Hi,
I have a report in Gridview that shows our "backlog" which is our bookings (dollar value) less what we've billed toward those bookings to date. Our accountant is requesting I provide him with a comparison of our backlog from the past two years (2009 and 2008) to use to compare the one I provided him for YTD 2010.
I can't seem to figure out how to get such a report - even if I use the run date of last year, it shows jobs from this year. I tried logging in with a date of 12/2009 and the same thing happened.
Is there a way to get the report he needs?
Thanks in advance, Karen

Hi Karen,

So in brief, you would like an inquiry that loads records for all 3 years 2008, 2009 and 2010, and in some way records within each year can be compared. Is this correct?

You probably will need to create 3 calculated columns, one for each year, where each have a formula something like:
IF(YEARL{Date}=2008,{Dollar Value},0)
which would only output the dollar amount if the record belongs in the particular year. The syntax above is not correct - you would need to substitute with the desired fields. Then ensure that Totals are enabled for each of these 3 columns.

If you have a filter that only selects records in YTD, you'll need to create a new filter that loads all records since the beginning of 2008.

Then set one or more columns with a Set Sort Order, such as job number, customer number, or whatever you want to do the yearly comparisons for. Then Summarize the view. The result will be one row for each job or customer or whatever, and the 3 yearly columns with the amounts you want to compare.

Changing the Run Date for an inquiry will affect all filters and formulas that use the TODAY() function. If you don't use TODAY() anywhere, then changing the Run Date will have no effect.

It may be interesting to discuss particulars with your Adagio consultant if the required changes are quite complicated.

Yes, you are correct. I would like an inquiry that loads records for actually 4 (I made an error)years in which the records within each year can be compared.

We've created single reports in the past that I compare to the present, by using backup data but the report you suggest will be much more effective. I'm not able to do it myself and have reached out to Steve for assistance.

Thank you so much for responding to my request. I'm hopeful the report will be created for our use.

Karen

Since the particulars were so complicated, I did discuss it with our consultant. He does not believe the formulas will work. He thinks the only way to get a report like I need is to use prior year data from backups. It's not an ideal workaround because the comparisons are not identical.

Perhaps this can be considered for the next JC upgrade????