AGED CREDITOR REPORTS IN DISCOVERER

Question

Hi...
The standard aged creditor reports in Oracle - summary and detail can only be run at this moment in time, for example, I can not do a report for outstanding creditors as at period 6 in say period 7.
The aged debtor report lets the user enter an as at of date so not sure why the creditor report does not work in the same way.
I have tried to create a discoverer report to overcome this but I am struggling with the date parameter. For example, If I run the report upto date of 31-Oct-2005 today (9-Nov-2005), what happens is that any invoices paid between 1 and 8 Nov are not showing showing as outstanding creditors as at 31-Oct-2005.
I would really appreciate some advice on what date parameter should be used to pick up outstanding creditors as at of a date entered.
Thanks.

Answer 1

Hi
There's another posting on here only two postings away that explains exactly how to set up an aging query. I know because I posted the answer :-)
Anyway, here is that answer:
You first of all have to start out with deciding how many result sets, or buckets, that you need and which function, CASE or DECODE, you want to use. In the following example I am displaying seven buckets.
The first part of the answer is to produce a calculation that determines the number of days involved in the bucketing. You will need to either build a calculation or use an existing database item. So let's call the result of this DAYS.
Now look at this:
IF DAYS LESS THAN OR EQUAL TO 1 THEN '1. On Time'
ELSE IF DAYS LESS THAN OR EQUAL TO 2 THEN '2. 2 days'
ELSE IF DAYS LESS THAN OR EQUAL TO 7 THEN '3. 3 - 7 days'
ELSE IF DAYS LESS THAN OR EQUAL TO 14 THEN '4. 8 - 14 days'
ELSE IF DAYS LESS THAN OR EQUAL TO 21 THEN '5. 15 - 21 days'
ELSE IF DAYS LESS THAN OR EQUAL TO 28 THEN '6. 22 - 28 days'
ELSE '7. More than 28'
Converting this to a CASE you get:
CASE WHEN DAYS <= 7 THEN '1. On Time'
WHEN DAYS <= 2 THEN '2. 2 Days'
WHEN DAYS <= 7 THEN '3. 3 - 7 days'
WHEN DAYS <= 14 THEN '4. 8 - 14 days'
WHEN DAYS <= 21 THEN '5. 15 - 21 days'
WHEN DAYS <= 28 THEN '6. 22 - 28 days'
ELSE '7. More than 28 Days' END
Converting to a DECODE is more difficult but not impossible due to the fact that DECODE only works with equality. However, with the use of the LEAST function we can do the same thing:
DECODE(LEAST(DAYS,1),DAYS,'1.On Time',LEAST(DAYS,2),DAYS,'2. 2 Days',LEAST(DAYS,7),DAYS,'2. 3 - 7 Days',LEAST(DAYS,14),DAYS,'4. 8 - 14 Days',LEAST(DAYS,21),DAYS,'5. 15 - 21 Days',LEAST(DAYS,28),DAYS,'6. 22 - 28 Days',7. More than 28 Days')
I hope this helps
Best wishes
Michael Armstrong-Smith
URL: http://learndiscoverer.com
Blog: http://learndiscoverer.blogspot.com