Electronic Reporting| How to manage versions & use menu items | Part 2

Hello everyone hope you all are doing well.

So, today we will discuss our next step that is very important to understand we can say these are the building blocks of ER. let's suppose you are finance professional & you don't know the basic terms like what is balance sheet but you know about the assets, capital and so on....

Same you are a Power BI developer you know everything about power Query but you don't know what are the functions of buttons available on the Main page.

Just like these cases you have idea about the ER but don't know the buttons or menu items available on the page. so, today we will discuss about the key concepts behind the menu items and various other function's.

Defining versions in ER

In the Electronic Reporting (ER) configuration overview, you'll notice a tab aptly labeled "Versions." This section is dedicated to managing the different versions available for your reporting configurations. By navigating to this tab, you can effortlessly switch between various ER versions, allowing you to work with different sets of rules and logic tailored to your specific reporting requirements.

Here you will notice the following fields:

Rebase conflicts:

Rebase conflict shows you an error icon that tell us about the issue with configuration model. we will discuss in depth how to rebase a model.

Status:

Based on the stage of report it can have following status:

Draft:

Users have the flexibility to make changes to the configurations to suit their reporting needs. However, it's important to note that draft versions are not automatically considered for generating reports unless explicitly specified by parameters.

Completed:

Welcome to the locked and loaded mode of Electronic Reporting (ER)! Once a configuration reaches this state, it is considered "ready to be used" and cannot be further edited. In Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations (D365FO), the system will always employ the most recent completed version of a configuration for generating reports.

Shared:

Welcome to the collaborative world of Electronic Reporting (ER) Shared Mode! To activate this mode, you must ensure that your reports are completed first. In the Shared Mode, the configuration is uploaded and shared with others in the LCS (Life Cycle Services) repository, which is configured in the configuration provider.

By leveraging Shared Mode, you enable seamless collaboration among team members, as the shared configuration becomes accessible and usable by authorized users within the organization.

Discontinued:

A shared configuration can be discontinued. This allows the configuration to be deleted and D365FO will no longer use this configuration when running reports.

Effective from:

start date a configuration is used. The start date of the newer configuration will be the end date.

Version created:

The date and time the version has been created.

Description: A brief description of the changes in the current version.

Base: In Electronic Reporting (ER), a child configuration is linked to a parent configuration, and this association is maintained unless manually rebased. The parent configuration serves as the foundation or reference point for the child configuration. If you need to track the name and version of the parent configuration, you can easily find this information within the ER system.

The child configuration will remain aligned with the same parent configuration unless a manual rebase is performed, signifying that the child configuration inherits the rules and logic from the parent. This approach ensures consistency and facilitates efficient management of reporting configurations.

Template: indicates whether attachments are present for this configuration.

Created by: the user creating or importing the configuration.

Modified by: the user who performed the last modification to the configuration.

Modified date and time: date and time the last modification was performed.

Besides these fields there are a few buttons as well under the version tab:

1. Change Status: This option allows you to update the status of the configuration to one of the predefined statuses.
2. Delete: You can use this action to permanently delete the selected configuration.
3. Get this Version: This action switches the current draft version configuration to the selected version configuration, effectively updating the configuration to match the selected version.
4. Compare with Draft: By selecting this option, you can compare the currently chosen configuration to the draft configuration, enabling you to identify and understand any differences.
5. Run: Running the selected configuration triggers its execution. However, you need to manually fill in all parameters, which would typically be automatically populated. This precaution is necessary to prevent unexpected results, so ensure you check and fill in any required parameters before running the configuration.
6. Rebase: Rebase allows you to align a configuration to a different version of the parent configuration. By default, the most recent version is shown, but you have the option to manually select a different parent version. Note that this action can cause issues if configurations are migrated or uploaded into LCS.
7. Exchange: The Exchange button facilitates the export of the selected (at least completed) configuration into an XML file. This same button can also be used to import XML files. ER automatically determines the location of the configuration to be imported based on the information in the XML file.
8. Upload into Repository: This button is activated when no configurations are present and is intended for future use (note: as of the current version, it might not be functional).
9. Attachments: This feature allows you to control attachments used in the configuration design, such as payment specifications, providing a seamless way to handle related files.