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Creating a GL Transaction detail report - Walkthrough

Overview

Here we showcase and give you a step-by-step guide on how to use Excel 365 and Velixo Classic for Windows to build a dynamic General Ledger detailed transactions report, using Generic Inquiry functions.

Video summary

Walkthrough

Step 1 - Set up the GL Entries Inquiry in Acumatica

First, download this generic inquiry configuration and import the XML on the Generic Inquiry screen in Acumatica:

Acumatica Generic Inquiry screen with Velixo-GLDetail XML inquiry being imported


Importing a Generic Inquiry from XML

Review the Tables, Relations, and the Results Grid tabs in the imported inquiry. As you can see, it queries individual transaction lines from the system and returns the columns that are likely to be of reporting interest, such as:

  • account

  • posting period

  • debit and credit amounts

  • the user who recorded the transaction

  • module (e.g. AP, AR, or GL) from which the transaction originates

  • batch number etc.

Velixo-GLDetail inquiry Results Grid tab showing account, period, debit, credit, and batch columns

Reviewing the imported inquiry results grid


Then, click View Inquiry to review the inquiry results in Acumatica:

Acumatica generic inquiry results displaying GL transaction rows for the Velixo-GLDetail inquiry


Viewing the inquiry results

Make sure that Make Visible on the UI and Expose via OData flags are both checked for the inquiry (otherwise, Velixo GI functions will not be able to access it):

Generic Inquiry settings showing Make Visible on the UI and Expose via OData flags both checked


If necessary, make changes and save the inquiry.

Step 2 - Building the report

We want a report that, for each account within our specified range, shows three pieces of information:

A - the beginning balance

B - all transactions during the specified financial period(s)

C - the ending balance

Planned report layout showing beginning balance, transactions, and ending balance sections for each account

(click the image to see a larger view)

Set Up Report arguments Using Excel and Velixo

Now let's start building our transaction report in Excel using Velixo.

Create a new Excel 365 workbook and set up a Velixo connection (Connection Manager). This example uses "Demo" as the connection name.

The upper-left of the worksheet (range B3:G5) will host our variable report arguments:

  • the branch

  • the financial period range (within a single fiscal year)

  • the account range

Excel worksheet with Branch, Period, and Account range argument cells in the upper-left corner

Setting up report arguments


In cell C7, use the GIFILTER function to prepare the filter clause for our generic inquiry:

GIFILTER function building an OData filter clause for Branch, Account, and Period arguments


Using GIFILTER function to prepare a filter clause for the generic inquiry

As you can see, the GIFILTER function has prepared a valid OData filter clause.

You can also see that, to properly filter by financial period, we need to reformat the financial periods to match the Acumatica internal format. This format can vary, depending on whether we performing the filtering in Excel, Acumatica 2020 R2 or newer, or Acumatica 2020 R1 and older.

For example, for Acumatica 2020 R2 and higher, the human-readable period representation of "11-2018" will need to be formatted as "112018".

We have used the Excel RIGHT and LEFT functions for that purpose, directly inside the GIFILTER function:

GIFILTER formula using RIGHT and LEFT functions to reformat financial periods to Acumatica internal format

To show the three pieces of information we need, we'll create three separate areas that we will then combine in the main part of our report. We'll build the first of these sections to retrieve the transactions. This section will use the Velixo GI function with the filter we defined in cell C7 to with the Velixo-GLDetail generic inquiry that we imported into Acumatica to return all the transactions for the specified accounts during the specified financial period for the selected branch:

GI function retrieving GL transaction lines from the Velixo-GLDetail inquiry with filter and field selection


We have specified to only return certain fields (starting with SortOrder) from the inquiry, and we are not displaying the headers for columns.


In the next section, we will use the ACCOUNTSANDSUBACCOUNTSWITHHISTORY function to return all the accounts (and respective subaccounts) within the specified account range, for which there was transactional history during the specified financial period:

ACCOUNTSANDSUBACCOUNTSWITHHISTORY function returning account and subaccount pairs with history in the period


Next, we'll fill in the rest of the same columns that we retrieved for the transactions.

First, the Sort Order. The Velixo-GLDetail inquiry returns a sort order of "B" for the transactions. Since we want the ending balance to appear after the transactions, we'll use C for this section:

Sort Order column showing value C for ending balance rows

We'll then retrieve the rest of the data we need:

Excel formula row building ending balance columns with SUBACCOUNTNAME, ACCOUNTNAME, and ACCOUNTENDINGBALANCE functions

Column

Function

AD (subaccount name)

=IF(AND(AC10<>""),SUBACCOUNTNAME("Demo",AC10),"")

AE (account name)

=IF(AB10<>"",ACCOUNTNAME("Demo",AB10),"")

AK

=IF(AB10<>"","Ending Balance","")

AL (ending balance)

=IF(AB10<>"",ACCOUNTENDINGBALANCE("Demo","ACTUAL",,AB10,AC10,$F$3,$F$5),"")


In the last of the three hidden sections, we will retrieve the beginning balance for each of the accounts.

Everything in this section is almost identical to the previous section where we retrieve the ending balance. The only differences are that we will use "A" as our sort order (since we want this section to appear before the transactions):

Sort Order column showing value A for beginning balance rows


and, in the last function, we will be using ACCOUNTBEGINNINGBALANCE:

ACCOUNTBEGINNINGBALANCE function formula replacing ACCOUNTENDINGBALANCE for the beginning balance section


Now that we have our three sections - each showing part of what we want in our final report - we can combine them using a combination of Velixo and Excel functionality.

The Velixo COLLATE function allows us to combine Excel 365 arrays and ranges. This gives us the ability to show our three sections in one place:

COLLATE function combining the three data sections into a single array

What we want now is to sort this.

First, we want to sort by Account Number (column 2), then by subaccount (column 3), then by our special Sort Order (the A, B, and C in column 1), and finally Date (column 8).

The Excel 365 SORT function allows us to define multiple sort orders. Here is what that function looks like:

=SORT(COLLATE(N10#,AA10#:AL10#,AN10#:AY10#),{2,3,1,8})


And this is what the results look like:

Excel SORT function result combining beginning balances, transactions, and ending balances sorted by account and date


Tweak GI Caching Options to Avoid Loading All GL Entries

Velixo directs Acumatica to perform as much of the filtering as possible. This is important because many inquiries, including the one we are using here, are very heavy: loading all GL transactions over the network can take quite a bit of time.

We can further improve performance by modifying the Generic Inquiry Options.

On the Velixo ribbon, click the Options button.

In the Options pop-up window, observe that there is already a set of default options for the Velixo-GLDetail generic inquiry, which was automatically created once we used the GIFILTER function:

Velixo Generic Inquiry Options dialog with default caching settings for the Velixo-GLDetail inquiry

Editing the inquiry options

Click the three-dot "kabob" button and then click Edit.

In the inquiry's options window:

  • Set Refresh Mode to Smart Refresh

  • Specify the Key Fields to be: Module, BatchNbr, and LineNbr (in that order)

  • Set the Smart Refresh Field to LastModifiedDateTime

GI Options dialog with Refresh Mode set to Smart Refresh and Key Fields set to Module, BatchNbr, and LineNbr


Tweaking the refreshing and key options

The above measures will help ensure faster update times: when you refresh the report, Smart Refresh will ensure that instead of re-loading the whole inquiry result set over the network, Velixo will only incrementally load new transactions based on their LastModifiedDateTime field value.

Let us reiterate that manually tweaking GI options is not something you will be likely to do on a regular basis. For most smaller inquiries, the default caching / refreshing options provided by Velixo will work just fine.


Step 3 - Finalizing the report

Now that we have GI options set up, let us load the inquiry data and finalize the report.

We can add a heading, hide those columns and rows we do not need to see, and use Excel's Conditional Formatting feature to format the three parts of our report.

We'll apply any other necessary formatting (e.g., ensure that the TransactionDate column is properly displayed as a date) and our report is ready:

Completed GL transaction detail report showing beginning balances, transactions, and ending balances with conditional formatting

Formatted report

Now, try changing the account or period range to see how the report refreshes dynamically.