

ACCT - Displays the general ledger account codes that apply to each row. For account and transaction detail reports, the full account code displays. For financial reports and higher-level reports that may be a combination of several accounts, the GL link from the row format displays.

FILL - Fills the cell with a character that is enclosed in double quotes. For example, to fill a column with periods, enter FILL “.”  If you do not enter a character, FRx leaves the column blank.

WKS - Displays data pulled from an external spreadsheet. For example: Lotus 1-2-3 or Microsoft Excel.

Transaction Detail Codes - Presents the appropriate detail in a transaction detail report. By specifying a value in the column TYPE cell, you can create a column layout for a transaction detail report that contains a separate column for each type of transaction information. These codes are always used in conjunction with GL columns. You must include both a current and year-to-date GL column to create transaction detail reports.

As shown in the screen shot above, the user has several options for the specific data to be presented in each column. Here we see that actual data, statistical data, or a variety of budget data can be placed into column B.

When you use the conditional column options, any column can be displayed or omitted based on whether the column’s fiscal period falls before or after the base period on the report. For example, this feature enables you to create a report that displays 12 different periods in which actual amounts display for the base period and all prior periods. Budget amounts or forecast amounts from an external spreadsheet display for all future periods. Such a report dynamically derives the correct data for the actual or budget or forecast amounts based on the base period for which the report is run.

You can use the following print control options for conditional columns:

P<B     Displays this column only if the period is less than the base period.

P>B     Displays this column only if the period is greater than the base period.

P=B     Displays this column only if the period is equal to the base period.

P<=B Displays this column only if the period is less than or equal to the base period.

P>=B  Displays this column only if the period is greater than or equal to the base period.

The Start Date and End Date cells restrict data in GL columns to specific dates. This technique is useful for daily or weekly sales reporting, cash analysis needs, and other date-sensitive reports. You can enter a date using the day of the month or a full date. If you enter a date or a date range using a two-digit year value that is greater than 30, FRx assigns it a 1900 century date. If you enter a value that is less than or equal to 30, FRx assigns it a 2000 century date.

You can enter either a day number or a range of days. The day number refers to the number of days after the start of the fiscal period, not the actual calendar date. For a period beginning on May 15, day 1=May 15, day 2=May 16 and so on.

In the Column Layout window, when the amounts in a column are the result of a calculation, you must enter CALC in the TYPE cell and enter the formula in the Calc Formula cell. You can add, subtract, multiply, or divide columns. You can also perform any type of complex calculation including IF/THEN/ELSE statements within the formula.

You can also use the Fiscal Year and Period Code cells when creating CALC columns in the column layout window. Column calculations can refer to any other column, including subsequent columns. FRx resolves the dependent columns first. If a column refers to another column that in turn refers back to the current column, a circular reference error results.

FRx uses the concept of base year and base period rather than current year and current period. This enables you to design column layouts that are easily adapted to different reporting needs. If you used current period to print a report for the prior period or any other period, you have to modify the column layout. By using the base concept, once you specify the base period in the column layout, all you need to do is tell FRx what base period to run the report for in the Catalog of Reports.

The base period in the Catalog of Reports usually defaults to the current period. So when you design column layouts, think of base period and year as the current period and year. Then, when you start printing reports, you can generate the same report with different base periods or years.

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