SAP Knowledge Base Article - Public

2280673 - How to Create a BIRT Template for a Table Report

Symptom

BIRT (Business Intelligence and Reporting Tool) is an open source technology platform used to create data visualizations and reports that can be embedded into rich client and web applications. BIRT reports are made of objects and data sources that can be used in your report and can create different data sets.

IMPORTANT: BIRT Templates can be created by Customers, Partners or the SAP Premium Reporting Team and NOT by SuccessFactors Product Support.

This KBA is an additional reference to guide Customers and Partners through the steps to create a sample BIRT template and upload it to Table.

Image/data in this KBA is from SAP internal systems, sample data, or demo systems. Any resemblance to real data is purely coincidental

Environment

  • SAP SuccessFactors HXM Suite
  • Table reports
  • BIRT

Resolution

  1. Log into SuccessFactors and select Reporting from the main menu;
  2. Select Table reports;
  3. You can create a new report or use an existing one from the report list;
  4. Edit the report then export the Dataset from the Data Sets drop down list via Save As. Save the file to a location and take note of it as you will need this file to build your BIRT report:
  5. Next step is to run BIRT tool. You can do this by clicking on the eclipse.exe file from your downloaded folder;
  6. Create a new project and save it to desired location:

    birt projet.jpg

  7. You can proceed to create your first report as follow:
    • Choose File->New->Report. The new report dialog appears;
    • In the tree view, choose the project we just created: My Reports;
    • Enter the desired file name:  for example, Customers.rptdesign;
    • Click Next;
    • Select the location and file Name: Custom_Employee_Profile_x_BIRT_Demo.rptdesign:

      new report.jpg

  8. When BIRT opens your new report in the Eclipse workspace, Right Click on Data Sources then to New Data Source:

    new data source.jpg

  9. Select the folder where you saved the csv file in:

    birt folder csv file.jpg

  10. The New Data Source is now created
  11. You can then proceed to build and test your new data set by right clicking on Data Sets and select New Data Set:

    new data set.jpg

  12. Select the desired columns by moving them across to the box on the right then check the Output columns you just selected:

    output columns.jpg

  13. When done, you can drag and Drop the Data Set to create a new table with the selected fields:

    drag data set.jpg

  14. You can customise the report layout using the Editor. For example, by adjusting the headers font size, background colour etc:

    Report editor.jpg

  15. At any time, you can preview the report output by selecting the preview tab:

    Preview.jpg

  16. To add a chart to the report, you right click on the report design then select Insert and Chart from the list:

    insert chart.jpg

  17. Choose the chart type you want to use:

    chart typ.jpg

  18. For the Data tab you can chose the desired fields for the Y and X series. In this example, you can select the username, for the Y series, and the  aggregate expression count:

    chart username.jpg

  19. Drag and drop the location column to the x field:

    chart location.jpg

  20. You can customise the Chart area as you wish via the Format Chart tab:

    cht format.jpg

  21. To view the report result, select preview at any time:

    chat result.jpg

  22. Once you are happy with the BIRT report you can upload the newly created BIRT Template to the Table Report as follow:
    • Edit the report you have downloaded the data set from;
    • From the People scope tab click on Data Sets then upload template;
    • Browse to the folder where you saved the rptdesign file;
    • Select open: 

      upload the birt template.jpg

    • Save the report:

  23. You can then see the report output by running the report online, export to excel or by generating it, when in edit mode:

    ad hoc chart result.jpg

See Also

  • KB article 2280300 - BIRT Eclipse Version Supported for Ad Hoc Reports
  • KB article 2283529 - Support Guidelines for Ad Hoc Reports with BIRT Templates 

Keywords

sf, success factors, ANA, RPT, adhoc, Data Sets, Eclipse , KBA , eclipse , data sets , premium , LOD-SF-ANA-BIR , BIRT Reports , LOD-SF-ANA , Analytics & Reporting (Ad Hoc, YouCalc, ORD) , How To

Product

SAP SuccessFactors HCM Suite all versions ; SAP SuccessFactors Workforce Analytics all versions