Working with the Window

Each Report Configuration maintains the following information:

Name of the definition
Time period for the comparison
Name of the results catalog which should be used for displaying the comparison results
Up to 5 objects to be compared
- Plan
  The most common object compared, enables inclusion of an existing plan in the comparison
- Forecast
  Enables making a forecast build on data gathered so far
- All Actuals
  Enables inclusion of all actual expenses so far in the comparison, that is all payments generated from requests, orders or contracts
- Actuals
  Enables inclusion of actual expenses so far in the comparison, in this case duplicate expenses (due to, e.g. the fact that the same expenses are registered in connection with a request, the order based on the request and the resulting contract) are eliminated

Plans can be compared against one another or against actual expenses or forecasts.

When a plan is selected as e.g. Type 1, several more fields dynamically appear next to it in the editor

Plan is a combo box in which the plan to be compared can be selected
If there are too many plans for selection, checking the Search by catalog check box opens a plan browser for selecting the plan from a catalog
When comparing a plan, it is possible to determine whether the comparison should or should not include the plan's subordinate plans, this is done by checking the Including subordinated plans check box

The comparison may include up to 5 objects. The fields for selection of additional objects are displayed dynamically with each new object addition.

Open with Catalog offers a selection of 6 pre-defined catalogs to open the results of the comparison with. In these catalogs, visible columns and grouping are defined. The most generic catalog is the Comparison Results catalog. The result catalogs generally contain the following information:

Columns	Function / Meaning
Quantity	Columns displaying item quantities for each of the objects Report Configuration
Cost	Columns displaying the costs for each of the objects
Cost Diff	Columns displaying cost differences between the objects
Cost Diff%	Columns displaying cost differences in percent
Quantity Diff	Columns displaying quantity differences between the objects
Quantity Diff%	Columns displaying quantity differences in percent

The number of displayed columns of each type depends on the number of objects included in the Report Configuration. The cost and quantity differences are always taken the first object in the Report Configuration. (e.g. Cost Diff 2 = Cost 2 - Cost 1).

When all of the above parameters for the comparison are set, use the Results button found at the bottom of the Edit: Report Configuration window to open the comparison in the selected "Open With" catalog.

Note: In the Report Configuration result catalogs, the grouping functionality is especially useful. See Grouping in Catalogs for more information on grouping, Also note, that the catalogs are by default opened in the Group View.