overview

Training Course List 2020

Table of Contents

1. Booking & Running Courses

All courses in this booklet can be run:

As standard classroom-styled training, on the customer site.
Remotely, run via software such as Skype.
- When run remotely, these courses are usually best when broken up into smaller chunks, such as several half days.
We will be running public remote courses at regular intervals. Please email our contact below for the next dates of your preferred courses.

Following on from these courses, customers often value on-going support/workshops, as the learning is being implemented and consolidated. These can also be remote or on-site depending on your specific needs.

To book any of these courses, or for any enquiries, please contact us.

Please Remember

Every effort has been made to supply complete and accurate information, however the information in this document is subject to change and update without notice. Tech4 Consulting Limited assumes no responsibility for any errors that may occur in this documentation.

Microsoft ® Excel, Windows ® and Microsoft ® SQL Server ™ are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All other brand names, product names and company logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

This document contains information that is proprietary to, and considered a trade secret of, Tech4 Consulting Limited. Reproduction of this documentation for any purposes is prohibited without the prior express written authorisation of Tech4 Consulting Limited. All rights reserved.

2. Reporting Overview

This is our entry-level report training course, where we are learning the available routes to viewing and manipulating data from your system.

1.Reporting Overview

Screens
Report Engine
Server Reports
Client Reports
Choosing between Excelerator and XtraReports

1.Simple and Setup Enquiries

Simple Enquiries
Shortcuts
Setup Enquiries

2.Balance Table Enquiries

Setup
Results

3.Browser

Differing Tabs
Saving Templates

4.Web Reporting

5.Graphical Representation

6.Excelerator

7.XtraReports

8.Worderator

Reporting Overview

Delivered as a workshop.

Pre-Requisites & Next Steps

Pre-Requisites

Before starting this course, you should have an understanding of, or a competence in:

Unit4 ERP Basics
Financials

The course is designed for new members of staff, super users, advanced users, end users, and enquiry users, and you should be familiar with using and working in a Microsoft Windows environment.

Next Steps

A natural progression from this course, would be:

Excelerator 1
Excelerator 2
XtraReports 1
Reports on the U4BW Server
ReSQL (Report Studio)
Excelerator 3
XtraReports 2

3. Excelerator 1

This is our simplest report-writing training course, where we are learning to control the data on the ‘page’. You will need to know a fair amount about U4 ERP and to have good understanding of the basics of reporting to get the most out of this course. In order to keep the focus of the course on Excelerator commands, we only use Browser data. Any delegate must remember that ReSQL can also be used to assemble datasets – but that is a more advanced level.

1.An overview of Excelerator

Understanding the basics of Excelerator and where it fits into the reporting family.
When to choose Excelerator or XtraReports/ARC
About balance tables
Report DATA
About the Excelerator menu in Excel
Workbook Structures
Finding help

2.Reports based on Browser Templates

The Reporting Button
Exporting using the Excelerator Ribbon

3.Simple report commands

First keywords
Excelerator keywords
Augmenting a simple Excelerator report
Reporting attributes

4.Formatting your Report

Keywords to format your report
Source formatting keywords
COLUMN formatting
DataRow formatting

5.Selecting Data

Browser SearchC vs Excelerator
Excelerator data selection parameters
CODE
SUMMARY keyword
CROSSTAB and GROUP keywords
Importing Excelerator onto the Browser

Excelerator 1

One day.

Pre-Requisites & Next Steps

Note this course uses Browser templates, which automatically contain Data Control. Browser templates are not the only way of writing reports.

Pre-Requisites

Before starting this course, you should have an understanding of, or a competence in:

Unit4 ERP Basics
Financials
Browser
Balance Tables

The course is designed for super users, advanced users, end users, and enquiry users, and you should be familiar with using and working in a Microsoft Windows environment.

Next Steps

A natural progression from this course, would be:

Excelerator 2
Reports on the U4BW Server
ReSQL (Report Studio)
Excelerator 3

4. Excelerator 2

Following on from Excelerator 1, in this course you build upon those foundations and learn how to control the structure of the ‘page’. The reports which you begin to create will be highly recognisable as reports that companies use day in, day out. In addition, you learn how to generate separate tabs for values from the dataset, followed by a brief introduction to PostBack.

1.Using Subtotals in reports

Subtotalling keywords
Simple Subtotal Reports
DATAROW
Multi-layered Subtotal Reports
Additional keywords
Multiple queries on a single tab

2.Splitting reports into tabs

BREAK for Separate Tabs
SHEET Template Reports
ReSQL & U4BW Attributes
EXCEL List
GROUP Template SHEETs

3.Introduction to PostBack

Excelerator 2

One day.

Pre-Requisites & Next Steps

Note this course uses Browser templates, which automatically contain Data Control. Browser templates are not the only way of writing reports.

Pre-Requisites

Before starting this course, you should have an understanding of, or a competence in:

Unit4 ERP Basics
Financials
Browser
Balance Tables

You should also have completed:

Excelerator 1

The course is designed for super users, advanced users, end users, and enquiry users, and you should be familiar with using and working in a Microsoft Windows environment.

Next Steps

A natural progression from this course, would be:

Reports on the U4 ERP Server
ReSQL (Report Studio)
Excelerator 3

5. XtraReports 1

Some people might class Xtra as the replacement for ARC reports. It is certainly a 64-bit report renderer, which ARC is not, however you also get more functionality and security with Xtra.

Xtra is used where you have a requirement to produce a subtotalled, paginated list, with page-layout being of great importance. This is what most companies would use for Statements, BACS Remittances, Pay Slips, etc. Additionally, this renderer is sometimes referred to as DevExpress.

1.What is XtraReports?

2.Using a Standard Report

Process and report names
Viewing run reports
Report processes
Diagram of report process
Creating a default report

3.Formatting the report

Making the report yours
Repeating the Report Run
Data Set
XtraReports toolbars and panes
Further details
Amending the report
Important structural note

4.Report improvements

Adding subtotals
Inserting current date
Adding page numbering
Adding a box
Using a cross-band box
Having multiple bands in a group

XtraReports 1

One day.

Pre-Requisites & Next Steps

Note this course uses Browser templates, which automatically contain Data Control. Browser templates are not the only way of writing reports.

Pre-Requisites

Before starting this course, you should have an understanding of, or a competence in:

Unit4 ERP Basics
Financials
Browser
Balance Tables

You may also find is advantageous, to have completed:

Excelerator 1
Excelerator 2

The course is designed for super users, advanced users, end users, and enquiry users, and you should be familiar with using and working in a Microsoft Windows environment.

Next Steps

A natural progression from this course, would be:

Reports on the U4 ERP Server
ReSQL (Report Studio)

6. Reports on the U4BW Server

Unit4 recommend that all reports should ultimately be run via the server. This allows the report to be run in a much more secure setting and also ensures that the person who needs to read the results of the report, does not need to be a fully privileged user of Report Engine. (To be a fully privileged user, you must be given access to the Report Engine node, via U4 ERP, and have Report Engine installed ‘locally’.)

This course covers both desktop and web server reports, and also includes a solid introduction to using split parameters, which allow you to split, move, store, and email the report.

1.Reporting tools available

How Report Engine works with the database
Server Reports
Client Reports
Unit4 ERP Browser
Report Engine Programs
When to choose Excelerator or Xtra

2.The U4 ERP menu

Personal menu
Adding Parameters
Organising Folders

3.Splitting reports

Special parameters

4.Document Archive and E-mail

Document Archive
Report Variant
E-mail

5.Server Web Reporting

Reports on the U4 ERP Server

One day.

Pre-Requisites & Next Steps

Pre-Requisites

Before starting this course, you should have an understanding of, or a competence in:

Unit4 ERP Basics
Financials
Browser
Balance Tables

The course is designed for super users, advanced users, end users, and enquiry users, and you should be familiar with using and working in a Microsoft Windows environment.

Next Steps

A natural progression from this course, would be:

ReSQL (Report Studio)
Excelerator 3

7. ReSQL

ReSQL is the central point of all of the reporting courses – the point where you learn to have full control over the data in your reporting dataset. In order to embrace the full power of ReSQL, the course begins by teaching (or revising, on the shorter course) the necessary parts of SQL.

ReSQL uses a combination of Report Engine commands, standard SQL and agr_macros. In addition, you will learn further useful parts of the U4 ERP, which can aid report writing.

Note this course can be run as a standard over three days, or in a condensed version for existing SQL and users, in two days.

1.Introduction

ASQL
Report Studio
ReSQL and SQL

2.Running Simple SQL

3.Queries

SQL followed by ReSQL in Report Studio
SELECT statements
Aggregation & GROUP BY
HAVING

4.Know the Database

Overview
Standard Unit4 ERP Tables
Finding Columns
Navigating
Table Definitions

5.Unions & Joins

Union
Joins
Relation
Trees

6.Report Studio

Xtra
User Interface
Amending the ReSQL
Multiple SQL
.loop / .group / .addrow
U4BW Specific agr_macros
Report on a Screen
Temporary Tables in Report Studio

7.Database Views

View Balance Tables

Data Control

ReSQL

Three days (can be shortened to two days where there is a large amount of prior knowledge.)

Pre-Requisites & Next Steps

Pre-Requisites

Before starting this course, you should have an understanding of, or a competence in:

Excelerator 1
Excelerator 2
XtraReports
Reports on the U4 ERP Server

The course is designed for super users, advanced users, end users, and enquiry users, plus you should be familiar with using and working in a Microsoft Windows environment.

Next Steps

A natural progression from this course, would be:

Excelerator 3
Xtra Reports

8. Excelerator 3

This is currently the final course in the report development process. It covers some of the powerful parts of ReSQL and Excelerator, which are sometimes overlooked. Excel and Excelerator are powerful tools and this teaches you several key points to bring out the best of both of them.

If you do not know what the tools are in your toolbox, how can you make informed decisions about how to use them?

1.Totals with Hidden Rows

Revising vital keywords
Excelerator Absolute Cells
EBITDA

2.Single Row Queries

Header and Footer Information
When to use Single Row Queries
Parameters and the .set command
Use of the _control sheet with Report Engine 9
ReSQL Power Parameters
Deriving values
The power of the .set

3.Preparameters

Flexible Reporting/Load time changes
Identification of change need
Implementation of column changes
Combining Power Parameters and Pre-parameters

4.Dynamic Charts

Using your dataset
Setting the charting area

5.Expanding Screen Scrapes

How to connect your data
Choosing which data to add

Excelerator 3

One day.

Pre-Requisites & Next Steps

Pre-Requisites

Before starting this course, you should have an understanding of, or a competence in:

Excelerator 1
Excelerator 2
ReSQL

The course is designed for super users, advanced users, end users, and enquiry users, and you should be familiar with using and working in a Microsoft Windows environment.

Next Steps

A natural progression from this course, would be:

Workshops to fully embed and enhance the learning from this course.

9. XtraReports 2

Quite simply, if you already know all about reporting with U4BW and you can get Excelerator, etc. to spin on the spot, but you don’t know anything about ReSQL nor about how to get your reports into Report Engine 9–styled report, then this may well be the course for you.

The course is workshop in its style and goes fairly fast - building upon the knowledge you already have. You learn the key structures and keywords of ReSQL; how the database, dataset and tables work together to render the report; and you have the chance to migrate a report plus the chance to start to migrate one of your own.

Following on from this, some customers find it beneficial to book remote workshop days or half days, so that delegates have someone to ask, when all those questions start to pop up!

1.Advanced Formulae

Selecting Data
Setting Visible

2.Using Document Archive

Inserting an image from Document Archive
Selecting an Image from Document Archive

3.Expanding the Dataset

Using agr_macros
U4 ERP Address Formatting
Additional data

4.Sub-report

Adding Sub-reports
Connecting in Sub-reports

XtraReport 2

One day.

Pre-Requisites & Next Steps

Pre-Requisites

Before starting this course, you should have an understanding of, or a competence in:

XtraReports 1
ReSQL

The course is designed for super users, advanced users, end users, and enquiry users, and you should be familiar with using and working in a Microsoft Windows environment.

Next Steps

A natural progression from this course, would be:

Workshops to fully embed and enhance the learning from this course.

10. Courses Which We Are Looking to Develop

Worderator

Choosing Worderator or Mail Merge style
Using Word commands
Using the Worderator Dataset
Structuring

An Introduction to ACT

Creating an ACT project in Visual Studio
Deploying ACT to U4 ERP
ACT on existing TopGen screens (Web Client)
ACT on existing Server Process

Intermediate ACT

ACT on existing TopGen screens (Web Client), advanced features.
Creating new TopGen screens with ACT
Creating new Server Processes with ACT
ACT on Webservices

Interfacing with Unit4 ERP

Introduction to Unit4 ERP Interfaces
Interfacing with Unit4 ERP Webservices
Interfacing with Unit4 ERP Public APIs

If any of these courses interest you, please contact one of our team to join the list of course contacts. The more people who ask for a certain course, the more quickly it will be developed!

To add your name to the interested list for any of these courses, or for any other enquiries, please get in touch at: contact@tech4consulting.com

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