Got Management Reporter?

Need to learn Management Reporter?

January 18, 2017, Austin—Got Management Reporter because it came with your Dynamics accounting system? 

Maybe you need to learn it for monthly financial presentations to the Board? Maybe you need it for all those zillions of reports your auditors always seem to request? Or for your Quarterly financials? Or maybe you're closing the year soon (for crying out loud) and need annual financials? Or maybe you're going to try for quick close during 2017?

One thing's for sure: if you try to learn Management Reporter using its online manual, you are TOAST. Ok, ok, ok—so of course you can do it, but it will take forever and you'll be ripping your hair out. Who has that kind of time? Or hair? I can guarantee it won't be easy. Sort of like surgery without anesthesia.

Furthermore, I've been doing this a long-ass time and have seen firsthand what happens when people are left to their own devices to learn M-R. Invariably, they make it waaayyyy harder than it needs to be. [I am not making this up—take a look at my post on simplifying FRx Totals and Calculations for a real world example.]

Whether you're presenting the monthly financials to the board, or creating a budget variance for the CEO, or helping analysts come up with the best way to drilldown, your audience needs to trust you with M-R.

Lose the frenzied floundering frustration and the hysterical hystrionics. Just leave them behind. Because it's time to become BADASS.

OK. So maybe the housecat thing is a touch exaggerated, but one thing's for sure: accurate, presentation quality financials will always impress.

I started writing training manuals (on M-R predecessor FRx) over 10 years ago to help the end users whose companies just couldn't afford my far more expensive onsite consulting. I condensed the best of the best from all my onsite classes and consulting, and used this extreme experience and knowledge to create this self-study training. I started teaching Management Reporter when the original version came out many years ago. And I wrote the first two training manuals. Then, practically as soon as I finished writing them, Management Reporter 2012 (the current version) came out. I ripped my hair out, then semi-calmly sat down and completely rewrote them to reflect the massive changes the new version brought. Then I wrote the third one. My hope is that it's the next best thing to my being there to walk you through. 

FAST!

There's no need to learn everything there is to know about Management Reporter. [Unless you're a consultant and need to teach it.] I'll walk you through enough of the basics so that you get a great foundation, then you can pick and choose if & when you want to learn more. Searchable text makes it easy to find what you need. My fast, practical method lets you cut to the chase and get it DONE.

ACCURATE!

I always say a trained monkey could create financials in M-R, but how accurate are they? Accuracy is THE primary consideration for every report included in this book.

BEAUTIFUL!

Presentation quality is so important in creating usable and readable reports your audience will actually enjoy seeing. I'll walk you through specific settings to make your reports look as good as they can within the [extreme] limitations of M-R's presentation features.

[If you don't think this is beautiful, then you're probably not an accountant.]

Volume 2 covers a dozen more reports plus a couple can't-miss ideas:

• builds on the foundation reports from Volume 1
• 3 more Profit & Loss, including trend and rolling quarter and rolling 12
• how to add Percent of Sales columns to the P&L
• Budget Variance (using favorable and unfavorable variances)
• P&L Forecast (how to combine actuals and budget to calculate a forecast)
• 2 more departmental P&Ls (one using dimension filters and one using reporting units)
• Department List P&L (how to use dimensions to simplify report design)
• Consolidating Balance Sheet (plus my favorite way to handle eliminations)
• Transaction Detail (how to use Attributes to get drilldown on steroids)
• more workarounds, when possible, for &*%$# bugs and missing features
• using dimension value sets to ease maintenance—and how to create summary trees
• 3 report distribution options
• using the web viewer
• using the report viewer
• top 20 tips tricks & techniques
• understanding the dimension concept

• 2nd Edition: this just means I [sighed heavily and] completely rewrote my original manuals when M-R 2012 came out.
• Version: I used Management Reporter 2012 RU2 and RU4 for most reports. There's also an addendum that covers 3 significant Rollup 5 changes.
• This is a report design course and doesn't cover installation or IT issues like datamart or security.
• What if you don't use GP? Maybe you're running AX2012 or SL? I wrote this course using a GP demo database, but essentially everything in it holds true for GP, AX and SL. The Management Reporter interface is the same.
• Because AX attributes (re transaction drilldown) are so different from GP, I do use a few AX-specific screenshots.
• Your demo data will likely differ from mine, but I'll show you exactly how to ensure that your reports are correct.
• 3 ways to go through the course: create these reports on your demo database, create these reports on your live database, or just read through.
• My customers consist of both consultants and end users, in either accounting or IT.
• I personally wrote every word of this course. I drew on my 20+ years of consulting experience. Absolutely nothing was outsourced.
• No consulting is included
• Both volumes are downloadable PDF, so you can get started immediately. I recommend downloading to Dropbox so you can access from all your devices. Beautiful on an iPad.
• 30 Day Money Back Guarantee

I run a no-fine-print site. Full disclosure on everything. Here's what isn't included:

• I don't cover the datamart. Heads up: lots of people are complaining about the datamart. 
• These training manuals are downloads, not hard copy. Searchable PDFs. You can get started without delay. I recommend Dropbox so you can review on an iPad or other tablet. Take a look at the Download A Sample coming next if you want to see exactly what they look like.
• Security? Nope. I don't touch security.
• No consulting is included.
• I wrote these using M-R 2012 Rollups 2 and 4, then added an addendum for a few important changes in Rollup 5. The current version is CU15 (cumulative update). Unfortunately Microsoft isn't rolling out any of the missing features that are so desperately needed: I recently worked on a CU13 system and absolutely nothing had changed. Although...I didn't use the web viewer...perhaps all the development efforts have been focused on it. [snark]
• Neither volume is heavy on the web viewer. Everyone I talk to likes the Report Viewer better, and it's what I've used.
• I do cover the report viewer's charting capabilities, but these are really limited. Plus the report viewer isn't getting updated.
• Cashflow isn't covered. It's in the third manual.
• See the disclaimer at the very bottom of this page if you want legalese. [Sigh]

• I’ve traveled all over the country teaching FRx and MR to clients using their own data. [Definitely not for the faint of heart.]
• I’ve written this popular 3-book series Creating Reports in Management Reporter. [If I ever want to write a 4th, just kill me now.]
• I’ve taught consultants and end users alike. [Talk about unique requirements.]
• I’m known in some circles as the FRx/MR Queen [LMAO]

And a few more comments:

Want to Get Started Immediately?

Download now—and you'll obtain Badass status before you know it.

And there's a $100 discount if you decide you want both, or keep going for a $150 discount on the set of three:

It's all about using Management Reporter to create the Cashflow, and how to link to Excel to pull in those extra items. The report that strikes fear into the best. I'll tell you all about it on this page. Don't buy it if you don't need cashflow (or how to import from Excel), but if you do need it, you can add to cart now and save $150 on the set of three:

My best to you in your journey with Management Reporter. It still won't be easy, but I hope these books are like the anesthesia for your surgery. May they take the sting out.

Cheers! Jan Lenoir Harrigan CPA